A quiet day for new announcements, with most of yesterday's Professional Builder batch still carrying. The item worth pulling forward is one that surfaced late in the merchant press: Board Aid, a British-designed plasterboard ceiling support tool, is looking for UK stockists. It is a small product with a specific pitch — hold the board overhead so the installer has both hands free to fix, without a panel lift — and it is aimed at exactly the operator a panel lift does not suit: the general builder or refurb team boarding a room or two, not a full ceiling programme.
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Top Stories
Board Aid seeks UK stockists for one-person plasterboard ceiling tool
A British-designed plasterboard ceiling support tool is looking for merchant and retailer stockists. Board Aid supports and positions the board against the ceiling while the installer fixes it, sold as a set with a second "Companion" component for larger boards, and pitched at both trade and DIY use. A standard 1200 x 2400mm sheet of 12.5mm plasterboard is around 22-25kg, which is why overhead boarding is a two-person job or a panel-lift job in practice. The trade press item carried no pricing.
Source: Professional Builders Merchant | Full piece
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Angle grinder selection: the guide the trade press keeps circling
ITS Hub's angle grinder buying guide has been resurfacing in research packs for a fortnight without a dedicated piece on our side, so we have written one. The short version: 115mm or 125mm handles the overwhelming majority of trade work at around 28-36mm cutting depth, 230mm is a different and considerably more dangerous class of tool best hired for the occasional slab-cutting day, and the single feature most worth paying for is an electronic brake — because most angle grinder injuries happen after the trigger is released.
Source: ITS Hub | Full guide
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Also in Brief
- Saint-Gobain gas-fired EWI fixings (covered yesterday): The UK-first single-shot fixing method for external wall insulation, around 30% faster than drill-and-fix with materially lower vibration and noise exposure. Source: Professional Builder | Full piece
- CUPA PIZARRAS BS 5534 fixing specification tool (covered yesterday): Free online tool generating slate fixing specs from location, exposure, pitch and slate selection. Source: Professional Builder | Full piece
- Saniflo Saniboost Smart (covered yesterday): Variable-speed mains booster pump, up to 97 l/min and 5.5 bar, being used to resolve low pressure in a Dublin property. Source: Professional Builder | Full piece
- Autumn footwear (covered yesterday): Overland Shoes' seasonal push for Bobcat waterproof safety boots, and what the revised EN ISO 20345 S3S to S7L ratings actually mean. Source: Professional Builder | Full piece
- Smoke breaks study still circulating: The Northerner-commissioned £8,400 figure continues to appear in the packs. Our position is unchanged — brand-commissioned research with a commercial interest in the conclusion, and the headline figure could not be independently corroborated. Source: Professional Builder
- Evergreen brand and retailer pages (already covered): Milwaukee's power tool, impact driver, impact wrench, hand tool and battery/charger category pages, Makita's workwear site, and ITS Hub's drill, drill bit, EV charger and Makita gardening guides all reappeared with no new information. Existing coverage: Milwaukee impact drivers, Milwaukee impact wrenches, Milwaukee battery and charger kits, Milwaukee hand tools, drill bits, choosing a drill, EV chargers for electricians.
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Watchlist
- Board Aid: pricing, and whether any national merchant picks it up — merchant shelf space is a reasonable proxy for whether the trade actually rates a British-made accessory.
- ITS Hub's impact driver buying guide keeps appearing in packs; our existing combi drill vs impact driver vs SDS guide and impact wrench vs impact driver cover the ground, but a dedicated impact driver buying guide is a reasonable gap to fill later.
- Several source feeds continue to fail collection — Tool Advice (DNS), Professional Electrician & Installer (timeout), Powertool Superstore and Power Tool World (403). Worth flagging to whoever maintains the source registry.
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