Home DIY

Oh right...ok so my quote seems rather on the high end in that case. We only have sockets and switch with a few spot lights. I guess as part of the full rennovation you might end up saving a bit too...

Well that was my question of putting right, could be a fair bit of cost in that, fixing plaster etc. If it is standalone works always worth getting the standard 3 quotes.

fair point....thanks sam

Framing walls for a bike shed - half lap the joints, or just join them end on (using pocket screws).

My reckoning is that lapping the joints would be a little more solid /secure.

Can anyone recomend a good plumber that would cover CR4? Turns out that ours retired a couple of years ago.

I'm looking to split the central heating system up into upstairs and downstairs zones, and switch the controllers over to Nest ones.

End on. I have built lots of stud walls that way.

Dovetail surely.....but seriously just drive some long screws through the stud to connect them together, the skin of plasterboard or I guess plywood in your case stops the joints from moving.

I do like the idea of properly joined stud work though.

i need to replace the pull switch for the bathroom light

b&q sell some that are 1-way and some that are 2-way

how many ways do i want?

Is it the only switch that turns that light on and off? Does the switch activate anything else in the room?

yes its the only switch, when the light comes on so does the fan (they are one unit)

Should just need a one way switch.

Cool. Thanks

No worries.

Don't forget to take pictures of the wiring before you dismantle the current one...

Small area of damp at the bottom corner of a patio door. I can't see any obvious route of ingress,any ideas please?

Could be between the frame and the render, with the render holding the water against the brickwork and not permitting it to dry out.

What is the guttering like? The top looks greenish - if water is coming down, it could be running down into the gap between frame and wall.

What is underneath the decking - is there any drainage?

How are the walls built?

Guttering & roof are fine

decking is just over a crawl space, we are on the side of the hill and there's a good 4 feet under the decking so def not rising damp

I'm drawn to the conclusion there is some sort of issue with the render although it all looks OK from the outside. I'll have another look when it's raining & see if there is anything obvious.

Looks similar to a problem I have with a shower door! Is water getting trapped in the channel at the bottom of the door and seeping through to the wall.

I had a problem similar to this on an outside door and nothing worked in terms of fixing it. I cut out all the internal plaster and plastered it with Toupret Humiblock then painted it with the matching paint. It solved the decorative problem, of course it means the moisture is trapped in the wall but it no longer shows! We had exhausted all the other options though.

This evening the conservatory door decided to downgrade it self from needing 'the knack' to lock, to inoperative. Hmm. Consoled myself to the hope that being probably 25 years old it did not contain the expensive sounding 'gearbox' of @Ramsaye 's door.
Undid enough screws to allow the mechanism to be taken indoors for scrutiny.
Took the lid off, (after guessing its intransigence was due the hidden 5th screw under the QA label), and was greeted with a bedoinging spring, which did its best to hide under the table.

Carefully scraping off bits of dried out grease and pvc swarf from the mechanism revealed a short spring. Then another. And finally a third. So a spring, with no indication of its anchor point needed replacing. The mug of dead pens offered up a range of suitable-ish springs.

Locating the square spindle (?) and a handle showed what the mechanism was meant to do.
So those flat plates must be activated by the key rotating the barrel. Can't quite separate them, but there is a place where a carefully compressed and located spring could 'live'.

Bedoinging spring could live 'here' but is it meant to push 'that' in or out?
Hmm, nothing to secure it against for 'in, so must be 'out'.

Cleaned all the sliding surfaces, and applied grease. Located both springs, (eventually), and resecured the lid.

Back outside with several torches and bike lights to illuminate cavities in the pvc door.
Just could not locate the mechanism and get it into the hole it emerged from. But then found I was using the wrong anchoring hole. Pencil marks on the pvc door edge to show where the screws would resecure the long door edge sliding bits,
and,
barely two hours after being alerted to a non-locking door,
I was turning the key in the barrel ............ it would not fully turn!

Don't worry, it was only an idiot 'unlocking' an open door.

Pulled door into position, pulled handle up, and turned the key.
The mechanism glid into place, much smoother than I can ever remember.
(Who wastes any memory remembering the action of the conservatory door?)

Son un/locks door to confirm it is 'fixed'.

Just as well there was no 'Wests' tonight, as I would have been very late.

Is there a drainage hole in the bottom track. There looks to be some muck in there, so any hole may be blocked, allowing water to build up and overflow inside.

How long had it been broke for/needing the knack?

I'm guessing the spring lost one end some time ago, maybe a couple of years ago, requiring 'the knack'.
It has been increasingly notchy, but forceable for a couple of months.
Today, I guess either the spring lost the other end, or the broken bit interfered with the remnant.
We'll find out if the pen spring is strong/durable enough.

That’s a lesson to anyone with a pvc door which requires the knack. These doors should have smooth mechanisms, anything notchy runs the risk of locking you out.

Yep, sloth is a great dis-enabler.
I could have checked it at any time last Summer, say, rather than a chilly dark February evening.
I also would not have had my mind wondering how on Earth to secure the door overnight, had my efforts not resulted in a functional lock.

Morning kids. I got great advice on how to sort out my shower when I posted here last, so I'm hoping to get the same sort of advice for my kitchen.

I moved in a year ago and the place had clearly been let out to uncaring tenants for many years - caked in grease, hadn't been updated since the 80s, rat shit everywhere. Anyway we cleaned it up and got it functional but we really need to tear everything out and start again, from cupboards to tiling, the lot.

I'm on a very limited budget - I could probably chuck another four grand on my credit card but not much more. Do you guys have any ideas how I can do this?

How handy are you? You can easily get all the stuff for that money (units, appliances, some kind of worktop etc) but doing any gas/electrics will cost. As will getting anyone in to fit the stuff if you're not confident? I tried to do a lot of ours for that reason but it took me a long time and in the end needed someone as the disruption was too much.