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Zinsser fixed a problem we had with peeling paint over a shower. Wouldnt use anything else now.

Haha, as with odd socks, there is somebody somewhere that must have a few million tape measures by now.

This is one view and a pessimistic one (Also one that fits the oil and gas industry - it's hopeless so just keep buying our product) But action can and has been taken collectively. Anyone remember the ozone layer? If every country does their bit then we can have an effect. What definitely won't work is going "oh china blah blah let's not do anything"

i pole sanded my ceilings and walls and quite often i dab on a bit of thick contract where there may be a little nick or divot and then just flat that back once dry. I find that works way better than any filler and it sands like its not even there with a sanding sponge. Ok thats what i'll do in the bathroom as well then, then cover in Diamon or more likely the Zinsser. I did my plastering in the bathroom as its only small so im ok to smother that in contract to fill it bits i may have left a bit rough. Cheers lads.

Very sensible Don't forget to advise her to avoid a south facing garden or lots of south facing glass. And check the soil type. Clay areas will see alot more subsidence.

We are now past the point where we can avoid adaption, but we can still control the amount of adaption. If we try to reduce the amount of warming the adaptions we have make might not be too expensive and crucially can be made at slower pace. This is especially important for infrastructure where the natural replacement cycles are fairly long. But if we allow warming and the associated climate change to go unchecked (by ditching "net stupid zero" as some very stupid politicians advocate) the costs of adaption really start to mount up. Consider the asphalt on out roads is engineered for a specific temperature range that matches our historic climate. If our summers get hotter out roads will all start to need resurfacing. Our railways will need to be relaid to allow for the higher temperatures causing higher levels of track expansion. If rainfall levels increase our gutters on our houses will need to be replaced *and* our storm drains upsized. And then there are the cultural impacts. The same politicians who are against net zero tend to be extremely attached to a certain (and nebulous) idea of our natural culture. That will change as the climate changes - and some wag will say cash "warm summers and BBQs great" but it will be things like working hours, design of houses, clothing, the food we eat, the beer we drink etc. Adaption is expensive.

At the more extreme projections, it wont be pretty. But they are that, projections. People will find a way to survive. But maybe not all of them.

Be very wary as width, length and depth are often confused. It is errors such as these that can lead to screwups. For kitchens I consider length and width to be side-to-side and depth to be front-to-back. Height and thickness can also cause confusion. With some of the induction hobs in a 600 deep worktop there is often only 50mm remaining front and back after the cutout.

No. Any big brand tape will be good. They cost £4, work well, fit in your pocket and it doesn't matter much when it disappears or you drop it.

Not for the last 35 years, and not for the next however many I have left to go.

Anyone using something like this ? https://youtu.be/w7lcKytNIS4?si=3O13yhXyxCN8vYHi

Looking to get my integral garage floor slab poured soon and would like opinions on two things. 1. The transition point between concrete floor slab and the tarmac drive. 2. Depth of floor slab at the back of the garage where the fire door to house is, and the entrance to outdoors end. ------------- 1 - I was thinking of adding a row of 200 x 50mm pin kerbs between the reveals to either side of the house outer block course as the concrete tarmac divide. But which side will be better? The inside means less concrete is visible from outside. Or if its outside at least the concrete finishes flush with the outside house brickwork & any kerbing i need to run around the facing stone meets the threshold kerbing neatly. I'm more concerned that will the tarmac could eventually crack if its laid over type one and then 100mm of block. Bith should be solid, but? 2 - Garage is integral to the house. Block and beam sits 225mm below house FFL. Garage is 6.75m long. Concrete with fibres in will be used. If correct B regs says you have two choices. Either a minimum 100mm step down into the garage and then the floor can be level, or a continual slope to outside. I always thought it was both. Surely a flat concrete floor would be easier to lay and float off than a small slope?

Agreed. This needs prior discussion with all your teams to agree what reasonable means.

My point is that most people don't know that. Or that tapes come in 3 degrees of accuracy and some are beyond that and just wrong.

OK Yes I am fully aware of measurement errors, and manufacturing or building tolerances etc. etc. But IMO that isn't really a reason to just wave your hands too much, go whatever, and ignore things. Otherwise things can escalate. Be as precise as you reasonably can and they won't escalate. Specify 1.5mm wrong on position, and 1.5mm wrong on incorrectly understanding tolerance, cut 2mm wrong, shift the worktop along 2mm when fitting - get unlucky and you are 7mm wrong now. Maybe it still won't matter, or maybe something will foul and someone is £7k down and 2 months late.

That is to compress by the thickness of the tab on the end, when measuring against something, and the opposite happens when you stretch it by hooking the tab and pulling on the tape. That’s not loose by mistake, it’s by design, and functions specifically to add / remove that 1.5mm or so .

That's someone who doesn't understand numbers. Slide rule use proved useful in Engineering as it was all approximate and required the undersranding of significant figures. Btw have you noticed the "loose" end on a steel measuring tape? I don't usually worry about using it " correctly" but there is a variable straight away.

Those with a bit of foresight would have been "adapting" for a long time. I would not as a matter of course buy a house less than 10 metres above sea level or built on a river flood plain. If everybody had planned ahead like that, no such new houses would have been built like that over say the last 20 years. But if that is the only place planners will grant permission then the sheeple have been ushered into a whole load of expensive trouble ahead. I have been sharing this wisdom with my daughter who is buying her first house. I have advised her not to consider any in the area she is currently renting as there is a flood history there (next to a river) She has settled on one in a different part of town much higher up.

I think you have to change your expectations or nothing will suit. I don't know when I last used a decimal mm in construction. I appreciate it may be a mindset and things like cutlery laid approximately can be an issue. I'd be interested to know what measurement would have been acceptable 1mm? 0.5mm? Measuring tapes aren't even that accurate. pencils get thicker as you draw a line. Saw blades have thicknesses, materials are variable, hands are not machines. There will be many worse discrepancies in your house should you choose to look for them. Nobody else will notice.

Yes, thanks Rick, good words. It is just the small stuff that makes you doubt - if someone is getting one cut off centre for no reason - why can't they see that themselves, especially when presenting me ridiculous pseudo accurate measurements to 100th of a millimetre. It is slightly wrong, but very precisely so, sir. I know it won't be mm perfect, but like a photon through a pair of slits, if you stop looking it will smudge out in unexpected ways 🤣 You know my concrete floor was only 12mm too high, but necessitated changing the heating system, my bifold was 10mm wrong (but actually wasn't) and had a carpenter chiseling down a 3.5m timber for no good reason. It's Britain sir, and it's wonky - move to Germany sir.

Oh dear lord……..

In my case, the handrails came in such cardboard tubes. However, in this particular case all three have started to come apart. I've decided the whole lot is being returned for a refund and I'll go somewhere else here in Kernow that has been recommended. In a strange way, I am happy to hear that there are many other examples of crap packaging and delivery techniques happening across the country

🤣 Definitely over thinking this one. That's well within fitting tolerance. Whoever fits it on the day will get it approx there and if you are measuring the the millimetre after it's installed you are going to be disappointed. If it looks good, it is good and you won't be able to see 1.5mm by eye. You need a bit of wiggle room as everything moves with temperature and at different rates. 2mm each end will be sealed with a sealant. Obviously, it's an area when you can give clear instructions/supervision. "I want a minimally visible sealant bead". 2mm is going to be required to fit the slab. Understandable, but think in this case your expectations are a little high and could maybe get you in trouble. Focus on the visual result and not the millimetre. Increased precision increases cost exponentially (or more).

Yes. I used one of those hollow diamond-tipped drills with wax in the internal 'hollow'. I dribbled splashes of water to help form a grinding paste - interesting to watch the water on and in the surrounding stone evaporate after a few moments - cue for another splash of water. I find myself increasingly using AI to solve little problems like this. Annoyingly, I also find that AI (Gemini in this case) just plain wrong. Hence the check-question to BH. Thanks everyone for your help.

Just to be clear here, are you trying to order the worktop from the stone supplier with just a drawing of it and not a full size physical template cut by them on site from plywood? If so that sounds most unusual and very risky. One observation from your photo that you have noticed is your right hand wall is not at 90 degrees and you have some run out. That is going to make sliding the complete top into place hard. Assuming the run out continues forward beyond the front of the worktop, it will have to be even shorter to get it to slide in. A physical full size plywood template on site will resolve this and they will be certain if the template slides in, then the worktop will. For my own stone window cill on discussion with the men on site to template it all, I cut back the plasterboard either side of the window reveal and filled the small gap after the stone was fitted.