Home DIY

At a guess... http://www.toolstation.com/m/part.html?p=59982

White paint...is there really any need to pay for the Duluxes of the world at £39.99 for 5l, or will the 10l Leyland Trade stuff do (which are currently 2 for £22.00 at Screwfix)?

Looking at giving the walls and ceiling a freshen up before we move in to a new place, then going for a wall of colour in each wall - just want to make sure we're not throwing money away for no reason on marketing/advertising bumph.

Any recommendations?

Armstead Trade has always been pretty good for me, and it can be very cheap - 10L for 40£

Leyland trade is good enough

armstead is the rebranded 2nd tier trade range (after Dulux trade) from AkzoNobel (Dulux), and is also good enough

Making a little post tray out of brass and a strip of larch which I'm planning to wall mount in our hall.

I had planned on using concealed shelf fixing brackets like these to fix it to the wall as I don't want to see any fixings (the larch is glued to the brass using some very strong glue):

But the shortest I can find are 65mm long, and my larch profile is 21 x 38mm. So the 12mm diameter isn't a problem but 65mm is far too long - I really need 30mm.

Any better ideas than buying a pair of 65mm brackets and cutting them down?

Screw a larch dovetail to the wall, corresponding piece on the brass can then drop on to it.

Cut them down to 30mm?

I used to use Leyland trade for ceilings, these days I use a specialist ceiling paint fro a company called eico because it stops problems with roller marks.

It used to be the case that trade paint had a higher quantity of solids in so that it could either be thinned or would give better coverage applied neat, the idea was that trades would be able to handle the thicker paint where diy paint would be easy for amateurs to apply.

For hallways or walls that are likely to need cleaning often I use dulux diamond trade, it's noticeably more plastic and cleans well. If you want good coverage over darker colours or fresh plaster then dulux supermatt trade is good, it contains a lot of solids so it's expensive.

For a professional you have to balance the time it takes to do the job with cheaper materials against the cost of the best material for the job hence £75 a pot of paint is sometimes worthwhile.

Leyland Trade is £19.20 for the larger 12L tubs in the trade section at B&Q. All the "trade" stuff goes through the normal till - you just pay VAT on it. It's a good paint.

Agree with the comments about Dulux Supermatt. It's very opaque (can get away with one coat on top of a white mist coat) but quite pricey.

I like Benjamin Moore 'Aura', with white over darker colours in 2 coats.

Thanks all, appreciated - the darkest walls we'll be going over are baby blue and baby pink, so should hopefully not be too bad in regards to needing too many multiple coats.

We knocked the wall down between the hall and stairs to open it up and give a view from front to back of the house:

We got this vanity unit made up as well:

Have you got any tradesmen lined up for your schedule of works?

can I paint directly over rust on radiators after sanding them down, or do I have to use a rust inhibitor? It'll be with satin paint

after ensuring all rust residues removed, and wiping down with IPA, I'd recommend International radiator primer then radiator top coat - formulated to withstand high heat

Not sure if this is the right thread, but couldn't find a more suitable one.

I'd like a recommend on a good quality, simple ratchet screwdriver. I've just broken my 2nd makita putting together my daughters idea kitchen play set, which seems ridiculous. Admittedly I did the 1st one hand tightening coach bolts in railway sleepers and wasn't surprised when I stripped the ratchet.

I just want a simple, tough one without a silly compartment in the handle for bits.

search on ebay for Stanley yankee, these are what we used to use before battery drivers

Anyone know anything about external drains.

I've been clearing up the bad idea of a front garden left by the previous owners. Wood chip and North facing and wet winter turned the garden into an authentic, organic, smelly, wet environment. Perfect for cat crapping and mushrooms but not very appealing otherwise.

So I dug out all the wood chip but at the base of the rainwater downpipe I was expecting to find a drain, probably clogged, under all the mess. No drain. Just some rubble making a rudimentary soak away.

S0, should I be expecting a more formal drain for rainwater? Should I be looking to upgrade the soak away?

Cheers in advance.

useful sheet on soak-aways here > https://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/.../Building%20Control/09soakaways.pdf

I would say cut them, if they're not too hard.

I have also been trying to make something to hold post and keys.

Basically copying this;

as requested by mrs_com

I don't think I've done too badly. She specced a single compartment without the front scoops.

I don't have a big enough hole saw so I convinced her that a small shelf would be more practical than a jar holder.

It would have been more accurate if I had a chop saw and/or table saw but it's pretty close for the first outing of my £40 ALDI circular/death saw.

It will be filled, sanded, sprayed with white primer then a light blue top coat.

Fixing to the wall by drilling a hole in each of the top corners then brass screws straight through with brass cup washers.

nice job that

Note the upside down label....

Will hopefully look better once completed.

Funnily, mrs_com picked the colour. Turns out it is from a range of spray paints by Brick Lane Bikes. A nice Sweet Baby Blue (Fixie). The colour is called Coldharbour Lane.

I wonder if they'll release a Pengy.

Filler and top colour arrived today so I will hopefully get to fill it this week, sand at the weekend and at least prime as that should show up in a day or so.

Whatever way it is, MrsSharon will be impressed. I should start doing stuff like that on mine. Hell, I should try getting into my shed...

Anyone got bolt-cutters? Last owner took the keys with them

Can you remove the hinges then remove the lock from the inside?