Home DIY

Well we discussed it, I said I wanted them to start level with the bottom of the mirror. He said they’d be spaced out from the top suggesting working down instead of up. I agreed to trust his judgement.
So I’d agree with you to some extent but the top shelf at 2.3m doesn’t seem very practical. So I’m not sure this is solely my responsibility?

I’d be interested to here the perspective of any carpenters or trade people here.

Plasterer question -

A plasterer just came to quote on a job. But said he was worried there was nowhere to dispose of water/plaster gubbins.

I assume you'd just put it down the storm drains in alleyways (really really watered down). I mean what am I supposed to tell him?

(technically not DIY but hey)

Any suggestions as to what I can use to cover up this horror show off a garden wall? Preferably cheap. Quite fancied some of those fancy wooden cladding panels but they're pretty dear.

The slab will be plastic grass (renting it out) with wooden border and the shed will be gone eventually.

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Yeah, fuck your local river with plaster residues. The Environment Agency will never track you down.

What about just freshly painted white with some nice plants.

Yeah, probably the cheapest option. Unfortunately involves removing all that shite render.

Why?

Can you just have a rough motiled look?

That said they looked like modern bricks so it may not work that well.

Hence me asking what you do with it, but thanks for the helpful answer.

It's basically lime and sand surely. What sort of damage is a small amount diluted going to do to a river?

Increase the acidity? By how much?

Obviously the larger quantity you'll leave to dry out and then take to the dump. But I'm surprised there's an issue with the water.

I guess if it's all a consistent colour it might look a bit more 'together'. The render is coming off in places but I'll just knock off the loose stuff.

Yeah, that's what I'd do.

If you did that and tidy up the caps on the wall, maybe painted in a slate grey it could look quite cool.

Are you in a flat? Generally dirty water just put on soft ground/flowerbed/lawn etc. More lumpy stuff let it harden and dry out then put it in the bin. Less risk of clogging up the drains/sewers.

Yours is the voice of reason I needed to stop this project spiraling over budget. Thank you sir!

Well, you don't want it treated with any preservative, as that will give horrid splinters and buckets of puss in the little ones puddies.

Ash would be nice and is the traditional material for rake/broom handles and such stuff. You should be able to get ash hand railing.

Don't get oak (see the bit about puss above ^)

Beech would be nice, but I imagine it would be costly in a long length.

Tip the water in the road gulley. All the gypsum will fall to the bottom in the trap and the water will flow out the drain. Put the remaining left over plaster in a bag and stick it in the bin.

If it's lime plaster it will be in a bucket and won't be tipped away anyway, as it can be stored with a layer of water on top.

I'm a carpenter and I would have had you mark with a pencil where you wanted the shelves before starting, there's no argument then.

You shouldn't have let him decide, as only you know what you want to put on the shelves.

It's a bit tricky for you if you let him decide and then change your mind after he's finished, I'd be expecting a bit more to re-do it. With experience it's always best if the customer does the deciding.

Any decent plumbers in North London? Need a favour/job done for my mum which shouldn't be too long.

Mainly Calcium Sulphate plus additives plus whatever the plastere/his mate add to speed up or retard the rate of cure.
You don't dump any effluent into the stormwater drains. Well not till Brexit anyway.

How many square metres are you having re-plastered? I've worked with some filthy plasterers who scarcely put more on the walls than they dropped on the floor.
Heavy duty (cotton) dust sheets should protect your floors. Your plasterer does have them, doesn't s/he?
Has much wash water are they going to make? You could let that settle then flush just the liquid, but none of the solids.
All solid waste material, dried plaster, can be disposed of at your local authority recycling/waste site. Some charge for building waste that cannot be recycled, passing onto you your Landfill Tax.

No, not in a flat. My brother's place, but no garden.

Maude

Tip the water in the road gulley. All the gypsum will fall to the bottom in the trap and the water will flow out the drain. Put the remaining left over plaster in a bag and stick it in the bin.

Kinda what I thought - just keep left overs in a bag/bucket. Tip it.

Mespilus

Has much wash water are they going to make? You could let that settle then flush just the liquid, but none of the solids.
All solid waste material, dried plaster, can be disposed of at your local authority recycling/waste site. Some charge for building waste that cannot be recycled, passing onto you your Landfill Tax.

No idea about wash water etc. It's just one bedroom. But yes, I thought we could just bag the solid and tip it. Just confused me as to why he flagged it as an issue. He's experienced so he must have dealt with it before.

And yeah, local council charge for rubble. (Probably why he's questioning it as he doesn't wanna pay for getting rid I guess)

Thanks all.

Tricky one as it seems like you're both on a learning curve. If you are making good the holes and paint then his part of the job is relatively small. From the tradesman point of view the making good of holes I've just drilled would be my biggest concern. You could try being conciliatory, offering to make the holes good and asking how much extra it's going to cost to put right. Only you know the details of the original discussion though.

Hard for me to answer really as I'd put it right myself overnight and put it down to experience or pay I guess.

When I'm instructing people on works I always provide detailed plans with mm perfect measurements, probably seems uptight but it saves these sort of problems.

Also in agreement with Aunt_Maud that the layout should be marked on the walls for approval if plans don't exist.

Thanks @Airhead and @Aunt_Maud
I feel we missed a trick with maybe not agreeing on it marked on the wall before battening.
I guess we’ll see where it goes. I do still think the original top shelf height was impractical.

This card always makes me laugh but I've never had an opportunity to send it to anyone :-

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Yep, I'm with you on the shelf and as you specified a dimension between shelves and where the lowest shelf should be, you could pull him up if they aren't that distance apart.

He may try to argue that you didn't say that and if he does, that's the point you should tell him to leave and find another carpenter.

Tradespeople can be notoriously dense.

Yes. Pm'd.