What is a fortified town?
A fortified town is a town or settlement that is completely surrounded by defensive works such as ramparts, bastions and moats.
What is hot-dip galvanizing?
Galvanizing is applying a zinc coating to steel to protect it against rust. In construction it usually means hot-dip galvanizing in a bath of molten zinc.
What is verzanden (sanding out and silting up)?
Verzanden is the loss of the correct ratio between binder and filler in mortar or concrete, or the silting up of a harbour or waterway with sand.
What is differential settlement?
Differential settlement is the uneven sinking of a building or part of a building, causing cracks, leaning and sticking doors and windows.
Fitting Double Glazing: Sealed Units or Triple, DIY or Glazier?
Fitting double glazing: double or triple glazed units, will they fit your rebate, DIY or glazier, U-values, cost per m², savings and grants in 2026.
Summer pruning grapes: removing laterals and thinning for sweeter bunches
How to prune grapes in summer: remove the laterals, thin the leaves around the bunches and pinch out tips. With rules of thumb, timing and common mistakes.
What is a crenel shutter?
A crenel shutter is a usually wooden shutter between two merlons of a castle or town wall that protected the defenders against projectiles.
What is head difference?
Head difference is the difference in height between two water levels, or between two points of a pipe or sewer. Explanation with a worked example.
What is vertinnen?
Vertinnen is the Dutch term for applying a thin coat of cement mortar to masonry to keep out moisture or as a bonding coat. It also means coating a metal with tin.
What are vertical drains?
Vertical drains are installed in soft ground so that pore water drains away faster and the settlement of an embankment or fill happens much more quickly.