SiBee

I thought Crosswater was a respected brand! The plated metal stuff in my bathroom is crosswater and looks and feels quality. Not very old though. All came in very fancy padded boxes and packaging. I know your paying for this and it only ends up in the bin anyway. I have a mixture of AXA crosswater, grohe, bauhaus, Kudos and Hudson Reed in our two bathrooms all expensive stuff but the quality is there. The downstairs toilet/ kitchen (over five years old now) are ideal standard and Bristan and again good stuff which still looks new. I did a friends bathroom with all budget stuff and it didn`t have the same "feel" but he and his partner wouldn`t appreciate the differences.

Hopefully we will be in the same position as you as we have an offer on a bungalow which was built in 1960. Have you looked at Wunda heating? They have retro fit systems. Hope the mention is okay as the company has had many mentions on the site? I have no affiliation, but the system seemed a good idea and I am sure other companies offer the same. Ripping out concrete floors is not an option for us so would stick with rads if under floor didn’t work out.

We have Amtico spacia (slate) in a newly refurbished bathroom thinking it to be a good alternative to tiles. I can see surface scratches in it already and we don’t use this bathroom. Really disappointed. Put solid oak flooring in the living room and diner over ten years ago. Looks nice but I have signs of water damage and board movement where a plot pot was leaking. Heel marks and scuffs from stuff under shoes can be seen and bleaching from the sun where rugs are down looks horrible. In reality, I am not going to sand the flooring. So for us and our experiences we will be trying engineered and laminate flooring. Our estate agent said most buyers wouldn’t even notice the flooring as real oak. For what we paid in oak could have paid for a few new laminate floors. Some of samples of modern laminate we have are really good.

Post resurrection! would any of you chaps know what spraying equipment you would use for paint suitable on upvc? I am thinking of spraying some older window frames (exterior) and some of the companies who do this sort of work are confident that next to no overspray is produced.

Was my first thought. Too many corners to turn for conveyor belts I think. I mentioned closer than 5m to the building as I thought this would have an impact? Soak away must be in excess of 5m from dwelling? Sorry OP for going off topic. I will be back for help if we complete on the purchase though

If your so bored then the bungalow we have put an offer on has an outdoor swimming pool in the back garden. It’s within 5m of the building and access to the rear is restricted to a width less than 1m. Feel free to formalise a plan of how to fill it in and put this in action?

Hi Daniel. you have found a fascinating site, enjoy the information on here and check out the blogs. We have put an offer on a 1960s bungalow after giving up searching for land to build on. Two years and many site visits proved maybe we can’t afford the dream.

Just to add from when I was an apprentice installing a massive cooling system using large pvc stuff. We had a site visit from a rep for the manufacturer to show us good installation practice. Key the mating surface and then clean using the solvent cleaner. Assemble joint quickly and then leave to cure/set. The only leaks we ever had came from joints that someone forgot to glue and just assembled dry? I recently helped our friends young lad fit his bathroom and he is a freshly trained plumber. He just cut pipes, applied the cement and assembled the joints. Said he was shown this way, never had leaks and they don’t have time to faff about on jobs.

If the dia of the shank is 18mm then its an SDS max. SDS and SDS plus use a 10mm dia and they are not compatible. You can buy adapters for the opposite way to what you want. You could cut the SDS part off and have some one machine the diameter to fit a normal chuck but then there is no going back.

The SBR recommendation has been posted many times on forums I read and suppliers I have talked to about such a task as you are doing. Interesting to learn that SBR is SBR, doesn’t matter what brand name is on the tub so go cheap as you can find?

Try phoning tilemaster and asking for the technical dept or speak to a company called Resapol. Used both and they are very helpful, sell quality stuff and know their products. Lots of the trade lads we use at work recommend them. Resapol supplied me with a floor leveller to smooth a hollow in a fork lift truck route, still sound after two years of traffic. It was a Weber product but can’t remember which.

I have 3 in our house and the oldest has been in some years. I think they are decent. The oldest is starting to make a bit of noise now but as with all these small fans, keeping the fan blades clean will prolong its life. It doesn’t take much crud build up to effect the shaft balance and it’s this imbalance which causes accelerated wear. The icon cover easily twists off for cleaning and access to the fan. i initially chose the icon for aesthetics and quiet operation.

Is the plastic fitting tapered? Six wraps of ptfe, wrap in the direction that you screw in so that the tape feels like it is tightening on the male thread as it is being assembled. If that makes sense. Sorry if stating the obvious.

Old boys who built my garden wall told me about using boiled linseed oil for water proofing back in the day, before fancy water proofers. May give this a go (if it ever stops raining) as my local MKM have a massive stock and sell loads. Cheap enough to apply often

Sorry to take the original thread off but in response to ProDave, Our nest protect do just this, didn`t realise others dont or cant. A bit expensive if you need a few but they work well, look smart and they tell you where and what the activation is (email you too). Inbuilt night lamp works well for us as the hall and stairwell are illuminated just enough.

Nothing to offer but was just reading out of interest really. I am sourcing replacement windows for my works office block and got chatting to The surveyor sent in by our approved specialist. We swapped stories about self building and suppliers and he suggested Nordan for windows as known to be best in the game. He has been installing windows, doors and shop facades for over 30 years. He has never heard of Rational or Internorm. Opinions eh.

Ryder72 you obviously know a bit about this stuff. All mine is Gulf Stone as recommended by a few tilers/ retailer I know. originally wanted it for the bathroom as he missus love sparkling stuff but my go to guys reeled in horror. Too much natural light and moisture. They have pictures of tiles that have warped. Don’t suppose this would apply to a thick worktop? Still scares me off though. Her friend spent a fortune on granite thinking it to be bulletproof (not literally) it got marked by I think a hot pan. Laminate for me, my heart won’t sink when it shows the first mark?

Are you sold on quartz? I have read that it is stain resistant yet I have seen three stained work surfaces and my grey quartz tiles have marked and scratched. The supplier no longer imports these as they had many issues from customers. A friend in work complains that his quartz worktop has dulled and he can’t get it back to how it was. I have a black quartz false shelf in our downstairs loo which has no natural light. It’s lost it’s lustre and where one of those Yankee oil stick air freshener things sit has left a mark. Point being, I would be worried about using quartz for a worktop.

Why would it be expensive to have the colour analysed? Our local Leyland paints store match colours so I imagine most decorating outlets could do the same. Works for car body paints too where you can get rattle cans mixed up and filled.

We have been looking at new kitchens for the house. We want top price when we sell up and to achieve that we have been advised to update the original kitchen. It’s tired and dated when you compare it to the rest of the house so we think it savvy advice. After checking the high street outlets and dismissing the highbrow stuff, we have decided on diykitchens in Doncaster who do sell online too. Decent quality for the price and units come assembled with the doors fitted which may help some people. It’s amazing how much room flat pack takes up. Fitted a few Bernstein’s kitchens (used to supply b&q) which IMO are okay. Did think Wickes looked okay but didn’t float my boat. If you have found a kitchen you like and are happy with the supplier then rest easy. Wren wouldn’t give us a price on their kitchen until a planner had been out. I was in branch with a 3D cad drawing of the how the kitchen was going to be, I know exactly what we want and how it will fit (done this before Mr) We walked away. My two local Howdens wanted to barter and are a pain to deal with so ruled them out. For some reason, the Wigan and Bolton areas are a hotbed of small kitchen outlets but we never found any than came close to the finish of Diykitchens. This opinion may change as we are always looking. Forgot to mention that we have a local German kitchen outlet. Didn’t see what the fuss was all about tbh.

Not according to Merseyside police. We had a recent break in and the sergeant said the complete opposite. He also said that unless you have a 100% facial they will not act on cctv footage as money and time is very tight. CCTV will not deter a scrote, they wear hoods and or a scarf around the face as many of the bike riding, north face wearing kids around here do. I agree though, people will ignore an alarm but around here you will get an angry neighbour knocking to complain about the noise rather than to see if you are okay. A lot of alarms now ring out to tell you of an activation too. First recommendation was a big dog and second was a decent alarm system and loads of lighting at night time. CCTV came third or is that fourth?

I have used : “fine mesh metals “ twice in the past. Decent stuff. When I priced up buying my own sheets of weld mesh it worked out more expensive than buying made Gabon’s from these guys. They do come flat packed and don’t bother with the 1m coil closers as they look naff.

Cornwall. It’s a foggy white out at the minute?

You guys building will be far too busy?but the gym we frequent is lined like this. They have used a block patten with large sheets butted up and each edge is chamfered if memory serves. Looks crap but each to their own eh?The door arcs are the same. oh, it’s JD gym and I image each site is the same decor. Could take some pics in a couple of weeks if anyone is interested in the detail. In St. Ives at the minute so can’t get there just yet.

I have. Mines a visonic wireless system. Sensor is in the detached brick garage a good 8m from the control box and works very well.