Find a Carpenter you can trust in Bucknell.

• Tongue and groove timber boards
• Boards for the ledges and braces, at least 20mm thick
• Nails
• Hammer
• Saws, including a circular saw
• Chisel
• Mallet

1. Cut your boards to size If you can’t buy boards at the right height and width for your door, cut the boards to length using a circular saw. Don’t forget to sand and treat any cut ends with timber preservative. Lay out the boards in the best arrangement for your shed door, with the inside of the door facing up.
2. Arrange the ledges and braces On most shed doors, you’ll probably need 3 boards across the back of the door to form the ledges. The ledges keep the door straight and keep the boards of the door together. The braces are the parts of the door that slope down to form a ‘Z’ shape between the ledges. Ensure that the braces are sloped up from the bottom and middle hinge to stop the door from sagging as the timber expands and contracts in the weather. Once you’re happy with the arrangement, mark the spots on the boards where they will meet and cut out of the housings using a chisel and mallet.
3. Put the door together Use clamps to pull the boards together and hold the ledges and braces in place. Nail from the front of the door through the boards and ledges to fix them. Secure the ledges and braces with screws; you may want to pre-drill and countersink holes to prevent the wood from splitting. Remember to treat them with preservative if you do.
4. Fix the shed door hinges Make sure you measure carefully before attaching the hinges, ensuring you know where the pin sits in relation to where the door opens.
5. Treat the door and add locks and handles Apply some wood oil, like linseed or teak oil, to help prevent water damage. Then add locks or handles to your shed to help keep it secure.
If you’d rather leave it to the professionals, there are plenty of specialists that will be able to make a shed door for you, or even put up an entire shed.

What Is Plasterboard?

The plasterboard is unarguably one of the most common building materials across the globe. Sometimes referred to as gypsum board, gyprock, drywall or wall board, the plasterboard is mostly incorporated for ceiling cladding and interior walls in several homes and offices in recent times. However, despite its global acceptability, it’s a very misunderstood building material.

The plasterboard is manufactured using a gypsum core with a heavy paper covering both sides of the sheet. The measurement of a standard plasterboard sheet is a length of 2.4 metres in and a width of 1.2 metres, with a thickness of about 13mm. The board usually have either a bevelled or a bit flat edge. The bevelled edge makes it easy for the installers to use a plaster to smooth out the surface after nailing the sheets to walls and ceilings as well as taping the edges.

The plasterboard comes in different types. Although various manufacturers provide a unique name for their products, but they’re all included in one of the following categories:

• Water Resistant Plasterboard - This type of plasterboard are best suited to be used in water areas like bathroom, laundry rooms and kitchens.

• Acoustic Plasterboard - Due to its sounding proofing qualities, this type of plasterboard is preferred to be used in home theatres or noisy areas.

• Flexible Plasterboard - This is to be incorporated on curvy surfaces.

• Fire Resistant Plasterboard - Just like the name implies, this type of plasterboard is best suited for use in high fire hazard areas.

If you’re about to kick start some small renovations around your house or office, using a plasterboard to clad your walls is a very simple and worthwhile task. However, if you want to do major renovations or need to apply plasterboard to your ceiling, the best option would be to leave it to a seasoned professional.

What Is Engineered Wood Flooring?

Engineered wood flooring is produced through the fixing of several layers of wood together with a solid wood as the top or wear layer. Due to its ability to hold its ground when faced with frequently changing temperature and humidity, it happens to be one of the most popular types of flooring. As a result of its ruggedness, engineered wood flooring can be easily fitted with under floor heating and in special areas like conservatories. And apart from its usually stunning visual appeal and ability to be floated over an underlay, the engineered wood flooring is even becoming a lot more popular amongst home and other property owners.

Given the fact that engineered wood flooring is made up of several layers of wood, it may be almost impossible to tell the difference between it and a solid wood flooring just by looking at both. It can also be mistaken for a laminate flooring which is basically an image of wooden flooring placed onto a high density fibreboard.

The planks of a engineered wood flooring is crafted in such a way to ensure the it does not expand or contract unlike the solid wood counterparts. What’s more? There are several benefits that comes with installing an engineered wood flooring. They include:

• Its very easy and simple to install

• When compared to solid wood flooring, it’s more cost effective.

• It can be utilized alongside an under floor heating

• It can be loose laid, meaning it does not need to be fixed in position

• It is available in multiple varieties of wood and finishes

• It can be incorporated alongside an underlay including thermal barriers

• It can be utilized in areas with a fluctuating humidity and temperature.

• It is available in different kinds of thickness.

Click here to learn more about wood flooring.

Cutting a plasterboard is a relatively simple process requiring only some basic tools. Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge serves as big deterrent for many people who wishes to put it to good use. Plasterboard can actually be sawn using an ordinary timber saw that’s fine-toothed to get a cleaner edge. However, the basic tools you may also need includes a sharp knife (Stanley Knife), pencil, a fine sandpaper, a straight edge and measurement tape as well as a wall board saw. Let’s have a look at the cutting process!

• Firstly, you need to put the plasterboard sheet flat on a firm surface.

• Use the tape measurement to measure the cut you wish to make.

• With the help of a pencil, simply mark out the part you wish to cut on the plasterboard’s front side.

• Once marked, place a spirited level over the marked spot on the plasterboard sheet you want to cut.

• Cut a shallow mark into the plasterboard sheet using the Stanley Knife to cut along the edge.

• The cut should be slow and gradual to ensure you do not wander off the edge of the marked area.

• Once the shallow cut has been made, turn the plasterboard sheet on its edge and deliver a quick and sharp push towards the plasterboard’s back and on one side of the cut.

• Place the plasterboard sheet backing against a flat surface ensuring the line of the cut is over an edge. Once done, give a quick and sharp push towards the back of the plasterboard sheet and on the part of the board is reaches beyond the edge.

• Using a fine sandpaper, remove all forms of paper burrs.

The process of cutting plasterboard requires a lot of practice. If you lack the training and experience, the cutting process is best left to a proficient professional who can guarantee the best results the first time and save you some additional costs due to potential damages.

1. Plan your shed base You must have a sturdy base for your shed, otherwise the frame won’t stand properly and could stop the door from opening. Decide whether you’re going to have:
   • A concrete base laid on hardcore
   • Concrete slabs on sharp sand
   • Treated wood beams on hardcore or shingle
   • An interlocking plastic system
   All bases should be laid on firm, level ground as far as possible.
2. Treat wood with preservative To help your shed last as long as possible, you should coat all the wooden parts with timber preservative before you put it together.
3. Put the shed floor together Some will need more assembly than others, but you need to make sure that the floor panel is attached to the joists; follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the correct spacing.
4. Put up the shed walls
   • Mark the centre point of each wall on its bottom edge, then do the same for the shed floor so you can line them up together.
   • Stand the gable end on the base and line it up. Check that it’s vertical with a spirit level – you might need someone to support the panel while you do this. Use a temporary holding batten to keep it in place.
   • Fix a side panel to the gable end panel with countersunk screws, then add the second side panel in the same way.
   Don’t attach the panels to the floor until you’ve fitted your shed roof.
5. Fit the roof
   • If the shed comes with a support bar, put this in position before you put the roof panels in.
   • Nail the roof panels in place, ensuring there’s a parallel and equal overlap at each end.
   • Roll out some roofing felt from front to back, leaving a 50mm overlap at each side. Secure it with clout-headed felt tacks at 100mm intervals.
   • Apply mastic sealant to the outside corners, then fix each corner trim with 30mm nails.
   • Add the fascias and finials, predrilling 2mm holes to avoid splitting the wood. Nail them through the felt into the shed using 40mm nails.
6. Add the shed windows
   • Slide each windowsill into the tongue and groove cut out, then put the window cover strip in position, fixing it to the vertical framing.
   • From inside the shed, put the glazing sheets into the window rebates, making sure the bottom edge of the glazing sheets sit on the outside of the sill.
   • Fix the window beading on the top and sides with 25mm nails.
7. Fix the walls to the floor Before you do anything, make sure you check that the centre marks on the walls line up with the marks on the shed floor. Then fix the wall panels to the floor with 50mm screws, aligning them with the joists.
And that’s it! But if you’re not confident in building a shed yourself, there are plenty of professionals available who will be happy to help.

The cost of wood flooring varies by the type of wood and by the finish required. As a guide though oak solid wood flooring cost about £35 - £45 per m2. The average wooden cost by material are approximately £40 per m2 for pine, £45 per m2 for cherry, £60 per m2 for maple and £75 per m2 for walnut. This price does exclude the laying of the flooring and the underlay required.