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I am a builder, who has installed ventilation units before, but always under someone else's company. I am now quoting for my first job as a sole trader of a very simple through the wall HR30W Vent Axia shoe box type heat recovery ventilation unit. I have a few sparkies in mind to do the...

Hi everyone I'm familiar with sharpening the more common drill bits like HSS, Forstner, Auger etc, but there seems little info for glass/tile bits or masonry bits with their tungsten carbide tips. I read somewhere that a diamond or green silicon carbide grinding wheel would do the job for...

Hi A customer has a front garden wall separating them from their neighbours, perpendicular to their house. It has collapsed down to about only 3 courses. Nothing crashed into it, it just fell apart. It had a pillar in the middle to stabilise it, and the neighbour has the same wall on...

Just thought I would share this information since I have just done some research on it. My architect specified a hardwood internal sill 44mm thick. Being a small builder, I am always looking for off the shelf items, and I found this hard to get hold of locally. The delivery costs would...

Little update to my research if this helps anyone. Looks like we could use: Precast stone or concrete Yorkstone Blue Staffordshire Class A solid engineering bricks The terms I should be using would be "Threshold", "slab", or "lintel" General builders merchants occasionally stock...

My architect has specified a precast concrete door cill with a weatherstop to go under the front door. We had some custom precast stone cills put under the windows, but he says this would be a more off the shelf item, since you won't see it being under the door. I'm really struggling to...

I have two small ventilation heat recovery units. Only large enough to extract and supply to one room each per unit I have to fit a condensate trap to the underside of the unit, and then connect into the waste (one SVP and one RWP downpipe). I don't know why this is still such a...

Hi everyone Searched web but can't find an answer to this question. Why would you use a 3 stage process over a 2 stage jointing process for plasterboard? 2 stage seems so much simpler. Is it a cost issue? In addition, what is the best product for external angles greater than 90...

That's great TPT, thanks

I know this is the most asked question, but I have trawled the web and one thing is still not clear. I do understand that all tiles are "ceramic", but should typically be categorised as "porcelain" and "Non-porcelain". But for arguments sake I'll use "ceramic" and "porcelain" So it...

I have some Reisser woodcutter screws for fixing my hardiebacker boards to the stud wall. They are passivated. They will be tiled over with watewrproof tile adhesive. Should I be using stainless screws or will these be ok? And what are the hardiebacker screws coated with? Thanks

Just put a link to the sketch in original post

Hi all Relative newbie to carpentry. I gather that a few geometric and mathematical tools are handy in setting out a perpendicular stud wall such as the 3-4-5 rule, or using radii such as suggested here: http://www.fine-woodworking-for-your-home.com/Geometry.html That's fine, but I want...

I couldn't agree more. I went to see a local insurance company who used to do liability insurance for my dad as a tradesman. But she wanted to know if I was employed or self employed. I assumed I was self employed, but then I went to the HMRC site about being employed or self employed...

Hi all I started work for a small building company a little over a year ago now. After only a few months with the company, I was thrown in at the deep end and given a site to manage. All the guys onsite including myself are either self employed or agency. The guys who are self...

Hi Our structural engineer has specified double 50 x 175mm joists at 400cc for our span of 4.5m for a small portion of the floor where the floor is unsupported from below. The problem is that the width between the remaining single joists which either span over a block wall or are short...

Given the acceptance that this is a problem, I decided to go ahead and repair the whole thing. I cut a hole on the wall, which gave me access with a hammer drill. I chiselled away the bottom of the mortar to firstly check if there was indeed a wall tie, and a split in the dpc. I then cut back...