Search results

Yes you need much finer gravel, my brother has 20mm stuff and its awful (like yours?). Think about it its like having a floor of marbles or a mini ball park. what to do? One way or another you need to lift it and perhaps mix it up with some other gear. I wonder if you built a frame, say 1m...

A point not mentioned, is the render hollow in parts? If you put a ruler across a crack, has one side moved out? I do not believe that the whole rendering operation as done "in one hit", did they not stop for tea or lunch? How hot was the weather? Its just that blocks should not change...

I do not think your pine will look much after a couple of years due to the condensation dripping on them. They will also expand /contract so may spring from their fixings. Frank

Oversite?, insulation?, wood or screed? Give us a clue. Frank

Brick laying mortar does not have to be very strong - lime mortar for instance. I would compromise and use it in new mortar batches, say 10%. Frank

In 1980, I moved into a Victorian house with a partially failed DPC, the wall paper was hanging of in the hall wall due to rising damp in an internal wall. I had a chemical DPC injected. The process was guaranteed for 25 years. When I moved in 2011, there was still no damp (31 years), so the...

It looks as though its below the DPC, so the finish must be water proof. The obvious way would be to render it from say 3" below soil level to the base of the bricks, with a small angle on top. Its beyond my skill level (I think). Another thought is to clad the area with a plastic board, not...

Metal sheds normally suffer very badly from condensation. have you any plans to cope with this? Have you considered using P5 grade flooring boards . They are a higher grade tongue and groove chipboard which is damp resistant. Just had second thoughts, one metre between line of fixings is a...

"There are signs of rising damp in the front downstairs bedroom " If your house is fitted with a damp proof course (DPC), then it could be the outside ground level is too high or the rain water good are faulty , allowing gutters to slop water over the wall. If the house has a cavity it should...

I bought a secondhand sectional garage. Two of the uprights were actually broken, just hanging together by the reinforcing steel. As most(!) of the concrete was still there, I cleaned out the crack by bending them and brushed the gap out. Then I put in some epoxy putty and carefully laid them...

Your ideas seem to be sound, angle the top to the drive. One caveat though is that a cast iron cover might not be happy with the weight of a car wheel on it. I would research this before starting, or buy a new 2 1/2 ton cover, though it bends when you walk on it! Frank

So the roof is out of square? Frank

Decent front door and tightly fitted? Underfloor air vents? In proper sound studios, they use triple glazing with a total thickness of 6" with the centre pane at an angle. The internal frame is also lined with sound absorbent material. I looked on the St Goblin site to finnd the noise...

Looking at the corbelling (?), some of it is with cement mortar, the original is not. Where the strut (column) is, the two bricks its supporting are totally hanging of their mortar. So it was a right old bodge up from day one. I would take it down or put in some serious steel work to support the...

Do you mean main sewer? Was your house built after the block of 6?. Its just that they might have been built with a soak a way, which when your house was built, now lies under your garden. Also most domestic sewerage is in 4", most main sewer are at least 6" and there is a manhole at the...

What did you build the block walls on? Frank

Looking at the third picture there seems to be a crack between the floor and the wall on the left of the pillar. Thump the pillar with the flat of your hand, is it loose? It looks as thought the upper part of the pillar is hanging on the wall, which has not moved. Shame about the floor. Second...

I would add the dye to the mix (dry) then add water to get a workable mix. if you add the dye to the water, you don't know how much you will use , unless you dry your sand out first. Round here, Wixes soft sand is the colour of custard. Frank

As far I have have found water pipes are not put in ducts. I suppose it depends what sort of pipe you are using. I would just wrap some cardboard and plastic bags around the pipe where it passes through concrete. I would not ever use a breaker in these circumstances, the floor might break up...

As you don't want to have a down pipe in your new kitchen it will need to be modified. Also your new roof will need some form of drainage, it would seem to be a good idea to pick up the old drain outside of your new build. Frank