Onoff

Buy a soil pipe wall bracket and clamp it on. Use that as a guide for your handsaw. Or keep an offcut of pipe with a split and use that to draw around or as a guide for your multi tool. Like I did on this pipe to cover the water meter: Or use a mitre block (& Bacho saw). This is the £4.99 block from Screwfix: Use 4 bits of 4"x2", cut dead square. 2 each side, set the saw blade width apart.

Do that.

I just hope it's enough! I'm blaming the prawns I ate last night.

I've ordered a bit of 100mm pipe and a coupler: However...as it is the bathroom gets so humid when used as a wet room, the current extractor fan will run for a good few hours or more until it's below 65%. I've yet to check if I've an adequate gap under the door. If I connect the pan to the extractor won't I just be sucking warm air out of the room that way too...for hours?

I did say you can ditch the maths and go 4:1 with any container of your choosing.

Any insulation is better than none. Just your heat losses will be greater than if you had say 160mm pir. 100mm doesn't meet building regs I don't think...whoever did the plans should have known...is there a bco overseeing this?

Add the waterproofer I would. It's dirt cheap and dearates the mix aside from the waterproofing.

Its 7.5 litres of volume x 1.51kg on the basis 1 litre by volume of cement weighs 1.51kg. If half a bucket is 7.5 litres then you've 7.5 lots of 1.51kg which equals 11.3kg Simples.

You like complicating things so I felt I had to oblige. Tbh if you're happier then just shovel 4 of ballast for every 1 shovel of cement into the mixer and wet it to the right consistency. It'll be good enough.

1kg of cement is nom 0.66L in volume 1L of cement volume nom 1.51kg of mass So half a 15L bucket = 7.5L. 7.5 x1.51 = 11.3kg of cement. So half a bucket of cement is a bit more than 1/2 a 20kg bag. To exactly gauge half a bucket volume then just fill with 7.5L of water and then cut a bit of wood you can hook over the bucket edge to the level. Just fill up with cement to the bottom of the stick. (Empty the water first ? ).

- 1 black bucket of cement - 4 black buckets of ballast - 7.5l of your water / weatherproofer mix. BUT don't use all at once and be prepared to add more if required. IF you accidentally make a too sloppy mix in the drum then add 1 shovel (or suitable container) cement and 4 shovels of ballast all dry, to soak up the excess water in the mix.

Assume you're using Everbuild 202 Integral Waterproofer. You add that 1 part to 20 - 40 parts water according to the instructions. I must admit I usually just fling a litre of 202 in the 15L bucket and top it up with water to the very top. So I just use that until it's gone then do another bucket full. A bit strong but all my concrete is fine to date. If you've only a couple of litres of the stuff left then 0.5L of 202 in a 15 litre bucket would be 1:30. 365ml in a 15L bucket would be 1:40. 700ml in a 15L bucket would be 1:20.

Yes you can. Turn it off though and make sure you don't tug the mains cable or squash it when you raise/lower the drum when you pour.

Lots of good info here: https://tarmac-bluecircle.co.uk/project/mixing-concrete-and-mortar/

Or stab with a spade a few times!

This suggests 1:2:3:0.5: http://www.clean-water-for-laymen.com/making-concrete.html Therefore 1:4:0.5 if using all in one ballast. Where 0.5 is water. Tbh you just "know".

No way of sitting the mixer so it pours straight into the tube?

???

Worth positioning the barrow with the mixer EMPTY and having a practice tipping and that it's in the right place. If you're not careful as you tip, the rotating drum can catch the barrow and tip it over. Especially if the drum is a bit claggy with dried previous mixes.

It's difficult to explain isn't it? Really he needs somebody behind him whilst he does it...

As long as the mixer stand is on the level then the drum will sit "back" until you tip it. Most of us here have I guess learnt by labouring with a mentor to show us. When you pour there's nothing worse than missing the barrow. I often stand the mixer on a bit of dpm or tarp so I can scoop up any over spill. Bit of a knack tipping whilst it's still going round then giving it a good shake to get as much out as you can.

The Belle 130 for instance has a 130 litre capacity that allows a max 90 litre mix. A black builders bucket is 15 litres. So 1 bucket of cement and 4 of ballast should go in taking up 75 litres. Plus water you'll be ag about the max. If in doubt do half the mix at a time.

If it's going to rain heavily then ideally put a tarp over a pile of ballast if it's ever left sitting on the tarp or it can wash the sand away.

Presume there's a depth adjustment on it? Do you service it? I recall they can be ruined by getting oil in the wrong place.

I've a normal, "quiet" light switch in the bedroom so we can turn the en suite light on with using the click-clack pull cord. SWMBO is a pita though for getting up in the middle of the night, using the loo then coming back and LEAVING THE F***ING DOOR OPEN! Not that it annoys me in the least.