In this latest video, Roger Bisby shows how to make a hole for a soil pipe using a DEWALT cordless angle grinder.
Snickers Next Generation work trousers
Roger Bisby takes a closer look at the Next Generation Trousers from Snickers.
When you look at the huge range of styles and sizes that Snickers currently offers you might reasonably ask why they need to produce a whole new Next Generation Trouser range. Fashion undoubtedly plays a part, even for a builder who declares himself to be totally uninterested in fashion, but underneath the good looks lies a solid bed of functionality that has helped Snickers stay ahead of the competition throughout its history. This is no mean feat because they are copied relentlessly and they certainly aren’t the cheapest.
So how do they manage to stay ahead of the competition?
It is a question I first started asking a few years ago when I was doing some independent research into the workwear market. Whenever I was out on site testing tools and materials I took the opportunity to quiz people on their choice of workwear. Most of the building trades I spoke to declared a preference for Snickers even if they didn’t actually buy them. With few exceptions they acknowledged that it is a superior product and one that everyone has heard of. The only resistance is the price. People told me that they would like to have Snickers but didn’t want to pay that kind of money for a pair of work trousers. The implication is that they would then have something nice that they didn’t want to trash and it would worry them. That said they rarely went to the other end of the scale so they would end up in the middle.
So what I was hearing was that it wasn’t the whole price it was just the extra bit between a pair of trousers that they knew weren’t as good and the ones they really wanted. After tax the difference might be as little as £20.00 I even spoke to one young man who had bought three pairs of cheaper (but not cheap ) trousers and the zips went on all three. He actually had his flies done up with a safety pin which is a hazardous item if you are in a hurry.
By contrast I also met many people, from various trades, who wouldn’t even consider buying anything other than Snickers. If there is a typical Snickers customer it is probably those people who are instinctively in tune with the idea that you simply have to pay for quality. It costs money to make something that is going to last. It is something they are telling their customers ever day. They won’t be the cheapest quote out there but the job will be right. As an aside I also noticed that those kind of people generally had tidier vans but I don’t know what to do with that information other than try to tie up a deal between van racking and workwear.
Snickers Next Generation work trousers range
AllRoundWork: A great all rounder – Ready for everything
For every day wear, suitable for most trades as they are made in hard wearing yet comfortable durable Dobby Pro fabric with Cordura reinforcements which is a comfortable weight of 250 g/m
RuffWork: Suitable for rough construction environments or where durability is a key requirement
Made from heavy duty Dobby Pro+ fabric which is also extremely comfortable with cordura 1000D reinforcements 310 g/m
LiteWork: Cool Dry and Ventilated
Made from a durable Rip Stop fabric containing millions of high-tech patented 37.5 particles –which help regulate the body’s optimum temperature of 37.5 degrees. Although the fabric is lightweight and will keep you cool in summer the particles also help you to stay warm in winter. Now (without going all scientific on us) how the hell do they do that?
Suitable for craftsmen who work in varying different temperature climates and also for craftsmen who want a strong durable trouser without the heavy weight fabrics. Made from Rip Stop fabric with Cordura reinforcements 230 g/m
Flexi Work: Extreme Freedom of Movement
High-tech stretchy work trousers which are ideal for craftsmen wanting their work clothes to be flexible in all situations. Made in an engineered body mapped design the trousers are extremely comfortable.
Made in a rip stop fabric with Cordura Stretch panels and Cordura reinforcements. 270 g/m.
Construction worker crushed by excavator on school demolition site
A construction company has been sentenced after a worker suffered crush injuries when he was hit and then run over by an excavator.
Complete Demolition Ltd had been contracted to demolish a school on the site at Stanney Lane, Ellesmere Port to make way for a new leisure centre when the incident occurred.
The firm was prosecuted by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found arrangements ensuring pedestrians and vehicles were separated were inadequate. There was insufficient control of workers on the site.
The incident occurred on the 27 November 2013 while the site was being cleared. The driver of a Complete Demolition Ltd skip wagon was attempting to reverse the skip into an area that was already occupied by a 40 tonne excavator but was manoeuvring out of the way. A worker was standing in the same area as the skip wagon and excavator and as the excavator moved it hit the worker knocking him to the ground where its tracks ran over his left foot.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the 45-year-old, father of four has been severely affected by his injuries. He has undergone several operations to rebuild his foot. He is still in constant pain and is unable to work.
Complete Demolition Ltd of Stafford House, Westbury Industrial Estate, Hyde pleaded guilty to breaches of Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and Regulation 13(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, and was fined £40,000 with £7,246.95 costs.
Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Deborah Walker said: “This was an entirely foreseeable incident which could have been avoided. The company failed to properly plan for the duration of the works putting pedestrians at risk.”
British Gyspsum Habito review: Roger Bisby gets the Habito
Everyone in the building industry knows that fixing things to plasterboard can be a bit hit and miss. If the plasterboard is on a stud wall you might strike lucky. Or you may not. Sometimes you may be able to position the item, i.e. kitchen wall cupboard to fix across two studs but nothing is guaranteed.
There is of course a whole range of special fixings to help you overcome these problems but it is a given that those fixings can never be stronger than the board itself. Add to this the fact that many people perceive plasterboard to be a second rate product;- when they go to look at a new home they tap the walls in search of something more solid than the hollow walls that plasterboard covers. A great deal of this is prejudice because plasterboard is a perfectly adequate material for many applications but if you are looking for something that can be fixed to without those special fixings or you want something that will take hard knocks then plasterboard comes second to masonry.
Gyproc Habito, from British Gypsum aims to change all that.For the first time we have a plasterboard that will take a direct fixing, and when I say direct I am talking about screwing straight into it without a plug. It also takes a hell of a lot of punishment. We knocked nine bells out of it with a claw hammer and after twenty hard blows just about dented the surface.
Density is key
I can’t give you the exact recipe but Habito is made up of a number of different fibres as well as gypsum but the key is the density. It is highly compressed to a chieve a uniform strength with no voids. This allows you to use an ordinary woodscrew and the load bearing on every screw is 15 kilos. There is of course a safety factor on that loading but let’s deal with recommended load. With four screws into two wall brackets you can fix a kitchen cupboard and stack it to the hilt with canned food and still be within the safe load limit. You can also fix a very large steel radiator to the wall without plugs or worm screws. It is important that you use a conventional single thread screw, fully threaded from tip to head, because twin threaded screws remove the core material for faster fixing and therefore remove an important part of the fixing strength.
That is how you fix to Habito, but how do you fix Habito to the wall? If it is a stud wall you need to use a British Gypsum High Performance fixing that has an undercut on the head. If you use an ordinary drywall screw it tends to have difficulty sinking the head below the surface because Habito is so tough.
Takes huge loads
If you are dotting and dabbing onto masonry there is no difference in the procedure you normally use but the board is capable of taking a huge loading. In fact I would go so far as to say that applying Habito to a block wall could stiffen it considerably and also improve the sound resistance. I don’t imagine there are many people out there (including British Gypsum competitors) who could fail to see the advantages of Habito once they have been pointed out but British Gypsum have their work cut out to communicate these advantages.
If, for example, you are a plumber you would need to be able to identify the board in order to take advantage of enhanced fixing capability. In new build or refurbs where the builder is communicating with the plumber they can pass the information on but down the line there is no way of readily identifying that the board is Gyproc Habito. Somewhere down the line trades may be able to tap the board and hear the difference You can certainly feel the difference when you lift it and when you cut it you need to score it and give it a quick up and down to snap it. If you are cutting narrow strips you might need a saw but if you use sound board or fire board you will already know about this change in approach.
If you are a builder looking to build in a bit of extra quality or you have a customer who is a wall tapper then Gyproc Habito is certainly worth a try. It is a cut above the run of the mill plasterboard and once you use it you may well develop the Habito habit. It could even become a signature of your work, something that sets you apart from the average builder who builds on price alone.
