Home DIY

I just got a huge ikea wardrobe with sliding glass doors. Including all the fittings, it came in under £800. It's 3m wide and 2.4m tall.

Ooh, I do like something like that having been quoted ~£14k from Sharps (sucks teeth) for ours, although the bedroom wall I'd like to do that on is huge (5m wide with 3m high ceilings) and includes a sink/vanity-unit.

It'd also be nice to incorporate a rail as we have a bookcase like this one http://pets-station.com/images/french/p18025-001.jpg in the bedroom already, building in ladder access to higher storage cupboards (thanks to the high ceilings) with a suitable rail would put it all a bit beyond me.

Might start to ask for recommendations for a local (SW15) joiner.

I had Ikea previously and they slowly started to fall apart. You get two years out of the internals, the carcasses last though

Fair enough. Hem.com might be a good shout. Thinking about ordering a custom shelving unit from them myself...

Speak to a carpenter. For fitted full height wardrobes across a 4m long wall we got quotes ~£1000-1800, compared to four or five times that from Sharpes.

Yup. Checked my Sharps quote and it's £11980 reduced to £4950 with the customary discount (does anyone ever pay full price?). 4.3m wide and 3m high ceilings. (My memory is not what it used to be.)

So far I've had the following people in to give quotes:
Bettaliving - Absolute joke, they literally have 5 choices, all are shit. Prices are mental
Spacemaker - Aggressive salesman, told me everyone else was shit and their workman are sub-contracted Polish

Still to come:
Fox Interiors
Martin West
Sharps

The guy who made my kitchen is very good, he'll make everything from scratch to a very high level, all fixtures and fittings are the highest quality - including the stuff you'll never see. He's not cheap, but good value.

Anyone want these pine slivers I have left over? There's around 4 slivers in a mix of 6 and 8mm width.

£15 collected from SE14

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Best bet with Ikea is to wood glue all the dowels as you build it. You won't be able to take it apart again but stays in one piece after that.

Don't even go there with Sharps you will end up with a pile of crap they don't even have backs.

Need to refinish these kitchen cupboards. My plan is just to sand back, prime and paint. Anything I should know? the paint at the minute is very smooth, almost shabby chic distressed.

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Hmm, can't work these out. It doesn't feel like paint, almost like they were dipped in something. The finish is really smooth but almost plasticky, any ideas what it could be?

http://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/product/esp-easy-surface-prep/

If you hate sanding this actually works. Better with an oil/alkyd undercoat afterwards than anything water based IME

not sure whether to put this in here or the gardening thread...

We have a medium sized decking area in out garden (two squares that work out at 12 square metres), which are pretty knackered, lots of rot, and the edges haven't been treated so are starting to crumble away. I figure it is time to replace it, for the sake of ease I am just going to replace like for like, with some stuff from Wickes (seems a good combination of quality and price http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Premium-Treated-Pine-Deck-Board-2-4m/p/101000#tab-reviews_content).

I'm probably not going to get round to laying it for a month or so, my question is should I buy it now, store it in the dry and stain it a few times before laying or is that going to cause the wood to warp and then be impossible to lay correctly? Some of the decking is going to have to slide into places where I won't be able to easily treat it in the future so keen to make sure it is well treated up front.

Something hard like a thin coat of polyurethane? I'd just rough all over with some Poundland sanding blocks and then paint. Doubt you'd need primer by the sounds of things.

best to buy and treat and lay within a shorter time period. storing inside for a longer period will shrink it

Thought that might be the case, will hold fire from ordering until I'm ready to lay it then

Painting - not something I know anything about.

Time has come, however, to paint the walls - bare plaster at this stage.

From a bit of Googling, does this sound about right:

• Buy a big tin of Dulux Trade super-matt
  
• Dilute with water at a ratio of approx 30% water to 70% paint
  
• Chuck this on the walls, wait for it to dry, repeat with a lower % of water
  
• Top coat with neat paint
  
  

?

I've used pads before as they drip less, and don't fling out a fine spray like rollers - no advances on this front?

requirement for dilution depends on porosity of surface / previous finish

raw plaster benefits from diluted PVA solution first, putting expensive dulux trade on as a PVA sealant substitute is poor economics

if the wall is already painted/primed then after creating a key by sanding, two full strength coats will give depth

Agreed, paint pads are much better than rollers

I'm in the market for a new cordless combi drill, got a budget of about £120, current favourite is this one;
http://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-dhp453rfw-18v-3-0ah-li-ion-cordless-lxt-combi-drill/7186f

18v, 3.0ah battery and charge in under 30 minutes. Only slight reticence is whether it is a bit under-powered.

Anyone seen anything better out there?

They're pretty good, won't get an awful lot more on your budget. Only 1 battery for the money in that link.

Yep, thought it looked an ok deal, would prefer a second battery, guess if it runs flat I'll have to have a break for 20 minutes...

Sounds fine to me. I've just painted my freshly plastered living room.

Plasterer (who is a very experienced one) just said to mist coat at 30% ish like you suggested. You can slap it on very quickly. Go over the wet paint you've just put on, maybe 20s later as you'll be able to get more on as its sucking it in.

I went straight on with 100% paint after this and it came out perfectly. I use Leyland Trade Contract brilliant white. Comes in 12L tubs in B&Q.

Oh, and anything difficult you need to cover, like calk, give it a run over with Zinsser Gardz (sp?) which is a primer.