Find a Shop Fitter you can trust in Walsall.

When your driveway is suffering from depression, it becomes unsafe for driving (a danger zone) and ugly - no homeowner wants that! Unfortunately, most driveways won’t hold flat for long as they tend to develop cracks and potholes pretty quickly. Here, we are going to take you through how to fill asphalt driveways’ depression so as to ensure the sinkholes in your driveway poses no threat to you or your loved ones, while also beautifying your property. The approach to be used depends on the intensity of the depression. If its only a few cracks and holes, this can easily be repaired with some equipment. But if otherwise is the case, then calling a reliable professional will be your best bet. In this article, we’ll show you how to repair dips in your asphalt driveway relatively quickly.

✓ Pick a date with warm and sunny weather. This is because if you work in a cold weather, chances are the materials will freeze and hence, unusable. So find a day when the temperature will over 50 degrees Fahrenheit and below 80 degrees Celsius and when there would be no rain. We’ll advise a day between May to October.

✓ Prepare the area. Remove all loose stones, soil, dirt as well as vegetation from the holes. Once done, you can then proceed to washing the area with a pressure washer or sweep with a broom.

✓ Apply a thin mixture of asphalt to the area. Use a flat stirring stick to coat the low driveway area with a thin mixture of asphalt.

✓ Tamp the asphalt repair mix. Purchase the right kind of asphalt to repair the driveway. Fine aggregate asphalt mixture is more suited to filling small holes, whereas the coarse aggregate is more suited to filling larger holes. Apply layers ( about 2 inches each time) of the asphalt repair mix to the sunken area and use a shovel to give it a smooth finish. Once done, simply make the area smooth and protect it with a piece of plywood. Do not walk or drive on the area for a couple of days.

If you wish to work as a quantity surveyor or perhaps you’re just looking to hire one, then one of the first things that comes to mind is the qualifications to look out for. To work as a quantity surveyor, you’ll normally require a degree in quantity surveying or commercial management which is accredited by the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors). However, in the event whereby your degree as an undergraduate happens to be in a different subject, there’s still a chance for you to become a qualified quantity surveyor. To achieve this, all you need do is to take a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors accredited post graduate conversion course. Degrees that this applies to includes the following: Economics, building or construction, geography, civil or structural engineering, mathematics, project management ( construction) as well as urban and land studies.

Typically, the post graduate course will take about a year to complete ( on a full time basis), whereas it takes about 2 years on a part time basis. What’s more? There are some employers that will recruit some graduates as “non-cognates ( meaning those with a non RICS accredited degrees ) and support them financially through the accredited post graduate course. Furthermore, you can as well take a RICS accredited degree apprenticeship whether undergraduate, PGDip or Masters, in quantity surveying as well as project management that combines work with part time study at a university.

However, if you’re without a degree, there’s still an option. Simply start work as a technical surveyor ( also referred to as surveying technician ) and then apply for a part time study while working to qualify as a quantity surveyor.

Are you trying to choose the perfect air conditioning unit for your home or property? Or perhaps you’re simply trying to figure out if it could be the right climate control option for your house. Regardless of your purpose, determining the amount AC systems cost to run can play a key role in identifying what your best options really are.

Obtaining estimates for the amount your new air conditioning units will cost to run may not be on top of your priority list and even more so if you’re always busy trying to determine the installation price. However, it won’t be the wisest decision to procure a new air conditioning system you can’t afford to use.

There are a lot of factors that determines the cost of running an air conditioning system. However, to give a rough idea of how much it’ll cost to run your new AC system, here’s a cost guide for two of the most popular types of air conditioning - split and multi split units.

For a small room size with an air conditioning output of about 2.5 kW, the cost to run per hour is about £10. Meanwhile,a mid-sized room with an air conditioning output of about 3.5 kW, the cost to run per hour is about £14. And lastly, a large room size with an air conditioning output of about 5 kW, the cost to run per house will be about £20.

In the event whereby you’re eager to fit a new air conditioning system, your best bet for a more accurate quote will be to get in touch with an air conditioning technician who will go through your unique project as well as the price influencing factors to provide a unique price for your project as well as its running cost.

Artex is a water based decorative surface coating is typically incorporated on both walls and ceilings so as to apply a pattern. During the peak of its popularity in the 1970’s, it was considered the height of fashion when it comes to interior wall designs however its major drawback remains the fact that it usually contains asbestos especially if it was manufactured before the laws governing the use of asbestos was changed in the year 2000. And asbestos, as we know it, can be deadly when disturbed and its fibres are inhaled.

If you have artex installed in your purchased property and you do not know when the artex walls were done, or perhaps you just want to change the aesthetic design of your home into something more modern and to your personal taste, then you may want to remove the existing artex from your property for good. If this is your wish then you’ve come to the right place.

To remove artex from your walls you can choose to do so using the steaming method or through the use of an external product.

Using the steaming method, you should know that it’ll be more labour intensive and time consuming. You need a lot of patience moving your steamer slow and steady because if left on a spot for too long can damage the wall behind the coating. Once the artex has been dampened with the steamer, you can then scrape them off with a handheld scraper.

A faster solution would be to use an external product to remove your artex.  For example, you can use X-Tex which is a water-based coating remover. All you need to do is paint the substance over your artex wall and leave to dry for about 30 to 60 minutes before peeling away the artex.

If you’d like to hire a commercial architect, but have a limited budget, there are a few options you could try.

Firstly, if you’re happy to manage the project yourself, you could just engage your architect to create the designs and technical plans. It will then be up to your builder and any other contractors to follow them. You’ll need to put some serious time and effort in to make sure that this goes smoothly, but it will reduce how much you’ll need to pay your architect.

You could also consider reducing the scope of your project. Many architects charge a percentage of your project’s total construction cost, so if you scale down the work then their fees will be lower. Alternatively, you may be able to negotiate a set fee if you want to guarantee that you won’t pay more than a certain amount.

• Don’t buy cheap solar panels – while it might seem tempting, make sure you choose MCS-certified solar panels. Any reputable installer will recommend high quality solar panels, which is another reason to have them professionally installed rather than doing it yourself.
• Ensure that your installer uses non-combustible mounting systems and frames.
• Check your system regularly for signs of pests gnawing through cables.
• Keep your solar panel system regularly maintained with proper testing and servicing carried out as recommended by your installer.
• If something doesn’t look right to you, get in touch with your installer and ask – they should be more than happy to help.

Having ventilation in the roof void is a requirement for building regulations approval. Fitting ventilated soffits is the typical way that this roof ventilation is achieved. If you do not have roof ventilation, you may find that your roof void has problems with condensation or overheating.

When you’re trying to decide on an architect to hire, start by making sure that all the professionals you consider specialise in residential architectural services. The architect you choose needs to be an expert in and have plenty of experience working on similar projects to yours.

It’s also important to factor in what other customers think. Look for online reviews of the professionals you find, ask to see portfolios of their work and even ask for references. This will help to give you an idea of whether they’re skilled and reliable.

Make sure you also meet and have a discussion with any architects you’re considering hiring for your home building project. It’s vital for you to get on with them and to share the same vision, otherwise you’ll struggle to get the end result you want.