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To be fair, if they're the kind of bricks which can be cut with a whack from a trowel or a brick hammer, then that will surely be the best way. All depends whether it works or not on the kind of bricks you've got. Some do exactly as you'd hope, others just don't.

You could probably put a diamond blade in a chop saw of some kind, assuming you only have to cut a shallow line on the facing surface and the rest can be split/cracked open, it would only take a couple of seconds per brick to score them. Brick dust would probably kill the saw eventually though.

This might be a ridiculous suggestion, but you could try sanding it? With a power tool obviously, and a 40 grit pad. How big an area are we talking? Or just get it re-done...

Steel's a lot stronger, I'd have thought.

Thanks jeds. Regarding the water, the driveway has a gradient running down towards a drain channel (not sure what they're called, the kind you have in front of a garage door). This then merges into a pathway going perpendicular to it. It falls about 25cm over 5m, so that's about 1:20? I...

Hi folks, I'm considering laying about 30 square meters of self binding gravel for a driveway, plus doing about 30 meters worth of garden paths that come off this. I've read the PavingExpert site but the guidance from the actual suppliers of this stuff makes out you need serious equipment...

To be fair... The weight of your founds will be 5 times the weight of your conservatory, in all likelihood :shock: You'll need a foundation for your foundation. Unless the conservatory is massive I probably wouldn't worry about it too much, it's basically a glorified shed, I'm sure...

As above, you've got to get the plugs in to the brick somehow. If you drill a few holes in the skirting board first, then hold it in place and drill a little peck mark through each hole into the wall, you'll then remove the skirt and see where to drill the proper halls in the wall. Drill...

I would think to make mortar a gray colour you would just make it a strong mix, ie not much sand and lots of cement. You probably want to knock up a few sample bits to see whether it's right or not. 3:1 or 4:1 for example... instead of the usual 5:1 or 6:1...

I guess there's only so much you can do? Dig the founds as deep as you can get them, maybe make some 'pile' type elements inbetween any big roots which you can't cut through, I suppose you could even add a little concrete lintel over any big roots... Bottom line if there's a massive tree...

It would be pretty silly if it's okay for a cable to be clipped to one side of a wall (the sides humans are present using tools, saws, screwing things, etc), but not the other side! The cables can quite easily be pulled through conduit with two elbows, as I've done it before. A little fairy...

What I'm asking is whether or not there's a reason... Flora and forna, polystyrene beads, etc, all irrelevant in this instance as I've stated the cables will be in conduit securely fixed to the inner leaf and protected. Impossible to accidentally screw into when putting a shelf up...

Nobody has yet proposed an actual reason not to do this. Silly and completely baseless references to bridging cavities and protecting cables are just knee-jerk and thoughtless. There are 18 sockets in total, wall mount conduit will be in the way, and vulnerable to heavy machines, welding...

I'm talking about affixing conduit horizontally, from socket-to-socket, inside the cavity as it's being built, which avoids all of the things you've mentioned.

Hi folks, Just about to start putting up a cavity wall breezeblock garage and I've got a run of 6 sockets on each wall. Don't want any conduit on the walls if possible and don't want to chase in so many cables. I'm hoping to build conduit (or just raw cable?) in to the cavity as the...

Well I got talking to a neighbour over the road who has lived here since the dinosaurs and he confirmed there used to be Rediffusion cables all over the street... and pointed out an overhead one, made from the exact same stuff that I dug up, which still hasn't been removed. I guess that...

We do have a sewer but it turns out there's no pumping station involved, the water board are in contact with the builder and have approved the plans/spec/etc without any mention of such things. I've made a note of their location in case anybody does turn up saying that such-n-such has gone...

Thanks folks, I'm fairly convinced they are rediffusion cables now, seems to all make sense and certainly looks like they use that exact cable in some of those photos. The land they're on used to be a 'spare plot' owned by the council so maybe it had the distribution cabinet on it at some...

Just cut it open along the length, all 4 are twisted together, ie they're not in pairs.

Don't have a land line, but the house has an overhead connection from a telegraph pole, as do seemingly all the others on the street, so wouldn't expect any underground phone cables? They don't appear to be heading towards the house either, they're alongside it, I've marked them on the map...