Home DIY

Personally, I would set the wood on fire after it is well within the confines of the burner.

Yeah it's bizarre. Ground floor and loft work (though I found that the loft sockets are actually marked as 'Water Heater' on the consumer board), along wiht everything else in the house.

It's a modern board, so MCBs rather than fuses. I've now re-attached the old socket in case there was a fault but still no dice. I think it's time amateur hour came to an end and I called a pro.

Personally, I would set the wood on fire after it is well within the confines of the burner.

I don't deny it.

Stripped some horrible gold w/ black butterfly wallpaper over the weekend, along with the lining paper, leaving this:

It's largely smooth (ish) and could probably just do with a sand but are there any paints etc that are particularly good as a base for smoothing it out before painting the top coats? Polycell do something called Smoothover but it gets mixed reviews...

Surely the ground floor and loft work on separate rings.

Pop that single socket off again (with the mains isolated on the MCB) and check that the incoming and outgoing cables are securely screwed in.

Direct links:

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_hLtihImyrQ/VsGAH4CCBfI/AAAAAAAAHCc/DvKSu_yZeXY/s1024-no/IMG_1421.JPG
http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K7ZBNsOiQT8/VsGAI-f6fcI/AAAAAAAAHCc/OfA7mvDfjuc/s1024-no/IMG_1422.JPG

Yep. I think it's more bizarre because I've triple checked the connections, and can't see anything wrong, with both the original socket and my new one.

That is weird. Essentially, to complete the ring, the incoming wires just need to be in contact with the outgoing wires. You didn't tug really hard on either cable, did you?

Hard to see how smooth that actually is, but you could try sanding blocks to even it out. With fine cracks, you can wet them and then scrape a filler over them.

Maybe its running off the neighbours circuits and breakers? ;-)

It feels pretty smooth but it's really difficult to tell. I think I might try doing a coat of plaster primer to bring up the imperfections and decide what to do after that.

Clean the wall with a product to remove any wall paper paste residue. Sand it with 100 grit and apply a watered down coat of emulsion (mist coat). There are lots of different opinions on the best emulsion brand to use as a mist coat, I would usually use something mid price like Leyland brilliant white emulsion, if you only want to use one type then Dulux Trade Supermatt is a good option. Then apply filler to any of the defects that stand out. I would opt to cover the entire wall with easy fill then sand it back but you can just pick out any problems, feather the filler and paint with an undiluted coat of emulsion. If you plan to use a fancy emulsion as a top coat of colour then start with something that is designed to cover well, a high opacity emulsion like Dulux Trade Supermatt. Denib by sanding between coats and don't lay it on too thick as you'll just end up with a terrible roller pattern.

If I were doing this in my own home I'd use a lining paper, 1100 or 1400 weight.

@Airhead Thanks.

That's what I'm going to do; mist coat, fill and top coat.

The idea of lining paper never really appealed to me - then I took the wallpaper off and realised it'd be a case of bringing the plasterer back again which was a dusty mess I don't want to repeat.

Are they allowed in a flat? What are the fire regulations

Product name - Easy Fill. Cheap easy to sand filler.

To wallpaper ceilings you need 2 ladders and a scaffold board. It should be as easy as wallpapering the wall if your technique is right.

Are they allowed in a flat? What are the fire regulations

I don't know what the fire regulations are, my view is that as the flat was built with a fireplace and chimney then it's fine to use them (updated as they are).

@Dammit sorry I could not find @wildwest 's comment but it is the Building Regulations not the fire regulations approved document J what you have done looks great but I would be a little weary of putting a wood burning stove in where there was a coal open fire. Have you had the chimney cleaned?

Also advice here

@Dammit sorry I could not find @wildwest 's comment but it is the Building Regulations not the fire regulations approved document J what you have done looks great but I would be a little weary of putting a wood burning stove in where there was a coal open fire. Have you had the chimney cleaned?

I put in a double skinned stainless steel liner all the way to the (new) pot on the roof.

That answers my point about cleaning the chimney.
Did you have to get the Freeholders permission to reconnect the chimney?

Found it easier with ladders as you have somewhere to rest the paper.

Did you have to get the Freeholders permission to reconnect the chimney?

We have share of freehold, so in this case I'd possibly have had to ask the managing agent, however I alerted them (and paid the fee) for making lots of changes to the flat (including submitting a report from a structural engineer), so I didn't submit anything just for the chimney.