Precisely what comes to mind when you come across the word 'fixings'? If you are the person who prepares the meals in your household then you will probably start wondering whether you have the necessary fixings for dinner and if you will have to go to the supermarket to buy a few ingredients. If you are a home handyman or proprietor of a hardware store then you may think of rawl bolts and silicone sealant. Or, if you make clothes for a living then hooks and eyes or buttons might spring to mind.

The term has numerous other meanings, one of which may have popped into your mind as you read the previous paragraph. However, the meaning we are most interested in here is the one that pertains to hardware. In this sense, fixings are devices or substances used to attach one object to another, or are themselves the attachment. Because they are associated with attaching things, they are often associated with other types of fastener like screws, nails and nuts and bolts. However, fixings fall into a specific category all their own and within this category are fixings of different types that are used for different methods of affixing.

Before we mention any of the various kinds of fixings that exist, we feel that it is important to point out that it is vital to use the correct type of fixing for the job at hand and also to use the correct size. This is a basic principle that applies to any kind of construction work which, if you adhere to it, will go a long way to ensuring a successful and safe outcome to the building project. In other words, if you use the wrong screws your construction could fall apart on you and not in a safe manner either.

Of the wide variety of specialised fixings that are available on the market, cable ties, rawl plugs, shims, silicone sealant and expanding foam are typical examples. For more heavy-duty requirements, there is the 'rawl' or 'through' bolt, and construction resins which are basically a special kind of adhesive used in construction work. Door hinges are also considered to be a type of fixing in that the hinges are used to affix the door to a door frame. Even nail and staple guns with their respective nails and staples can be said to fall into the category of general fixings.

In case you were not aware, a shim is a wedge-shaped or flat strip of metal or plastic that can be used to fill up a small space between a door and a door frame, for instance. Some shims are u-shaped but regardless of what they look like are the quickest and most convenient way to level door and window frames and even battens. Rawl plugs are handy for fixing wall-mounted light fittings as well as shelving and brackets. Through bolts, which are typically fixed in concrete including cracked concrete, are used in the construction of elevators, balustrades, hand rails and even fencing.

As you can see from the above mentioned examples, the use of fixings is diverse and highly specialised. Needless to say, using the appropriate fixing can help to make the task of construction a whole lot easier.

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