Recent content by Heversham

Air needs to flow through a chimney - you need a hole at the top and the bottom to create a draw, like a fire needs. You need an air brick or similar to allow air to be drawn up the chimney. Open fires and chimneys act as a kind of air extraction system. As warm air rises from the fire it...

Right then. Lime mortar is what most houses were built with until before WW2. It has been entirely replaced in modern construction with cement-based mortars. It is used as a mortar in wall construction, when the wall is made from brick or stone. It is also used as render for buildings made...

Makes sense. I think the 140mm lintel would be too deep - the existing slab is 150mm deep, and I'd need to allow for the flags and bedding course. What about using something like the mesh that's already there? I can't seem to find an equivalent, but maybe I'm looking for the wrong thing.

Would they break under the load? I thought lintels were supposed to support a distributed load. But if they would work, that's a great idea.

Hi all, I have a problem I’ve been puzzling over for weeks and could do with a steer on. I want to pave over this concrete slab with stone flags. The slab is suspended over part of the cellar. It replaced a skylight that let light into the cellar. It’s 150mm thick, sitting on a wire mesh...

That's the back of the chimney, no? It looks like fly ash or lime. It's very unlikely to contain asbestos. Can you see up the chimney? If it was my house (and I know it isn't) I'd keep that fire surround. It's a nice part of the original house, and it adds instant character. Once it's gone...

Great - thanks for the replies. Much appreciated. It's a two-pipe system and the dead legs could be removed from the F and R pipes and capped.

Hello, Hope someone can help me out. I'm looking at replacing two small, rusty pressed steel rads with a single cast iron one that's the right output for the room. One radiator suits the room layout better than two. Can I use the flow from one of the old rads and the return from the other to...