Enjoy the spring sunshine and make yourself useful this Mother's Day with these quick and easy tasks.
:: Give your mum's patio, deck or garage door a good clean. Now that spring has definitely sprung, wash away months of winter grime with a pressure washer, which you can buy or hire inexpensively.
:: Mow her lawn and then trim the edges. Grass is starting to grow again after its long hibernation, so giving it its first mow and trim in months will do it the world of good - and make the garden look neater and tidier. While you're doing the lawn, give the fence the once over - does it need any work?
:: Repair her paving slabs. This job usually gets overlooked, so stock up on a fixing compound, such as Sika Pave Fix Plus Compound (£24.79 for 11ltr, www.screwfix.com), and mend those unsightly cracks. This compound sets hard, even in wide joints, and resists weeds and ants. It can be used on drives, paths, paving and patios.
:: Put up hanging baskets - much better than a bunch of flowers because planted flowers should last for ages. If your mum would rather plant the baskets herself, just put up the brackets and she can do the rest. Use a high-powered drill suitable for masonry when drilling into exterior walls, preferably a cordless one for safety.
:: Install a wireless security alarm. There's nothing more important than your mum's safety, so give her peace of mind with an easy-to-fit wireless alarm. The Yale Wire Free 4 Room Family Alarm Kit (£194.99, www.screwfix.com) automatically contacts the owner if the alarm's activated, and can be set and unset by telephone.
DIY news bulletin
Want to spruce up your home's exterior woodwork now that it's spring? Then check out a really clever new paint from Ronseal.
Ronseal Super Flexible Wood Primer & Undercoat is a flexible formula that expands and contracts with the wood to help to prevent cracking and peeling.
It also blocks wood resins from bleeding through the paint, so you don't need to use knotting solution first - a brilliant time saver if you're painting bare wood.
Ronseal Super Flexible Wood Primer & Undercoat costs from £10.99 for 750ml and is available in white and dark grey. Find a stockist at www.ronseal.co.uk.
According to a new survey of 2,000 people for B&Q, 53% of us are scared of DIY, 40% hate it, 29% claim to be terrible at it and 62% see it as a chore rather than a hobby.
What's more, 66% of homeowners have unfinished DIY jobs at home, and more than half say that they don't know how to complete them.
The most common unfinished jobs are chipped paint (43%), marks on the wall (42%), gardening (38%), regrouting (26%) and cracks in the wall (26%).
Despite this, one-third of us are set to do more DIY this year than in previous ones, although almost 60% of us don't believe we have the skills to do it.
With a little push, however, most of us would like to have a go at gardening, painting a room, hanging wallpaper, putting up a shelf, or laying or tiling a floor. We draw the line at plastering, plumbing and laying a patio, preferring to get a family member or professional to do it.
Ask the expert...
Q: I've just tiled my bathroom walls, but some of the tiles are sticking out slightly. Can I do anything about it?
A: If you act quickly, the adhesive and grout should still be quite soft, so carefully prise off each problem tile with a chisel as soon as you can. Scrape off the old adhesive and grout, and apply new adhesive, but not as much as before, until you're happy with how the tile sits. Repeat for each one, then grout in the normal way.
Seasonal task...
Thanks to the unseasonably nice weather we've been having lately, doing DIY outside is a pleasure. If it's a nice day, start tackling those exterior jobs that need doing after winter, or take what you're working on outside, if you can.
