The Really Useful Column

Stainless reputation

Water damage causes untold misery for home-owners. But there is a product on the market called Flood Check, which acts as the "guardian angel" of your water supply. By monitoring the water flow, it works out if you have gone on holiday, have accidentally left a tap running or the pipes have burst or started to freeze, and disconnects the supply.

Costing £79.99, Flood Check is simply plumbed into the mains pipe. The clever lowmaintenance gadget only requires a nearby electricity supply. Call 0845 456 9984, or visit www.floodcheck.net.

Suck it and see

If you are into what I call clever furniture and accessories, take a look at www.suck.uk.com.

Set up by two young designers and graduates from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, the website is packed full of wonderful inventions such as the award-winning steel-andglass coffee table with illuminated top (£1,500), the magnetic mirror (£100) and a kick stool with a built-in magazine rack (£275). The designs manage to combine form with function, and the ideas are really innovative.

Call 020 7923 0011.

Illuminating ideas

Lighting helps you get the most out of a room, and I have just discovered a brilliant website that offers an online lighting design service. You simply log on to www.light-myhouseco.uk, choose a room in the interactive house, browse through a range of fittings for it and then call the lighting team, who design a tailormade layout for your home. Products come with a one-year guarantee. The website claims to offer superior lighting products at chain-store prices and there are regular special offers. Call 01622 812834.

Fibre reviver

Having recently left rented accommodation to move into our new flat, I was faced with the depressing task of cleaning the property for the handover. However, the job was made much easier when I discovered the new Bissell ProHeat Pro-Tech carpet cleaner. A brilliant piece of equipment that heats the water as it shampoos the carpet and has built-in Scotchgard Protector, the Bissell made old and worn carpets look five years younger. It is a first-class piece of equipment, available from Tesco for £219 and all major electrical retailers. Call 0870 225 0109.

Tradesman of the week

A reader recommendation came in for a team of New Zealand builders called Atomic Developments. The firm is run by two old schoolfriends, one an architect and the other a builder, who were particularly praised for their professionalism, attention to detail, clever design ideas and the fact that
they were nice to the neighbours. They came in on time and within budget. Contact Ed McBeath on 07939 591334.