Welcome to

-Buildit-

The home of building plans tips & hints.
Covering subjects commonly used in diy projects such as block paving,bricklaying guides,replacing guttering,fitting drainage & aco channels.

The purpose of this blog is to help you get through your project smoothly . It should be a satisfying experience that you can be proud of. Small projects will require many of the same disciplines that large projects require.You won't have to deal with as many people or make as many decisions but the principles remain the same, & the satisfaction of doing it yourself,never mind the money you will save on labour is something you will only understand when you take a look at a job at the end & say to yourself or friends "I did that".


Before starting your project you will need to sit down & make a plan of the job in hand

1) What are the costs ?
You will need to make a budget that includes everything for the job in hand

2) What will i need ?
Apart from materials theres alot of other factors you will need to consider.
To organise other people for your project may add weeks or months on to the time your job.

i) Will you need a permit from your local authority ?
Home extensions & even taking down an internal wall will need visits from your local council or planning office.This can be costly!
ii) Will you need to employ an architect or site manager
iii) Apart from being costly can you find a local tradesman that can meet your budget & time scale
iv) Do you need to hire skips or a van for rubbish removal ?
iii) If its a big job can you store all the materials needed or should you hire a portacabin or lockup

3) Which jobs will you be able to do yourself ?

i) Can you realistically do this job or should you hire somebody for some of the more skilled or trickier parts of the job

4) Will you have what it takes to actually finish the project off ?

i) Be honest with yourself,do you really want to take this job on ?

5) How long will it all take ?

i) allow for everything to be sourced,delivered & maybe even sent back & redelivered if there should be a problem of any kind

6) Can you realistically afford to do the job ?

i) You`ll need to phone around & get prices for materials,labour,permits & such.Never guesstimate or go by last years prices.This would be a mistake & could be the differance between finishing the job or not.Phoning around differant people for the same thing is also a good idea,to give you a feel of price veriation,also merchants have a good deal on 1 product & a bad deal on another,so dont buy all your materials from the same place just because they were the cheapest on sand & cement

We also have a job search widget thats updated in real time with literaly thousands of jobs
in most sectors.Theres a list of links for uk construction agencies,
-in light of the current working climate.

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Block paving

Virtually no maintenance is required once laid. Sweep occasionally
to remove dust and detritus. If you find green algae building up on
them, it can be safely removed by cleaning . Use of a pressure washer
should be limited to very dirty pavements and no more than once a
year, as the high-power water jet loosens jointing and can damage
some pavings.

This is the simpler of the herringbone patterns to set up. Decide on a "base-line" that will be the start of the pattern. This is usually taken to be a line along the main directriopn of travel or one that is parallel or at right angles to the house or other building. If there is a right-angle corner, the setting out can be based on the two lines , as shown in the diagram below. Setting out a perpendicular, ie a line at exactly 90° to the base line, is described on the setting-out page.

On a square or rectangular area, a 90° herringbone pattern can be used to keep cutting to a minimum. Only one block width in 4 need be cut to fit, and judicious positioning of edge courses can ensure that the pavement is a given number of full bricks wide. It is best to start laying tight against a fixed edge, such as against an edging course, but if this is not possible, then a taut string line can be established as the base-line. With this pattern, most of the blocks at the edge of the work will need to be cut at an angle to fit in. It is usual to lay all the full bricks first, then once these have been checked for alignment, the edge pieces can be cut in. Leaving out the edge pieces allows the body of the paving to be accurately aligned BEFORE fastening in the work . In the following diagrams, the bricks are the standard 200x100mm plan size blocks most commonly used for domestic paving. Setting up the first line of blocks Continue to lay as many full blocks as possible and then check the alignment, using a pinch-bar or pavior's mall to 'nudge' blocks into line. Once the alignment is complete, the edge blocks can be cut to shape and fitted in prior to final sealing. Complete the double starter course as shown.This startercourseshould be as long as possible, to ensure accuracy These drawings represent a flexible construction. Page 2