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Thanks for the point of view Andy. In case anyone stumbles across this thread in the future, wondering the same thing, I did bend the pipe out of the way very gently and gingerly, and it was OK. Now that the new watermain has been connected I have removed the old lead pipe and I am pretty...

They are compression type. I got different ones from different places but I think the two which are failing were from Wickes.

Hi, I've just had a new MDPE water supply pipe connectd to replace the old lead one. In routing the pipe through the house I've used about 6 various fittings (stop cock, tees, MDPE-copper adapters) and of the 14 joints, two have slow leaks. I could cut off the ends of the pipes, replace...

Thanks. Will be by injection. The stuff in that link seems to be suitable, as does the stuff from Screwfix and Wickes. Trying to work out what there is to choose between them really - if anything is suitable I'll use Wickes as it's closest and I can pick up more on the day if I need it...

Hi, As part of my cellar conversion the structural engineer has specified a (C30) poured concrete beam with 6 "T20" (20mm ribbed steel) reinforcing bars, each set 10cm into the brick walls at either side with "resin". That's all he has specified, "resin". Plan is to drill...

So...

Out of interest, what would be the correct way to wire this if you wanted them switched by a light switch, along with the rest of the lights in the kitchen, for example? Others I've seen have the transformer on a lead, rather than a plug-top one. But if you do have a plug-top one, what's the...

Yep, thanks. I understand now that those are the correct definitions, but I've seen aggregate wrongly defined elsewhere. If I come across the link I'll post it for you all to see and ridicule :-) Thanks for the help all!

Thanks Hotrod, Deluks and Noseall for the clarifications - I'll take back a few bags of sand (keep a few for later) and get some more ballast. That point about aggregate being stone is NOT universally understood - I have absolutely definitely seen it used (even defined!) as synonymous with...

Looking back on this, I think there is confusion about what "aggregate" is. I think some sources refer to aggregate as being stone, and some people refer to it as being stones+sand. ("Ballast" seems to mean, unambiguously, stones+sand.) What I have is 20 bags of ballast, 10 bags of sand...

I've got ballast as well. Pieced together all the info I could find, and decided that my best bet for "not worse than C30" was for a 5:1 mix, or more accurately 3 ballast : 2 sand : 1 cement. So I have all that, but building sand instead of sharp sand. How do you mean it will be easier...

OK, I now have half a ton of ballast, sand and cement in my garage - and I think I may have ordered the wrong sand. I have building sand, and the recipes for concrete on the back of the cement packets say sharp sand. How important is this?

Hi, My lead watermain is on its way out - new MDPE pipe installed, waiting for the water board to inspect and connect - but it's not going to happen for a few weeks due to their backlog. In the mean time I could do with getting on with some building work in the vicinity of the old pipe...

That's exactly what I was planning to do, hence trying to work out the proportions by volume. Thanks!

All of which is fab and everything, but to quote the man.... As safe and over-engineered as it probably is, I'd still like to get as close to the specified mix as I reasonably can.

As opposed to what? Ta, Mark

Thanks both. According to alastairreid's link it's 300kg cement, 0.5m3 sand, 0.75m3 aggregate, which is a straight answer but still a bit awkward as two of those quantities are volume and the third one mass - which doesn't lend itself to how much of each I put into the mixer. It also...

Hi all, I have had a cellar support designed by an engineer, and it specifies, amongst other things, "C30" concrete (which defines its resistance to crushing, I think). I need about 0.6m3 of if, about 0.15m3 at a time (days or weeks in between), so it's just not worth getting readymix or...

It is very much a mystery. The engineer couldn't say he honestly knew why it didn't fall down. But it hasn't. And it's been through a world war in which the house over the road was literally destroyed by a bomb. It is slightly unnerving, to be honest. The option of filling the cavity...

Thanks Kev. What do you mean they will move? That the pipes will flex a bit as they take up the strain? Or that the fittings will unwind and I'll be flooded? Or something else?