Jessica Hollywell
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Why Do Three Cleaners Quote Three Different Prices for the Same Two-Bed?
Three of us walked the same flat in Bermondsey last October, within about a week of each other. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, a galley…
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Can You Pass a London Check-Out Inspection Using Eco Products Only?
“The oven has to smell of oven cleaner or she’ll mark it down.” That was a letting agent in Bow, said to me in…
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Is Floor Sanding Dust Worse Than Plaster Dust in a Victorian Terrace?
Floor sanding dust is worse. Not by a little, and for reasons that have almost nothing to do with how much of it there…
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Is Microfibre an Eco Product If It Sheds Plastic Into Every Wash?
No. It’s a plastic textile that sheds plastic, and calling it eco because it lets you use less chemical is a sleight of hand…
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How Cold Can You Let a London Flat Get Before the Condensation Starts?
The call came in on the second Tuesday of January, which is when they always come. A woman in Catford, two children, a ground-floor…
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Can Eco Products Shift London Limescale, or Do You Need the Acid?
A shower running eight minutes a day at ten litres a minute puts roughly twenty-nine thousand litres through the head in a year. At…
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Why Does the Bathroom Sealant Go Black Again Six Weeks After You’ve Replaced It?
Go and press it. Fingernail into the bead where the bath meets the tiles, about a hand’s width from the taps, and push in…
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Which Jobs Does Vinegar Do Properly, and Which Ones Does It Only Smell Like It’s Done?
“I don’t want chemicals in the house, I’ve got vinegar.” She had. Two litres of it, own-brand, standing next to a box of bicarbonate…
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How Long Does Plaster Dust Keep Coming Back After a Loft Conversion?
You notice it first on a laptop screen. Not the screen you use every day, the one on the shelf, tilted, catching the light…
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Should You Pay a London Cleaner Cash in Hand, or Go Through an Agency?
Nobody in my trade answers this one straight, because both honest answers cost us something. Say cash is fine and it sounds like we’re…