Noggins / Noggings & Floor Joists (Strutting)

Noggins / Noggings & Floor Joists (Strutting)

In the UK, my 77 year father calls the strutting between floor joists "noggins" this is also spelt noggings in some circumstances. Trying to search for spacing for noggins, is tricky. You may have more luck with "strutting"


So I found the below table on NHBC Campaigns Website , which gives spacings fro strutting as follows:

I also found NHBC Standard PDF which give the same table:

As the below  image shows for me I needed a row of noggins or strutting in the centre of joists only. If you are using joist hangers however, you will perhaps need a row of noggins down each side. This is not always the case, but you may wish to check with building inspector, or building regs plans issuer. 

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Upcyling / Recycling an Old Stereo Amplifier

Upcyling / Recycling an Old Stereo Amplifier - Chapter 1 - Intro

I am not overly interested in electronics I find it fiddly and not very satisfying. However, to me throwing a large complicated piece of electronic equipment in the bin is a literally a crime. . .  or it soon will be. E Waste in Ghana

For someone with low skills such as myself the percentage of what can be upcycled / reused is fairly low. But it saves some waste at least. It may also save you some money, by re-using the case, power supply and connectors you are perhaps saving £50 / $100 on a DIY build. . . . . . I hope to complete this project for about £20 / $40. Bear in mind you can buy a cheaper amplifier for £30! But where is the fun / satisfaction in that I ask. . . . .

Watch Chapter 1 You Tube Video on Upcycling an Amplifier. 

I should point out that my first attempt at this build went horribly wrong. I did not understand the power supply and some of the other wiring. I fried all of my new circuits! So more rubbish for the scrap heap! So you know where you stand perhaps use a modern switching power supply. . . but then our goal to prevent waste is very much reduced. I am only really reusing the case, and a few connectors. Hardly worth the effort. 

Upcyling / Recycling an Old Stereo Amplifier - Chapter 1- What You Need

A minimum kit list of attempting this project is:

• Voltmeter / Multi-meter
• Soldering Iron
• Screw Driver 
• Wire
• Replacement Circuit Board with Suitable Voltage

Upcyling / Recycling an Old Stereo Amplifier - Chapter 1 - Whats Inside?

The below amplifier is an old friend I bought this when I was 18 (over 20 yeas ago) and it has been used for countless parties, outdoor raves (linked with friends amplifiers), run on generators, used as a seat at bus stops. . . . . hence dent in lid! But alas it no longer works, and having checked the side I found the circuit board had a large crack running through it, and some of the leg have been torn from one of the large Class A Amplifiers.

WARNING: On the back of you amplifier there will likely be a message saying "Danger of Death" or "Risk of Electric Shock". This is there because there are bits inside that will kill you if you touch them. So if you do take the lid off you amplifier, that is what might happen. I am just explaining what I did. Only copy me if YOU choose to do so. 

So next I took off the lid, and had a look inside and found the following (click to enlarge):

You will note the large brown circuit board that cover most of the inside of this amplifier. I have no idea how to repair this, so will be replacing this with a small circuit board purchased from eBay. The boards look like this:

There are lots to choose from I will deal with which one later in this post. I am using the TPA3116. As I have some past experience with this board.

Upcyling / Recycling an Old Stereo Amplifier - Chapter 1 - Which Bits to Keep

So after removing all of the bits you do not need you will end up with this (click to enlarge):

I have removed the large heat sink because I am using a Class D Amplifier so  I will not need the large heat sink, if you are choosing a Class A or Class AB amplifier then it would be a bonus to reuse your heat sink. 

A good quality power supply will cost quite a lot, so the one you have is worth keeping. The power supply might be AC rather then DC current, check this with a multi meter. If it is Look out for the bridge rectifiers and keep those too so you can make DC current for new amplifier board! 

This power supply gives out multiple voltages, which is very handy. I suspect most amplifiers will have this arrangements as they will need to power low voltage lighting and higher voltage amplifier chips. The voltages from this supply are "non" standard. They are not 12, 24, 36 etc. they are 17, 27 43 etc. thye go up to 93V so risk of a shock there if I am not careful!

Also the RCA inputs and Output Terminals and any other input / out put parts might be worth keeping. There were also some large capacitors, which may come in handy for decoupling.  

Upcyling / Recycling an Old Stereo Amplifier - Chapter 1 - Watch a Video Summary

I have tried to summaries findings in Chapter 2. . . although for a full description of what went wrong perhaps head over to DIY Audio. 

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Getting the Best Price at a Builders Merchants

Getting the Best Price at a Builders Merchants  - Intro

For some a trip to a builders merchants may be a daunting prospect. There are a few things to consider before you go as they are not like other shops.

If you have ever been in a builders merchants like Jewson, Travis Perkins or Buildbase, you will notice that the prices (if they are labelled at all) are normally high. Unless you are looking at a special offer price, then you are likley looking at the list price.

Quick Guide 

Getting the Best Price at a Builders Merchants - Ring for a Price

Most products have a List Price. The list price is a made up price that a builders merchants will put on a product hoping that somebody will pay it. The price you "can" pay for the product is often a lot lower.

So the key is to ring up and ask for a "quote" (price) on what you want before you go to the actual "shop". When you have a price, try to negotiate a lower one.

Getting the Best Price at a Builders Merchants - "Better Price Please"

Prices are not fixed, you can try and get a better price. Some staff will do this straight away because they are nice people, others are too lazy or do not care if you pay more.

The conversation might go like this:

You: "Hello could I have a price for 100 concrete blocks please"

Builders Merchant: "We can do those for 75 pence each"

You: "Is that your best price please?"

Builders Merchant "The best we can do is 69 pence a block"

You: "I will be getting some prices elsewhere so is this really your best price?"

Builders Merchants: "Yes" or "we could do them for 68 pence a block"

It is important to do this for everything you intend to buy. If you are building a wall for example, get prices for sand . . . cement. . . even a trowel and bucket before you go to the shop. EVEN get a price for a role of string. . . otherwise you might pay £6 for it.

Getting the Best Price at a Builders Merchants - Get Price from Two Companies

Jewson (by example) might offer your concrete blocks (best price) for 68 pence each. If you then ring up Travis Perkins (by example) and say that Jewson will do them for 68 pence then they will either say:

1. "Thats a really good price we can't match that"
2. "We can do them for 65 pence"

You can even then go back to Jewson with the new lower price from Travis Perkins and see if they will beter it. In short it is very time consuming so it is best to email list to each Builders Merchants.

Getting the Best Price at a Builders Merchants - Delivery

After you have your best price, ask for free delivery. This is an added bonus that is nearly always included for fairly large orders. 

Getting the Best Price at a Builders Merchants - Get the Quote in Writing

It is very important that you get the price or quote in writing. If you just talk to somebody over the phone, then that is not good enough. You may not get that price when you pay! Which would be annoying.

Also if you have a credit account (see notes below) then you will not pay for maybe a month, by which point you will need you email to check the bill or invoice, against your quote. 

Getting the Best Price at a Builders Merchants - Check Price

If you are paying cash or card on the day then then obviously check the price as you normally would. But if you pay by invoice then make sure when the invoice arrives (may be 2 weeks after receiving the goods) that you check the prices. They sometimes may have doubled! And you will be very glad you have your quote in writing (email). 

Getting the Best Price at a Builders Merchants - Credit Accounts

Where things really fall apart is the accounting. You might think a credit account is a handy thing to have, but you will be harassed (record is 8 emails and 2 calls over 10 working day period) by their "partner" credit management companies, to pay the bills pretty much from the word go. Even for small bills under £100. . . 

Personally I try to make money by actually working and doing things, not skivvying around trying please somebody in a call centre. 

Jewson for example will not email invoices to you so you can check them easily, instead its masses of paper, or some inconvenient online portal where you can log on (yes another password to remember) to view them.

Getting the Best Price at a Builders Merchants - Conclusion

For large orders a builders merchants can save you a lot of money. However, these guys make buying something time consuming. This may be worth it for large order but for small bits and bobs, you may prefer to  go to B&Q or Homebase. 

Always look out for special offers in Homebase or B&Q, they are often cheaper than a Builders Merchants.

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Reinforced Retaining Wall

Reinforced Retaining Wall - Intro 

This a a quick post to show some pictures of a reinforced retaining wall, along with a little non technical description, along the way.

A retaining wall is generally a wall you would build to avoid having a steep slope, or where you want to have a change in ground levels without a slope. Opting for a step instead. Retaining walls can be just a few feet high, or many meters.

Reinforced Retaining Wall - Basic Concept

If you were to stand a domino on its end, it could be easily pushed over. If however, you were to super glue the domino to a heavy table, it would a a lot harder to push over. Provided the glue were strong enough you would have to tip the table over to get the domino to topple.

In the same sense a concrete wall, can be easily pushed over by heavy soil pushing against it from one side, so we must attached the concrete wall to something heavy to stop it moving.

So we anchor the concrete block wall to a concrete slab. This is done by setting steel bars in the concrete footing, as shown above. The soil will try to push the wall, but with the weight of footing and the soil resting on top of the footing it will not move (providing the soil under the footing is not too squishy - a geotechnical investigation would determine this).

It is also important to let the ground water drain out from behind the wall. Gaps or pipes must be included to allow this.

Reinforced Retaining Wall - Case Study

In the below picture you can see the footing for the retaining wall has been cast, and the steel bars (rebar) are left poking up, ready for the wall to be attached to.

Next up the block wall is built up around the rebar. The block are hollow as they will be filled with concrete at a later date. Another option would be to build a wooden mould (shuttering) around the rebar and pour concrete in to the mould to make  wall.

As the wall is built horizontal bars are added, these are tied with thin wire to the vertical bars to keep them in place.

You can see here how the wall is built to one side of the footing. This helps keep the wall stable, as it will be loaded from (in this picture) the left hand side.

You can see more clearly here the thin wire sued to hold the bars in place prior to pouring the concrete.

On a very long wall such as this one you will need to have expansion gaps, these are breaks in the wall filled with squashy (compressible) material that allow the wall the  expand and shrink when it get hotter and colder.

Reinforced Retaining Wall - A Simple DIY Design

This retaining wall as pictured was likley designed by an engineer. And it is next to a railway so it is a very high quality, probably over specified retaining wall. 

For DIY purposes retaining walls can be built without reinforcement, from normal concrete blocks sometimes without any footings. But drainage is still very important. 

A method I have tried is a a thin strip footing topped with a concrete block wall. The blocks are laid on there side, and can be sloped gently back towards higher ground. If you do slope the wall back fill as you go. Gently pack the soil behind the wall. Every 4 or 5 block insert a length of 50mm drainage pipe between the blocks to allow of drainage. 

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