One of the most extreme winters on record has had a devastating effect on homes across the country - but delivered a huge boost to the home improvement market.
According to new figures released by GfK, the strong winds, torrential rain and associated flooding have led to a significant increase in demand in a number of categories.

Between December and February, sales of damp-proof paint grew by 53% in value when compared to the same period a year earlier, while value sales of fencing, trellis, stakes and canes rocketed by 120% as repairs and replacements were carried out after the storms.

As reported by Forest Garden, the surge in demand has now resulted in a long-term fence panel shortage.

As households struggled to deal with flooding, GfK says pump sales also rose by 17%, while dehumidifiers grew by 10%.

The milder weather also meant people could get outside to start the clean-up process in their gardens, boosting value sales of powered blow vacs by 56%, high-pressure cleaners by 19%, chain saws 13% and garden shredders 5%.

Contrastingly sales of garden hand tools were down 11% over the period, driven by a decline in snow tool sales.

Simon Foy, GfK account director said: "The widespread flooding is having a real impact on thousands of homes and we have seen the effect on home improvement sectors as essential repair work is carried out.

"The milder temperatures have allowed people to get out into their gardens too, but conversely this has led to a huge decline in snow tool sales within the garden hand tools category."