Blog | Page 106 Of 108 | Skill Builder

Product review: Ecotherm Ecoliner

Reviews

-

14th January 2016

Roger Bisby reports on a job where Ecotherm’s Ecoliner saved the day.

We hear a lot about reducing our carbon footprint and saving money on fuel bills but the most noticeable and immediate benefit of insulation is the increased comfort levels. Yes it makes you feel instantly warmer, who knew?

The community hall in our case study had the reputation of being a chilly unwelcoming place on a winter’s evening. The overhead gas fired radiant heaters were usually switched on just before the session began and switched off fairly rapidly thereafter. They heater would roast the top of your head nicely but the ambient temperature in the cavernous hall was still low and that chill was hard to overcome.

A quick survey with a thermal camera revealed that the roof was well insulated and the top half of the building, which was tile hung timber frame, responded quickly to the heaters. This was due to the fact that it had a low thermal mass. The real cold spots were the floor, which would be very difficult to do anything about and the dense concrete blocks which formed the lower 2 metres of the structure. The wall had 50mm cavity filled with Rockwool insulation bat which did some good but it was really the ability of that concrete to store cold during the long periods when the hall was not in use that made it feel like stepping into a fridge. People often commented that it was warmer outdoors than in. The ladies yoga class, in particular complained that it took them an hour to warm up by which time the class was nearly over. The prime spots in the hall were in the middle and late comers always found themselves next to an outside wall of which there were three.

Several solutions were costed and put before the committee and the eventual winner was Ecoliner from Ecotherm. This thermal laminate board comes in various thickness’s and can be applied with dot and dab adhesive. The tapered boards can be taped and filled by dry liners but the plasterer was old school and preferred to skim the lot with Thistle Board Finish. Apart from anything else it meant there would be no sanding and the decorating would be more straightforward.

They had been given a very narrow time window to be in and out.

There are two version of the board available. The foil backed board is suitable for mechanical fix and the glass fibre backing foil is suitable for dot and dab.

Ecotherm recommends dot and dab board adhesive but the builder persuaded the plasterer to give Fix a Foam a try on some of the boards where the walls were sufficiently true and plumb, which was by no means all of them. The foam adhesive worked out to be quicker and cheaper than the drywall adhesive and it made less mess. Did that mean that the plasterer would abandon board adhesive and invest in a foam gun? Well you would have thought, but old habits die hard and the building industry is notoriously slow to change. It is almost as if plasterers don’t trust anything that isn’t applied with a hawk and trowel. Well you can’t win ’em all but the Ecoliner worked a treat. The ladies Yoga class were full of praise and the Tuesday afternoon watercolour class were also able to take off a layer or two. I say steady on.

Bosch gis 1000 c review

Roger Bisby

-

13th January 2016

0

Most people have some idea what an infra red thermometer does and also what a thermal imaging camera does but this tool sits somewhere between the two, explains Roger Bisby of the Bosch GIS 1000 C.

I don’t mind admitting that it took me a while to work out exactly what the Bosch GIS 1000 does for a living. I could have read the marketing document but I like to put myself in the place of the average building worker who has to try and figure out what the device does by reading the instruction booklet alone. It isn’t easy, these things are written by people who know what the device does and they should be written by someone like me or you.

I like to put myself in the place of the average building worker who has to try and figure out what the device does by reading the instruction booklet alone

Most people have some idea what an infra red thermometer does and also what a thermal imaging camera does but this tool sits somewhere between the two. It takes pictures and it also gives thermal readings between the two dots that are projected by the lasers but it is what it does with this information that makes it different to either of those instruments.

Looks for variations

There are a lot of things you can do by measuring heat and lack of it. In the same way a doctor will determine the health of a patient by taking their temperature this device also looks for variations. Uniquely it is task based rather than simply being a data harvester. If for example you are trying to trace cold bridging in a loft conversion it will take temperatures of the average surfaces and spot any deviation and by taking the relative humidity in the room and the ambient temperature compared to the cold spots it can tell you where the dew point is likely to be. Of course you may already have spotted this by the black mould on the plaster but if you need hard information to settle a dispute or make a claim on the contractors for not installing the insulation the collected data can be downloaded onto a computer and incorporated in a report.

You can also find leaks in underfloor heating and flat roofs by using a similar method of measuring the average and the localised variations.

A plumber can use the device for tracing out buried pipework whether hot or cold and an electrician can spot hot spots on a consumer board.

One of the features I particularly like is the ability to set parameters that will set off an alarm on the detector if they are exceeded. This means you can run the device quickly up and down a plant room and immediately find any variations. In industry this kind of pre-emptive maintenance is common place. If a bearing is about to fail is will usually start to warm up or vibrate.

Having started out slightly clueless I am beginning to warm to this elegant device. It is a good deal cheaper than a thermal imaging camera

Having started out slightly clueless I am beginning to warm to this elegant device. It is a good deal cheaper than a thermal imaging camera, admittedly it doesn’t give you much in the way of those pretty pictures with the reds and oranges swirling around the windows but it gives you all that information and more and you don’t have to be a scientist to work out what it all means.

I also like that it comes in a protective case with a zip because one thing I had found with all these computer based measuring instruments is that they don’t like being dropped or kicked around the site. Look after it, get it out when you need it and put it away when you are done and it will go a long time before it need re-calibrating.

Werner Podium Step Ladder review

Reviews

Roger Bisby

-

12th January 2016

0

There are plenty of trades who would find the Werner Podium step ladder useful including plumbers, decorators and heating and ventilation fitters, says Roger Bisby as he puts the product to the test.

Two days before I got to test these Werner Podium step ladder I was using a pair of ordinary steps and climbed a little higher than I should have. I was up on the second to top tread and reaching up to mount a PIR detector. Ordinarily, I would have said, that my sense of balance is good enough to do this but on that particular day I had a head cold which blocked my sinuses and, I suppose, my sense of balance was put out slightly. And that was all it took, a slight wooziness as I reached the top, and I lurched uncontrollably forward dropping the drill and just managing to steady myself on the wall. The householder saw my narrow escape and called out in horror expecting me to dive head first onto her lovely tiled floor. It was embarrassing it might also have hurt or far worse. I know a bloke who took a head first dive from a similar height and hit the concrete. He can no longer work and has never recovered enough mental capacity to cross the road on his own. He also talks very slowly.

So when the Werner Podium ladder arrived I was ‘up for it’ in a way I might not have previously been and it reminded me that everyone who relies on luck will find the limit, unless of course it finds them first.

The top platform gives you a comfortable standing space from which you can work on all points around the compass.

The design of the Podium means that you should never rise above your workstation. The top platform gives you a comfortable standing space from which you can work on all points around the compass. The guard rail is there to steady yourself while you use both hands to get on with the job. The rail also has a storage hole for a drill and can take a clip on bucket.

The Podium is a very sturdy Fibreglass ladder certified for trade use. The non-conductive components make it suitable for electricians but it is by no means exclusively aimed at electricians. There are plenty of trades who would find such a ladder useful including plumbers, decorators and heating and ventilation fitters.

As good as this ladder is you still need to keep in mind that it is possible to topple it if you over-reach or start trying to do things you shouldn’t such as climbing up on the hand rail. The golden rule is to keep three points in contact with the ladder. That is both feet and some part of your middle body. See our Youtube channel for more tips on how to stay alive when using ladders.

You can also improve the stability by placing the ladder on a flat board provided there is no bounce in it. There are five sizes in the range with the effective reach based on a person of 5ft 9inches standing on the platform. We all know of course that there is no one ladder that can suit every job but if you regularly carry out a particular task at a known height then you can work out which size is best for you. For me the mid range 6 foot ladder giving a working height of up to 11ft 9 inches would get a lot of use.

Product review: Hitachi DH25 DAL cordless SDS hammer drill

Roger Bisby

-

12th January 2016

0

Product review: Hitachi DH25 DAL cordless SDS hammer drill

Roger Bisby tests the Hitachi DH25 DAL cordless SDS hammer drill.

Hitachi is a power tool manufacturer that often gets overlooked for hammer drills. I see their saws out on site and they do well with the cordless combis but from that evidence alone they don’t seem to have the same share of the hammer market. When you compare the price of their 25.2 volt to others on the market it is often considerably cheaper. This is partly due to the fact that they don’t have a brushless motor in this class and partly due to the fact that they supply it with 2 x 2 AmHr batteries while many others are packaging 4AmHr batteries. That low price doesn’t mean you are looking at a throw-away drill. This tool comes with a 3 year warranty.

If you are happy with the reduced runtime of 2AmHr then this tool gets you into cordless hammers at what some might call the entry level. That doesn’t mean it underperforms. There is plenty of punch in this machine but it doesn’t have the detached ant vibration handle that some other hammers have so it is clearly not aimed at someone who is putting in fixings all day every day.

There is also a little switch on the handle that reduces the power. This will increase the run time but it also saves damaging small diameter SDS bits 5mm or less which really don’t warrant full hammer from a drill of this size . The only other place I might use reduced hammer power is for delicate breaking out and chipping. If, for example, you want to chip a little bit off a brick to enlarge a whole rather than split the brick in two this setting would help achieve that but that is not about saving power more reducing it. Hitachi advises against using the power save mode on SDS wood bits which require a lot of torque. If you do use the power save mode on high torque it can cause the motor to stall which then causes burn out.

Who is it for?
It is a tool for the jobbing builder, plumber, electrician and window fitter because it has a non hammer rotary position that allows you to use it with a chuck adaptor (not supplied) as well as using in on hammer with an SDS bit. Crucially it also has a rotary stop so you can use it for chipping. It is not intended for breaking up concrete and it might struggle chasing out a strong screed mix but hacking off tiles, chasing out internal skins for pipes and cable and cutting in back boxes is are right up its street.

Battery exclusivity
Strangely the 25.2 battery is not shared by other tools in the Hitachi range so you can’t build on this platform as you might with an 18 volt drill. This is proof perhaps that Hitachi does things a little differently rather than following the herd. This may be the reason why they are not quite as prevalent in the cordless SDS hammer sector as in other sectors is but if you are happy to have a tool that has its own exclusive batteries and charger and still leave you with a sizeable chunk of money in your back pocket then this tool is well worth a closer look.

ICS Diamond Chainsaw Review

Roger Bisby

-

12th January 2016

0

Roger Bisby revisits the ICS diamond chainsaw and discovers a new twist.

The ICS diamond chainsaw cuts through both skins of a cavity wall which, as we all know, is something you can’t achieve with a cut-off saw or angle grinder.

A Different Cut

All too often you can get partway through but you then have that awkward bit where you have to go inside and complete the cut.

Cutting the opening entirely from outside has obvious advantages in keeping the dust and debris out of the building but diamond chains cost more than diamond blades so many builders are reluctant to make the investment in the technology.

EC Hopkins, the UK master distributor for ICS products and the ICS Diamond chainsaw, has come up with a solution in a diamond blade that allows you to make a pre-cut through the outer skin with a petrol cut off saw and then use the diamond chainsaw to complete the cut. If like me you are thinking that this is reinventing the wheel you are both right and wrong.

ICS Diamond Chainsaw Blades

Diamond blades have been around for years but the ones we all use are way too thin to open a cut wide enough for the chain to follow up and too narrow a cut will wear the sides of the chain rather than the diamond tips.

The blade sold by Hopkins is 6mm wide, more like those used for raking out pointing. This gives a cut wide enough to allow the diamond chain to do its work on the second half of the wall. If this is aircrete block you will be through it in seconds.

In fact, I started thinking that you could get through it with block saw but it will take you some time and looking at the price of block saws it might actually end up costing more per cut.

Water Lubrication

The chain requires water to lubricate it and wash the debris out of the cut. We prepared for a flood but the total amount of water caught in our polythene was about two wet and dry vacuum cleaners worth, hardly enough to worry about.

I should also mention that the cavity was filled with Rockwool, which I thought might clog the chain but it must have been mashed up so fine that it didn’t even show in the waste water.

The only other potentially messy bit was inside the building. If you cut through the wall you will lay a thin line of dirty water down on the floor.

The best way to avoid this is to set the depth of the cut so it goes through the masonry but leaves the plaster intact. This is easy enough to do but you could hang a sheet of polythene up inside if you are worried.

Final Cut

Once the cut is complete you can then break the plaster line with a bolster. It is surgery of the least invasive type and the clean-cut means that you aren’t in danger of knocking the building about.

The only other point I should mention is that, unlike wood cutting chains, the diamond chain needs to be slack so the debris can drop out with the water rather than running around the drive cog and bar. When the job is done you need to dry the chain with a rag and spray it with WD40 or a similar silicone spray.

ICS 695 vs Cut’n’Break

Take a look at the ICS 695XL Petrol Diamond Chainsaw in this comparison video.

Keep hands warm and protected

Roger Bisby

-

11th January 2016

0

Snickers’ range of work gloves are designed to cope with the harshest of weather conditions.

From tough, hard-wearing ‘Weather Essential’ gloves to ‘Weather Cut Protection’ gloves, the Snickers products are designed to keep users’ hands properly protected and warm.

There are eight different styles in the range, including the ‘Weather Dry’ glove, which is made from advanced materials in a bid to deliver precise dexterity, friction and grip even in wet, cold and slippery conditions.

According to Snickers, all the gloves will keep users’ hands warm and protected in any working environment.

For more information on the work gloves call the Snickers Helpline on 01484 854788, checkout the website and download a digital catalogue at www.snickersworkwear.co.uk or email info@snickersworkwear.co.uk.

Scruffs launches Classic Thermo Parka

New Products

Roger Bisby

-

11th January 2016

0

New from Scruffs is the Scruffs Classic Thermo Parka which the company says is perfect for tradesmen who aren’t afraid of rain, snow or the cold when it comes to getting the job done.

Not only will the Scruffs Classic Thermo Parka turn heads on and off the site, but with a waterproof rating of 4500mm, a fully padded bubble quilted lining and a high collar, wearers can head out into the great British outdoors, certain that they can tackle the elements in comfort.

The Scruffs Classic Thermo Parka features reinforced Cordura elbow panels, functional and secure interior and exterior pockets and reflective detailing along with a removable fur trim and detachable hood. It is available in red or dark lead.RRP: £79.95

For information and dealers, go to www.scruffs.com

Colourful safety footwear

New Products

Roger Bisby

-

11th January 2016

0

Arco, the safety specialist, has introduced three new items of safety footwear under its TROJAN brand.

The Trojan Safety Hiker boot (£64.99) is a non-metallic and slip-resistant boot available in yellow, red or blue which features a composite toecap and midsole.

Meanwhile Trojan’s Safety Trainer (£62.99) is available in an eye-catching green. Comfortable yet stylish, the trainer features a breathable mesh upper, a composite toecap and is 100% non-metallic, making it suitable for metal free environments.

Finally the Zeus Boa/Vibram (£84.99) is a TROJAN branded black leather boot with a Vibram outsole. The boot’s Boa lace system means no tying laces, consistent ankle support and quick release for easy removal. The boot ensures perfect fit with even closure and is also completely non-metallic with a composite toecap.

For more information, and to see the new The TROJAN safety footwear colour range, visit www.arco.co.uk. Alternatively pick up a copy of the new Big Book 2015/16.

Waterproof outdoor quality MDF from Medite Tricoya

Roger Bisby

-

11th January 2016

0

Roger Bisby puts Medite Tricoya Extreme to the test, a waterproof outdoor quality MDF from Medite Tricoya.

The potential applications for Medite Tricoya Extreme are far ranging particularly in environments where humidity and weather are usually concerns. It is possible to imagine Medite Tricoya Extreme used virtually anywhere, including:

Façade cladding/siding
Fascia and soffit panels and other secondary exterior applications
Window components
Door components and door skins
Wet interiors, including wall linings in swimming pools, bathrooms, wet rooms, changing rooms
Speciality furniture including lockers, cubicles, chairs and tables
Play frames, tree houses and exterior composite furniture
Signage
Automotive parts
Sound barriers

Rendering Tips for Patch and Repair Work

Roger Bisby

-

9th January 2016

0

Rendering Tips for Patch and Repair Work

Ernie Cook, the master bricklayer, who I had the pleasure of working for in my teens used to say “The worst thing that has happened to the building industry is cement”. It was a bit of an exaggeration but we spent a lot of time travelling around London and the South East putting right the work of bricklayers who were born into the cement age and knew nothing of working on buildings built with sand and lime.

The results were cracks appearing where they had never been before and spalling brick faces caused by moisture trying to find an escape route. All this because the brickie had the wrong mix for the job.

“If only they would use a bit of lime” said Ernie.

“If only they would use a bit of lime we would be out of work” I replied.

Lime is a magical material that has the ability to move and reconstitute itself in mortar, render and plaster. It is said that during the Blitz many of the buildings built with lime would jump minutely to absorb the impact of a nearby explosion whereas the sand and cement buildings would crack apart and stay cracked.

It is a golden rule of bricklaying that the mortar should be no stronger than the material it is joining together. That, in a nutshell, is the reason that Ernie Cook had such a poor regard for cement mortar. It wasn’t the fault of the cement so much as the lack of knowledge of those using it.

Nowhere is this more evident than in modern building with lightweight aircrete blocks. The mortar used to build block walls should be around 1 part cement to 8 parts of soft sand but it is rare to see bricklayers changing the mix (gauge) between the blocks and brickwork which is typically laid 1 part cement and 4 or 5 parts sand.

The result is that the blockwork moves at the weakest point which is the block itself and not the mortar. This produces cracks at the place where the blocks are most free to move, which is usually directly under windows. The cure, according to some builders, is to use an even stronger sand and cement render mix as a base coat for plaster. I have seen this done on so many occasions that I have lost count. Of course now the use of dot and dab plasterboard hides the cracks from view.

Another common problem is a strong mix of sand and cement render on exterior walls. Some plasterers think this stops cracking but sand and cement will always shrink and it pulls the brick or block with it producing hairline cracks. Until you’ve seen it you won’t believe how much water can run down a wall and track in along horizontal hairline cracks.

The capillary action sucks it in to soak internal faces. I have seen walls covered with the white web of dry rot simply because water has tracked in through cracks that you would hardly notice with the naked eye. Even worse is when well-meaning builders rake those cracks out and fill them with even stronger sand and cement or resin thinking that it will stick the building together. What then happens is the seasonal movement in the building causes the cracks to push upon the hard repair and lever the cracks open even more.

So faced with all this grief, why are brickies and plasterers still so anti-lime and pro-cement?

The reason that many won’t kick the habit or at least cut down is because putting in less cement makes the mix difficult to work with. It loses moisture into the bricks and won’t stay on the trowel. The simple answer is to use an equal part of hydrated lime and cement but this means ordering two different materials and mixing them together.

The modern answer is to use plasticiser which mimics lime by putting lots of tiny balls of air into the mix to help it flow. While plasticiser introduces air to increase workability and help frost resistance it doesn’t have the same stickability as lime. It does, however, allow the brickie to use less water which helps reduce shrinkage so it is a good second best.

The same effects can now be achieved by using enhanced cement which has plasticisers in a powder form but, in my experience, it still isn’t the same as putting hydrated lime in. The ratio of hydrated lime to cement is important. The lime should not exceed the cement. If you use more lime than mortar it is likely to fail if the frost gets to it. A typical mix is 1cement 1 lime 6 soft sand for bricklaying or sharp sand for rendering. If you want an even weaker mix for internal blockwork then a 1.1.9 can be used.

Not only does the hydrated lime help the workability and adhesion of the mortar it also retains the moisture during the initial set to assist hydration. The set takes place before the mortar has fully shrunk which means it is less likely to crack.

Even if it does crack, say with building movement, the lime helps the mortar to self-repair by leaching lime into cracks. The lime then reacts with the atmosphere to form limestone in much the same way that stalactites are formed. This makes it the ideal material for repointing brickwork.

The most important thing you have to get to grips with is that hydrated lime is different to hydraulic lime.

Many people confuse hydraulic and hydrated lime. The use of hydraulic lime in bricklaying, rendering and re-pointing is old school but is now largely confined to historic buildings. Hydraulic lime sets in days, sometimes weeks and is much too slow for most builders looking for fast track solutions.

Hydrated lime mixed with cement is far quicker to set. It is the reaction between the hydrated lime and the cement which makes it set, if you leave out the cement it simply won’t set. Although hydrated isn’t a direct substitute for hydraulic lime, it does give some of the benefits.

If you are extending an old building for example and want a good colour match but don’t want to go to the trouble of using hydraulic lime then hydrated lime is the next best thing.

If all this has started your head spinning just retain one thing. Next time you are doing a bit of above ground bricklaying or rendering buy a bag of hydrated lime from the merchants and add it to the mix in equal quantities to the cement. The instructions should be on the back of the bag. If you do this you will never go back to straight sand and cement.

We would very much welcome your comments below.

Cordless Hammer review: Bosch GBH 36 VF-LI Plus Professional

Roger Bisby

-

8th January 2016

0

In this video I try out the Bosch GBH 36 VF-LI Plus Professional Cordless Hammer.

A New Generation Of Cordless Screwdrivers From Bosch

Buy The Bosch GBH 36 VF-LI Plus

How to: Fixing floorboards and avoiding pipes

New Products

Roger Bisby

-

8th January 2016

0

How to: Fixing floorboards and avoiding pipes

Avoiding pipes is always a challenge when fixing floorboards..

Here’s my top tips for avoiding this mishap and some advice on what to do if you do end up screwing through a pipe.

How To Keep Your Wooden Floor In Good Condition

Floorboard Costs – Repair Or Replace?

CT1 Sealant & Adhesive Demonstration surprising result

Roger Bisby

-

8th January 2016

0

CT1 Sealant & Adhesive Demonstration surprising result

In this video Skill Builder brings you a demonstration of the CT1 Sealant & Adhesive, a sealant and construction adhesive that replaces numerous products from just one tube.

CT1 provides unique adhesion on virtually any material in most applications without the need for additional fixings. CT1 is marketed as the ultimate solution for sealing.

CT1 will bond:

Metals (including lead)
Glass
Mirrors
Wood
Polystyrene

www.ct1ltd.com

Why did the shower tray crack? Roger’s tale of woe

Roger Bisby

-

19th December 2015

0

Why did the shower tray crack? Roger’s tale of woe

The Tale Of The Shower Tray Crack

Roger is working on a shower room but not everything is going to plan..

Do Not Fit A Shower Tray Until You’ve Watched This

How To Repair A Cracked Shower

Ladder Safety – Save your life

Roger Bisby

-

8th November 2015

0

Roger talks about ladder safety after a recent tragedy on a site he was working at

In this episode we see Roger using the Youngman Fibreglass Stepladder, and the versatile Hunter Ladder from Ladder Safety Devices. We also see his neat ladder seat which sadly isn’t available anymore, so you’ll have to borrow Roger’s.

“A few weeks ago I was working on a site where somebody died by falling off a ladder. I had gone to collect some thermal boards and he told me he would give me a hand to unload. When I got back he was in intensive care and shortly after that he was dead, victim of a brain haemorrhage. The fall was from just over 2 metres. The ladder was set against a plastic gutter on a single story building.

“Nobody should ever put a ladder against a plastic gutter but on a low rise building many do it because the perceived risk is low. I could easily get side tracked here talking about the nature of risk, but the bottom line is that we are often in the most danger when we think we are safe.

If there is a risk of falling don’t just leave it to chance, do something to mitigate the risk. It is a common misconception that you are not allowed to work from ladders. It is certainly true that you should only do limited short duration jobs from a ladder and you should have three points of contact with the ladder, so that probably means one handed jobs. It follows that there is not much point hanging onto a ladder if it is able to move.

“Stopping a ladder moving can be done in many different ways. You can get a bloke on minimum wage to stand on the bottom rung. Personally, I have never had much faith in ladder footers, they tend to get bored and start texting or looking at passing members of the opposite sex, or perhaps the same sex. I can well remember having a casual labourer who was given to smoking a joint while making phone calls, when he should have been looking after the bottom of my ladder. If the choice is between him and a bag of sand, give me a bag of sand any day. Better still give me a ladder stabiliser.”

Avoid ladder accidents with our ladder safety video.

Ladder Safety Guidance Released – Telescopic Ladders

A Brief Guide To Ladder Safety

Product review: Makita DCS5121 18″ 50cc petrol chainsaw

Roger Bisby

-

28th September 2015

0

Product review: Makita DCS5121 18″ 50cc petrol chainsaw

After 25 years of Stihl, Roger gets to grips with his first chainsaw from Makita, the Makita DCS5121 18″ 50cc. The petrol chainsaw features Easy Start, Spring-Assisted Starter for Quick Starting with Less Force and a number of other unique features. Watch the product test to see Roger’s verdict.

Features of the Makita DCS5121 18″ 50cc include:

– Compact design with less weight (only 12.3 lbs.)
– Large dual spike bar for increased productivity.
– Touch & Stop single lever control shuts off engine with just a touch.
– Slide-out baffle can be configured for efficient cold weather operation.
– High power-to-weight ratio 3.3 HP engine.
– Two point durable inertia/mechanical chain brake.
– Engineered with smooth rounded surfaces for easy cleaning and operator comfort.
– Large fuel and oil tank openings with S-form caps for easy operation.
– Chain compartment is easy to clean and clears chips away efficiently.
– Advanced Vibration Dampening System engineered to reduce vibration.
– Lateral chain tensioning for easy adjustment.
– Adjustable automatic chain lubrication for efficient operation.

Vario PRO underfloor heating system installation

Roger Bisby

-

24th September 2015

0

Vario PRO underfloor heating system installation

Skill Builder takes a quick look at an installation of the Vario PRO underfloor heating system

The Vario PRO system combines Thermogroup UK’s TwistedTwin electric underfloor heating cable with Vario ProMat uncoupling membrane for the ultimate fast-track floor preparation with a buildup of just 5.5mm.

See more at: www.thermogroupuk.com

Which Underfloor Heating System Is Best For You?

Videos from the web: Builder demolishes work after client says they can’t pay

Videos

Roger Bisby

-

29th May 2015

0

Videos from the web: Builder demolishes work after client says they can’t pay

Builder demolishes work: Builder Nigel Gray got so fed up waiting to be paid £15,000 for a construction job at a council owned property in Shoreham he decided to destroy his own handiwork.

The tennant, Anita Dovey, who had been given permission by the council to make the changes to the property, was given several chances to pay the bill but when she failed to do so the builder began demolishing his work in an attempt to salvage some of the materials used and recouperate some of his losses.

Mr Gray used a sledgehammer to break up the porch from Anita Dovey’s home, removed the conservatory one window at a time and took away the French doors.

Mr Gray told the BBC: “I’m absolutely gutted to have had to do this because it was such fantastic handiwork but I could not just let this go.”

“We just kept on getting a string of excuses and bounced cheques.”

When the work was not paid for, Mr Gray said the local council gave him consent to demolish his work.

A council spokesman said: “Council tenants are allowed to make improvements to their home. Unfortunately, this private agreement has gone wrong.

Supercove How to: Trade tips on cutting and coving

Roger Bisby

-

29th May 2015

0

Supercove How to: Trade tips on cutting and coving

Roger shows you just how easy it is to cut and fit coving using Supercove

SuperCove lightweight coving is available from many good builders merchants and DIY stores throughout the UK and Ireland, in various length options up to 4 metres.

With super-light SuperCove, you can fix coving quickly and easily – adding value to your home with the minimum of effort.

SuperCove is faced with a high quality paper-board – ideal for painting, with no need to prime. The polyurethane core, unlike polystyrene, will not melt or drip if exposed to heat or flame.

Despite the fact that there are a lot of different styles of coving out there, the plain concave coving that has been the standard product for many modern homes over the last 40 years is still in big demand. The big difference now is that there is a high quality alternative to the heavy gypsum based product that we all used to fit a few years ago. Supercove has a polyurethane core that makes it exceptionally rigid and a white card/paper face that gives it crisp edges with a finish that often needs no further decorating.

The lightweight coving means that you can stick it up with a minimal amount of adhesive and it genuinely does not need propping or pinning. There are still many die-hard plasterers out there who would rather use a gypsum coving because they can run the corners in with a bit of board filler and close up any mitres which are a bit gappy. I would not dream of taking away their fun but for me the cutting of accurate mitres is easy enough to achieve with the guides.

When it comes to cutting you have a choice of using the blue plastic Supercove mitre guide, your own mitre guide or a mitre box. The manufacturers recommend a sharp craft knife which produces a sharp line that doesn’t need sanding. I tried this but without a longer blade it is difficult to set the knife against the former. If you have a sharp blade that it long enough by all means try this.

The mitre box works well provided you remember to set it at the same angle that the coving will be fitted. That is to say that the top and bottom must be equidistant from the corner. For me the easiest way to cut Supercove is with a fine tooth saw because it allows you to set the blade against the guide to produce the correct angle.

If you are new to coving here are a few tips.
1. It pays to mark the top or bottom of the cove so you know which way you are cutting. If you keep the bottom towards you on the bench you will find it easier to orientate and make the correct cut at the corners. Internal corners have the long end at the bottom and external corners (around chimney breasts) have the long end of the cut at the top. The guide allows you to do this easily.

2. You can buy Supercove in 3metre lengths but it is likely that you will need to join two lengths together. Some people do this with a straight 90 degree cut but it is a lot better to cut a 45 degree cut with your mitre guide and joint the two bits together. You can then run a damp sponge lightly across the adhesive/filler.

3 Always mark the wall and ceiling with a pencil so you get the coving evenly set between the wall and ceiling. If the corners of the room or chimney breast are not quite 90 degrees it is best not to try cutting the mitres to suit. Stick to the 45 degrees and gently roll the corners in so the mitre closes up.

4. If you are fitting around a bay with 45 degree angles you need to cut 22 ½ degree mitres.

www.supercove.co.uk

How to: Fit an electric shower (Bristan Joy)

Roger Bisby

-

28th May 2015

0

How to: Fit an electric shower (Bristan Joy)

This is an instantaneous thermostatic electric shower that’s designed to be easy to fit. It’s a modern-looking case, and it’s designed to cover over existing footprints of showers, so if you’re replacing an electric shower, then hopefully this will cover over all the screw holes; you won’t get involved in any retiling.

But here’s the other thing; they make it easy to fit with a choice of pipe entries. You can come in either on the left or the right hand side, and you’ve got a channel coming down, so if you’re coming in from the ceiling with an exposed chrome pipe, you can run down inside the channel, swivel the elbow around, and then pop it straight in. Or you can just swap it over and come in the other side. They make it as versatile as possible.

It’s a well-known fact that not many people ever read the instruction booklet, which is a bit of a shame, because it’s only when the job finishes and something goes wrong that people reach for the instructions. The instructions for the Bristan Joy are easy to follow. They’re clear; you don’t need to be a scientist or an engineer to follow them. And they also have, in the middle, a very handy fixing template, which is useful if you’re setting out for new work. But if you’re going on to existing work, you probably won’t need the template. You’ve more or less got to put the shower up over where the pipe and the cable connection come in and make sure that you can work with those. But it is a versatile shower, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble.

Okay, we’ve got the template leveled up nicely now, so we’re ready to mark these fixing holes so they’re ready for drilling. Now, some people get very worried about drilling tiles because you can do a lot of damage. Some people say stick a bit of tape on there, stops the drill from skidding. But here’s something that I do. It’s a tip that’s going to raise alarm bells with some of you, I know that. But what I do, is I get a screw or a nail or anything like that, and I just mark the hole with a very tiny little tap. What that does is it just breaks the glaze very, very slightly, so that when you drill, the drill wants to center on that point.

Also, if I’m fixing something like a shower, I only put the top two holes in. I don’t mark and drill the bottom hole until I’m absolutely sure that the thing’s level. That way, if you need a very slight bit of adjustment, you’ve got it.

In this situation, we’re using a rear pipe entry, and that will be typical of a lot of replacements that you’re doing. We need to trim this pipe to make sure that it goes into the elbow. The elbow protrudes very slightly past the back of the unit, which to my mind is not ideal, but so long as you make sure that the hole around the pipe is big enough to accommodate that bit of elbow, you’ll be fine. I’ve got to trim it. I’ve worked out that it’s 16 millimeters of pipe protrusion beyond the tiles to get into the fitting, so I’m going to cut that with my pipe slice.

At this point, what I would like to do is hang it on the wall and offer it up on the pipe work, just to make sure that everything’s right. But there is a problem here: in Bristan’s instructions, they say that if you’re going to use a rear entry pipe work, you need to have access from behind. They say that for one very good reason, and that’s because once the push-fit fittings are in, they’re locked taut, there’s no way that you can remove them again from the wall, because if the pipe work is fixed and you can’t pull it out, then you’re stuck.

What I do – it’s a little tip – with these collets here, you can just, if you’re careful, flip them out with your fingers, and then you can try a trial fit without the pipe locking on the fitting. You must remember to put that collet back in finally; otherwise there’s nothing to stop the fitting from pulling off the end of the pipe. But just temporarily, while you’re doing the trial fit, you can take that collet out, put it in a safe place, and pop it back in afterwards. That’s perfectly acceptable.

Before I leave this subject of pipe positions, there’s one more option which is included in the Bristan instructions. Rather than coming through the back and having that problem that I talked about with the collet locking on, if you’re worried about that and you’d rather be able to get the shower on and off the wall easily, what you can do is put an elbow in the existing pipe. There may already be one on it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s compression or capillary elbow. But if you just then turn the pipe down through 90 degrees, you’ll find that you can just pop the shower on that way. That way, it’s very easy to remove it if you ever need to.

Okay, now we’ve got the pipes in and it’s time to look at the wiring. If you’re doing an existing shower, then the cable is probably in there, and you’ll just want to adapt that to the shower. You can come in from either side, or you can drop it down on the surface, so there are a few options there.

If you want to come in from the right hand side, you can either come in through the back of the wall or you can come up through the entry point and then put the conduit on. If you pop the live and the neutral behind the filter housing, and then the earth, you can just bring around the front there – there’s plenty of room that way. Not too crowded. And then you can make your connections up through the channel.

When it comes to connecting to the terminal block, there’s a sign here, a little label, which says that you’re going to make sure that all these terminal connections are tight. The reason for that is that these things draw quite a lot of power, and if you’ve got slightly loose connection, you’re getting an overheat and you can get a burnout of a cable. I’ve been to many showers which have stopped working and found that it’s just been loose terminals which have caused the cable to burn out. That’s an important point to remember.

Now it’s time to fit the riser rail. The riser rail’s only got one hole in it, because there’s only one fixed position for the screw. This is useful because if you’re replacing an existing riser rail, then you can adjust the screw holes on this riser rail to fit the old one.

Okay, so that’s it. Our basic installation is done. I’m just waiting for the electrician to wire up to the RCD and put his isolating pull cord switch in, and also I’ve got to put an isolating valve on the cold water supply. Other than that, it’s ready to go, but obviously I want to put the shower screen up first.

But before I do that, I just want to explain a little bit about the controls. Scale is a problem in hard water areas. Electric showers are prone to it because they heat the water to quite a temperature in a small cylinder. It’s a bit like the kettle, if you like. So Bristan have thought about this. They’ve done a lot of work on it. One thing they’ve done, in the electronic controls, there’s a run-on. So when the shower’s turned off, it runs on to clear the water out of the cylinder so that it’s not hanging around forming scale. That helps enormously.

Also, they’ve got a quite clean head. This has got a three position on it, which helps to just move it around every so often. But you can wipe the surface clean, and that gets rid of some of the scale. And there’s also a filter which can be taken out and cleaned every so often, and just run through with cold water, just to make sure that’s nice and clear.

So those three things are going to extend the life of the shower and hopefully solve a few of those scale problems. It comes with a two-year guarantee, so that shows that they’re confident about it. But if the customer takes care of those small points, it will increase the life of the shower.

www.bristan.com/products

A Different Cut

ICS Diamond Chainsaw Blades

Water Lubrication

Final Cut

ICS 695 vs Cut’n’Break

Further Reading

In this video I try out the Bosch GBH 36 VF-LI Plus Professional Cordless Hammer.

Avoiding pipes is always a challenge when fixing floorboards..

In this video Skill Builder brings you a demonstration of the CT1 Sealant & Adhesive, a sealant and construction adhesive that replaces numerous products from just one tube.

The Tale Of The Shower Tray Crack

Roger talks about ladder safety after a recent tragedy on a site he was working at

Skill Builder takes a quick look at an installation of the Vario PRO underfloor heating system

Roger shows you just how easy it is to cut and fit coving using Supercove

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORY