| |
Posts Tagged ‘material<’
Posted in Handyman Services on Aug 06
Drill and Bit Tips
Just about every householder owns a drill, and how very useful is this power tool. Before the invention of the portable electric drill, cutting holes was a laborious exercise that involved using a hand tool such as auger. If the drill itself is important, then the bits that perform the task are vital too, so choosing the correct size and the right bit for the material you’re working with is essential.
Horses for Courses
The material you plan to drill through will indicate which bit you should use for the job.  Twist bits are the most commonly used for most drilling, while steel bits are relatively cheap and suitable for use on softer woods. At the other end of the spectrum we use cobalt-tipped bits for drilling holes in harder metals, such as stainless steel. Get advice from your local hardware store, or better still find a handyman here on Mr-Skill, and get all your drilling work done expertly with minimum fuss.
Understanding Your Options
Use a brad point bit for boring through wood as it deals effectively with stubborn chips as you drill through. For larger holes in wood – say from a half-inch diameter upwards – you should use a spade bit when drilling timber. Always consult your drill maker’s manual for guidelines on drilling through various different materials. Just like any other power tool, drills come in many different choices in terms of quality and performance. Certain drilling jobs may prove challenging for your particular drilling tool, and the manufacturer may impose torque limitations, which in turn could limit the use of some bits.
Correct Drilling Action 
One of our London handymen says that it’s all in the action when operating your drill, and that the slow and steady approach always wins the day. Apart from being potentially dangerous, pushing a drill to its limits is neither good for the tool nor the operator, whereas working in unison will achieve the objective without major stress. Most drills have variable speed settings and a normal drilling function as well as an impact, or hammer setting. More sophisticated equipment usually features a reverse switch for extracting the bit from the drilled hole. Another handy tip is to make sure that your drill is properly straight when in use – otherwise your hole may end up skew.
Last But Not Least
When loading a bit to the chuck, make sure that it is correctly gripped and don’t over-tighten or you may have problems removing the bit when you’re finished. Don’t forget that Mr-Skill has many pre-screened experts ready to assist your every need – get your handyman quote right here!
Tags: chuck, drill, drill bits, drill holes, drill speed, electric drill, expert, find a handyman, handyman, handyman services quote, impact, london handyman, material, metal, power drill, safety, stainless steel, tool, wood, wood chips
Posted in Handyman Services | Comments Off
We had a call from a customer the other day, who was confused as to why a cleaner wouldn’t take some old acid containers away – especially after they loaded all the cardboard boxes they cleared from his garage. We thought it would be a good idea to explain the difference, and to generally set the record right.
- Generally speaking, cleaners tidy sweep and clean a home or office, pretty much the same way we might do ourselves, if we
 only had the time. In the course of this, they bag the contents of waste-paper baskets and rubbish bins, so you can leave these out on the next council collection day.
- If you want the service people to take the bags down to the council depot as well, then you need to ensure they include this as an option on their cleaning quote. That’s because this job will involve extra time and petrol, and they’re entitled to their compensation.
- Certain types of materials and chemicals are classified as toxic, as they could harm an operator at a landfill site who comes in contact with them. The government has established rules for their safe disposal. Councils have procedures in place to make this possible.
 Our client who called us actually needed to find a waste disposal expert to remove the acid containers, not a cleaner. They would be equipped with specialist protection to avoid contamination themselves. It’s vitally important to understand the distinction, and not to pressurise a regular cleaner to take risks.
Mr-Skill has both kinds of service people on their books. Our customers have rated almost all of them down the years too.
Should you require the services of a top-rate London cleaner, or assistance with cleaning or waste disposal almost anywhere else in Britain, why not log onto our website and log your request right now? Our operators are on standby, and waiting for your call.
Tags: acid, bag, chemical, clean, cleaning quote, container, contaminate, contamination, council, depot, disposal, empty, find a waste disposal expert, garage, garbage, harm, hurt, landfill, london cleaner, material, protection, rubbish, specialist, sweep, tidy, toxic, waste
Posted in Cleaning Services, Disposals & Waste Removal | 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 General Building on Oct 15
Before you Find a Builder to complement your house with a perfect garden wall you really ought to choose the design yourself. This is because a boundary wall along a street is the ultimate statement of the owner’s taste, and hence a personal decision.  Here are some ideas to get you going. The comments are our personal feelings, not the final word on the subject!
• The first decision needed is the height of your garden wall, which has a great deal to do with why you are building it in the first place. If you require privacy the wall will be far higher than if you are defining the street line in a garden suburb. There will be council regulations that control height too.
• Your next choice is probably the materials to use. Here you are guided by several considerations. These include the style of your own house, the prevailing vernacular in the neighborhood, and the magnitude of Builder’s Quotes that you can afford. Cost is not the only consideration though. A first impression from the street can influence the value of a home enormously.
•  Where possible avoid a monotonous run of wall. There are various techniques to use. These include staggered heights, curved effects and inset sections. Experienced London Builders often recommend incorporating a herbaceous feature here and there. That’s because Mother Nature does not work in straight lines, and neither ought you to.
When you know exactly what you require it’s time to get competitive quotes. May I suggest you include Mr-Skill in this? They have a large number of Rated Builders available to work in every Postcode, and their unique bidding system ensures attractive bids.
They are also well-versed in design alternatives, and will be delighted to help you to choose the best design.
Tags: bid, boundary, Builders Quotes, cost, council, curve, decision, define, design, feature, find a builder, Garden, height, herbacious, house, inset, london builders, material, monotonous, perfect, privacy, rated, regulation, stagger, statement, street, style, taste, technique, vernacular, wall
Posted in General Building | Comments Off
Moving between homes is traumatic enough without being involved in a moving scam too. The difficulty is that most us move seldom and have little experience. Follow these suggestions and increase your prospects of a seamless move. Find a Mover on Mr-Skill and you virtually guarantee it.
•  Don’t choose the first person who walks in through your front door, and be put off, not impressed by a smooth act. Start by asking standard questions on the phone about professional registration and how many years in service. There’s a lot more to a successful move that accepting the cheapest Removal Quote.
• Your next step is to pay a visit to your shortlisted moving firms at their local offices. No Local offices? We suggest you move on because buying local means getting local support in time of trouble too. There’s little point in dealing with a London Moving Firm unless you live in London or are moving there.
Look out for the following warning signs as you make your visits:
• Shoddy premises and dirty vans and trucks
• Phones ringing unanswered off the hook
•  No decent reception and waiting area
• No license displayed and no advice about insurance
• A firm that offers to quote without visiting, on the basis of the number of rooms involved
When the representative comes round to quote ask detailed questions about what exactly is included. Do they supply packing materials and what exactly do they pack? Do they load your goods into their vehicle, and do they deliver them and unpack them at the other end in the right rooms? You’ll soon find out why removal quotes vary so much.
When you have chosen your removal firm (and we have many good ones listed here), our advice is to leave them to get on with it, and to try to stay out their way. Leave one member of the family to answer any questions they may have. The rest of the family should be elsewhere preparing their new home. That’s how you Find a Mover and have a successful move.
Tags: cheap, choice, choose, deliver, difficulty, dirty, experience, find a mover, guarantee, home, insurance, licence, load, local, london moving firm, material, move, mover, moving, office, offload, pack, phone, prepare, professional, question, quote, reception, registration, removal quote, removalist, remover, scam, select, service, shortlist, suggestion, support, truck, van, visit
Posted in Moving Homes & Hauliers | Comments Off
The last components that are fitted when assembling modern baths are the front panels themselves. These clip easily into place, and clip out easily too in order to provide access to drains and pipes. Because bath sizes are standardised these days, it follows that it is equally easy to replace an existing panel on a modern bath.
 This represents a superbly simple way to add new panache and style and colour to existing bathrooms for a fraction of the cost of refits, and you don’t necessarily require Bathroom Fitting Quotes before you start. In fact, the biggest task is often selecting the right bath panel from the range of options.
We recommend that you resist the urge to install anything that is capable of absorbing water, whether this spills over the bath-rim, or is present in the form of humidity or steam. This puts paid to romantic ideas of natural wood unfortunately. Speak to any London Bathroom Fitter and you should always receive the same consistent message – stick to fibreglass or plastic, or there is no guarantee.
Fortunately these modern materials come in all kinds of finishes and colours, and being mouldable are available in different profiles too. You will have to shop around if buying directly from the manufacturers though.  Moulds are expensive meaning that each factory offers a strictly limited range.
As you shop around you are bound to be impressed by the huge variety of designs available, especially if searching on the internet. Mr-Skill’s advice is to keep things simple unless you have a farmhouse bathroom. Light colours and less intrusive designs work best in smaller spaces.
Although is possible to replace a bath panel yourself, you may prefer to Find a Bathroom Fitter on Mr-Skill instead. That’s because you could find it difficult working on your knees in cramped spaces, and you could also end up damaging the material as well. If you choose your panel wisely though, then you should inevitably be enthralled by the stunningly refreshed effect. Isn’t it nice to know that some home improvement projects are so easy?
Tags: absorb, access, bath, bathroom, bathroom fitting quotes, clip, colour, component, cost, cramp, damage, design, drain, fibreglass, find a bathroom fitter, finish, fit, guarantee, humidity, install, intrusive, light, london bathroom fitter, material, mould, option, panel, pipe, plastic, refit, replace, simple, size, spill, steam, style, variety, water, wood
Posted in Painting & Decorating | Comments Off
Posted in Kitchen Fitting on Sep 02
There are a variety of reasons for installing under-counter ovens. These range from hygiene issues through to the slim line fashion-statement that this creates. Although under-counter cookers normally come in standard sizes, it is always best to check carefully before  you begin counter surgery, or indeed buy the cooker in the first place.
Please note that the advice that we provide here does not include any electrical work, and that this must be done by a competent, registered electrician that you could Find Here. We can also help you Find a Kitchen Fitter in your area too, in case you decide to contract out the entire job.
• The first stage of the project involves creating a suitable-sized opening in your run of counters according to the cooker-manufacturer’s instructions. Work carefully, to avoid damaging the counters that remain. If you kitchen is a modern one, you may need to do little more than remove a set of doors.
• Have an electrician install the electricity supply directly wired to the breaker box via a dedicated switch.
•  Unpack the stove and inspect it carefully for any defects. Then remove the door to make it easier to manhandle. If you find it a little heavy, perhaps you should save your back and ask us to arrange Kitchen Fitting Quotes instead?
• Gently remove the trim-pieces around the oven, any remaining packing materials, and the shipping feet, if any. Connect the power cables, and gently slide the oven into place. Fasten it in position according to the instructions, and replace the trim pieces for a perfect finish.
Gosh, they do make things easier these days, don’t they. Notwithstanding that, I’ve heard that Kitchen Fitters in London are kept busy doing similar jobs daily. We certainly receive a lot of enquiries on Mr-Skill for this, and would be delighted to assist you in this regard too.
Tags: care, contract, cooker, counter, damage, electrical, fasten, feet, find a kitchen fitter, heavy, inspect, install, instruct, kitchen fitter in london, kitchen fitting quotes, manufacturer, material, opening, oven, position, remove, slide, stove, trim, under counter, undercounter, unpack
Posted in Kitchen Fitting | Comments Off
Posted in Handyman Services on Aug 22
Do you need to Find a Handyman in London, or in any other place whatsoever across the length and breadth of Britain? Then you need look no further than Mr-Skill, because we have a huge database of Handymen that you can access when you just click here. Of course you could also look for one yourself, although from what we know you’ll battle to find one yourself that’s  half as good, or at a better price than ours either.
Notwithstanding this, here are a few tips to get you started…
o Does the handyman in your sights have some form of technical qualification, best of all a trade of any kind? Alternatively, do they have some form of practical experience? If the answer is no on both counts, then they could be about to do their learner’s licence on your home! And don’t be afraid to ask for proof either. The ones who squeal the loudest are the ones to avoid the most.
o Take a good hard look at their business card. Is there enough information on it to track them down, assuming that the job does not turn out all that well? And while you’re at it ask them about their guarantees, and whether or not they are insured.
o  Make sure that all Handyman Quotes list materials and labour separately, and in terms of unit prices and actual hours provided for too. I’m not saying that they are not allowed to make a decent profit, just saying that an indecent profit is a bridge too far for me. And while you’re at it, make sure the information on their quote and business card is consistent. If it’s not, then find out why.
o I’ve always believed that the condition of the places where men store their things is an indication of the quality of their work. When you have a chance without being sneaky, take a look in the cab and load bay of their van.
Life is about choices, and if you need to Find a Handyman anywhere in England you could save yourself a load of trouble by doing so on Mr-Skill. We check all our tradesmen out on your behalf, and, in the event of an unlikely problem, we are as close as the other end of the telephone.
Tags: britain, business card, cab, choice, experience, find a handyman in London, good, guarantee, handyman, handyman in london, handyman quotes, handyperson, hour, information, insure, labour, load bay, material, price, problem, profit, proof, qualification, quotation, quote, save, technical, telephone, trouble, van
Posted in Handyman Services | Comments Off
Posted in Kitchen Fitting on May 03
A meal without fresh vegetables served al denté crisp in just not food. Neither is a Kitchen a place fit for food preparation  without fresh vegetables stored in all their glory in Designer Kitchen Vegetable Racks. Many of these are freestanding. Others require one to Find a Kitchen Fitter to install.
The first parameter is materials used. Stainless steel attracts with shininess, painted surfaces add colour, while wood seems to blend best with Mother Nature’s bounty. At Mr-Skill, our advice is to choose what speaks best to what you already have in terms of cabinetry, colours, ironmongery and finishes.
The next choice has to be design. My friend, a Kitchen Fitter London queues up to contract with,  swears blind that the only way to store vegetables is in an open wooden crates such as are still seen at Covent Garden Markets. Others argue the case for chic stainless steel, because the airy shapes store vegetables perfectly hygienically too.
The final decision rests on where to store your vegetables. Do you wish to store them prominently, or safely in a cupboard away from curious flies and perhaps the family’s favourite pet too? If the latter is your choice, then you need to Ask for Kitchen Fitter Quotes on Mr-Skill because this is definitely a specialist job.
A Kitchen Vegetable Rack can add a touch of interest in every Kitchen, and get gastric juices going at mealtimes too. If this helps the children, and perhaps spouse too, to follow a healthy lifestyle then you have scored double bonus points.
Tags: airy, chic, colour, crate, design, find a kitchen fitter, food, hygienic, kitchen, kitchen fitter london, kitchen fitter quote, kitchen fitting london, kitchen fitting quotes, material, meal, rack, shiny, stainless, steel, storage, store, vegetable, wood
Posted in Kitchen Fitting | Comments Off
Posted in General Building on Apr 29
A good builder can be a blessing, a bad builder a curse not even in disguise. This is because despite all the laws passed in London, and the efforts of all the king’s horses and men  too, the UK sometimes still seems awash with cowboy builders. The safest bet is still to Find a Builder on Mr-Skill. If you choose to exercise your right to find one yourself though, then you could be well advised to consider the following first.
o Do you know enough about the job to supervise it? If you do not, then how will you know whether the right techniques and materials are being used? It is one thing to rely on a builder who comes with recommendations from our huge customer base, but another thing completely to trust a stranger off the street.
o Does the builder know what they are doing either? Have they done a similar job before? The last thing that you need is to have someone do their learner’s licence on your precious home. Insist on seeing similar work done for other local people, and pop by there without the builder present too.
o  Trying to decide whether a Building Quote is reasonable is difficult too. You have the benefit of a closed bidding system on Mr-Skill. Out there, builders often collude when quoting. Some even divide the turf so that there is no genuine competition at all. Can you afford to pay an excessive price for substandard work? Especially when we have so many competent tradespeople waiting to do Quality Building Jobs in London and across the breadth and length of the United Kingdom too?
Why don’t you come home to Mr-Skill, where you always get good service from friendly competent artisans, and often pay up to a third below regular prices as well? That way, you can get on with your life in peace, and with the knowledge that you chose your builder wisely.
Tags: artisan, bad, bid, builder, builder london, builder quote, building job london, building quotes, choice, choose, competent, competition, cowboy, find a builder, find a tradesman, home, job, law, licence, material, price, recommend, stranger, supervise, technique, tradesman london, tradesman quote, tradesperson
Posted in General Building | Comments Off
|
Subscribe to our RSS Feed