Is A Prepaid Currency Card Worth It For The Frequent Traveller?

Prepaid currency cards, also known as travel money cards, offer a range of advantages over carrying cash or credit/debit cards. However, there are both pros and cons, so weigh up what you will be needing it for carefully before you buy one.

A prepaid currency card or travel money card is much like a regular credit or debit card, with the difference that funds are loaded onto them in advance – just like a pay-as-you-go phone or pre-paid gas or electricity card. If you’re a regular traveller they may well save you money and give you greater peace of mind, as long as you use them carefully.

How does a prepaid currency card work?

The cards look just like a credit or debit card, and work in much the same way. They include chip and pin security and have the same fraud detection. The difference is that they are not linked to your bank account. Instead, they are stand-alone cards that you ‘charge’ with money – either Sterling for later exchange or the currency you will need when abroad. They can be used in a large number of places, since they are supported by Visa, Mastercard and other global companies. Once the money is gone you cannot spend any more until you have topped them up, which can be done by phone, internet or credit card. This means you cannot go into debt and there are no interest rates. Because they are prepaid, there are no credit checks or barriers to application (as long as you are 18 or older).

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Filed Under: Travel

How to Install Solid Oak Flooring Over Timber Joists

If you’re buying solid oak flooring, it is often worth paying a professional to install it for you. Depending on the circumstances and your DIY experience, though, you may well be able to do the job yourself.

Oak floors come in a variety of different forms. Solid oak flooring is slightly harder to install than some of the alternatives, but even this is possible to do with a little patience and expertise – and is well worth it for the overall effect. However, there will be different choices for fitting your floor depending on the surface on which you are installing it. Fixing to screed requires a different approach than to joists.

Before you start Solid hardwood flooring requires a period of time to acclimatise to the conditions in your home before you install it. Like all wood, oak is sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity, and it is important to let it ‘rest’ in the room in which you are fitting it for a couple of weeks to allow it to adjust its shape accordingly. Additionally, you should plan to leaves an expansion gap at the edges of the room – around 1.5mm should be adequate. Allow any new plaster or cement to dry out, too. A day per millimetre of thickness of screed or cement should be enough.

Methods of installation There are two or three ways to install oak flooring, depending on your circumstances: • Mechanical fixings • Adhesives • ‘Floating’ a floor

Mechanical fixings can be screws (with pre-drilled holes), surface nailing or ‘secret’ nailing. These are all simple and reliable ways of installing solid oak floors. It is how floor boards have traditionally been fitted for centuries. If you’ve walked around a stately home and admired the oak floors, you can be reassured that this was how they were installed. Secret nailing is an attractive development because the nails are invisible at the end of the process. Instead of being driven vertically downwards, leaving the head on top, nails are used at the edge of the boards – often at the edge of the tongue, if there is one – at an angle.

Flexible adhesives are used in different circumstances, sometimes as a sole method of fixing oak hardwood flooring – perhaps over screed or concrete, where there is nothing to drive nails into – or as a secondary fixing to give a floor extra stability.

Floating a floor is slightly more complicated and does not involve fixing the floor boards to the surface underneath. Instead they are fixed together. It is important that they are not directly joined – oak hardwood flooring expands and contracts and this can be disastrous if you have a large raft of boards. Instead, the boards can be fitted to an underlay of adhesive foam, which simply rests on the screed base.

Timber joists Oak flooring can be fixed to joists with nails or screws. Particularly if you are working on the ground floor, you will need to fasten a layer of waterproof plastic down first (often known as visqueen); your oak hardwood flooring will

otherwise ‘cup’ and warp if there is any dampness around. You can also use heavy- duty flexible adhesives like ‘liquid batten’ or similar. If you are secret nailing wider boards (180mm and upwards), it can help to use a flexible adhesive on the back to ensure maximum stability.

This article was supplied by solid oak flooring suppliers, Sutton Timber. Click here for more information on solid oak flooring.

Filed Under: House

How To Change A Wheel

Changing a wheel is one of the most useful skills for drivers to have, but many lack the expertise and tools. Here’s a quick guide that will save you time and money.

Most drivers have, at some point or other, experienced the inconvenience of a flat tyre. Although you can sometimes travel for a few miles on a bad wheel – and sealant and repair kits are popular for getting you by for a while longer – continuing for long distances is not safe and changing the wheel is the only long-term solution. If you have to rely on someone else to do the job for you then you might find your plans for your journey – a holiday, business trip or daily commute – subject to a sudden and unwelcome rethink. With a minimum of equipment you can avoid lengthy roadside delays by doing the job yourself.

Spare wheels

Many cars have a spare tyre stored in the boot. Sometimes this is a ‘compact’ or ‘donut’ tyre designed to save space. These are thinner than normal tyres (the French call them ‘galettes’ – pancakes) and are only rated for around 50 mph and limited distances. You need to make sure your tyre is the same size as your other wheels, is correctly inflated, and has enough tread on it.

What you will need

As a minimum for changing a flat tyre, you will need:

  • A new wheel
  • A jack
  • A wrench
Also recommended are:
  • Wheel chock(s)
  • Gloves
Before you start

The car should be on level, firm ground, away from hazards (the hard shoulder of a motorway is not a good place to do this). Make sure there’s no one in the car. Turn the engine off, put the handbrake on and put the car in first gear. If you’ve got one, place a chock under the wheel diagonally opposite the one you’re changing.

Removing the wheel

Ideally you want the car to be jacked up for the minimum amount of time. Don’t work under the car when it is jacked up.

Start by loosening but not completely removing the nuts on the wheel. You may need to remove the hub cap or trim to access them. When they are all slackened off, then jack the car up – ensuring that the jack is in the right place. There should be instructions on the jack itself and in your car manual to show you the correct location on your car. Placing the jack under the wrong part of your car can damage the car and be dangerous. Once the car is off the ground, you can remove the nuts and take the wheel off.

Fit the new wheel

Check your new tyre for speed restrictions – these are usually highlighted on the wheel and are very obvious. Now fit it onto the vehicle – rotating it to engage it and lock it in place – and finger-tighten the nuts. Let the car down and remove the jack. You can now tighten the nuts with the wrench. Store the flat tyre and jack in the car.

After you’re done

Drive carefully to begin with, in case there’s a problem with your new wheel. If it’s a space-saver, remember to keep your speed down. You will need to replace this with a proper tyre as soon as possible. You may also notice that some extra dashboard lights come on. This is because certain systems (ABS, traction control etc) are affected by the odd tyre width.

As soon as you can, take the car to a garage to check that your wheel is installed correctly, with the nuts tight enough and the tyre inflated to the correct pressure. You should also buy a new wheel to keep in the car in case of future flat tyres.

This article was supplied by used car wheel location specialists, Breakerlink.com

Filed Under: Car

How To Tell The Difference Between A ‘Used’ And ‘Refurbished’ Laptop?

When you’re searching for a refurbished laptop you will find that a lot of vendors use the terms ‘refurbished’ and ‘second-hand’ or ‘new’ more-or-less interchangeably. This is inaccurate, and it risks you ending up with something you didn’t bargain for.

A refurbished laptop is typically one that has been thoroughly checked, reconditioned and returned to as-new state. It should work as well as one straight out of the factory. This is very different to buying a laptop that is simply described as ‘used’, which offers few of the same assurances.

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Filed Under: Computers

How To Use Sunbeds Safely If You Have Pale Skin

If you’re like me, strawberry blonde, blue eyes and very pale freckly skin – you’ll know how hard it is to be out in the sun and instead of getting a nice golden tan…going pink instead. My beauty therapist recommended that maybe I should try and build up a tolerance to the sun; by using a sunbed to create a base tan slowly on my pale skin. Over a period of   6 – 8 months build up my minutes under the sunlamp UV rays to increase my skin’s natural tolerance to sunlight. She also suggest using a tanning salon that has sun beds providing low UVA rays, as these help those with pale skin develop a golden tan instead of a darker tan more suitable for those with olive skin.

How sunbeds work

Sunbeds work by emitting low levels of ultra violet light waves (UVA & UVB) through several fluorescent lamps, either on a sunbed or upright in a tanning booth. As with natural sunlight, these light waves penetrate the skin, causing the skin to become bronze and boosting vitamin D production. A golden tan doesn’t come instantly and takes several sessions under a sunbed to develop on anyone.

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Filed Under: Health
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