“Look” goes Jimmy. “I’m not trying to be funny or anything, and due respect to every spanner monkeys training and all that, but I can do this job. Plumbing is not actually all that hard.”We’re in the boozer and Jimmy, an electrician mind, is talking up his plumbing abilities after a few scoops. He’s in the middle of an electrical job in Dublin city centre and the house owner has offered him a few quid more to move a toilet in their bathroom. Something about him not having enough room to c...

I walk onto the site, not really knowing what to expect. As it happens I should have prepared for the worst.They’re all lined up waiting for me. We’re talking Jimmy, Damo, Tomaz and about ten other regulars.  They start singing that Pulp song by yer man Jarvis Coker. They don’t sound too bad actually, even allowing for Tomasz who has less musical ability than the mixing drill he’s waving above his head.  “I took her to a supermarket,I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere,so it sta...

"This one has a serious amount of torque, over 500 Newton meters. It comes with two five amp hour lithium ion batteries that run for over.." Yak-edy, yak, yak.Feic, all I did was pick the thing up and he's over to me faster than a speeding ticket. I actually already know all about this drill, but no harm in me getting some confirmation I suppose. As soon as I get the money in from the jobs I'm on, I'll be straight online to buy it for about 100 quid cheaper than these clowns are trying to flog i...

Following the recent surge in demand for plumbers through it’s service to deal with emergencies, OnlineTradesmen.ie has today published a basic guide to help Irish home owners address and prevent freezing pipes within their homes for any future cold snaps.  What are the risks of freezing pipes?It’s a simple fact that when water freezes, it expands. Unfortunately the pipes used for plumbing in your home are often not flexible, resulting in burst pipes and water damage in your home. All homes wi...

We’re heading over to Howth in Damo’s van to put the finishing touches to an Attic Conversion. We’ve been working on it for a few weeks either side of Christmas and we’re nearly done.“I’ve always liked Howth” goes Damo. “It’s a bit like Dublin 4 but the people are bit, I dunno, more real or something.”“Not much real about Samantha I reckon. She’s got a pair of bazookas that look like they were manufactured in the Goodyear blimp factory.”“Joe, for feics sake” he says. “That’s our...

“Sure there are always a few screws and things left over with this type of stuff” I go.It’s Christmas Eve and I’m over at my sister Doreen’s. I was lured in by the "Sure, just pop over for a few bevvies" line. I really should have learnt by now. There's no such thing as a free mince pie – even they came from Dealz and have less filling in them than Angelia Jolie’s Chompers. I'm in the door about 10 minutes with a can of Royal Dutch in my hand when I get asked to put together a doll’s hou...

"I'm not sure I'm at the right pay grade to tell you either way" I go.This fella's been rooting around the site for a while and finally plucked up the courage to ask for some old timber that's been lying around the site. He is definitely a bit suss - we were actually planning on getting Tomasz, who is some sort of polish weight lifting champion, to go down and put the frighteners up him before he actually strolled up to ask us about it. We even had Tomasz coached on how to say 'what's the bleedi...

When we launched Onlinetradesmen.ie back in 2006 it was with a view to make it easy as possible for home owners to connect with the qualified Tradesmen of Ireland and improve standards within the construction sector.Now, even some 700,000 projects later, we're still trying to achieve our original goal! Constant shifts in technology and changes within our sector have meant that we have always had to keep a foot on the pedal in order to stay at the forefront of what we do.   Today I'm delighted to...

"Listen Duncan, thermal bridging is an actual thing. There's a gap in your insulation between the walls and floor just here. Could be that you got some debris in there or it wasn't done correctly in the first place. Either way that why the room is cold and your electricity bills are sky high. Google it if you want to."