With bills continuing to rise, rise and rise some more, naturally, millions of us are looking at ways to save energy and keep our cash firmly in our back pockets.

Palio Trade by Karndean is reinforcing its luxury flooring ranges with Palio Rigid in a bid to offer a new collection designed for trades.

Under pandemic-induced lockdown and a large portion of us working from home or furloughed, many of us have taken this time to improve or renovate our homes.

Roger Bisby thinks he knows why, historically, we had so little faith in adhesives and why it has now changed. During my many years in the building industry, there has been a long and steady improvement in adhesives but I don’t think I am alone in thinking that for much of that time the promises and claims made by manufacturers …

The anti-rising damp brigade is lead by a couple of gurus, who tell us there's no such thing as rising damp, are deaf to any argument but their own.

Bricklayer and general builder Stephen Cheshire is, like many builders, often faced with the prospect of trying to hide a steel beam in the ceiling. The problem, as you will no doubt know, is not hiding the beam but how to safely  prop the wall above the upstairs floor level so you leave the ceiling void clear to place the …

Floor laying is a job that many builders hand over to the specialist but Roger Bisby explains why he is reluctant to kiss goodbye to what can be a good earner and shares his favourite tools for the job. My customer was fairly adamant that they didn’t want scotia or quadrant around the edge of their new oak flooring because …

Roger Bisby goes Dutch with some Fluxaf Green. Ever since the completely justified EU ban on using methylene chloride in paint stripper, the trade has struggled to find viable alternatives. Modern strippers just don’t have the instant, crackle and pop of the old stuff. All too often they require re-applying several times in order to penetrate the built up coatings. …

Roger Bisby has a go at laying some Karndean flooring under the watchful eye of Karndean laying master Richard Daniels. It seems to me that once you have seen Karndean flooring and recognised its unique look, you just never stop seeing it. For those that don’t know Karndean is a vinyl flooring product made primarily from calcium carbonate (limestone), polyvinyl …

Roger Bisby lays some Knauf Brio dry screed flooring. Although it is perfectly possible to use warm water underfloor heating with timber and floating floors it is generally acknowledged that there is a loss of  thermal transmission compared to  pipe buried in sand and cement screeds. Knauf Brio dry screed board bring thermal transmission comparable with wet screed system in …

Roger Bisby takes a walk across some Isosonic Dekfloor 30 from Thermal Economics as it is being installed in a refurbishment project. Sound insulation can be a tricky business, things that work well in the laboratory may fair less well on site. There are so many things that can undo all that design work, a nail, a screw or a …

Dunlop has launched a brand new rapid-drying filler as an addition to its Pro Décor range. Now available at builders and decorators merchants across the country, Rapid Rescue Repair Filler, with Hydroloc is suitable for quick fix or emergency repairs. Available in 1kg bags, the rapid-drying filler helps decorators sort out the multitude of problems often faced before applying paint or …