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Hi all. A friend of mine is a brick pointer. He has been asked to quote a really small job. The job consists of hacking out the old pointing and repointing. No scaffolding, just ground floor stepladder based. The potential customer has asked for a public liability certificate to keep his...

A customer of mine recently fell out with her builder. She commissioned someone to create a 233 page snag list. I have scanned some of it. A lot of the report seems to make sense but there are a couple of bits that surprised me. The property was a first floor maisonette, An additional floor...

A few weeks ago, I was waiting for a tube train at White City station. On the other side of the track a 6 story building is being built. Hanging over the side of a building was what I assumed was a person in a harness. I became slightly concerned that the "person" was not moving. I then noticed...

Hi all My first foam gun was a basic Bond-It gun that had a plastic ball bearing (it was free with a case of Bond-It foam. I tried to strip it down but the plastic ball could not be removed. My next purchase was a cheap gun from Amazon. I liked the fact that it had tapered nozzles. I found...

I have been trying to troubleshoot my mum's bath/shower valve. https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/crosswater-3-way-thermostatic-valve-90-mins-to-run-a-bath.625578/#post-5679705 Today, I used a slotted screwdriver to close the two isolating valves. I pulled the thermostatic cartridge out and...

Hi all A customer has recently purchased an first floor maisonette and then turned it into two separate flats, first floor and second floor. The "builders" ran two sets of CAT 6 cable down to the porch (and back up to each flat) and 2.5mm T&E (not sure why, or where from). She wants a video...

Hi all, my mum has the same crosswater thermostatic valve that I have. Mine is mains water pressure, hers is on a gravity fed system. Over time, the pressure on hers has been dropping off (substantially). It looks like the following (but with slightly different tap heads)...

A mate is hacking render off a yellow London stock and red rubber brick house. The render is off now and he is busy replacing the red rubber bricks and polishing the yellow stocks. However when he removed the render from the porch area the uPVC "architrave" around the uPVC front door cracked...

A customer asked a "tradesman" to drill a hole in a wall. Not his fault but he drilled through what I thing is part of the ring, It tripped the RCD. I need to cut a hole in the plaster to sort it out. I am planning to use the inline Wagos. Is there a mainfree box that goes with that?

A customer wants me to extend a Cat cable from one side of the door frame to the other. It will be used to power a door entry system. I have no idea if it will be an electromagnetic lock (for the front door) or just audio or audio and video. The extension will buried in a stud wall. Can I fit...

I have only just noticed that Screwfix are tagging battery powered tools (sold with the battery, rather than bare bones) as "saving energy at home". https://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/sds-drills/cat830818 Are they suggesting that homeowners should charge their devices in properties owned by...

Hi all Went to look at a job today. The customer mentioned that he plans to convert his attic into a habitable area (currently a 2 story end of terrace). He said he had been granted planning permission. I asked him if he will need to replace door liners and fit self closers (Perkos). He said...

A customer has a door into a bedroom that has a gap that is in excess of 20mm on the underside. I told her that I could splice in a bit of timber using epoxy resin, but I have no idea if that is legal from a fire regs point of view. I would rather that she doesn't need another 30 min FD door...

Hi all I visited a customer's home today. She purchased a two story maisonette (first and second floor). She converted the property into two single story flats. Her builder was a tad fly by night and did a number of things incorrectly. Today, she asked me if the following is legal. The...

A customer wants me to quote to supply a 1.8m (wide) by 0.6m trellis that will go above the side entrance to his property and his neighbour's. I am guessing that I need a treated sawn timber. Any recommendations for the timber from the likes of Selco or Wickes (and yes, I am aware that neither...

I was chatting to my mum the other day, As a child with a permanent sun tan, that always felt comfortable visiting her Irish home town, I naïvely worked on the assumption that as a nation of people, they weren't racists. She recounted a story about her, at very short notice, borrowing money to...

I was recently asked to use flashband on a polycarbonate roof where it meets the brick work. At the time it was only about minus 2 degrees. Fortunately, I still had my heat gun on site. Initially, I set it at 100 degrees centigrade, I eventually ramped it up to 190. What is the optimal...

I was talking to a mate earlier today. His neighbour is supposed to have economy 7. They recently had a smart meter fitted. My mate noticed that during the daytime, the immersion heater has 240v running in to the heating element at the bottom of the tank. He is under the impression that the...

A friend has a Worx cordless drill, she says that drill bits fall out of the chuck. I told her that she can get a replacement chuck. I was expecting it to be held in place by an allen key bolt. On closer inspection it looks like a "phillips" type screwhead but I can not turn it in either...

I was looking for a new coat. I came across the following on ebay. It is a second hand coat. The listing (generated by ebay) says that it is discounted by 50% (vs RRP). I can see no way of flagging the item as being fraudulently described. The trade retailer is Heath Park Trading Limited. I...