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Posts Tagged ‘chisel<’
Mr-Skill loves recycling because it avoids over-filling our tips, and it saves on the pocket too, when there is no need to buy new bricks. Assuming your bricks are re-usable after demolishing your old wall, he also suggests that they will make for a rustic and creative effect as you build a new wall. 
All it needs is an investment of time and the application of a little elbow-grease – imagine the feeling of accomplishment when it all comes together. If you don’t have the skills to lay bricks, you can still make a positive contribution by preparing the old bricks for re-use, while you find a bricklayer here on Mr-Skill.
Old for New
Set up a production line in a quiet spot in your yard. Then, examine each broken brick piece and decide which ones to keep, and those destined for the rubble pile. For those that are re-usable, it is a case of tidying up the broken face so that all sides are reasonably flat for the re-building job.
Using a pencil, mark up where you plan to cut out the damaged part of the old brick. Carry your marked line around all four faces to facilitate a flat face for the section you are about to level. Now you can go to work with your chisel, working methodically and safely – don’t forget the goggles and gloves!
Laying out the New Course
If you have decided this bit is not for you, you will have to get a bricklaying quote – remember to ask for some discount because of all the preparation work you have already done. If you are going ahead yourself:
- Spread out the prepared mortar evenly along the foundations of the new wall using a trowel.
- Spread a decent layer of mortar on either side of the brick before laying it on the foundation – you could do this in your hand or once the brick’s laid in position, making sure to anchor the bricks firmly in the mortar.
- Continue along the new brick course until you have completed a row, and so on. One of our London bricklayer chuckles that the beauty of using old bricks is that you can trim them to all sorts of shapes and sizes to fit all the nooks and crannies.
Mr-Skill adds that if you have reached this far without fuss, then you are a natural bricklayer, and you should look to joining up as a member!
Tags: anchor, brick, bricklaying quote, broken, chisel, demolishing, discount, find a bricklayer, foundation, gloves, goggles, investment, london bricklaying, mortar, recycling, rubble, safety, trowel, wall, work
Posted in Bricklaying, Project Advice | Comments Off
Our London Carpenter and Joinery expert tells us that he is amazed at how popular laminate floors have become in the world of renovation. He goes on to say that “Laminate flooring makes use of a tried and trusted tongue-in-groove system that allows one floor panel to lock tightly to the next.” Fitting a laminate floor is quite a simple job – provided, that is you have the right tools, material and skills.
A well-fitted laminate floor provides a high quality finish that is both pleasant to look at, and great to walk on too. Getting the flooring to meet under a doorway and flowing nicely into another room is not too difficult either, as long as you plan and work carefully. Before reading on, you may prefer to get a Carpenter Quote from one of the many professional flooring providers on Mr-Skill.
 Tools you Need
Tape measure and scissors or stanley knife
Crow bar, wooden tapping block and handsaw
Circular saw – not too coarse but certainly sharp
Jig saw and rubber mallet
Sharp, medium bladed wood chisel
Laminate flooring and appropriate underlay barrier
Method to Follow
Measure the floor area to be covered, and purchase the floor laminate of your choice – don’t forget the underlay. Remove any old floor covering such as carpets or tiles or plastic floor covering.
 Unpack the floor laminate, and lay it down to check fit and to allow it to acclimatise for several days, according to the maker’s instructions.
Lever away the existing skirting boards gently with the crow bar. Be sure to mark where each section belongs to make for easy refitting later.
Ensure that the floor surface is clean, dry and woodworm-free. Secure old wooden floorboards before fitting your new flooring. Uneven concrete floors should be levelled correctly.
You are now ready to start laying your new laminate floor. If on the other hand you decide that this sounds all too difficult, you could find carpenter and joinery specialists on Mr-Skill instead.
See Next Article ….
Tags: barrier, carpenter quote, chisel, crow bar, doorway adjustment, find a carpenter or joiner, floor, flooring, laminate, london carpenter & Joiner, material, quality finish, Renovation, rubber mallet, saw, tools, underlay, wooden block
Posted in Carpentry & Joinery, Project Advice | Comments Off
Posted in Bricklaying on Jan 09
Sometimes we come across customers trying to crack walnuts with large sledgehammers. By this, we mean people trying to turn a rowing boat into an ocean liner. Take simple brick paving jobs, for example. If it’s not a heavy traffic area you could even do the job yourself, thereby avoiding the  need for a London Bricklayer or other specialist.
- Obtain a supply of decent quality bricks. By this we mean a product that’s well baked through, reasonably rectangular, and of a pleasing appearance too. Don’t be put off if the colour varies though. In fact, variety can be a large part of the charm.
- Mark out the path or patio and excavate to twice the thickness of the bricks laid flat. Remove any roots you find. Lay a plastic sheet in the hole to discourage weeds. Mix dry cement powder with two-thirds of the soil dug out, in proportions of four parts earth to one part cement. DO NOT MOISTEN this mixture. Mother Nature will do it for you.
- Compact this mixture back into the hole until it is level, and one brick’s height below the ground. Sprinkle fine dry sand evenly over it to about half an inch thick. Lay the bricks in whatever pattern
 you prefer, tapping these down firmly with a rubber mallet, and adding / removing sand as necessary to create a level effect.
- Fill any gaps with brick pieces. Use a hammer and chisel NOT AN ANGLE GRINDER to cut these down to size, and remember to wear thick gloves. Finally, excavate a frame all around the paved area the width of a single brick. Mix all the remaining earth with dry cement powder – in a ratio of three parts to one this time – and tamp it back in. The mixture will harden naturally over time. Cut away any surplus plastic sheet.
How that for service from Mr-Skill? There’s no need to ask us for Bricklaying Quotes if you’d like to do a job like this yourself. Should you decide that you’ve got better things to do though, we can help you Find a Bricklayer working in your area, and We Won’t Charge you a Penny for this service either.
Tags: brick, bricklaying quotes, cement, chisel, colour, compact, depth, earth, find a bricklayer, ground, hammer, harden, height, job, london bricklayer, mallett, naturally, path, patio, paving, piece, plastic, proportion, root, sand, sheet, soil, tamp, thick, traffic, weed
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Theoretically, a door is a rectangular piece of wood sitting inside a perfectly rectangular, slightly oversize frame, and attached to it with hinges. The owners of a well-built home should never need to Find a Door Fitter unless they want to make some changes. However the world is seldom such a perfect place. If your  doors start sticking, this is what you might need to do.
• Begin by examining the gap between the door and frame, to determine where it is catching, and why. Reasons could include a door that’s swelling in humidity, and a frame worked loose through slamming.
• If the frame is coming loose, your first step is to re-attach it to the opening in the wall with some solid screws and plugs. Make sure it remains exactly square, or you could be worsening the problem!
• If the frame is firmly in position, and square too, examine where the door is catching. If this is on the handle side at the top corner, either the top hinge must move in, or the bottom hinge must come out. The converse applies if the door is catching at the bottom.
•  If the door is sticking on the handle side from top to bottom, then both hinges need adjustment. This is not a difficult task, providing you understand what to do. If not, and you live in the City, then you need to consult with London Door Fitters to play safe.
• To move a door towards the handle side, loosen off the offending hinge and insert a shim between hinge and frame. To move it away from a sticking point, loosen off the hinge and chisel out a little wood to recess it more.
If his does not solve the problem or the door is sticking at the top or bottom, then the answer is to remove the door and plane it down to size. This is a more complex job. Perhaps you should play safe and get Door Fitting Quotes on Mr-Skill instead?
Tags: adjust, attach, bottom, catch, chisel, complex, door, door fitting quote(s), down, examine, find a door fitter, frame, handle, hinge, home, humid, in, london door fitters, loose, move, out, plug, rectangular, screw, shim, slam, square, stick, swell, top, up
Posted in Window & Door Fitting | Comments Off
Roofers lay tiles loosely over each other in an overlapping pattern, and hold them in place with edging fascias, and special tiles cemented in place along the ridges. If these ridges fail, then there is a possibility of a strong wind lifting sheets of roof tiles with disastrous results. This fairly common problem usually begins as roofs settle after the first few years, and  the rendering beneath the ridges separates.
This is not a job for an amateur with a bad head for heights. In fact, we strongly recommend that you Find a Roofer to do the following work for you instead.
• Identify which ridge tiles have worked loose. This could be just one, a few, or the entire ridge, and the solution varies accordingly. If you can remove the loose tiles without disturbing the adjacent ones then this could save you time and money, although it is unwise to take chances and end up with a patch job.
• Obtain a supply of replacement ridge tiles. Remove offending ridges, set them aside and carefully chisel the loose rendering off the roof tiles beneath. You can leave a small residue of old rendering behind, provided that this is firmly attached.
• Soak the replacement ridge tiles and the supporting roof tiles with clean water until they have taken up a slightly darker hue. This ensures that they do not suck the moisture out of the new rendering, and weaken it.
•  Loose fit a new ridge tile, make a chalk mark on either side of it, and set it aside again. Lay two generous lines of suitable tinted rendering within the chalk lines. Press the ridge tile gently into place and remove any surplus rendering with trowel and damp cloth. Repeat the process as necessary along the entire ridge, remembering to close in the ends of the last ridge tiles if you replaced these too.
• A competent London Roofer will always check carefully that there are no cracks or holes showing anywhere on the ridge. This is because a strong gust of wind can blow rainwater through a tiny hole into the roof space below with surprising force, and form damaging pools on ceilings.
Should you decide to get a Roofing Quote on Mr-Skill, then we would be delighted to put you in touch with several rated tradesmen working in your area. We know you will be satisfied with the price and quality of the bids that you receive, and we wish you well with your roofing project too.
Tags: chalk, check, chisel, competent, crack, disturb, fascia, find a roofer, gust, hole, lift, london roofer, loose, loose fit, mark, moisture, overlap, press, rain, remove, rendering, repeat, replacement, roof, roofing quote, separate, settle, soak, tile, water, wind
Posted in Roofing, Gutters & Drainage | Comments Off
Posted in Carpentry & Joinery on May 23
There is absolutely no end to the projects possible for a home carpenter to attempt, provided they have the tools, skills and love for every piece of wood their craft demands. After all as my pal José Pereira  one of the leading Hobbyist Carpenters in London likes to remark every piece represents a labour of love by a tree that took thirty years to grow.
One of the easiest and most enjoyable tasks of all is to use up scraps of wood to make simple wooden blocks and then paint these bright colours. The simplest things in life are often best, and it is amazing how many endless hours of fun a child may have playing imaginative games with wooden blocks of different sizes.
Ever since I discovered that hole-saws produce wooden wheels, I have been having huge fun myself while making wooden toys for selling at local church bazaars. In this way I have been able to donate quite a sum of money to noble causes while whittling away a pleasant weekend.
 Educational toys that assist the younger generation to learn to recognise different three-dimensional shapes and fit them into slots are a challenge that requires quite advanced tooling and relatively high skill levels too. The fun here is thinking of different shapes to use – right now I am working through the A to Z of animals, and have no need to Find a Carpenter to help me do so.
Lately I have been wondering about starting a doll house for my grand daughter who will be turning four this year. My wife suggested getting in assistance when she heard how long the job might take me – trust me my answer was short, to the point and as sharp as my best chisel.
These are but two of many projects for a weekend carpenter to attempt who is also a child at heart. While some may suggest getting Carpenter Quotes to do the work, as far as I am concerned this is simply missing the point completely that I am attempting to make.
Tags: bazaar, block, carpenter, carpenter quote, carpenters london, chisel, doll house, easy, education, enjoy, find a carpenter, find a joiner, fit, hole-saw, imagine, joiner london, joiner quote, love, project, scrap, shape, skill, task, tool, toy, tree, wheel, wood
Posted in Carpentry & Joinery | Comments Off
Posted in General Building on Apr 01
Asphalt driveways (some folk refer to tar) are popular with UK developers because they are quick and easy to lay down  and are relatively cheap. However if the asphalt surface becomes damaged (for example a weed pops up from underneath or a plumber digs a trench across) then you do need to Find a Builder quite urgently to repair the breach before the whole fabric begins to break up completely. This is because asphalt is not reinforced.
If you want to have a crack at the repair yourself, this is what you have to do.
o Remove any loose debris and plants. Tidy up the edges with an angle grinder to achieve a tidy patch.
o For a crack no more than half an inch in width, backfill it carefully so that it is only as deep as it is wide. Fill it with asphalt-emulsion crack filler from a caulking gun and smoothen off with a putty knife.
o  In the case of a larger repair, undercut the edges of the opening with a cold chisel and mason’s hammer so that the patch will flow underneath the existing surface. Using a spade, shovel in matching pre-mix coldpatch blacktopping slightly above the surface level, level with a metal rake and tamp it down. Finally cover the patch with a board that extends a foot beyond it on all four sides, and drive over it several times to compact it finally. The picture to the right illustrates two points – how not to choose the right pre-mix, and how to do a tidy job.
A large patch is seldom within the capabilities of the average DIY person, and we recommend that you Get Building Quotes from a reputable tradesman to do it for you instead. The motto of most Tradesmen in London is that the driveway must look right because that is what most people see first when they arrive.
Tags: angle grinder, asphalt, backfill, blacktop, blacktopping, builder london, builder quote, building job london, building quotes, caulk, chisel, cold patch, compact, crack, cut, damage, debris, emulsion, find a builder, find a tradesman, hammer, macaddam, patch, plants, premix, puttyknife, rake, repair, tamp, tar, tradesman london, tradesman quote, trim, undercut
Posted in General Building | Comments Off
A Water Feature adds beauty to any home, and to any office too. A leak can be troublesome especially if the pond is indoors, and requires repair soon. Slight cracks are often within the skills of an amateur repair person – more serious ones  indicate a need to find a handyman to sort them out, because leaks get worse, not better. Before you start any repairs, allow the water level to drop gradually, but not enough to risk your precious fish and plants. When it stops, you have found at least one site of your leak.
Important Hint Be careful of using toxic materials that may harm fish and plants. If in any doubt, contact the manufacturer for advice.
Remove all plants and fish, and store these in buckets of water taken from the pond. Keep these in a cool place, and remember to keep feeding your friends. If they have to remain like that for several days, aerate the water by gently pouring it between buckets.
Locate the source of the leak and chisel out any loose pieces, widening it if necessary to provide room for a good key. Remove all dust, and paint the opened crack with several layers of bonding liquid.
Make up a rich mix of concrete or cement, moistened with the same bonding liquid instead of water. Work this carefully into the crack, using an old flat screwdriver to eliminate air pockets. Smooth off the surface of the fill and blend it into the surrounding area. Wait patiently until the following day.
 Depending on the circumstances, re-seal the entire water feature with one of the following products according to the manufacturer’s instructions:
o Acrylic waterproofing compounds come in different colours, are flexible and can bridge hairline cracks.
o Latex waterproofing compounds dry quickly. However, curing times must be respected before reintroducing water, plants and fish.
o Rubberised bituminous products are more effective on larger ponds. Curing times can be extensive making them less desirable for repairs.
o Flexible polyurethane sealants applied with a caulking gun are perfect for sealing around pipes and filling small cracks. Beware though, many of these can harm plants and especially fish.
Wash out your water feature when the sealing compound is dry and properly cured. Handymen London based believe that this is the perfect time to paint a pond inside as well. When ready you can return the water you removed, and re-house your plants and fish according to good practices that are beyond the scope of this advice.
Did you find this information sufficiently comprehensive? If not, perhaps it would be wiser to get handyman quotes on Mr-Skill.
Tags: acrylic, bitumen, bituminious, bonding liquid, cement, chisel, concrete, crack, find a handyman, fish, fix, handyman quotes, handymen london, latex, leak, open, paint, plants, poison, polyurethane, pond, pool, repair, rubberised, seal, toxic, wash, water, water feature, water proofing, waterproofing
Posted in Gardening & Landscaping, Handyman Services | 2 Comments »
 Hanging an interior wooden door in a door frame seems like a simple enough task, but doing it incorrectly can result in uneven gaps in the spaces around the door or worse, a door that will not open and close properly. Many aspects of hanging a door can be done by yourself, but if you have limited woodworking skills or are not particularly good at maths, you might like to use a local carpenter in London for some aspects of this job.
In some properties in London, you may well have interior doors which are over seventy years old and are way past their best or you might just fancy a change and want to hang a new door as part of a redecoration project. Irrespective of your reason, the likelihood is that a new door will not fit an old frame because of movement within the structure of the house since it was built, and before you start to hang the door, you will have to plane it down to the correct size.
 Older properties are rarely perfectly perpendicular For this reason, it is often better to buy a door that is a little larger than the frame into which it has to fit. Door sizes generally vary between 6´ 6” and 6´ 8” in height, and 2´ 6” and 2´ 9” in width, so when considering what size to buy, hang plumb lines from each of the corners so you can measure at the bottom how much the door frame has moved out of square, and add this element to the width between the two door jambs.
Planing a door to get it to be a perfect fit is one of those jobs that you might wish a local carpenter in London to do for you. It is important that you get the fit exactly right, so mark the door in pencil where it should be cut, allowing an extra ¼ inch extra all round to allow for a small gap between the upright door jambs and a gap at the top and bottom of the door. Plane (or saw) conservatively at first – holding the door up against the frame at regular intervals so you can see that you are not removing too much material.
Doors should open into a room, and the hinge placement should be such that the light switch is on the side opposite the hinges. So, if as you enter a room, the light switch is inside on the wall to your right, the hinges should go on the left hand side of the door. Place the door on its side, with the hinge side facing up. Make a mark six inches from the top and the bottom of the door – these marks represent the top of the hinge at the top of the door and the bottom of the hinge at the bottom of the door. If you are having a third hinge, this should be marked in the centre of the door.
 Open a hinge and place it on the door in line with one of the marks you have just made. Draw around it with a pencil and repeat the process where the other hinge(s) is going to go. This is where you want to make shallow recesses (“mortises”) so that the hinges sit flush with the door, but do not try to knock the recess out in one go – take small pieces out at a time and check regularly that you are not going too deep into the door as this will be difficult to fix (see image).
With each hinge flap in its mortise, mark the screw positions with a pencil. Remove the hinges and use a drill bit that is slightly narrower than your screws to drill pilot holes where they are marked by the pencil. Screw the hinges onto the door and then place the door up against the frame on top of two ¼ inch shims (to lift the door away from the floor) and mark the corresponding hinge marks on the door frame.
 After carefully putting the door aside, cut mortises in the door frame in the same way that you did on the door itself. Hold the door against the frame again to test the placement and make sure the hinges are flush. Mark pilot holes on the frame with a pencil and then drill through these marks in the same way you did for the door. Put the screws through the pilot holes to affix the hinges on the frame.
As you can see – hanging an interior door is a fairly complicated job and you could certainly use a second pair of hands – especially when manoeuvring the door in and out of the frame. If there is nobody around to help you, get some quotes from carpenters in London by browsing through our Tradesmen´s Directory or use the “Post-a-Job” facility at the top of the page.
Tags: carpenter, carpenter quotes, chisel, doors, find a carpenter in London, hinges, measure, mortise, plane, screw, Window & Door Fitting
Posted in Carpentry & Joinery, General Building, Handyman Services, Window & Door Fitting | Comments Off
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