Search results

Thanks for all your replies. We don't have an iron monger around here, I did check. Fortunately, my neighbour returned from his holiday and he makes a living from putting up fencing. He gave me a 1kg bag of 40mm galvanised round wire nails from a company called Border Fencing in Bromsgrove.

Hello there, I have bought some feather edge fence panels and need to make them smaller. The nails used are round heads 38mm x 2.1 galvanised. Looking online, those are used in a nail gun and I don't have one. Can someone please tell me the closest match I can get to this? I only need about...

Thanks for your replies. Lots to think about :)

I've been scratching my head about where the electricity supply goes into the garage. The supply in the garage is old, I asked for an extra socket and the electricians said they wouldn't touch it until a new cable was fitted from the house to the garage. There is an old fuse board that uses...

Thanks for your replies. I am fairly certain it's not the water main, because the tap to turn the water supply off comes from the front of the house to the kitchen, not from the back of the house to the kitchen, so that makes me wonder what it is. I have looked at plans and the gas main also...

After more investigating, the clay pipe connects the gutter. It's strange because it takes a bend under the garage before bending back out away from the garage to the gutter drain pipe. I really need to know what the copper pipe is for, any ideas?

Yes, the clay drain is damaged. The small pipe is likely copper covered in a protective layer, something like petro tape, the same as the other two pipes I decommissioned. The gas meter is in our house.

I was tilling the soil to get it ready to lay slabs when bits of clay pipe started to appear. I was concerned about what it was for so I started putting water down different drains. Based on testing, it appears to be the pipe that takes the rainwater from the gutter of our garage. Why does it...

Hello there, we are getting our garden ready for turf and being realistic, we aren't going to get a chance to water the lawn twice a day to keep the new turf healthy. Has anyone had any luck with any sprinkler systems, is there one that you can recommend? We want something that can work...

Thank you very much, is there a certain type of topsoil that is best for turf and wooden play equipment?

When I looked into top soil, it said the recommended thickness was 5cm, which is why I was confused given I need 4 tonnes to fill a space 4.8 x 3m to a depth of 16cm.

Hello everyone, I am levelling out an area of the garden and read that the optimum amount of topsoil to use before laying turf is 5cm deep. The overall depth I need to raise the level by is 16cm. So in my mind, I need more substantial earth/mud beneath to build up the level more before putting...

Regular building sand is very fine by comparison though. I haven't come across any regular sand with particles/stones this size in them (3-4mm). That's why I assumed sharp sand, because that does have larger particles/stones in it. I'd love to know which builders sand was used and/or which is...

Thanks for all your replies. All window and door apertures on the garage and house look the same. What you see in line with the brickwork is render, I don't know what lurks behind and whether it spans further than the openings. You are right, the garage used to have wooden windows.

You are right, the property was built in 1958! I've been using 4:1 and only when I used sharp sand did I get a matching texture. I obtained the sample by rubbing using a hard brush between bricks and catching it with a dust pan, before cleaning it with brick acid and then water. In the past I...

Thanks for your replies. The mortar on the walls is the colour of the sample pot, as the cement film created by pointing has been washed and blown away so that the sand is exposed. It's clear the sand used is sharp sand, because it contains lots of little stones. I need to replicate that...

After going through brick acid and drying for two days, this is what it looks like in direct sunlight. Which colour do you think now?

Still think so? I'm putting this through brick acid to see what the colour is after all traces of cement removed.

If you are referring to photo 8, we have a garden gate that rests against the wall so the wall is a bit damp. These cracks have existed for much longer than anything we have done.

The garage has a flat roof and the top of the brickwork is hidden behind the plastic fascia. Does that make any difference? I can try and get a photo further back if not.