Best building products for the trade and DIYer Archives - All THINGS PROPERTY AND CONSTRUCTION

Triton Electric showers

I wanted to write a bit about electric showers. I have fitted quite a lot over the years and after my recent experience thought I would share and recommend.

I have always fitted Triton showers as well as many others but what I like about Triton is that they are always great priced and I dont really ever see them have a problem, up until recently that is.

Triton do a large range of showers,starting from £50 and up. Believe me even the £50 showers are value for money and they seem to go on and on.

I decided to install a Triton eclipse recently so these cost up around the £120 mark and thought it was a great shower, like many of these although they have multiple entry points its hard to get and isolator and connector all within and the shower its self and its still a fiddly job. But I did have a few options when installing and it all worked out in the end.

Where I was really impressed and strangely its when it developed a fault, was when the pressure relief valve went. I swapped the part over myself as its relatively cheap but noticed a weep from within. I got hold of Triton and they were straight on booking an engineer to view it. The only downside it was not going to be for a few days but that is one of those things.

The engineer came out and he had a wealth of experience with these things and immediately was able to determine the problem. He replaced the part and was in and out within 30 mins.

Now I dont know about you but I think that’s hell of a service for a relatively cheap product and I know they are obliged to usually sort it with in its first 2 years. But they could of easily said we will refund it, which is fine if you can fit a new shower yourself but if you have to get someone around to do it, it will inevitably end up costing you more.

So I can not recommend Triton enough. I think its a great product and you will have the peace of mind that if it does have a fault you will have someone around to sort it out for you..

Click on the image to be taken to the Ebay site where you can get more detail about the Triton showers for sale.

Thanks for reading..

Toby

Sheds!!!

A guide on purchasing a shed..

With summer ahead, I am getting loads of requests for sheds, So I have had a quick scout around to see if i can find some good deals on Ebay..

So I am looking at the lower end of the market something just to store garden tools/furniture around £300 and under. There are 2 construction types to be familiar with.

Ship lap
Overlap.

shiplap shed with a pent roof — This is a pent shed, with a ship lap panel finish.

Ship lap is where the cladding is jointed together with a Tongue and groove joint. This looks nicer and is easier to maintain, also it has a smooth finish and the cladding boards come in a variety of thicknesses. Technically this is a stronger construction then the over lap and will usually cost a bit more money.

Click here to go to ebay where you can see the shed.

2.Overlap, is basically like a feather edge fence but vertical. Its usually rough sawn timber and doesn’t have the same clean lines as the ship lap style of shed. But if well maintained these can last a long time and the benefit of this type of finish is that if one of the panels pieces of timber need replacing its a lot easier then trying to replace a ship lap panel.

There are then different styles of roof a “pent” which is the style at the top of this article where the roof slopes in one direction or the “apex” which is the one beside here which is a bit like the roof on a house. The pent will give you more headroom in the centre of the shed where as the pent will have more head room at the front. So if you want a work bench in a shed then a pent could be a good option.

The last options you will see when purchasing a shed is how the timber is treated. One option is “dipped” and one option is “pressure treated”. They are pretty self explanatory, but the pressure treated is a better treatment in the sense that the treatment is forced deeper into the wood, where as the dipped will just coat the outside up. Both are good however and they also advise to coat the timber up again once installed.

If you are keen to look at the sheds I have found then please click on the picture where you will be taken to the ebay site that sells them.

Thanks for reading and I hope this short guide offers some help in picking a new shed…

Quality trellis fencing

Trellis fencing reccomendation

With the gardening season coming up I thought I would do a post of trellis fencing. I have put some of this trellis up at my own property and I love it, not only does it look good is great quality. The joints are Mortise and Tenon, so don’t come away at the joints like the cheaper alternatives. They come in a variety of sizes, the largest is 1.8 x 1.8m and this will cost around £40. I actually used mine as screening leading up to my porch area. The gaps are small enough to maintain the privacy but don’t block out the light. If you want more information on the trellis and size options, click on the picture below to be taken to the Ebay page that sells them

Window cleaners

Window plastics cleaner (Solvent cleaner)

This is a great product if you have really bad stains on your window frames, fascias and anything plastic.

I use it all the time after fitting new windows and doors and it gets rid of those glues and stickers that come plastered over new windows and doors when first purchased.

Very strong stuff so wear all the correct PPE and also best to do it in well ventilated areas as it smells really strong and will make you dizzy if exposed to it in confined spaces

Glass cleaner

While on the subject of windows I always use a decent glass cleaner. Its amazing at getting the glass clean and all the marks off.

One of my first jobs as a trainee was to clean all the windows after they had been fitted and what I use to do was clean all the frames with the solvent cleaner then with the same handful of tissue paper spray the window down give is a good wipe down, then get a clean piece of roll and buff it up and it would come up sparkling.

Use some sort of heavy duty roll (as shown below) to use with these products for best results.

Stop Mould and Condensation

I have always come across properties where they suffer with a lot of mould and condensation. I have only ever been able to say the same thing, “make sure widows are on vent during the day and the extractors are running in the bathroom and kitchen” This is all well and good the reply would come but try telling that to my tenant.

I have researched this a lot and its about getting the right amount of fresh dry air into a property and the stale moisture laden air out. I went to a property a friend of mine has who rents it to six students and he has had this exact problem. He has tried everything and nothing would work until he was put onto this product:

Its quite simple it sucks the fresh air from a loft space in, filters it and pumps it into the house. This in turn pushes the moisture laden air out of the property through all its cracks and crevices leaving the property with fresh clean air all the time thus eliminating condensation and black mould.

My friend has never looked back and he says what a difference the feel of the property now has.

click on the picture to be directed to the ebay page that sells the product.

Best sound insulation

The best sound insulation I have come across so far is the “Rockwool Acoustic insulation”.

Click on the image to be taken to ebay where it can be purchased.

Because of the relatively low cost I tend to install this type of insulation as standard between stud work throughout a property. Ill also always use it in between floor joists.

It really helps keep the noise level to a minimum. I have recently used it between a bedroom and bathroom stud wall, it was in an old 1890’s house and although plaster lathe walls the noise was really noticeable as we where

taking all the old plaster back to the stud work I installed this everywhere for the customer and feedback has been amazing.

So definitely invest in this when you next have the plasterboard off a stud wall.

It has a thermal resistance of 0.034 w/mk and it is classed as a non-combustible material.

Great alternative to block paving or concrete drives

Aco Ground Guard.

A permeable solution for driveways (Click on picture to be taken to ebay)

If your looking at installing a driveway or base for a summer house then this could be the product for you. I have used it to do a few driveways and i love the stuff. Its easy to install, lightweight and you can get a lot of ground covered in a day. It comes in different size packs so it can work for any size project and anyone can use it as it just clicks together, now the technical bit. You do still need to prep the ground and by that i mean excavate if required, lay hardcore and compact but then this stuffs sits right on top.

You can then fill with whatever you desire, I have always used a smaller 10mm chipping, but you can mix topsoil with a bit of sand and scatter with grass seed, so a good couple options. Also whats great is that you shouldn’t need planning permission (although always check with the local planners first) because its permeable so water will drain straight through it.

I have used it on the flat and also a slight gradient and it seems to have lasted really well. One tip though is if you are using chipping to fill the guards then leave a spare couple bags close by as they will get moved around a bit, also lay an edging kerb at the start of the drive to have a nice straight line to go off and if you leave the kerb slightly raise it will prevent a lot of the stone going out over the path from the car tyres. Its also recommended on really steep sections to peg it down in sections. But to get a great looking driveway at a third of the price of a block paved or concrete drive then this is the stuff for you.

Smoke alarms / Carbon dioxide alarms

Rated fire alarms and carbon dioxide alarms

I use these fire alarms and Co2 alarms all the time now manufactured by Fire angel.

There are loads on the market and when i researched the products back when i was getting into lettings these where one of the top rated alarms, so i installed them in my properties and they are great. Also if you read up on them now they are only getting better and are still some of the best rated on the market.

Cool features i like on there alarms are that they can tell the difference from actual smoke to burnt toast so no more trying to wave the fumes away from the alarm while trying to air the kitchen out.

Also they have a sealed lithium battery that will give a 10 year life so ideal for your investment properties and residential property alike and gives you real piece of mind.

Also i find them really easy to install, the unit is completely sealed its literally a matter of installing the back plate then the main unit twists onto the back plate and its locked on and by locking it on to the back plate that activates the alarm.

They also produce one that can link to other smoke alarms and heat sensors and they are great if you have different sections of the property that you want to linked so as soon as one is set of, it will set the others you have linked to it. Again really easy to install and link the other alarms.

Fire angel also produce the heat alarms with sealed lithium battery and can be linked so again will set the whole system off if activated.

Then last but not least they do a great Co2 alarm, put these in the same room of where ever there are any heat sources, such as boiler cupboard, gas fires, wood burners and so on.

These are great and warn you when the battery is coming to the end of its life, i have them all over the place now..

To note read the instructions on these products it will explain how to set them up and also where to site the device for best results.

Best brick sealers

Brick sealant

As discussed briefly in one of my blogs, a good way to protect your external walls from water penetration is by the use of a brick sealer. I have had good results from the Ronseal product listed below, its easily applied by brush or roller and quickly makes the brickwork your painting it on water resistant. DO NOT get it on the windows though its really hard to get off.

Breathable sealant

Another option now though is to use a water sealer that still allows the brickwork to breath, so its stops water penetrating but still lets moisture out and the brickwork breath. This is a good option if you have had brickwork that’s been saturated for years. If you coated this up with a product that doesn’t allow the brick to breath you are in essence sealing in the moisture already in the brick work which could cause problems and in fact push the moisture into the building more so. See link below to amazon where yo will find the breathable equivalent.