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What is the chance of being able to remove wall tiles in our kitchen and making good the walls well enough to emulsion?

Thanks for your replies - I really appreciate it. I'll mull it over and let you know how I get on.

Thanks for replying. I'm really looking to use up the materials I have left - builders & sharp sand and cement. No willing kids; grandkids or hubby. I hired a student for a few days but he was unreliable and inexperienced.

Not possible! I have a huge area of patio and my damaged knees won't allow me to get down to ground level! The work I've done so far in relaying the slabs has caused possibly long lasting problems, so it's got to be a brush-in job or nothing! BTW - I'm a semi-retired, female.........not that...

My patio job is almost complete and I just need to point the slabs. Advice so far is to use cement/silver sand 1:1 dry mix and brush in where the gaps are less than 1/2" and where gaps are greater, to use cement/builders sand 1:3 and again brush in. The above is on the basis that it will set...

I'm redesigning my patio with new walls, flower beds etc and relaying the old concrete slabs. I've bought a 9" angle grinder and have used a stone cutting disc for cutting bricks. Now I need to cut 19 metres of old-fashioned concrete slabs into single brick-width copings plus lots of cuts in...

I'm using two. A 48" fisco and a short wooden level which is good where space is limited. I've just ordered a Silverline 600 mm digital spirit level with self calibration, audible alarm, LCD display, data hold button, bells and whistles, and am also making enquiries about some professional...

Is there a spirit level available which has a large, clear display? I'm building a brick wall and having trouble seeing the display clearly and getting the level exact!

No :shock: A horizontal bend! A corner! That oblong shape is an old pond from which one side has been dug out. The diggings extend along the lower level of the patio, diagonally. So on the outer corner of the pond will be an angle......or corner. How do I do that?

Thanks for the replies - they've solved the problem. The next problem is bricklaying! Any ideas on how to build walls with an angle of about 60 degrees?

Thanks Woody. I've been mixing/pouring foundations today (I'm so tired I can hardly think!) but the wretched thing has been getting more and more gunked up. I've had to scrape it out after almost every mix otherwise it gets so heavy I can't control how much to tip out - I don't tip out the...

Thanks - that advice is much appreciated. There can be as much as half hour intervals between using it during the day - can I use the same load of gravel each time???? Then use it again when I've finished for the day?

Any tips for preventing cement sticking to the inside of a cement mixer? I clean it out after I've finished for the day, but poking about inside it with a spade is a pain!

I have a ride on mower with trailer which I use to bring heavy materials to a new area of patio. I need to access the far end of the patio and I can choose between driving over a rough area and possibly puncturing the trailer tyres (they've been punctured 3 times by thorns in the last week); or...

If this works.....it shows the lower level patio looking south. Slabs have been lifted to allow a digger and dumper to extract earth. Upper level on left, showing old pond. The area between the pond and the lower level has now been dug out. New walls are needed to line the pond and...

Thanks for the replies. If ever you need a bean counter's advice....... 8) The total area of the patio is approx 130 sq metres. A lot of this is already loose laid and should only need cosmetic work. 37.5 sq mtrs have had slabs lifted to avoid breakage while heavy construction machinery is...

Thanks for the replies. I tried taking measurements to a builders merchant but they came a bit too close to telling me to take up flower arranging! :evil: Anyway, the job is too big for bulk bag supplies and the savings to be made on loose supplies is too great to loose (I'm a female...

Thanks Pete. That's really helpful! I was under the impression this was/is the correct place to ask for advice and help. Perhaps it would help you if I pose my questions slowly and in words of one syllable so you won't get so easily confused! As you'll see from my post, the information I've...

I need to estimate materials for laying a patio and building various walls. It's been suggested I buy limestone for bedding in the patio slabs and I estimate I'll need one cubic metre for this. For the foundations - what quantities of what should be used? I'd prefer to use the combined...

Thanks again Woody. I'm now looking at the Screwfix catalogue and the two possibles are the Mastermix 130 and the Minimix 150. My preference is the Mastermix as it weighs less and appeals to my Very Independant nature! :) Am also watching three on ebay which could be collected on the next...