Recent content by MarkWoody

Hi All, We are putting a new toilet in the new loft room and need to extend the existing soil and vent pipe from outside the house through into the eves and up to a new vent terminal high on the roof. The problem is getting the pipe into the eves - there is a very tricky and tight bend to...

No bung on the end!! This is a total blockage - not even a tiny bit of air will leak through. I guess I'll have to try and find where the blockage is, cut it out and re-join. But the whole idea of the long length was to avoid joins in hard to get at places. I'll let you know what I find....

I've just installed a long length of John Guest Speedfit BPEX pipe only to find that it is completely blocked. I can't blow down it at all, another length similarly installed is OK. I've checked the length of pipe - approx 20m - which takes a circuitous route around the loft (through joists...

Thanks for all the advice. Think I'll just board the ceiling first where the walls will be to start with - that'll leave access for the electrics etc. I think a continuous 12.5 plasterboard ceiling must give some advantages with fire regs etc.

OK Thanks for the help.

We are converting the loft in our house and have put a new floor in place and new rafters etc. Currently we have a large open space which needs dividing up with partition walls. Do the partition stud walls get errected before the ceiling is boarded - or do we first plasterboard the ceiling -...

We are nearing the end of a loft conversion and need to put some ventilation high up on the roof face (the eaves are already well ventilated). Has anyone had any experience of any of the dry-fix vented ridge systems such as the Klober Roll-Fix. Do they last? ..or is it better to simply...

Yes there are collars to be fitted. I've got one new rafter in now and tried to centre it and all looks ok - slightly out at the top and slightly out at the bottom. Its still nailed to the old rafter along its length so it should give the extra support. The biggest problem is going to be...

WE refers to the wife - Arn't they experts in everything ????? Thanks everybody...

Thanks for the reply. I know the new rafters have to go from the ridgeboard to the new purlin wall, but the problem is that the existing rafters have sagged over the years so when the new deeper (straight) rafters are placed alongside they dont line up all the way. Ie. if they meet at the...

Hi, We are in the middle of a loft conversion and are in the process of removing the existing purlins and fitting a new 'purlin wall' lower down the roof slope. (the purlins are out and the roof is currently supported by 24 temporary vertical supports, one on each rafter) To take account of...

Thanks everyone for there input. We decided to put a new heavy duty steel box lintel above the window just to be on the safe side. Probably a bit overkill but at last we know it's safe. Mark

We need to move an upstairs window by approx 600mm to make room for a new loft staircase. Currently there is a wooden lintel in place above the window which will need replacing. The loft extenstion has a large beam directly above the new window position with a loading of 8KN on the wall...

I have to fit timber joists into the webbing of steel UB joists. The span of the joists varies due to stair openings etc and the designer has specified different sized joists for the different spans. What type of material should I use to pack out the bottom of the smaller joists in the steel...

OK - Thanks for the help and suggestions. Simpsons do some hangers with concealed flanges (SAI range) which I think should do the job. These can be used alongside each other with no minimum gap. http://www.strongtie.co.uk/product_search3.php?family_id=9&category_id=101