Rich

Indeed, any job can be done many different ways, and all will yeild different results, so I guess it just depends how neat/tidy you want it to end up :-) I'd definately get the sparky in first and get all the leccy bits finished, so the plasterer can make good anything the sparky messes up.. I learned that lesson 3 years ago when I had all my entire new house re-plastered and re-wired, after seeing what the electrian did, man am I glad he was rapidly followed by the plasterers..

Do what I did, get all your lights installed first, exactly where you want them and are happy with them, make sure you have at least 6" of spare cable on each light, then once everythng is in place, let the lights hang down from the ceiling holes and put pipe insulation around the wires in prep for the plastering because a plasterers trowel is seriously sharp and can cut those wires in 1 swipe. Plastic carrier bag over the light fitting first, then the pipe insulation over the wire and around the plastic bag, will keep everything protected, clean and all working safely, ready for plastering. Once plastered, you can then paint with mist-coat, and colour if ned be and not get a drop of anything on your lights and simply push them back up into the ceiling once everything is done, looking good as new If you plaster first, it WILL get messed up with the poking around for wires and probable chances of making a hole half way over a joist that then needs "patching"

Well, I've just submitted a further complaint to Virgin via their website and have given them the link to this thread, to save me repeating myself over-and-over, and received their "auto-reply" saying they "should" get back to me within 3 days.... The page is also called "Broadband slow speed form" Laughing out loud! 3 days to answer a complaint alone is seriously sad! Enough said, Will call BT first thing in the morning... In all our years in I.T and telecoms, we have NEVER had this level of incompetence from BT, EVER! Sure they had their faults, but all ISP's do, its how BT dealt with them that make them better.

The very latest problem this week from Virgin "Nomedia" Well, we have an alarm system installed that dials-out whenever a fault is detected, or an alarm is set off, and last week, we had a new system installed to replace an older one on the 18th Feb.. Well, something was done incorrectly with the alarm by the engineer, and as a result, the alarm was constantly "trying" to dial the alarm centre for 3 days solid, non-stop... Got the engineer back in on the saturday night to fix it, and then discovered that our phone line could not dial out at all, to any number other than Virgin's 150, so I called them to tell them something was wrong with my phone, only to be told a block had been put on the line due to extremely high call charges on the line. Well, having discussed this at some length, VIRGIN "REFUSED" to tell me any of the numbers MY phone line had dialed at all, claiming they cant tell me what numbers MY line had dialed due to the data protection act! So, these muppets cant tell me any numbers MY line has dialled, but have blocked my line of all outgoing calls telling me there was

1 Entire weeks worth of downtime! About 3 months ago, my broadband went down completely giving total loss of internet service. So, I call Virgin, and yet again, try to speak to one of their call centre staff in India, with a huge language barrier problem.... The woman on the phone tells me it will be at least 5 days before they can get onto fixing the problem. Not 5 days until they "get it fixed", but 5 days until they can get started on it. So, I called them every day and guess what, for the first 3 days, they told me the exact same thing, "5 days until they can look into it", so that now makes it 8 full days???? So, this meant having to go out and purchase 3 mobile internet USB sticks to work from, from our office, and calling Virgin several times a day had zero affect on them getting to the problem any quicker, at all. In the end, we ended up with 9 days total downtime, which they fixed within 2 hours of starting work on, leaving a LOT customers without internet services for 9 full days to repair something that took 2 hours to fix! We were told this problem was not isolated to just us either, it affected many customers on this same exchange. My problem is, what company in their right mind leaves customers hanging for 9 days before even looking into a problem, especially given these are all 50Mbps customers paying a LOT of money for their broadband service!

ok, Screw up #2: Could get that number right.... So, my entire Virgin kit is all installed, and on the back of the glossy leaflets they leave you with, they give you your new telephone number... Well, sadly, it seems they were incapable of getting this right too, as the number they left me with was not the number I had on my phone line. I called them to check, and they were insistent I had the correct number and that everything worked, despite me asking them to call me back on the number I had, and then on the number they though it should be, they refused. So, with them not budging, I settled for the number I actually had.... A few days later I had to call them due to a lot of intereference on the line and hearing voices on the line, only to be told that the number I had was not mine and that I should have a different number!!! No **** sherlock, been trying to tell you that for 4 days.... (Given my 20yr background in I.T and corporate experience in telecoms, I wasnt just taking a guess either) So it then took them 2 days to get an engineer round to fix it, and total fix time, 5 mins to swap round the connections at the junction box down the road!.... 4 Days of trying to explain to them I have the wrong number only to be told I dont, and they didnt even want to call me back to prove the number was wrong, then finally for them to say "Oh, by the way, you have the wrong number, thats why your phone is faulty!" Absolute bloody idiots....

Hi Guys So, right now, I'm absolutely ****ed with Virgin Media, totally furious, angry to the point of wanting to punch one of them! Dissapointed would be at least acceptable, but Im way past that point... I've had Virgin Media services now for around 6 months'ish and I have to say, the level of competency is far below that of any human being on planet earth and their so called "policis" are meant for only them and not in any way for helping the smooth delivery of services to their customers... Let me explain... Incompetency #1: Day of installation 6 months ago.... I wont go into too much detail because it was 6 months ago. Engineer turns up from "kelly's contractors", doesnt even work for Virgin, so he starts with his install, lays the ourdoor cable 3" under the grass in my front lawn, which is far too shallow, and what do you think happens to it, it sticks up, and the grass wont regrow over the top of it, even now 6 months later. Comes to feeding the cable through the wall into my house... I already had a nicely drilled and prepared hole where my Sky TV cable was going to be removed from as part of this entire isntall, but the engineer in all his dumb ass wisdon though it would be an even better idea to drill a fresh new second hole in my wall, from the inside/outwards, and doesnt bother to check for pipes or wires first, and doesnt even ask if its ok to drill a hole in my wall to start with... Obviously my own intelligence here of assuming this guy would be awake enough to remove the sky cable with the virgin able taped to the end of it to pull it through, but sadly I was far too ahead of his way of thinking... So, I'm out of the room, upstairs and I hear drilling from the room underneath, knowing where its coming from, I go downstairs, and before I even reach the bottom of the stairs, this chimp has drilled right through the heating pipes buried in the walls, soaking my oak wooden flooring with lovely black/brown sludge from all my radiators, thus emptying my entire heating pipes onto my living room floor, not 2ft away from my recently new TV. Another thing that really ****ed me off was their lack of any willing to cover anything up while drilling into walls, no dust sheets with them, no vacuum cleaner, nothing, just a dustpan and brush! What the hell are you going to do with a dustpan and brush when your knocking holes into 10" thick cavity walls with hammer drills, and your stomping about on my wooden floor in filthy work boots. The guy was dressed like he had been diggin a hole in the road for a mains gas pipe or something... So, with water everywhere, I had to go shut off the water and give them towels to mop up the mess AQAP, and left it to this guy to call his boss and arrange a plumber to come out that day. Luckily for me, they have an emergency plumber on file for just such occassions who turned up within 2 hours and repaired the damage, and 6 days later they sent a decorator round to re-plaster and repaint the mess they made. So, although they screwed up, they put it right eventually, but for people doing this job, these simple screw ups totally should not happen, and what Virgin still wont admit is the damage done to my flooring, as its generally considered a really bad idea to empty your heating system onto a newly laid oak floor and soak your underlay with it too... Not recommended! :mad: :mad: Thats **** up number 1, right on the first day.

Hi Verne You would be amazed at what the new clear no-more-nails can bond together, even some of the most un-pourous surfaces, stick together like they were made that way... This stuff is incredible, glass, plastics, you name it, it sticks it, and bonds in 5 minutes, I just said 15 to give him some leeway to be sure to be sure as the irish say... It can be used underwater too, and on ceramics, in the rain, you name it.. This isnt the "no-more-nails" of years ago, that I remember was more like "Bit of glue and "not-as-many-nails-needed" lol

Hi Ian I think I would try usig some "no more nails" on the glass part and put it back into the socket where it came from, leave it for 15 minutes to set, then use the glass part to unscrew the buld and throw it out. Your not going to be able to grab the little metal filament part, so you need something to grip this metal part, and what better than the very thing that put it in to start with... No more nails is great because its like sticky putty almost, you could put the glass part straight back in, let go, and it will stay there so you dont have to stand there holding it while it sets

The problem with this is, in roof terms, 5 yrs is a very short time, and due to the nature of where your roof is, unless is ****ing in water, it will and can go un-noticed for a very long time. I've seen peoples rafters rotting away from damp caused by "airtight insulation" where the beams just cant breath at all, and other small leaks that arnt big enough to drip down onto ceilings, but are big enough to soak and keep wet a supporting beam in a loft, yet with all this foam in place, it goes totally un-noticed until its too late, and then, the entire lot has to be ripped out. This of course is only realised when the roof is sagging after 5+ years or more, and only if inspected too. How many people can honestly say they know the exact condition of their roof, inside and out? How often do you look up at your roof? Most people, its not even a though.. So although in your 5 years you might not have had any problems that you know of, you can be sure they are brewing, and by the time they are discovered, properties may have changed hands several times, owners called in somebody else for fear of complaining (This does actually happen a fair bit) Sorry mate, this is no knock on you personally, but if you take any breathable material and remove its ventilation, then expose it to long term temperature changes, then something bad will come of it. Doesnt matter what foam you use, its the fact that it fills every nook and cranny, removing any ventilation around the roof.

Very welcome... The reason the others may have been expensive is because if you stabilise the walls first, it means your having to add-in at least 1+ extra day because everything then has to be painted an extra time, and given 16 hours to dry. So joe blogs might do 2 coats of paint in 1 or 2 days and leave it, whereas a good decorator will spend at least 1 day or more on preparation, 1 day stabilsing, then 1+ day applying 2 coats of paint. Anytime you get any quotes or estimates, dont be afraid to ask for an exact breakdown of how they reach that figure, in WRITING so you can review it later after they have gone, and review it beside others, and tell them thats what you want it for too, this encourages them to detail absolutely everything.

Hi andy Do you have anything to show us in the work they did? Lets see your new extension? How much did they bill you for the work? Its almost hard to believe because looking at reviews of them elsewhere on the web shows almost the opposite with quite a number of bad reviews, in amoung what are obviously fake/self written reviews...

Nope, this is rubbish. Its his job as the decorator to know what he is painting over. If your render/brickwork did not have stebiliser on it then your old paint would have been flaking just as badly, and if it was, then he should have known full well to stabilise the surface before painting. If there was any doubt at all, then it would have been best to stabilise it anyway after proper preparation by removing all loose/flakey paiint and giving the surface a good rub down with some mild glass paper and then cleaning with something like sugar soap before applying stabiliser. The problem with stabiliser is that its very expensive, pretty much twice the cost of the paint with a small 5L tin costing around

I think a better "trade name" for an estate agent" is probably "Property marketing specialist" because really, the only thing an estate agent does is to find you a buyer using their existing marketing and advertising. Just like a car showroom, you dont need a car salesman to sell you a car so you can get it legally on the road. If you do use an estate agent, its always wise to push for negotiated rates too, the longer it takes them to sell, the less they get, so 3% if they sell it in 4 weeks, 2% if 4 to 8 weeks and 1% after that, or just advertise it on ebay and set the auction at £500 buy-it-now as a deposit thats non-refundable...

Hiya Terry Thats pretty impressive, looks good but I'd hate to be cooking and have anything slide off the end of the shovel only to be unreachable... Have to send the neighbours kids in to go fetch it.

Hiya Terry Welcome to The DIY Forum Have you got any bigger pictures of your oven you built? I assume thats it in your avatar is it?

Thats a good Idea Verne. Terry, I'd bet if you got in touch with any potteries, or kiln makers, they can tell you where to get some from Welcome to the DIY Forum by the way

Indeed, it depends how much rain fell and how dry the top layer was when it raiined because Water can penetrate down underneath the top layer and sit between the layers without you even knowing its there. The top layer could "Look dry" and feel dry to the touch, but depending on its thickness, it could be very wet underneath as water travels downwards. Out of interest, why would you have a layers of cement on your roof anyway? This is pretty unheard of in the UK and definately never something I ever came across in my years of roofing when i was an apprentice and/or worked out on-site, nor in all the roofing I did in Florida too, I've never seen or heard of putting layers of cement on a flat roof and would think its probably the worst thing you can do due to the weight of it and its inability to flex and move without cracking and the effort required to lay it all... There are far better roofing alternatives, cheaper and quicker and far more better suitable that can breathe, are flexible, and give guaranteed lifespans and seal qualities and weight much less than any cement will... Worse case is, if the top layer was not dry enough or treated, it may absorb moisture and that can then sit between the layers, especially as the first layer had been waterproofed. Saying that, if your treating the first layer and giving that 4 coats of waterproofing, what exactly does the second layer have to bond to so it doesnt become a seperate layer that just sitting on top of something it cant bond to? (I hope that makes sense?) You got any pictures of this setup? Also, when you say your going to put tiles on it, what kind of tiles will you be laying on this flat roof? Has this roof been reinforced to take all this weight?

Hey John I'd put money on it that your roof is NOT the original roof. I was trained as a slater/tiler at college when i was 18 and have worked on many many re-roof's where we would carefully take off as many slates as possible, chuck out all the cracked ones and replace them, then re-roof the entire building and once finished, it looks old, but nice and tidy... You look at most slate roofs, 30+ years old and you can see they are in need of re-roofing as slates crack, slide out of place and generally fall off over the years. You can tell a good slate from a bad one by tapping it with a hammer and a bad slate makes a distinctive thud sound, very dull, and sounds like it will break if you hit it again whereas a good slate makes a nice clean "doink" kinda noise. Also, the mortar in your loft has been applied from the inside, hence its shape and might have been done when the roof was re-roofed... Given that you seem to have zero felt under your slates, it may have been re-roofed a VERY long time ago, either that or the roofers didnt know anything about felt at the time, as its the norm to lay felt over the battens before putting the slates on, although not essential, it does ensure that should a slate dislodge, you dont suddenly have a gaping hole in your roof letting water and wind, and wildlife into your loft space...

Hi Curly There is ALWAYS an issue with weight, but thats the point of the tool, if its a featherweight tool, it either wont be strong enough, or wont have enough clout, thus it will be useless. Professionals get used to it and DIY'ers just bitch about it, although the DIY power tools are a LOT lighter than proper tools such as Dewalt/Makita... If you ever feel the difference between a Black & decker to a Dewalt, that should tell you a lot...

Hey Dan I think the best thing to do would be to contact your local careers office and get the number for your nearest building college, alternatively, give the CITB a ring and ask them about training courses, thats if they are still called that (Construction Industry Training Board) They put me onto a Roofing apprenticeship when I was 18, for 2 years and that was ok, but they cover pretty much everything you need to know about construction training... Just had a look and it seems the CITB are now: http://www.cskills.org

Well, show us some pictures then, lets see the finished article, and some close-ups of the paint finishes with/without it...

Hi Mike Personally, I wouldnt bother with it as he hasnt even taken the time to introduce himself, other than to bomb straight in here and post up his survey. If he cant be at least a bit social, then he's not too unlike those guys in the high street with the clipboards who want to sign you up for something you dont want. Secondary glazing by the way is a second layer of glazing, like having 2 windows, one behind the main window. Sometimes found in old office building where they have big sliding windows which you can slide open, then open the main outside facing window. Its fairly uncommon in homes as most homes have uPVC Double glazing

Hey Eddie That turned out really well in the end, that definately something to be proud of, enjoy sitting back, belly full of steak and beer, belching in tune to "I made that" Well done mate... I think that also makes you the forums very first "Project finished"