Home DIY

How low? It's not a complicated job and the units have a basic cost + the size which means small units are worse value for money. It's a 2 man job though.

Still looking for conventional boiler to combi advice.

Bueller...

It's a pretty straightforward decision. If you have 2 bathrooms or less and want to loose the water tank a combi boiler will suit you. Valiant are very popular, easy to get spares, plumbers know their way round them, last well enough.

For a flat with 1 bathroom a smaller output will do, if you like a generous flow rate in the shower then get a slightly bigger boiler. Your existing radiator system should work with the combi, power flush the rads.

It is great to have hot water on demand.

I always forget that because I mostly work in Fulham and we're at sea (thames) level in a bowl so water pressure is rarely an issue.

Cheers @Airhead, quote came in at less than £500, which surprised me and the builder I am using. What do you think?

Bathroom is nearly there. Can't wait to actually have a hot shower!

And yes we did paint the wall yellow :)

@Airhead and @diable. It's a 2 bed, 1 bathroom property. Old boiler eats gas and I don't want the cold tank and storage cylinder in the bedroom.

How easy is it to convert? I'd like to do most of the work myself.

The current gas feed is too small but the gas meter is very close so the upgraded pipe shouldn't cost much. I don't want to move the boiler elsewhere as it's in the kitchen on an outside wall will a drain below it for condensate.

I understand that using old pipework may have the risk of it leaking due to having a pressurized system instead of gravity fed but I'd like to keep the costs down.

Water pressure doesn't seem an issue in the house but I haven't got the kit to test it (I might be able to borrow a flow and pressure kit however.)

@Tenderloin - bloody fantastic mate.

Can you send me the details of your tiler? (Unless of course you did it yourself..!)

Tiling's excellent @Tenderloin - good call.

Did you DIY?

Having re-painted three rooms earlier in the week (who knew what appeared to be baby blue and pink walls would require five coats of white before losing their hue?!), this weekend has been filled with hanging pictures and putting up shelves.

So far have got away without needing to nail/drill secondary holes anywhere...

Next task is the garden. Need to decide if it's worth attempting to re-seed a small and patchy lawn (around three by five metres) or go for a full re-turf. Any tips?

September is the best time to re-seed but you can do it in the spring. You may not have much of a lawn by summer however.

If you can spend the money then turf will be ready by summer if you do it now.

That surprises me, I've been living in Sands End nearly 20 years working in the trades and never seen a problem with pressure. Maybe just a dodgy connection from the street in your flat?

In short you probably can't do it yourself according to teh rulez. I'm not fully up to speed on plumbing regs but the boiler should definitely be fitted by a registered professional. The rest of it you can have a go at, you'll probably be complicating the whole install by getting involved though.

Doesn't seem that unreasonable, there are different qualities of double glazing units though. You need toughened of course, maybe get them double sealed (that's extra sealant in the edges).

Call a local glass supplier and ask them to quote for supply of 2 units the size you need then you'll see what the labour is, probably an online price thing you can do somewhere. To remove them they take the (normally black) rubber seals you can see around the edge of the frame out and the covers on the frame and remove the unit, pop in the new unit and press the seals back in. If one bloke can carry the unit to where it needs to be then it's a 1 man job, heavy lift but there are some big blokes around.

In any case most local glass suppliers will know someone who can do the job, or get it delivered and do it yourself!

Jesus your bathroom is HUGE

Walking on water needs a bit of room.

He's a bathroom fitter, organised and good value. Wish I'd got him to do the kitchen as well.

Need to replace a couple of windows in the kitchen (Crittal?) and want some shutters on the windows in the front room and bedroom. Still got quite a bit to do

Used to be the third bedroom and bathroom but we figured a nice, big and bright bathroom is better than two shit pokey rooms

This I know. I won't touch gas but I am a 17th Ed Sparks with a Facilities Management background.

I'd mount the boiler and make the electrical connections, condensate piping, vent and earthing. A Gas Safe engineer can make the gas connections.

Leeds. So probably no where near your guy.

The plan is to powerflush the system with the old boiler in place then put the new one in when the system is clean and add the magnaclean.

@tenderloin - he's done a great job...can you send me his deets?

I need to get well over a tonne of Grano dust and sharp sand to create a base for some articfial grass. Can anyone recommend a builders merchant that could deliver this (preferably in 25kg bags) to the kerb. I also need to hire a small vibrating compacting plate. Any recommendations? Anyone have one?

@Tenderloin could you PM them to me too... bathroom and kitchen are on my to do list

Rosebury so 2 minutes walk.