The EU initiative to phase out those light bulbs which are lower ratings of energy efficiency is now well under way, with 100 watt light bulbs already a glimmer in our memory.

The latest casualty of the EU ruling is the 60 watt bulb. Shops in the UK have not been able to order supplies of any of these bulbs since the 1st of September 2011 so stocks are running low and you might find your local store has already run out.

Anyone who wants to buy a bulb of a similar luminance rating will now have to swap to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

Painting doors is easy…If you have a good paintbrush and you take your time.

A good tradesperson never blames their tools. Is that right? Maybe. Like anything in life, if you don’t have the right equipment to do the job it’ll never look as good in the end.

Before you paint a door you need to buy a ‘quality’ paintbrush. Not one where the bristles fall out with every stroke. Not one you get in a pack of five ‘basics’ brushes. A good old fashioned horsehair paintbrush.

After sanding the door, make sure you undercoat or prime it before applying the top coats. Start at the top left (If you are right handed) and work your way across and down the door, not stopping until you’ve added a complete coat. If you stop part way the paint will dry and you’ll get a streaky finish. Don’t be tempted to ‘slap’ the paint on. The more thin coats the better the finish.

Lightly sand the door between coats. If you start with an unfinished door it should take a coat of primer, then a coat of undercoat then two top coats.

Anyone can lay laminate flooring. Don’t be pushed into getting it fitted why you buy it from a retailer. Don’t be flummoxed by all the bumf you read on the internet, fitting laminate is really easy. And when you’ve done one room you wont want to stop.

There are some essentials you won’t be able to do without though:

• Jigsaw
• Laminate fitting kit (Spacers, pull bar, rubber mallet, whacking block)
• Power drill + drill bits
• Square
• PPE
• Measuring tape
• Joiners saw
• Mitre block

If you follow the instructions on the laminate flooring you won’t go wrong.

Top tip: It’s worth spending a little time getting the subfloor sorted before you lay the laminate. Use a suitable underlay and make sure no floorboard creak when you walk across them.

We always like ways to make DIY jobs quicker. What we don’t like however are half-arsed jobs that look like they were done by a five year old.

Some of the worst half-arsed jobs over the last few years can be put down to one DIY tool - the fence panel paint sprayer. Yes they spray paint - over just about every surface within about 100 feet of the nozzle!

If you have a lot of fence panels to paint, don’t invest in one of these timesavers. Instead take your time and paint the fence properly. The spray from the paint sprayer does end up everywhere. The posts will be ruined, if you have concrete bases these will be ruined, the spray paint is three times more expensive than ordinary paint and your neighbours will complain when the ‘like water’ paint runs through the panels and all over their side of the fence.

And don’t even mention cleaning the bloody thing out after you’ve finished.