Home DIY

Stains = wabi sabi
Burns = you don't put stove hot pots on any counters
Hates Water = don't use it as a sink surround

Speaking of which, is there a good reason laminate coutertops always come in silly faux marble / wood effects? Do solid colours show damage more easily?

ates water. Think about how much your time is worth, multiply that by the years you will have to care for the poxy thing, then bin it and get literally anything else.

hmm... 10 hours every 10 years is not too bad to be fair... and cheaper than replacing it with anything else.

Retiling the bathroom. The back is a bit lumpy. Do i skim or is there a backing board?

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Your child looks unwell

Hardibacker is a good backing board, I usually rip the plasterboard off first but I suppose you don't have to.

Where were you 6 months ago when I was welding my taxi!!!

Ok. Will check that out.. saves plastering it

It comes in several different thicknesses, doesn't break down if it gets wet and is very heavy and rigid. It's basically a cement board, easy to cut to size and absorbs tile adhesive. What's not to like :) I usually get mine from topps tiles.

Dont plaster it. Don't use Hardiebacker, use Wedi board. Follow the installation instructions carefully and call their tech support if you have questions don't ask the people at wherever you buy it. use the proper washers etc. It's really light, you can cut it with a Stanley knife easily. Hardiebacker is awful. @PQR

@pqr tower ceramics on wenlock st sell there own cheaper version of Wedi board and the washers. Call Wedi tech support first to check what you need and what to do, or pm me and I'll talk you through it on the phone Monday.

@chalfie if you smell gas call National Grid 0800 111 999

#spam

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You probably missed the bit where he said he's already had them out twice. It's buried in our usual unhelpful shit. Hence the rotting corpse theory.

magnets

#addtobasket

I read that but it wasn't clear if it was National Grid or just a gas safe engineer. There was mention of a gas sniffer used but no mention of a drop test at the meter so I wanted to clarify National Grid is always your first call if you smell gas.

I'd never seen the Wedi board as I've not done a shower on stud wall for quite a while. Nice but pricey. Clearly the right choice for a stud wall fit out if you want to guarantee longevity.

As far as I understand it people struggle to cut the cement boards, not sure why as they cut easily enough with an old pull saw, obviously they are hard on the blades though. Otherwise they keep their form even if they get wet so still seem like a reasonable cheaper option to the extruded polystyrene. I have had to patch damage in showers before now and used them successfully, it helps that they have different thicknesses and are very stiff. Is the Wedi board rigid, it's hard to imagine that it would be.

Could do with some advice on the proper process to make my shower hotter as there is too much info online.

Problem: shower temp tap is turned to the max, the water runs hot, but not that hot.

background

• bathroom is on 1st floor
  
• boiler is in loft
  
• kitchen tap can go very hot +40°c
  
• the bathroom basin tap can go to 44°c on full
  
• the shower doesn't go this high (not sure of temp as I'd used lots of hot water by this point)
  
• tap is flush with wall
  
  

Does this suggest that the thermostatic cartridge in the shower is too low, rather than any overall water temperature or pressure.

What is the correct process?

Cheers

I cut my cement boards with an old wood-saw (wrapped tape round the handle to show me which saw I'd used in future) and it was fine, I lined the entire shower with it then tiled on top, came out perfectly flat.

Most thermostatic mixers are shipped with a preset maximum to prevent scalding law suits. It is something you can adjust quite easily although the technique varies according to which tap you have.

To do ours I just had to undo a few small allen bolts and reseat the tap slightly.

I'll try and check then measure the temperature when I get back.

Annoyingly the mixer is unbranded, so I need to do some hunting online to make a guess.

Another simple check, if you reduce the flow of the shower does it get hotter. If that's the case it may be your boiler struggling to supply enough hot water. Of course a thermostat should reduce the flow automatically to reach the temperature. Cold side pressure doesn't usually affect thermostats but it can overwhelm some mixers when the hot supply is straight off the boiler.

Is the pipework adequately insulated to the shower mixer?

How far into a brick wall do people reckon a bolt like this would have to go to hold a 75mm post (about 1.5m to hold a 90cm fence panel)?