Recent content by mlse

Hiya, thanks for your reply, I had thought of going down the wooden route but [a] it will rot eventually (a concrete or brick solution will last longer) and [b] I won't actually save that much money (if any) in the long run going for the wooden solution over the concrete/brick/breeze block one...

I am in the process of putting in some raised beds in my back garden; I've dug trenches for the footings so far. My main concern is to keep the cost as low as possible while still achieving an agreeable finish (bearing in mind that my house is not Buckingham Palace, I just want something that...

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Many thanks for the replies that are informative and constructive!

Many thanks! I have some liquid DPM left over from when I did some damp-proofing in my conservatory, so I'll use that up the back of the wall. When you say "paint finish", I guess you mean either open-face of closed-face? I've seen both in reference to blocks. I will be painting them...

Hi all, I am planning to build a two-block high raised bed out of these blocks: http://www.ebuildingsupplies.co.uk/product/100mm-73n-440x215mm-solid-dense-concrete-block-/1001554/ Are these the right ones to use? I've chosen them because they're dense and solid and seem the right choice for...

Danke schoen :)

I am smartening up the back garden and the walls currently have what must be 25-year-old flaking masonry paint on them (it was like that when I bought the house). I'm thinking of either lots of paint-stripper, or a blowtorch, or a sandblaster from a tool hire place. What's the best/quickest...

I'm going to lay 28mm deck boards at right-angles to the joists over an old concrete base, which is sound, but just a bit cracked and uneven in places. How far apart should the joists be?

Hi, I plan to make up some cement to repair a concrete garage floor (the floor is sound, it just has a few chunks knocked out of it). I intend to use a 3:1 sharp sand/cement mix with either Waterproof PVA (the Unibond stuff) or SBR added to it for greater adhesion and strength. Which would...

Fairy snuff! Sounds logical, I won't bother with that idea then!

Lol! They're not the best then?

I am re-building a single-skin conservatory on the original brick walls. I want to insulate the walls using foil insulation - essentially, it is bubble wrap which has been silvered on both sides. It seems to me that the cost of a large roll of bubble wrap + a large roll of tin foil + a...

As others have said, battens are the way to do it - two rectangles to support each panel. Cut the panel carefully ... it's worth cutting it a little too large, then trimming to fit. Screw the panels onto the battens using the screws that come with little white plastic caps, then use a dot...