Anne-apolis

  Yesterday I was given a lift by a colleague who has two small children, one 5 year-old and one who is 2 years old. We have just started on a project to look at toddler safety in informal settlements, so this topic has been foremost in my mind. I was thinking, what if I invited my colleague to my home and she needed to bring her children? Would I be able to make my place safe for them, especially if their mom and I were engrossed in our conversation and not giving them full-time attention? While I was pretty conscientious about toddler-proofing our house when my children were small, I remember this as being quite an investment of time and money, and that it was an on-going project as they grew physically and mentally. The question today is what do I need to do to adapt a very adult-orientated environment. A general view of my living room My first step would be to decide how much of the house to secure - I am quite lucky in this regard as each of my rooms can be closed off - my dau...

  Today I want to look at a problem faced by any home-owner on when to do a task or project yourself, and when to call in a specialist. One of my neighbours started to strip down their window frames down to the original steel, but more than a year ago ran out of steam, with only a couple of windows done. These frames are now quite vulnerable, as they have not yet treated or painted them. So the question is what is reasonably "do-able" and even more importantly, what is legal. The three types of work where one needs to be careful, even if you are very competent and courageous, are structural, plumbing and electrical. Some aspects of these need to be done by a registered person or company, otherwise you would be falling foul of building regulations and potentially putting your insurance policy at risk. On the other hand, it becomes very expensive and annoying if you have to call in an electrician every time you need to change a light globe or replace a plug. Two common types of...