Why your builder should be CHAS certified

CHAS - Contractors Health and safety Assessment Scheme - is designed to ensure that building contractors maintain high standards of health and safety; providing reassurance and consistency of quality building practice.

By using a CHAS certified contractor you provide yourself with the peace of mind that your home or project is in safe hands. The builders that you have paid for will exercise the highest standard of health and safety, a sure sign that you are dealing with professional tradesmen.

Using companies that aren’t approved by CHAS could lead to poor health and safety measures that may cause your project to fall behind schedule, add cost and potentially leave your home exposed to poor quality labour.  In the worst case you could be left liable for any financial costs due to damage caused.

The CHAS certification eliminates confusion by being the overall representative of all construction health and safety standards.  The standards are achieved through CHAS’s comprehensive assessment scheme. It’s a demanding process; during evaluation four out of five small and medium sized contractors fail their first assessment.

Affleck Property Services are CHAS approved and provide builders who meet the highest standards of health and safety.  For further information please contact us at 0208 971 7000 or visit our photo gallery of recent construction work.

The Bathroom / Plumbing Horror Gallery

Thinking about saving money with a cowboy plumber? Think again.

Planning a new bathroom? Why not go for a state of the art high-pressure shower fitting!

Innovative tap solutions?

Boiler-less water heating...

They say mud facials are good for the skin...

Save money on pipe-work?

Bad

Worse

Save money on plumbing fixings & fittings?

Is there a duct tape specialist in your home?

The good old milk carton, door knob, electrical wiring, plumbing solution.

... Or maybe you'll end up with getting more than you bargained for ...

... confused? So are we ...

Then there's the toilets ...

WARNING: those of you with a weak stomach may want to stop scrolling!

Want a cheap but funtional toilet?

Looking to save space?

... Or maybe you have too much space? ...

Swords anyone?

The king of awkward toilets

Recycling perhaps?

Or perhaps you have radioactive pee?

... just as well they didn't opt for the urinal catheter solution ...

The real nightmare scenario...

You wouldn’t want that…would you?

Make sure that the plumber you’ve hired is trained and qualified.

If the plumbing quote you receive seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Affleck's London Plumbers are a proud member of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering. Our most recent survey showed that 98% of customers were satisfied with the work we delivered for them and 19 out of 20 customers would recommend us to their family and friends.

Whether dealing with a burst pipe or a designer bathroom installation Affleck's qualified plumbers take pride in the highest level of workmanship. Call 0208 971 7000 for the right solution to your plumbing needs.

RCD: Do not let your next shock be your last

We’ve all received a little electric shock at some point in our lives, actually about 2.5 million of us a year. But according to the Electrical Safety Council up to 350,000 people a year end up with serious injuries from electric shocks; a frightening number.  Luckily there is a smart little device that is here to save us: the RCD, Residual Current Device.

What is an RCD?

A Residual Current Device (RCD) is one of the most important things a safe home can have.  If there is an irregular or dangerous flow of electricity to earth from an electric power outlet, an RCD would automatically turn off the electricity in .4 of a second, ensuring that any chances of an electrical fire or serious shock are eliminated.

An RCD should be considered as important as a smoke alarm. It can be difficult to tell when an abnormal flow of electricity is running through your plug sockets or light switches and it’s likely the only way you will find out about it is when you have received an electric shock or the fuse in your laptop charger has blown.

What does an RCD look like?

Why am I getting electric shocks?

1. No RCD in your home
2. Misuse of plug sockets
3. The wiring and outlets in your home aren’t earthed

If your home uses plug adapters that allow the use of multiple appliances at once through one socket, then an RCD is an essential bit of kit to protect you if the earth connection melted.  Adapters that create space for numerous appliances are convenient and although they can work effectively, they aren’t necessarily efficient. It’s suggested by the Electrical Safety Council that you should never use more than 13 amps or 3000 watts of energy through one power outlet and this amount can easily be accumulated through the use of these plug adapters. The best answer is to get more sockets installed or unplug some of the equipment you aren't using.

Signs you need an RCD

1. You’ve received an electric shock
2. Fuses are blowing in electrical appliances
3. Wiring is getting old abd the connections have deteriorated

The majority of houses that were built between 1950 – 1980 have copper wiring that can get very hot if connections are not checked. This coupled with the misuse of appliances through adaptors and extensions leads can result in serious accidents.

The main cause of electrical fires in the home can be accredited to the misuse of equipment and appliances. 49% of homes in the UK do not have RCDs that are fully operational.

What’s to do if you don’t have an RCD?

If your home doesn’t currently have an RCD you can simply send Affleck a picture of your fuse board via email and our head electrician Andy Symes will contact you with an instalment quote over the phone.

If you are worried about your electrical safety, this February we are offering a free electrical survey for more information call 0207 971 7000 to arrange an appointment.  

Your Boiler – React Before Its Too Late

With the worst of the cold weather about to arrive, boilers will be working their hardest to keep your home warm.  If you’ve been avoiding a boiler service and relying on a creaky boiler you must get it checked. Old boilers cost hundreds more a year to keep your home warm and far worse, can be prone to carbon monoxide leaks which can be lethal.  Be one of the lucky 20 who benefit from our Valentines boiler offer to save money, get warm and rest easy.

Signs your boiler needs servicing/replacing

It’s fairly easy to detect when a boiler isn’t operating correctly. Some of the most common signs are:

• Leaking and dripping
• Lack of hot water and heating
• Whistling and banging noises
• Switching itself off

It’s important that you never attempt to fix a boiler yourself. Attempting to fix a broken boiler is extremely dangerous and so you should always use a Gas Safe registered engineer.

At Affleck we advise the best defence against carbon monoxide emissions as well as to keep your boiler running efficiently (saving you money) is to make sure that it is serviced annually.

In short don’t wait for your old boiler to ‘die’.  Old boilers cost hundreds more a year to keep your home warm and can be highly dangerous. 

The Killer in the Cupboard: Carbon Monoxide

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is also known as the ‘silent killer’ due to it being colourless, tasteless and odourless.  The NHS report that approximately 50 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning and an additional 200 people are treated for serious injuries relating to CO poisioning.   The most likely cause of these cases are old or poorly fitted boilers.

Protect Yourself: Sniffing out Carbon Monoxide

The best way to detect a possible leak is to fit a carbon monoxide alarm that operates much like a smoke alarm. Carbon Monoxide alarms can be bought online for around £14.99, and are also sold in hardware stores.

Carbon Monoxide patches are available for £5 but won’t sound an alarm in the event of a serious leak, so we don’t recommend them that highly.  However they do act as a visual alert which is preferable to no alert at all.

Unbeatable Valentines Boiler Promotion

Affleck are offering a brand new combi boiler, installed by an Affleck Gas Safe engineer, with a seven year warrantee and the second year gas safety check for free.   If you’ve been putting off buying a new boiler now is the time.

Here are the top Five Reasons you should replace your boiler.

• Latest Combi Boiler: Valient or Worsceter
  • A rated Energy Efficiency
  • Worsceter: Which? Best Buy
• Professionally installed by Affleck Engineer
  • Gas Safe registered
• 7 year warrantee
• 2 Years Gas Safety Check Free

All this for only £1600+VAT. Probably the best deal you will ever find in the UK on an A energy rated boiler and installation.

Call Affleck on 0208 971 7000 to arrange our Gas Safe registered Boiler Engineers to visit at a time to suit you. Quote 'Valentines Boiler Promotion' at time of booking.

Offer open to first 10 clients for works booked in February 2014 only. Price subject to survey.