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Hi, I need to fit a drop-tight pressure reducing valve to supply a garden tap and associated accessories, as the house has very high water pressure. I do not want to worry about this PRV - I want The Best quality valve so once its installed I don't have to worry about it leaking after 12 months...

Hi, Given a maximum span for a pane of glass calculated from BS5516, I am wondering what happens when the pane is not rectangluar (e.g. it adjoins a gable) and the longest edge is larger than the max span? For example, Say you calculated the span to be 1m (two edge supported) and the...

Hi, Ive been trying to read about timber strength grading, I have found a number of tables and recommendations talking about the grades and cross sections required for things like decking and floor spans, but I wondered if someone could explain what strength grading means practically in more...

Hi, Looking around it seems that softwood, as might be expected, doesn't fare well outdoors for long periods, however I can still find examples of it being used. Is it possible to treat softwood so it is resilient enough to be used for large outdoor projects? What kind of lifespan does...

...the back of your hand? Refurbishing basement today and removing the ceiling; being an old house there is alot of wiring that is disconnected and can be safely removed, so one of my tasks was to pick apart the installation and find out which of the 50 year old cables I could take out...

Hello, I wondered if someone could do a quick sanity check on my glasshouse design and give me a yay or nay for my timber sizes in the following mockup (the timbers are colour coded). (Ignore the bay having no support for the minute ;)) Thanks for any input!

Hi, Following from my previous post, I want to construct a small glasshouse and would appreciate any comments/advice on the design from the pros. masona and ^woody^ have been very helpful in getting the roof to this point; its a very tricky one because the stone base is already built and...

Hi, I want to fix some coping stones to a breeze block wall and saw that Chemfix make a couple of products (Metobond and Epoxy Brick Adhesive) which seem to be just for this kind of job, but i've never used it before and had a couple of questions. 1. How does this stuff compare to mortar &...

Hello, I want to build a small glasshouse and am trying to work out the roof but its being a bit of a pain, and I wondered if the pros here could cast their critical eyes over it. The image below is what I have so far, but im wondering about the rafters that flank the valley. At the...

Hello, Long story short im having a pain of a time picking some timber sizes so I was wondering if someone here could help narrow down my options. Simple timber frame glass house on a stone base. About 3.5m accross and 2.2m deep with a shallow porch. Basic timber (glass) roof with a gable...

Hello, I want to construct a small summer house in the style of a Victorian greenhouse, like this: http://www.hartley-botanic.co.uk/imgs/gallery/victorian-glasshouses/victorian-villa.jpg but slightly simpler and smaller. The stone base is built, and I have (just about) designed the main...

Hi, Im going to wire up the summerhouse once complete in the garden, it will be supplied with power via a run of SWA from the main house. Near the summerhouse there are some lights and a couple of pumps which need to be connected up, what is the best way to do this? Anything buried will...

Hi, I am trying to get a CU changed from economy7 to full day rate so I can use it to power sockets etc outside. The guy from the power company came over this morning and said he had been told to remove the economy7 time-switch, making the CU redundant. As I expected the person on the...

Hi, I am trying to use an old storage heater radial to power a socket and fixed light/pump installation outdoors, I have got a 32A 30mA RCBO to replace the current fuse in the off peak CU. (I called the electric company and asked them to switch it over to full rate) To find which circuit...

Hi, I'm in the process of removing all the old storage heaters and replacing them. Each one was powered by its own radial circuit from a dedicated CU in the basement with one 100A breaker for all. Is it safe to terminate that radial with a double socket after removing the storage heater?