Recent content by iwaters

I've got a large cast iron BBQ I want to position on soft earth. I want to lay a concrete pad to support it. I've got quite a few bags of postcrete left from a deck I built. I know the finish won't be the same but I have a rubber mat to cover it. What's the best way of using this. Build a...

I'm just finishing building a deck. God its been hard going. Anyway I'd like to wrap it all up and oil it this weekend but reading the various guidelines for the oil it says to weather it. The times vary from a few weeks to a few months. Anyway I can skip this step? Washing it first maybe. Im...

Great, thanks all.

Hi, I need to fix a 2x6 ledger board to the house for a deck. The house is cavity wall and I assume the outer bricks are 100mm. Length of the board is 4.75 m What fixings should I use? Ive looked around on the internet and there are all sorts of suggestions and I dont know which are best...

Hi all, I am building a floating deck. It wont be very high, but the drop from the patio door to ground is larger than a natural step so need to bring it up a couple of hundred mm. I am trying to work out how many posts I need. The deck will be 4.5 x 3.6 m with the deck boards running along...

I am making my own outdoor pizza oven and I want to construct the base using railway sleepers. Should I lay these directly on the ground, or should they sit on a concrete base? I am worried if they are on a concrete base water will pool and it will rot the sleepers. Any suggestions? Its...

Hi, I want to make a rectangular frame from aluminium extrusion 2020. But I want the corners to be connected with bearings so the frame can pivot about the centre of the long sides. i.e. the two short sides can move forward / backwards along a plane but remain at the same angle. I am...

I have a Bosch Clasicsxx SMS40C02GB dishwasher. During a programme it tripped the electrics and when it finished its cycle it had E09 error. This seems to be related to heating. It is now not heating. I have checked the PCB and that seems fine so I am guessing the heating element. I will...

I have a Mira Miniduo EV shower unit which is abou 2 years old. It has all of a sudden become really hard to turn on and off. Was fine one day the next had to really force the lever to stop the water. Any ideas why this might be? I assume the cartridge isn't user serviceable so do I need a...

Ok thanks. What does the condenser look like roughly?

I have a Indesit washer drier, quite possible the worse kitchen appliance I have ever owned. Its current fault is the drier doesn't seem to work. Clothes come out soaking wet, seemingly wetter than when they went in. The are also very hot. The heater element obviously seems to be working...

Wrong forum! It can be. An overly thick render can prevent water escaping as it cracks, water penetrates then can't get out. If you have had a new DPC then possible previously it was escaping. Damp issues are often caused by or made worse by the way the house is used and lack of...

You should use hardibacker where ever a region is likely to get wet, so a shower over a bath is a good place to use it. Hardibacker is more expensive than plasterboard but not much so any savings by scrimping on it are not going to be much. Plasterboard does not like getting wet. You...

As its your first time you will probably be quite slow to lay the tile. I would either use an non rapid setting adhesive or if you do use the rapidset mix it up in very small quantities and thoroughly clean the tools and bucket between mixes. The first floor i did with rapid set and mix...

If you have their reg number you insurer will be able to get their details from the insurance database. I had the same a few years back. Your legal protection will sue the other insurer for the cost. It takes a while though. When I went through the other insurer waited until the day before...