markc

As above, real slate has been used for hundreds of years and proved itself to work well, but as a natural product it has flaws, is not consistent and often breaks when you least expect it. ’fake’ slate being factory produced is very consistent, rarely breaks but does look “too uniform” in places.

No problem with a Hardybacker over sailing this corner, even 6mm is very strong when covering voids. if you want to buildout, clean surface, key with diluted pva, ordinary mortar mix. if you leave a small hole at top of backer board this could be fixed in place and then push mortar through the hole and let it drop into the void. But really not needed.

Why should it be anyone’s “responsibility” ? loads of old services are buried in strange places, maps and plans only give a rough idea of pipe and cable locations. It is good practice to look around for access covers and man-holes etc. To get an idea of what could be buried but gas and water can run for many miles without any indication of their presence

Sounds like a balancing problem, anything under pressure will always take the easiest route, balancing rads forces water to go around the whole system by restricting the outlet of rads. look it up on YouTube etc.

The installation Cert is issued on completion of testing. Only one Cert required. you really want the same person or company to complete 1st, 2nd and test or it will be a nightmare of blame and complaints from whoever does it.

Sounds like you just need a 12v coil relay with say spade terminals soon soldering required

+1 to this as long as the stainless is low grade, do not put zinc near any stainless in 400 grade or above

Damn, Peter bet me to it again

Close the outlet side to almost shut, I've just had similar problem with a couple of rads, bled perfectly but water takes the easiest path and with outlet too wide open the hot water seems to just flow across the bottom

Yes, 5x2 on edge are string enough and if you add some extra pieces at bottom of post to make it 6x5 full depth and maybe upto 6in out of the ground there will be any of ground bearing area to resist the post from being pushed over. Ram the earth back in with a heavy post or big hammer

No need for cement. Nice deep holes, preservative on the timbers and compact the earth back around them.

They may as well have blamed brexit

Brilliant screw for secret fixing through tongues of boards but these do pull through chipboard quite easily. Ordinary heads work much better on flooring and pull down tighter

Firstly, the contract and quote wording will be very important here. workmanship (is that sexist now?) is pretty poor but did you want too much for the money available and contractor agreed to lower the price? … not right in my book but it does happen too often. the crack does concern me as it runs through bricks, the rest looks cosmetic and can be made to look much better quite easily.

Odd detail so yes it could be supporting the ceiling as well. Nothing wrong with it being two pieces, they probably needed to pack out a bit. I quite like the look and design of the staircase, maybe too much dark wood. post caps are easy to replace with something closer to post size and maybe raised centre like a fence post cap. bit of tidying, rubbing down, bit of filler and maybe some white to break up the brown and it could look fantastic

@Oxbow16 if it is 1-1/2 bsp then this makes it much easier and I would leave it in place. Might be worth getting a couple of fittings and with a bit of fettling get a connection to work.

+1 on this, Octopus were brilliant when I wanted 3 for my workshop

A lot easier to remove the old one and replace.

If it’s for wrapping around split insulation in bands then I always use ordinary electrical insulating tape, also makes really good plasters for holding bits of fingers and thumbs together

Tongue and groove - the joints in the edges of the boards

+1 on the above

You are right, butyl is very tough. As Joe says, good fill with glue and you have a waterproof joint anyway. Also Tape is an easy way to cover screw holes if the person screwing down gets over zealous and leaves holes above the heads.

Probably foil backed butyl

Any butyl tape should work well, just needs floor to be dust free as you lay the tape

If you have a crusher then use the material as temporary hard standing and access etc. if you have to hire a crusher then the cost of that plus all the material sorting will probably cost more than flattening and getting it taken away.