Sometimes more portable workbenches are desirable in workshops. The advantage of having a mobile workbench is that it can be quickly and easily  moved out of the way if a project is about to be undertaken using an unusually large section of wood.

Typically, a mobile or portable workbench will be constructed with a double wall steel design for extra durability. It will usually have between six and eight drawers. Since steel is being used to build this unit, it could be prone to the ultimate bad guy of the DIY community – rust. To keep rust at bay, the unit is coated with rust-resistant paint. It will have a heavy duty worktop and one or two lockable cupboards. Mounted on ball-bearing runners facilitates ease of movement without causing back strain injuries.

Other steel workbenches are also available. These benches are self-assembly but easy to assemble and there are a range of sizes from which one can choose, for instance, 108 cm or 240 cm widths. The shelves may have up to 100 kg load capacity.

For versatility, the add-on chest drawers are a hard act to follow. They are, typically, made with steel inner walls for extra durability. As their name suggests they can be added to where the necessity arises. Their heavy duty ball bearing drawer runners ensure better performance and the ability to carry heavier loads. They have a full height rear locking mechanism which locks their full length drawers in multiple locations. For extra security, they are fitted with tumbler locks.

You have it in mind, the next project that will improve your home and give you more storage room. Whether it is shelving in the kitchen or garage storage, whatever your plans are, there are always tips and tricks to help make the job run smoother.

Before you start, check your tools are in good working order. Tidying out the tool box is not such a bad idea. Have a magnet handy to pick up dropped small screws and pins that might be otherwise very difficult to see, especially on a carpeted surface.

If taking measurements is going to be part of the job, keep a small pad of sticky back notes, write the measurement on the note then stick it to the matching section of wood or door frame.

Talking of measurements, if you think a room is square but you are not certain, think back to those good days at school. Rather than measuring along all four walls just measure the two at right angles to each other. Make a note of the figures, then measure from one corner to the other. If, for example, you took measurements of three feet and four feet along the adjacent walls, the diagonal line across the room should measure five feet. If it does not then you will need to mark some points in a square before carrying on.

If you have decided to put up tiling in the kitchen or the bathroom, never tile over wallpaper, always remove the paper first.

Retail shelving comes in various shapes, sizes and forms. The gondola, for example, has been the shelving flagship of the retail industry for a good many years now. Typically gondola retail shelving will have a six to seven inches high front toe. Leveling screws, under the legs, helps keep the shelves on an even keel. The gondola will also have sturdy, steel uprights which will allow shelving to be erected to a height of twelve feet without extenders and the entire system has a strong and durable construction.

Another advantage of buying the gondola shelving system is that welded end trim in starter sections means that the retailer will never have to replace or buy another end trim, the shelves are adjustable and there are a number of back panels from which to choose. It is possible to shorten or lengthen the run of gondola shelving without disturbing the whole display. Most retailers have appreciated this time saving feature. The type of retailer that find the gondola shelving system well suited to their particular needs are; convenience or grocery stores, DIY stores, chemists and pets supplies shops.

The other popular type of retail shelving is standard shelving. It has built-in one and a quarter inch price tag moulding. The shelf brackets will be welded to the shelves. There are two positions available for the shelves; horizontal and an 18 degree down slant. Standard shelves will slide in and out without disturbing their neighbouring shelves and are reinforced with welded support channels.

If you are a connoisseur of the grape, or just an enthusiastic amateur, the one thing you will need is a place to store your collection of wine. Storage racks for the wine are obviously essential and I will deal with them in a moment.

Those of you who already have a cellar need not concern yourself too much, but for those who do not, it is a major worry that the wine will not achieve its full potential and stay in perfect condition. For these goals to be realised, you will need to store the wine in cellar conditions identical to those in a real cellar.

These conditions are between 12 or 13 degrees Celsius without fluctuation, the humidity must be from 60% to 80%. There ideally, must be also be protection form light and vibration. A typical solution would be a wine cabinet or a walk in wine room complete with cellar conditioners.

Once you have decided where your fine wine collection is to be stored, you must now consider in what it should be held. A typical wine storage rack will made of wood or steel. The wood, oak or mahogany, for instance, would be treated with preservative, especially useful in cellars which have high humidity. If you opt for a wall-mounted storage rack, remember that a sturdy shelf will be needed to support it.

There will usually be standard sizes of racks available, able to hold between one and four dozen bottles and you may add to these as your collection grows.

Should you have a chimney with a recess, it seems a shame not to make use of its recess for storing or displaying books or a collection of ornaments for example. It might also be a great way of keeping your children’s toys stored in plastic storage boxes.

Fixing shelves into the recess is one solution. Depending on how much space you have, it might be a great place for a computer station. You could still also have room to place a shelf above the computer desk and store books, disks and other items of stationery such as spare paper for the printer.

Several tools will be essential to do the job, such as spirit level, pencil, table saw, a hammer, a drill with masonry bit and battery screwdriver. Fix a wood batten on the wall by holding it against the wall, use the spirit level to make sure it is level and mark the wall with a pencil. Take the batten down again and drill a five millimetre hole in the middle of the batten.

Place the batten back on the wall and tap a nail through the hole into the wall to mark a starting point for the drill. Put the batten aside again and drill a hole into the wall. Push the wall-plug in and tap it home with the hammer. Replace the batten and screw it tight to the wall. You can now drill though the wood into the wall, push the plug through the wood into the wall and screw it in.

Adding a roof rack to your car can give great versatility, whether it’s for extra luggage for the holiday or skis to be used on that long weekend break in Davos.

Small commercial vans will also benefit from a roof rack. Typically, the racks will be sold with all the mounting hardware needed. The rack would have heavy duty steel cross bars, necessary to support its load capacity of up to 75 kg. It will usually attach directly to the van’s roof mounted fixture points.  It also may have side rails to help secure the load. It is a good idea to make sure that the company selling such storage racks has a nationally recognised certification to demonstrate its products’ quality and dependability to the customer.

For the bike riders, there are two basic solutions to carrying the cycles over a distance. One of these solutions is the rear door mounted bicycle rack, this would be ideal for fixing to the car’s rear door or its tailgate. Typically, the rack will have bike frame grips and security attachment straps and a load capacity of as much as 45 kg. It will usually be able to carry as many as three bikes. However if your car has a spoiler or plastic trim attached to the top of the tailgate, these racks are unsuitable.

The other solution would be the roof mounted bike carrier. Usually, the carrier will have aluminium arms fixed on a steel base. The carrier would attach to a car’s roof bars. Whilst looking at roof racks, garage shelving is also a good idea.

Whether you are a commercial artist or hobbyist, craft paper storage is going to be of great importance to you. Paper must be stored in a clean, dry environment, away from sunlight which causes yellowing and there are many ways of achieving this protection.

For example, a craft desk is available that will suit all your needs. The contents of its top drawers will be visible through its glass work surface. This particular feature will allow you to find your craft tools easily at a glance and the materials you will be using to make your hand-crafted items. The other benefit of this surface is that you could also use it to display your finished pieces of art-work without the inherent risk of their being damaged through repeated handling. There is an acid that exudes from everyone’s fingers which is extremely harmful to paper, which is why you are asked in some libraries to wear cotton gloves when handling antique books.

The self assembly craft desk will come with large and small totes. A tote is a bag with drop down plastic compartments to hold several pieces of work or sheets of paper and fold up to form a nylon holder for ease of carriage.

Another method of paper storage is the shelving unit. This unit will, typically, be made up of wide, shallow drawers, capable of holding paper sizes A0 and smaller. The units may be available as complete systems or ones that are able to be added on to at a later date.

A Scandinavian company founded in 1943 pioneered the concept of self-assembly or flat-packed furniture. Everything from bookcases and shelving systems to lamp-shades and chairs were designed and sold. Some of the furniture has been inspired by renowned Scandinavian designers. At first the company did not sell furniture. It began by selling stationery and watches, and then expanded into the sale of furniture in 1956.

One of the benefits of buying self-assembly shelves, tables and so forth is its comparative affordability. Since they are modular in nature, the systems can be added to if necessary without appearing to be awkward or out of place. An avid collector of books, for example, or nowadays DVDs is able to buy and assemble inexpensive bookcases or shelving systems then as his or her collections of books or DVDs grow so do their containers.

As well as being practical, self-assembly furniture is versatile. Shelves can be used anywhere in the house, or indeed outside in the garage or shed for instance.

This particular furniture company has made such an impression over the years that, in Germany, a museum has organised an exhibition of their products. Celebrities have been known to browse this company’s stores, so it is obvious that its main attraction is not its low prices, since these are people who could shop elsewhere at more expensive places. The concept of flat-pack furniture has become popular with manufacturers worldwide and there are many DIY companies and superstores that now design their own fitted kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms based on the idea.

Tomatoes need a regular drink of water otherwise they will develop split skins and blossom end rot. They are not on their own in this, since all the plants in your greenhouse will suffer if you skimp on keeping them watered on a daily basis. If you have the greenhouse some distance away from a water supply, then carrying watering cans to and from the greenhouse becomes a real chore and you might be tempted to skip a day or two.

So, once you have built your greenhouse, fitted it out with shelves, storage racks and all the other items you need, consider the potential problems with keeping your plants watered on a regular basis to ensure a good crop. If your greenhouse has a gutter, perhaps a water butt would be a possible solution. Although even without a gutter, the butt would still collect plenty of rainwater, something of which Britain is very rarely short. An old dustbin would be ideal for the job, especially if your local council has just provided you with a wheeled bin but refused to take away the old bin. Incidentally the bin could also be used to make compost from garden waste, leaves, grass cuttings and fruit and vegetable peelings. You will need to punch holes into the bin, since the air must get to the waste and encourage the decomposition process.

Other systems are also available, automatic water reservoirs will even allow you to take a few days off. The bag drip watering system is also quite popular.

Over 25% of accidents in workplaces each year are caused by incorrect manual handling techniques. Transporting, supporting heavy loads by hand, for example.

Fractures or strains, especially of the back, are not uncommon and most of these injuries could have been avoided with the use of correct techniques.

Other ways of minimising accidents include to redesign or automate the task to cut down the amount of manual handling needed, thorough risk assessment of the task and as far as possible reduce the risk of injury when manual handling is unavoidable. The in-house Health and Safety officer should carry out the risk assessment since they are going to be more familiar with the work being carried out there.

For instance, a job involving the stacking of shelves, the H & S officer would need to consider factors such as:

•    The height of the job and shelves or racking from the ground
•    The surface upon which the access equipment will rest. For example, the shelves or a partition wall
•    Whether the surface will be strong enough to take the weight of the equipment and the workers
•    The condition of the ground upon which the access equipment will rest
•    Lighting conditions in the work area

The job should then be carefully planned out. Heavier items should be stored lower down; other workers should be kept away from the area to avoid injuries from falling objects. Tools that will be used frequently should be kept close at hand and easily accessible. Frequent breaks, especially if working up a ladder, should be taken.