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Posts Tagged ‘surface<’
Posted in Plastering & Drywall on Sep 12
If you have just had a new drywall built, the finishing off is easy enough to do yourself – assuming of course you have the basic know-how. However if you are still to build your drywall, you need look no further than Mr-Skill, where you can find a plastering and drywall expert to do the job for you perfectly. A drywall is an easy and neat way of partitioning or dividing a given area, and if space permits, you could gain an extra room by planning carefully.
Finishing Your Drywall 
Once your new wall is complete, you will need to sand it to provide a smooth and perfect surface for later painting or wallpapering. Wet sanding is far preferable to dry, simply because of all the dust and mess the latter method creates. In fact, one of our regular London plastering and drywall specialists far prefers the wet method of sanding as it makes for a much cleaner and healthier environment too. Let’s see what is involved:
- The first step is to pop down to your local hardware supplier and buy a sponge specifically designed for the wet sanding process. It’s not that expensive, but it is manufactured with an abrasive edge for sanding purposes, while the flip side is a sponge for wiping sludge away.
- Once you have your sponge, you need to dampen it, but don’t saturate it in water because this will quickly soak into the plaster surface which will make life very difficult if not impossible. The aim is to moisten the sponge just enough to gather the sand and dust effectively.
Wringing the Sponge
As you work, you will notice that your sponge is gathering increasing amounts of powdery residue from the drywall, so you will need to wring it out quite regularly. The wringing process maintains a clean and clear sponge face for further wet sanding work. Don’t forget to re-moisten the sponge after wringing it!
Message form our Sponsors! 
If this is all sounding too difficult or messy you could also get a plastering and dry wall quote from one of the many members signed up with Mr-Skill. Remember to ask for that special discount too!
Clean up Time!
Whether you are doing the wet sanding yourself, or using one of Mr-Skill’s experts, be sure to clean up properly when finished. Use a facemask and rubber gloves to protect your face and hands. Hopefully, you remembered to cover furniture and electrical appliances to prevent them from becoming dirty!
Tags: basics, design, drywall, dust, find a plastering and drywall expert, furniture, gloves, hardware, london plastering and drywall specialist, manufacturer, planning, plasterer, plastering expert, plastering-and-drywall quote, process, sanding, space, specialist, sponge, surface
Posted in Plastering & Drywall | Comments Off
Posted in Tiling & Flooring on Aug 29
If you are a ‘handy’ person, jobs such as tiling around the home could be something you can tackle yourself. Make no mistake though, tiling is not a job for the inexperienced first-timer, although we all have to start somewhere. Here at Mr-Skill we often have friendly chats with our many pre-screened members, and it really is amazing what comes up in discussion. 
Take tiling over existing wall tiles for example. Many less-experienced tilers shrug their shoulders and walk away from such ideas. Fred is one of our regular London tiling and flooring experts, and he believes that this is quite in order, provided the existing surface is stable and crack-free. As always, you need to plan properly and carefully though!
Ready, steady…
Before we start, we assume you have done your research and have everything you’ll need. If you have decided not to go-it-alone, you can always find a tiling and flooring specialist through Mr-Skill. Remember to ask for the “special discount”.
Go…
Begin with a thorough inspection of every tile and each grout line. Check the existing tiles for stability – a gentle tap with your knuckles will soon confirm any underlying problem zones. When it comes to the grout, you need to use a putty knife to look for loose or crumbling fill. Remember, if you have problems at the outset, you’ll have major headaches at the finish if you tile over unstable surfaces! 
Cleaning and Preparing
The surface you are tiling over must be squeaky clean and grease/soap/wax free, so use a quality tile cleaner to prepare the old tiles for covering.
You are now ready to apply the pre-mixed adhesive slurry to the wall surface to facilitate proper bonding when you start gluing down the new tiles. Let the slurry dry completely before continuing. Remember to adhere to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Don’t be Shy
If you think the preparation work is hard enough, imagine how hard the tiling job itself can be. If in doubt, rather get a tiling quote – Mr-Skill is on hand and has a number of keen experts ready to solve your problems! And at a third-off market rates too!
Tags: cleaning, cracks, DIY, find a tiling-and-flooring specialist, glue, grout, inspection, London tiling and flooring, loose grout, preparation, putty knife, slurry, surface, tile on tile, tiling, tiling-and-flooring quote, wall tile
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Posted in Bricklaying on Nov 10
United Kingdom soil is always damp provided you dig down deep enough, and when it gets saturated, capillary action causes moisture to rise up to the surface.  If that happens and you rest a cardboard box upon the ground, the water dampens the cardboard too. Similarly, moisture naturally rises up through porous brick walls, and that’s what we call rising damp.
A damp course is a physical damp-proof barrier above the ground on which the walls of a building rest. It may also be a vertical barrier to prevent rainwater intrusion from outside, although this is less common. The earliest horizontal barriers were inserted using slate which being dense is impervious to water. These days cheaper plastic strips are more common.
If you are planning to Find a Builder outside of Mr-Skill we recommend that you carefully research the details of what they propose by way of damp courses. Should you source a tradesman through us though, there is no need to worry. That’s because all our craftsmen follow the practices of the best London Bricklayer Firms.
 A horizontal damp course should be laid between two brick courses at least six inches above the ground at the highest point, and it should never be covered afterwards by soil because this can counteract it. Should the brick course subsequently fail, then there is little point in getting Bricklaying Quotes. The only workable solution is to arrange expensive chemical injections.
This is why we always recommend employing qualified, Rated Bricklayers such as we provide at Mr-Skill. The pleasures of saving a few pounds on a bricklaying job through employing glorified handymen is easily forgotten, after you receive an expensive chemical injection repair bill.
Tags: barrier, brick, bricklaying quotes, capillary, chemical, course, damp, damp course, dig, earth, find a bricklayer, ground, horizontal, injection, intrusion, london bricklayer, moisture, plastic, rain, rise, rising damp, slate, soil, surface, vertical, water
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Posted in Cleaning Services on Sep 13
As the late summer cools to autumn and the windy days arrive, it’s time to clean off the barbeque and store it away for winter. But using caustic oven cleaners is so old-fashioned these days, and  they just make the barbeque rust all that sooner too. So how did the old folks cope in days before all those aerosols? I doubt they even thought to Find a Cleaner.
• For starters, they cleaned their cooking surfaces regularly, and that’s half the trick. After all, fresh grease is a whole lot easier to get rid of, than burned-on, encrusted dirt.
• They had simple, practical tools too. These invariably included a stiff wire brush, hot soapy water, and rags to wipe the cooking surface. You can use paper towel nowadays, as long as it’s recycled!
• The old folks also didn’t leave the dirt until the morning when it had gone cold and yucky. In fact cleaning the barbeque was as natural to them as washing up the plates, and they never, ever needed to get a Cleaning Service Quote.
• Start by wiping the cooking surface with a warm, soapy cloth – you’ll be surprised how much dirt comes off that way. Loosen any stubborn bits with an old table knife that’s not too sharp, and finally scrub away with the wire brush and a little oil.
• Finally, wipe the grill surface clean with a fresh cloth or paper towel, leaving a light coating of oil behind to prevent the rust from taking hold.
What a pleasure when you wheel out the barbeque next summer. All you need to do is burn it off, and you’re ready for the pork sausages and the steaks. It’s almost as if you had had a visit from a London Cleaning Firm. Did I mention that you can Find a Cleaner on Mr-Skill Right Here?
Tags: autumn, barbeque, burn, caustic, clean, cleaning service quote, cold, cooking, encrust, find a cleaner, grease, knife, london cleaning firm, oven, paper towel, rag, regular, rust, scrub, soap, store, summer, surface, tool, warm, water, wind, wipe, wire brush, yucky
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Its amazing how many homes there are across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom where the beauty of their bathrooms are spoilt by a grotty run of silicone sealer around the edges of the bath. To make things worse, some cowboys even add silicone on top of silicone,  until the effect looks really dreadful.
No Bathroom Fitter in London associated with Mr-Skill (or any others located elsewhere for that matter) would dream of doing anything as unprofessional as that. If they did, we would delete them from our system with a single click of our system administrator’s mighty mouse.
Here’s how you could expect the job to be done, if you decided to Find a Bathroom Fitter Here.
o Cut away carefully behind the old silicone on both sides with a sharp Stanley knife, taking care not to scratch the surface of the bath if it’s one of those new ones that scratch so easily. Peel as much of the silicone away as you possibly can. If it is really grotty behind it, you may like to use disposable gloves to protect your skin.
o  Clean the area thoroughly with a good disinfectant soap, and dry it well with paper towel.
o Pop down to your local hardware shop and buy some proprietary silicone remover, a tube of mould resistant silicone, and a caulking gun. While you are there, study the instructions on the silicone tube, to find out how to neutralize it when its job is done, and what safety precautions to take when working with it too.
o Using the silicone remover, strip every vestige of remaining silicone around the bath, and tidy things up generally. Now’s the time to attend to any grouting that might need cleaning off and tidying up too.
o Obtain a roll of the thinnest “sellotape” that you can find, and mask off around where you want the new silicone to go. Take your time here, because this is what will make the final difference.
I’ll continue in the next blog. Meantime, anytime you need to Get Bathroom Fitters Quotes to do a complete bathroom upgrade instead, we have some really good ones listed on this website.
Tags: bath, bathroom, bathroom fitters london, bathroom fitters quotes, blade, careful, caulk, clean, cut, effect, find a bathroom fitter, glove, grout, gun, hardware, knife, mould, peel, remover, seal, sellotape, silicone, spoil, strip, surface, tidy, tube, wash
Posted in Other Craftsman Services | Comments Off
Years ago, when I was doing my apprenticeship under an irascible tradesman working for a Decorator in London, leaned the hard way that paint quality is all about preparation. This was  Ithrough the many times that I was forced to repeat a job in my own time over weekends, and once when I thought I was about to be brained by a pot of paint.
Those days are long gone past, and these days I spend most of my time training apprentice painters. I must confess though that sometimes I wish I had a pot of paint handy too, especially when feeling more than a little frustrated with certain of the British youth. For the record, if you have in mind to Find a Painter, these are some of the things you need to look out for when it comes to undercoating.
o Do they specifically propose to clean down all surfaces thoroughly first? Walls and ceilings must be scrubbed to remove all traces of dirt and mildew, preferably using sugar soap. This includes door and window frames, skirtings and the like.
o  What kind of crack filler are they going to use? Will the crevices be raked out and will all loose bits be removed? How will they be rendered dust-free, and how will the filler be worked away so as to become invisible?
o What different primer paints do they propose to use, and where, and why? Primers disappear under topcoats and cheap ones are often the main reasons behind attractive “budget” Decorator Quotes. If in any doubt, check first with the manufacturer of the paint – they all have customer hotlines these days.
Of course, when you Find a Decorator on Mr-Skill you can go ahead with far more confidence. This is because we assess them carefully ourselves, and you can usually see what other customers have to say about them too.
Tags: assess, clean, confidence, crack, crevice, customer, decorate, decorator, decorator london, decorator quotes, door, dust, filler, find a painter, frame, manufacturer, paint, painter, pot, quality, rake, scrub, skirting, sugar soap, surface, topcoat, tradesman, undercoat, wash, window
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on Jun 10
 Plastering upside down is definitely an art and there are more than a few of us who have retreated beaten with ceiling plaster stuck to us like dough. The job becomes even more complicated when the ceiling has complicated detailing, and that is definitely a case where you need to Find a Plasterer if you want to remain sane.
If you still want to try your hand at this then the trick is to understand that plaster has to be exactly the right consistency, and that nothing sticks naturally the wrong way round. If you fiddle with it after you have managed to get it to stick, the chances are good that it will come loose again and frustrate you to the point of getting Plasterer Quotes. in other words, it its working, don’t try to fix it.
 The key is to establish a basic surface over as much of the area as possible, and then to leave things be, while the material semi-dries. After that you can fill in any gaps, and tidy up any difficult corners. When you have done that, and scratched the surface carefully, you are ready to attempt the second coat.
The second coat should go easier because the existing surface and the new plaster over it are more compatible. Aim to add an even layer that conceals everything beneath it. After it has dried to the right consistency you can gradually work off the surface with a straight edge until you have got it right.
Personally I do not think that this is a job for an amateur to attempt. If you do manage to get it right though, then your next step could be to become a Plasterer in London – that is assuming that you are a glutton for pain.
Tags: adhere, amateur, art, ceiling, consistency, corners, detailing, even, fiddle, fill, find a plasterer, gaps, level, loose, plaster, plasterer london, plastering, plastering quote(s), smooth, stick, surface
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on May 31
In days gone past plastering over exterior walls was popular because it covered crooked surfaces and helped with waterproofing too. It is less popular these days though, because it is labour-intensive to  maintain as opposed to face-bricks. If you own an older home then you may also own one with exterior plastered walls. In this case the chances are that these will need repairing from time to time, meaning that you could need to Find a Plasterer.
Stucco Plaster otherwise known as Rendering was commonly used during the 19th Century when it was composed primarily of lime. These days cement is more often used to apply one of several different qualities of finish:
o Common Stucco aims to produce a surface that is as smooth and even as possible
o Rough Stucco is more uneven and is scribed with lines to imitate bricks or stonework
o  Stucco may also be dyed with pigments to produce a permanently tinted effect. Great care must be taken when mixing to ensure a consistent hue.
RoughCast or Pebbledash is a cruder external plastering solution that requires a lower skill level and is cheaper to apply.
o In DryDash, pebbles or gravel are pressed into wet plaster to create a rustic effect.
o WetDash uses a slightly different technique whereby a mixture of aggregate and plaster is towelled over as a top coat.
Before choosing between Plastering Quotes make sure that you know what the contractor envisages, and ask to see samples of similar work previously done. Plastering is an art-form that develops through experience, not just after training.
Tags: aggregate, brick, cement, common, dye, experience, find a plasterer, gravel, hue, lime, line, maintain, pebble, pebbledash, pigment, plaster, plasterer london, plasterer quote, plastering job London, plastering quote, render, repair, roughcast, rustic, sample, scribe, smooth, stone, stucco, surface, tint, trowel, uneven, waterproof
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on May 17
When people built new homes in days gone past, especially right after the Second World War ended they seldom realised how long their work would last. Walls were not quite as damp-proof  as they are today, and plaster mixes were not quite as adhesive either. The result is often mouldy cracking rendering falling off in places. Where this is bad, the whole lot must come off so that you can Find a Plasterer to start all over again.
o Proper preparation is half the battle won when it comes to applying rendering, and this is why some tradespersons will not even quote for Plastering Jobs in London until the old covering is chipped away. They know of many possible sins beneath the surface that may even double the time a plastering job can take.
o First cover the floor from edge to edge with a tarpaulin or thick plastic sheet, and tape this thoroughly in position. Large pieces of rendering may come down in single pieces, and you need to protect the floor. Moreover the last thing you need to hear is the sound of something scrunching beneath the sheet directly on a polished surface.
o  Take safety precautions before you start. Wear eye and face protection to avoid harmful chips and dust. Wear heavy duty gloves and boots and make sure that your tools are in good order too.
o Start at the top of a wall and have a plan of what to do if a large section or rendering comes loose. Work slowly and carefully making sure that you remove all remnants as you go along. If you do not, then you will have the worst bit left over just as you thought that you had finished.
After the last piece of plaster is removed you can tidy up and get Plastering Quotes from Mr-Skill, secure in the knowledge that your preparation is good, and that you have saved yourself a tidy sum of money, hopefully had some fun and learned a few new useful tricks and skills along the way.
Tags: adhesive, boot, build, built, careful, chip, cover, crack, damp, dust, eye, face, find, find a plasterer, flake, floor, glove, hide, job, plan, plaster, plasterer london, plasterer quote, plastering job London, plastering quote, plastic, preparation, prepare, protect, quote, render, sheet, slow, surface, tarpaulin, time
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Posted in Handyman Services on Apr 26
Bathroom accessories are sometimes rip-offs where cowboy tile shops make up their profits. The ones illustrated here are not like that at all. In fact, they are the kind you should  consider specifying when getting a Bath Fitting Quote. Here are some tips to avoid being caught by cheap swindles unlike these.
o Never buy bath fittings in a box that a shop assistant refuses to open, on the basis that nobody else would be prepared to buy them afterwards. Reputable suppliers provide consignment samples so customers can inspect them properly.
o In fact, never buy boxed sets at all, especially those on special offer. While they may display attractively, in reality they are likely to be tawdry and will include a few pieces you may never need.
o Find out what the underlying material consists of. Brass and copper are unnecessarily expensive, while alloy castings break easily. The ones made of artificial mouldings are far more practical.
o Particularly if you live near the coast, ask about the surface coating too. Look for a 3-year guarantee against flaking, chipping and rusting – if this is not provided, expect to replace your bathroom fittings after two years or more.
o A Bath Fitter London with experience may insist in being part of your final decision. While most of us are mesmerised by style, professionals also think about methods of attachment, and how well these work in practice.
Now that you know the background to bathroom accessories the next step is to buy and fit them. Are you afraid of cracking a precious wall tile? Speak to Mr-Skill and let them help you Find a Bathroom Fitter to make your life a little easier instead.
Tags: accessory, attach, bath, bath fitter london, bath fitter quote, bath fitting london, bath fitting quote, bathroom, bathroom fitter london, bathroom fitter quote, bathroom fitting london, bathroom fitting quote, box, brass, chip, coast, coating, copper, corrode, find a bath fitter, find a bathroom fitter, fit, fitting, flake, material, method, mould, rust, sample, surface, tile
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