concrete

Hi folks - seeking some advice. Project is to spruce up the doorstep of a victorian terrace house (ignoring the tiles, for now). Appears to my (untrained) eye to be layers of mortar and paint over cement, with the obligatory rusted-to-hell coal hole cover. As per the photos (see attached!)...

I’m trying to make diy weight plates(all gym equipment has sold out here) by setting cement in a saucepan like so: https://imgur.com/x8RCTLg I left it set for over 12 hours just to be safe even though the bag says it sets in 2 hours. Still, the result is less than satisfactory...

Hi, Just removed my old T&G plank and at the beginning I though that below I had a very strong Concrete flooring but this is not the case. I made few trial hole and the drill bits goes in like a soft cream and what come out is a black soil. the all flooring does not sound very strong and my...

I'm having second thoughts on a base for a new shed. I'm planning on putting a large shed 3.5x8m (26x11.5ft in old money) at the top of my garden. The ground is mostly quite flat, but I've recently had to remove/grind out a large tree stump that would have been in the way. The ground in that...

Hi guys Need some advice please. We had a new Kitchen built about 4 years ago. We had Laminate flooring laid throughout but in the last few months when it was warmer, we noticed a bit of a hard lump in a section of the flooring. Over the months this has seemingly pushed up the laminate...

I’m building a rear extension on my bungalow. The block and beam floor has been designed so that the beams run parallel with the rear facing wall. So i understand that usually if they were running perpendicular, the beams would key into the existing wall and be supported by the load bearing...

Is a cavity required below a bifold door? My architect has sent me drawings and it’s showing a cavity tray with weep holes below the bifold, I’m presuming it may be there to send any water that goes through the frame/sill to the outside (he’s currently away) here’s the part of the drawing...

I’m building a rear extension on my end of terrace bungalow, my Architect has specified a 600mm x 1000mm concrete foundation. At the adjoining boundary to next door we have a concrete post fence, the 150mm “toe” of foundation on that side of the 300mm cavity wall will need to go slightly past...

We're re-placing a garden pergola made of wood which has seen better days. We were advised to use Chestnut poles for the vertical posts as they last longer than other types of wood - so have bought a set of these together with the appropriate number of bags of PostCrete. However, we've now been...

Hi, we're making our chimney hole bigger to insert a cupboard inside. We're keeping the adjacent support walls and installing a lintel to lift the arch higher (see picture attached). I've had to also fill in the gaps between lintel and bricks with slates (as gap was too wide). I'm told this...

HI All, Somewhat of a random question so don't shoot me for asking! I am building a retaining wall to form a driveway next to my house (its about 6m from the house). The height being retained is about 1m in existing made up ground forming a bank to the field next door which is about 1m lower...

Hello! My boyfriend and I have just bought a house which is gorgeous, but we had to compromise on the garden. The rear garden has had concrete poured and has been used for parking several cars/vans. The double garage is accessed here also. But my bf and I love gardening, and the dog loves her...

I'm converting a car port which has a concrete base; the base isn't exactly flat, am thinking of putting engineered click over 3/4" structural ply, on batten/decking pedestals. I thought that pedestals would take the faff out of getting it level. There will be a damp course. I thought that...

Easydrive seem to be a bit shy of providing hole spec.. The 6x100 have 6mm thread diameter, slightly unsurprisingly (with 4.8mm shank). They're going in to a concrete blockwork wall. Is there a general rule for hole sizes? Thank you Dain

After being let down by several structural engineers wondering if anyone on here will be able to help me. I purchased a new house 4 months ago and the garage is my next project. Water has been getting in for several years and it has rotted the existing suspended floor rendering it useless...

Hello. My cellar still got a bit of nasty humid smell. I already installed porcelain tiles, but the walls are drywall. I painted drywall with primer, which did not help at all. I heard that mould is not growing on concrete but it will in plasterboard, so would be clever to remove plasterboard...

I have a small lamppost fixed to the ground with threaded bar (set deep into 2' of concrete). Unfortunately the M8-sized bars aren't long enough to go entirely through the base of the lamppost. My plan is to use an M8 to M6 reducer as I have a long length of M6 threaded bar which can extend the...

I live in an 1950s ex local authority house with walls that are made of what appears to be aggregate mixed with concrete and I need advice on drilling. It’s not smooth pebblecrete as I would call it as it is lumpy stones of approx 20mm+ across loosely glued together with a sheen on concrete...

I'm putting up an aluminium lamp post next month 2.15 metres tall. On the base of it are 3 10mm holes to allow it to be bolted to the ground. My plan is to dig an 18" deep hole in the ground twice the width of the post, fill with 1:4 cement/sharp sand, allow to set for 2 weeks and then bolt...

Hello I'd like to erect a heavy trellis with 70mm wooden posts using concreted-in metal post supports. Please see the photo below. The trellis will be 7ft high and although it is quite heavy, since it is full of holes, it will not catch the wind in the same way as a regular fence. My question...