Fix-It Chris

29/08/2023

I've never charged a call out fee at all before. But from today, I must charge £12.50 per day for all call outs, which goes straight to Transport for London. This is in addition to my usual hourly/daily work rate.

This is my van. It's a nice '64 plate Transit Connect, and when I bought it in 2019 I was fully aware that the ULEZ expansion would be happening in 2030 and decided 11 years would be enough usage of this vehicle for me. Except that devious, money grubbing, politicians then brought the expansion forward to August 2023 and, apparently, my van, which passes its MoT (including emissions tests) every year, is now deadly to people unless I pay money to Sadiq Khan's failing organisation every day. Stop voting for idiots.

21/03/2020

I wouldn't usually glove-up for a job like this (changing a leaking ball valve on a fortic tank) but these are very unusual times - I'm currently following the CIPHE advice regarding the use of PPE to protect both myself and my customers.

I'm now trying to limit myself to emergency work only (leaks, faults, replacing or repairing urgent broken items only). If you find yourself in any bother, give me a call.

Stay safe, Chris.

04/09/2019

Had my van broken into tonight. Most of my tools and toolboxes were labelled in permanent marker with my website adress "fixitchris.co.uk", so if anybody sees anything for sale bearing my website address, please let me know so I can contact the police (for whatever good that may do).

I've never sold or given away any tools, so if you see something with my address on it, it belongs to me.

21/06/2019

Some fascinating (to me, at least) unusual timber guttering and downpipe I saw in Bosham, West Sussex, this week.

26/04/2019

A new set of wheels, thanks to the folks at Priority Commercials.

07/10/2018

I do lay bricks, for small jobs, but I'm certainly not a bricklayer. This guy is an absolute legend. He's making this look easy -- trust me, that is years and years of experience right there. And not a mark on his white suit by the end of it!

How to lay 240 bricks in 1hour

26/09/2018

This is Goober. While I was flat on my back doing a tap change today, he was sitting on my chest keeping a close eye on proceedings. I was tempted to try to smuggle him home in my tool bag...

23/09/2018

One of the things I enjoy most about working in Kingston is the variety of types of property. As well a large number of Victorian homes, there are also quite a lot of these 1930s-built mock-Tudor style houses, as well as more modern buildings. This job was to repair/replace the rotten roof structure of this door canopy across two neighbouring houses. The canopy is an original part of the building and had had a number of running repairs made over the years. Although sagging slightly (it's over 80 years old, it's allowed to!) it was, mostly, structurally sound. We opted to keep it as original, but just replace the rotten roof timber with moisture-resistant OSB3, re-felt, and put in new aluminium flashing...

This highlights the many benefits of getting on well with your neighbours! Because I was able to pull the roof off the entire canopy in one go, I was able to make a much better repair than if working on the job in two halves. A single piece of felt and flashing was used. No joins. This should last a long time.

15/09/2018

Did your boiler freeze during the very cold winter we had at the beginning of this year? If your outside boiler condense pipe looks similar to the one in this picture it's the wrong size and is liable to freeze again. I can quote you to replace it... Best done now before the weather turns cold!

12/09/2018

Caught up in a traffic jam yesterday in Ewell. Caused by geese in the road. Serves me right for going all the way out to the countryside :D

23/07/2018

I'm pleased to say that I can now take on-site credit card payments for all work undertaken. Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, Maestro, Android Pay, Apple Pay, etc. Lovely!

03/12/2017

Received this choccy advent calender from the good folks at Screwfix in the post yesterday. Because it was totally unexpected, it actually really made my day! 👍