Home DIY

Had a guy come round this morning, recommended by friend of a friend, but he isn't a structural engineer, said he was a construction manager (I think?) and is CIOB qualified. Sound legit or is this the woo of the building world? Retired guy. I've checked the local planning apps and he's been there contact point for many of them over the years so I imagine he's legit.

Not sure but as long as he can do the calculations and building control accept them I'm sure its fine? I remember doing them at college years ago (architectural technician) so its not that difficult. Most walls seem to require the smallest UC section available anyway (typical house)

There are online calculators that you can use instead of a structural engineer, which saves you quite a bit. Our council's Building Control was happy to accept them.

We used this one:
https://www.beamcalculation.co.uk/start-calculation/

Cheers lemonade, that looks useful, will take a closer look later

I take no responsibility if your house falls down. Ours hasn't yet

The other side is that if things go really tits up you may want someone to sue (or, more realistically, someone with insurance that you can sue).

This. For me it's worth £500 for it to be someone else's neck on the line...

@6pt had this done recently, although not entirely voluntarily.

But yes, get an engineer to size it. My bet is on 30cm deep I beam.

I'll for a 254 x 102 unless its a cavity wall then two 203 x 102 bolted together

Before and after if anyone’s interested. Why yes, that is a doorframe ‘supporting’ one end of the original steel.

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Cheers. Removing them isn't really the issue, they're already cracked and lifting.
Wondering what the best way is of not having the new tiles wobble and crack in the same way.

Thanks, floorboards are good TBH. Just need the gaps filled, sanded then painted / stained.

It’s 3 rooms , Lounge (5x6), dinning room (5x5) and hallway (6x3).

I've got 47sqm of indian sandstone patio that I properly cleaned at the weekend. Now thinking that a sealer would be worthwhile to prevent it getting horrible again.

Is this worthwhile and if so has anyone got any sealant recommendations?

Is this worthwhile and if so has anyone got any sealant recommendations?

Can't give you any recommendations, but my MIL is adamant it has to be sealed, otherwise you get lichen build up (personally I don't mine the way it looks, and figure you can blast it when it gets too much).

you get lichen build up

Heaven forbid something should like to live on the patio

Well it depends on what you want it to look like.

The problem for a lot of people is they buy sandstone because it's clean and light. So having it covered with shitty black spots doesn't really fit.

If it grew this stuff them people might feel different.

A quick Google says lichen is fussy as fuck so there's probably no way to "grow" paving slabs like that pic above.

Lichen doesn't grow in Hackney, the air is far too polluted. Our 18sq.m sandstone block patio gets a scrub with patio cleaner about once a year or so, that's enough to remove the green muck building up in the dark corners.

I'm trying to get a new cooker installed for the MIL. The previous one was duel fuel (gas hob, electric double oven/grill). So far as I'm aware (I haven't been round) this was plugged into a plug socket.

All new duel fuel cookers seem to be ~ 25 Amps. Am I right in assuming that if the old one was plugged in it was only 13 Amps and the wiring will need to be redone. I'm a little unsure as it seems the socket is controlled by a big red switch next to it which I thought suggested a high amperage circuit.

I've asked for a photo of the consumer unit which should hopefully throw some light on this. However, even if the consumer unit shows a 32 Amp rating I assume that there's a risk that the current wiring isn't rated at that. Is there any way to check that. Just pondering the best way to diagnose all of this remotely.

If it does need rewiring then any suggestions on what the likely cost will be? It's a very short run, probably only a couple of metres, as the consumer unit is on the wall in the room directly behind the cooker.

If it looks like this then it will need a 45A mcb on it. The cooker will be directly wired into the red switch. The socket is NOT to be used to connect the cooker. It's just there for other equipment.

With a cable run as short as you say then 6mm T&E will be sufficient.

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Have wrestled with my front door for 4 hours installing a fancy modern wifi/alarm connected code lock. Finished just in time to be able to lock the door for the night...

Edit: best bit was finding an old tin of the correct stain/oil for the door left by the previous owner.

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Someone looks pretty unhappy about this outcome

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I should hope so, he's trapped there forever the difficult bastard

We had this a while ago. Tried all those things - citric acid, squeezed lemons, sodium, vinegar - you name it. Gave up and went to our local white goods store to buy a new washing machine but ended up with free advice instead.

• always use washing powder, the liquid stuff gets stuck everywhere and eventually starts to mould / rot
  
• Once a month, run an empty machine with just white washing powder at 90 degrees
  
  

This has worked wonders for us, our washer went from stinky to fresh in two empty washes