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Posts Tagged ‘size<’
Posted in Bricklaying on Feb 13
Before you rush off and Find a Bricklayer on Mr-Skill to lay your brick paving, you first need to understand the theory of brick bonds. That’s because they are butted up against each other as opposed to being cemented. In a very real sense, we are talking about unity in strength here. If one comes loose others will soon follow.
 Jack-on-Jack works well provided your pavers are identically-sized and your bricklayer has a straight eye too. They are bad news in a long narrow run where every defect shows.
Running Bond is a bit more robust because the joints are overlapped. This can help prevent the rows from staggering. It is however a very common pattern that often fails to excite.
 Basket Weave is a further enhancement because the joints are contra-staggered adding further strength. The bricks actually form sets of squares that can look extremely pleasant.
Half Basket Weave is a variation of the previous bond that gets away from squares to create a pattern that seems almost random. Note though that patches of Jack-on-Jack recur from time to time.
 Herringbone is in many ways the perfect solution. The joints all overlap and the pattern is not noticeable unless you look for it. This is a strong bond, particularly when the pavers are correctly but-jointed.
Diagonal Herringbone is an interesting variation on the theme that helps soften rectangular spaces. Just make sure the triangular filler-pieces are sized to that everything fits in well together.
Some London Bricklayers employ specialist staff that only lay one kind of pattern. Check this out with them before you ask them to submit a Bricklaying Quote. Otherwise you could come home to find the pattern laid that you least wanted.
Tags: basket weave, bond, brick, bricklaying quote, but, cement, diagonal, filler, find a bricklayer, half basket, herringbone, jack, jack on jack, london bricklayer, overlap, pattern, paver, paving, running, running bond, size, square, stagger, straight
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Posted in Tiling & Flooring on Dec 26
Floor tiles are often set for life, if for no reason other than that taking them up again is such a noisy, dusty business. Here are some things you need to consider carefully before you Find a Tiler on Mr-Skill. We call them rules because they can dictate how you feel about the finished job.
 Rule No.1 Colour
A lighter-coloured floor tile makes a room look spacious while it also shows the dirt and dust. Darker colours add warmth, and hide the dirt. Go for neutral colours to show accessories off best.
Rule No.2 Texture
Wet tiles are slippery and that’s almost a rule in itself. There’s only one way to make a tile suitable for outside use in wet conditions, and that’s to add a gritty finish to the surface. Best to buy yours already done, because the paint-on solutions wear away.
Rule No.3 Size and Shape
A London Tiler worth his money will always determine your overall goals before recommending tiles. Large ones create a sense of spaciousness, while smaller ones may look busy over larger areas.  Rectangular tiles make a room seem wider when laid across the width. Lay them in the length though, and you’ll get the opposite effect
Rule No. 4 Thickness
When you obtain a Floor Tiling Quote it’s a good idea to specify the thickness of the tile. This is because this makes them heavier and more difficult to cut. As a general rule, a medium thickness floor tile is adequate for domestic use, unless you are planning something different.
The 5th Rule is perhaps the most important principle of all, and that’s Choosing the Right Tiler. And that’s where Mr-Skill comes in. We’ve searched high and low for the finest tradesmen across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, and we’ll not charge a single penny to introduce you to them.
Tags: accessory, choose, cut, dark, deep, dirt, domestic, dust, find a tiler, finish, floor, grit, heavier, length, light, london tiler, medium, neutral, quote, rectangular, rule, select, shape, size, slip, slippery, spacious, texture, thick, tile, tiling quote, warm, wet, wide, width
Posted in Tiling & Flooring | Comments Off
Posted in Carpentry & Joinery on Nov 08
Bedroom fitters seem to find it necessary to install cupboards from the wall to ceiling. While this makes sense in terms of managing the dust on top, customers often end up with storage space that looks more like the inside of a church steeple. The solution? Add a space below for storing shoes, or above for keeping what almost inevitably turns out to be junk.
 I personally don’t have much time for using the plastic shelf blocks that seem all the rage these days. That’s because they involve point contact and it’s difficult to get them aligned perfectly. Moreover, in these times of chipboard everything, an overloaded shelf can easily come crashing down.
The following is what Professional London Carpenters still prefer to do:
• Remove the cupboard doors for ease of access and to avoid straining hinges. Measure the internal depth of the cupboard from front to back at both left and right. While you’re at it, measure the cupboard internally from left to right too. Enter the information on a drawing, because in all the years of providing Carpentry Quotes I have seldom come across a cupboard that’s perfectly square.
• Ask the hardware store to cut a shelf to size and to cut battens to support it on the left and right too. Make sure they also supply half-a-dozen screws of the appropriate length.
•  Pre-drill the battens in the middle and towards either end. Fix the first one in the middle only and set it horizontal with a spirit level. Draw a pencil line along the bottom edge and fit the other two screws accordingly.
• Measure from the top or bottom of the cupboard to determine where the second batten should go. Screw it into place, again just using the middle hole. Test fit the shelf in place. It should be level and fit snugly so you can complete the installation and replace the doors. If not, you may need to make adjustments.
You could also save yourself a heap of trouble and get Highly Competitive Carpentry Quotes on Mr-Skill instead. We have carpenters at every UK postcode. They’re on standby to fit that shelf for you, and much more.
Tags: battem, bedroom, block, bottom, carpentry quotes, chipboard, complete, cupboard, cut, door, drill, dust, find a carpenter, fit, hinge, horizontal, length, london carpenters, measure, plastic, remove, replace, screw, shelf, shoe, size, snug, spirit level, square, storage, strain, support, test, top, vertical, weight
Posted in Carpentry & Joinery | Comments Off
I’ve recently sanded down an old wooden table I’m rather fond of and finished it off with a high lustre polyurethane seal. I wish I could claim all the credit for the final effect – just don’t tell anybody I used ideas I gleaned from a retired London Painter living in the village not far from me.
• Work in the best light – That does not mean under blazing overhead light that shines back in your eyes.  What is does mean is natural illumination streaming softly through doors and windows at a low angle. This emphasises the grain that you must accommodate, and turns imperfections into shadows that you can easily see. If you don’t have natural light available, set a desk lamp at one end of the bench.
• Choose the right sandpaper – Sandpaper comes in different colours, although there are no industry rules. Some suppliers use colour to highlight different grit size. Others use it to indicate different types. Choose three strengths of paper designed for the job in hand, so you can work progressively from coarse to fine.
• Use sanding tools – The chances of achieving a level finish using bare hands are low, because fingers are creative things, not mechanised machines. Use a sanding block for a smaller piece of work,  and a power sander for a larger job. Bear in mind that power tools are more productive. Use finer grit paper to counteract the effect.
• Use a jig – Wrap sandpaper around a reverse shape to sand right into a tricky corner, and move your work gently up and down against it. Work carefully – the results can be quite dramatic.
• Check progress as you go along – Put a used nylon stocking over your hand and run it gently across the surface of your work to find rough spots. If you’re a guy though, perhaps you shouldn’t admit to wearing pantyhose in the workshop?
You won’t need to Find a Painter to do a hobbyist job like this. But you will need to get Painting Quotes on Mr-Skill for wooden doors and window frames. Trust me. I tried that. You don’t want to go down that road alone.
Tags: angle, bench, block, check, choose, coarse, colour, door, find a painter, fine, finish, grade, grain, grit, jig, lamp, level, light, london painter, natural, nylon, painting quote, paper, power, progress, reverse, rough, sand, sandpaper, seal, shadow, shine, size, smooth, soft, stocking, strength, table, tool, window, wood, work
Posted in Painting & Decorating | Comments Off
Posted in Electrical Work on Oct 11
I was chatting to an old friend of mine the other day, a London Electrician, and we got around to the cost of electricity. That’s not just the increasing bill you pay of course, it’s also the hot air you generate that adds to global warming.  A fair amount of what electricity costs the world comes down to carelessness and stupidity, and owning inefficient electrical equipment too.
It’s no longer good enough to Find an Electrician to install an efficient solid plate electric hob these days; you also have to use it properly. For if you do not, then the savings the clerk told you about could just as well go up as hot air.
• Use fairly heavy-duty cookware that retains the heat as opposed to warming up the kitchen. Forget about buying boxed pot and pan sets – these are actually rubbish although they may be acceptable in China still.
• Buy quality pots and pans sold separately so you can choose ones that fit the hob plates accurately. They may be slightly larger than required, but never smaller unless you want to cook the handles and your hands. Ensure the bottoms are exactly flat by placing them on a sheet of glass – uneven bottoms equal poor hear transfer.
•  As soon as the product starts to cook turn down the setting so you just sustain the rate. This ensures more tender food that shouldn’t stick. Keep the lid on to optimise the use of energy.
• Turn the electricity off a short time before the food is cooked and let the accumulated heat complete the job, then let it rest for a few moments longer before you serve it. You’ll be surprised how much tastier food is when not blasted on high heat, and how your electricity bill comes down.
Getting Electrical Quotes on Mr-Skill to install new cooking equipment is only half the energy conservation battle won. You also have to use it properly to maximise its contribution, which is why we provide this information as a service. Good luck and long service from your new cooking hob.
Tags: bill, bottom, careless, cook, cookware, cost, electricial quote, electricity, energy, find an electrician, flat, glass, global warming, heat, heavy, hob, increasing, kitchen, level, lid, london electrician, pan, plate, pot, rest, saving, size, solid, stupid, tasty, tender, transfer, use, waste
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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
Wouldn’t it be nice to have the dining room opening directly into the garden on a balmy summer’s day? What a good idea except you only have a window, and climbing in and out through it is hardly everybody’s idea of fun. Well then, why not convert the window to a set of french doors instead? After all, Door Fitters in London do this sort of thing every day.
o Call in a supplier to measure up, quote and make up a new set of doors for you, and do nothing else yourself, until these arrive and have been checked for size. They should be exactly the same width as the existing window, unless that  is you are looking for a whole lot more work to do.
o Empty the room completely. Remove one opening window pane so you can climb in and out through the opening. Secure the inter-leading door and mask around it. Also mask around the doors of any cupboards and protect anything else appropriate from dust.
o Remove the window and its frame completely, being extra careful not to disturb any plaster. If you notice any cracks in the wall above the opening immediately prop it, and seek expert advice. Changing windows into doors is a job only for the brave. That’s why so many British homeowners get Door Fitting Quotes on Mr-Skill instead.
o Mark perpendicular lines from the left and right bottom sides of the existing opening down to floor level, on both sides of the wall. Check and double-check these carefully. Cut through these lines with an angle grinder, working alternatively from the inside and the outside, until you can see light shine right through. Do your best to cut square with the wall, because this will make the rest of your task far easier.
o Break out the wall using a large hammer. The masonry will be resting on the damp course and may even come out in a single piece, so take care it does not fall on precious children, tools and dogs.  Remove the rubble. Tidy up the opening. Clean up the room. The dirty work is done.
o Remove the french doors from the window frame (if pre-fitted) and offer the frame up to the opening. It should be a close fit, but not a tight one. Wedge it in position and check that it is vertical, plumb, level and square. Use more wedges to adjust it until everything is perfect. Get this wrong, and the doors won’t close properly.
o Attach the frame permanently to the wall with plugs and screws. Remember to drive them in the last few turns by hand, in case they need to come out later to make a change. Then hang your doors, making tiny adjustments as you go along until everything is perfect. Install the locks and handles. Your home is secure again, and you didn’t need to Find a Door Fitter either (although you could have on Mr-Skill). You can even open up the inter-leading door again to receive a well-deserved cup of tea.
All that’s left to do is to tidy up the inside rendering, touch up with paint and seal around the frame outside with silicone. It’s nice when a job like this comes together relatively easily. Won’t the neighbours be surprised…
Tags: angle grinder, attach, brick, check, child, clean, crack, cupboard, cut, dirty, dog, door fitters in london, door fitting quote, dust, empty, exact, find a door fitter, frame, french door, Garden, hammer, handle, hang, horizontal, idea, level, line, lock, mask, masonry, measure, open, paint, pane, perpendicular, plaster, prop, quote, remove, render, room, rubble, screw, secure, side, silicone, size, square, summer, supplier, tool, true, vertical, window
Posted in Window & Door Fitting | Comments Off
Posted in Tiling & Flooring on Jul 19
A wooden strip floor is a thing of almost ageless beauty if properly maintained, and can add thousands of pounds in value to a period home too. Unfortunately, there was a post-war period when valuable floors were covered over and horribly neglected.  If you have the patience a home repair is possible. If not, you can Find a Flooring Contractor nearby you, right here.
The first challenge is to find a matching strip, or strips. There are places in the City where salvage flooring is stored away, although only London Flooring Specialists know of these, and I doubt very much whether they will pass the knowledge on to you. In olden times floor planks were cut from the hearts of trees for extra strength and were close grained. These days, softer outside wood is used with broader grain and a lighter finish. This leaves two choices – either scour the demolition sites yourself, or bite the bullet and shuffle the floor planks in your home as necessary.
Removing a plank is not that difficult, once you discover that the trick is to carefully cut through the tongues and grooves on both sides of the affected plank, taking care not to spread the damage as you do. After that make  several long diagonal cuts, and pick away at the remains until you have cleared it away completely, and removed all the nails.
Prepare the replacement board for a precise nudge fit, removing any tongue and groove before you size it. Drill a few holes through it, and attach twine to nails on the bottom side, so you have a way to pull it out again if it gets stuck. When you are quite satisfied, epoxy glue it in position and hold it down with bricks while the glue is drying, definitely no nails required here.
This can be a fun job for the enthusiast on a rainy Saturday afternoon, but the cause of family conflict if things to not work out right. Another alternative could be to get some Flooring Quotes on Mr-Skill, and leave the job, and the frustrations to the experts.
Tags: cover, cut, demolition, drill, find, find a flooring contractor, fit, floor, flooring quote, grain, groove, heart, London flooring specialist, maintain, neglect, remove, replace, salvage, size, strip, tongue, twine, value, wood
Posted in Tiling & Flooring | Comments Off
At Mr-Skill we like to recommend that our customers review their heating requirements in the height of summer when they can afford to have an outage without getting cold.  The heart of every home is of course the furnace, and even the best of these cannot last for ever safely. When I was involved with a Gas Fitting London Firm some years ago, I began to wonder whether it’s not a case of the British going soft as opposed to their furnaces not working properly any more. No worries, our foreman always said, who needs to be cold these days.
Cheap of course is never cheap, or wise when it comes to gas equipment. The trick is to install the furnace that’s right for your own requirements – here are some criteria to consider:
o Find a Gas Fitter to work out the size of furnace you require in terms of output. After all, it makes no sense to pay for capacity you may never use. If you are going green like me, use the opportunity to determine your home’s heat loss factors too. You could save a deal of money down the years if you no  longer have to turn the panels on in summer.
o Some modern gas furnaces have condensers that convert energy that might otherwise be wasted into what amounts to free heat for your home. Trust me, when the North Sea Gas runs out we are going to start paying for alternatives through the neck. Plan for that change now.
o Buy your new gas furnace from a reputable firm, preferably local with after-sales service and good spares availability. It makes absolutely no sense to save a few pounds up-front, only to buy your self a bucket-load of troubles down the line.
At Mr-Skill we hope that these few ideas will hold you in good stead, when evaluating the Gas Fitting Quotes we hope you get from us too. Stay warm next winter, and thanks for visiting.
Tags: alternative, boiler, capacity, cheap, condenser, criteria, energy, equipment, find a gas fitter, furnace, gas, gas fitting London, gas fitting quotes, green, heat, heating, heatloss, loss, money, problem, replace, reputable, service, size, spare
Posted in Plumbing, Heating & Gas | Comments Off
It may sound obvious to some people, but for many the penny has not dropped yet. Moving Quotes are based on distance travelled, but also on the items to be moved.  While no removalist worth their salt in business is likely to tell you not to pack up everything in the house, the bald truth is that it makes no sense at all to pay to move things that you no longer need. Here’s how to go about not wasting money in this way.
o Homes are seldom the same shape and size. Obtain a floor plan of the one that you are moving to, and compare this to the home that you are moving from. If there is no room for Auntie’s grand piano that nobody plays anymore, why pay to move it? Sell it instead. The same goes for the exercise machine that you no longer use.
o If you Find a Man with a Van who is willing to take the curtains down and hang them up again, it could be an idea to check first whether they will fit the windows where you are moving to. If not, sell them to the new people moving in, or send them down to the Church Bazaar. Either way will save you money.
o  Finally, about your clutter (or junk as a Removalist in London that I know quite well likes to call it). Because of the labour involved in packing and unpacking household smalls, and the risk of damage too, this can be where a removal firm could really stack up their bill. Before you even start to Find a Removal Firm, first get in the cleaners and throw out all the junk. You may have to be merciless, so get ready to be tough!
You will be surprised at how much money you could save this way. When you get to your destination and have finally settled in, why not spend some of your savings on the moving-in celebration of the year?
Tags: apartment, bill, clutter, curtain, distance, find a removalist, fit, floor plan, hauliers london, home, house, junk, labour, man-with-a-van london, measure, moving, moving homes London. moving quote, pack, plan, quote, removalist london, room, save, saving, shape, size, small, unpack, volume, weight
Posted in Moving Homes & Hauliers | Comments Off
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