Home DIY

my 2p

I like breadbasket

but not front border

Herringbone for me.

The guy on 100k house hand cleaned all of his parquet floor blocks with a scaper

but not front border

?

Definitely Herringbone. What the stain colour?

A true artist would do it without tools... Bare hands only.

Definitely. I would still want to put them through the jointer after I had cleaned them up.
Scraping or whatever and maybe a do with some paraffin or acetone or whatever to get to a standard that doesnt fuck the blade.

Something like this?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb052bte-204mm-planer-thicknesser-230v/81126

I'm guessing to get the base perfectly flat?

unbalanced, clumsy

Ah, yeah - it's just there to space the central part out at the moment.

I'll likely have to go with whole+half brick border due to the width of the hall, if I go breadbasket.

Appeal being that cutting some bricks in half would be the extent of the cutting needed, and if I'm lucky I will be able to use both halves, thus having almost no wastage.

Herringbone would generate a lot more wastage I suspect as the two sides need blocks cut in opposite directions.

That's the type of machine. It's normally used to ensure thickness and squareness of edges for joining thin boards to make larger boards. Not sure how well it will stand up to the bitumen but you could use it to ensure all the pieces are the same thickness.

How important do you think that is given that the whole floor will be sanded to a uniform surface after the adhesive has cured? Hugely reduce time/effort of said sanding?

I vote for herringbone; breadbasket makes it seem narrower.
I think any slight variation from perfection would show sooner with breadbasket too.
#perfectionfascism

Wise words as ever. One thing I think trades need to look at is their online presence (ok, I'm a Designer, I would think that right?) but I am surprised at how many have piss poor websites and identities, when I have been searching for folks to fix/fit this and that a quick google brings up some of the worst sites i've seen this side of 2001 populated with low res stock images, some still with watermarks on. If someone is happy to steal images, and thinks their website looks fine (when it doesn't), I'm not sure I'd want that person to be working on anything more permanent.
Of course, you are prob going to prove my theory wrong by having a really bad site too, or no site... ha.

Also, baths, Steel or not?

Enamel

In puce.

Is it possible to cram a shower and toilet into a 35 inch square?

No site, no advertising at all! Unless I wanted to specialise it keeps my overheads low which in turn generates more business. I have thought about specialising but the diversity keeps me interested and improving at a wide range of jobs which is one of the reasons I'm still doing it after so many years.

The more common approach would be to hire cheaper/less experienced labour and take on more work, it's usually quite frustrating for the trades who do it but there's not much option if you have a family who want to live above the bread line. No dependants for me so it's possible financially to go this route.

It might reduce the sanding time but you have to account for how even the floor is anyway. I think you're going in the right direction testing the different glues, if you can get away with laying them with bitumen on the back then sanding the face flat that would be my choice of approach. Trying to get them all back to perfect on the back is going to require immense patience however you decide to do it and it makes little or no difference to the end result.

Just pushing them through the thicknesser is going to be a fiddle with the size they are.

Impressive! I guess once you are established you are, er, established and digital presence is much less of a concern for a plumber than a Designer.
I am however thinking of making and selling some sort of templated (I've already built a couple for fun) portfolio/trade website where I can get costs down to a minimum but make profit in bulk. Prob won't work.
Anyway, baths... any real difference in these two... I need double ended and sans tap holes...

http://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/Ultra-Coast-Round-Double-Ended-Bath-Legset-Various-Size-Options.aspx

http://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/hudson-reed-deuce-round-super-deep-double-ended-bath-legset-3-size-options.aspx

common in HK

you need to visit me ASAP

Something like this?I'm guessing to get the base perfectly flat?

Yes and Yes but be wary of erbauer. Spares are sometimes non-existant.
Makita and dewalt versions get good reviews.

Doesn't seem to be any difference, maybe they can't reduce prices on the Hudson brand so they have another brand name for it.

Cheers buddy. Appreciate all the answers to my inane questions. Have set the start date as next week so I actually buy everything and now getting stressed as I actually have to buy everything, this week...

Yup! Let's see!

I've bought one of those IR strippers, I've got some stairs and bannisters to do

Once I'm done with it I may well sell it, as not sure how much more use I'll have for it - let me know if interested.

What would happen if you used the IR stripper on bitumen - a very rapid and uncontrollable fire that smelled really bad?