Home DIY

I think @Fox might have in his fancy Japanese bathroom?

Yep that's right. Ours was not unproblematic. The first contractor we got in to do it had no idea what he was doing and a lot of it had to be redone.

It's fine now. But. Our builder (who worked out how to apply it properly and - because of our project - is now doing it full time and has given up building) found out that it should really be recoated with the sealant every two years, which is a PITA and not something you'd want to do yourself as it's noxious. If your application is non-critical (i.e. not getting wet all the time) you could maybe get away with it and ours is fine after at least three years.

Therefore not sure I'd recommend it @Dramatic_Hammer but PM if you've got any questions.

Ok thanks that’s something I didn’t know! I’ll PM you in a bit.

Neither did our builders until they went on a course in Italy recently run by the people who invented it! This is the problem with using new and relatively untested materials in your building projects... Cool.

Yeah through the ceiling doesn't quite feel right so I think I'm going to give the chemical fixings a go. Don't want to go all the way through to the outside for cosmetic reasons.

Floor standing bags are no good for me, just fall over in my presence. My right hook is epic.

Or. make a frame like construction that bridges the entire room. with the uprights close to the wall on either side to take up minimal floor space. that will put the load down in the floor rather than walls. you can incoorporate racks or shelves in it too.

edit: make one side into a set of wall bars.

Added sketch

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yeah, I'd also go with a frame. An epic hook will wreck your wall.

Wd40 or some kind of cleaning spray, and then scraping it off the best way to remove very old blutack marks? Will be redecorating so not fussed about saving the paint

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As far as I know the greasy sort of mark left by the blu tac needs painting over but I've never had problem removing the blu part by rolling it with a finger tip, sometimes add a fresher ball of blu tac and that will pick it up. If you do have a bit of blue residue then white spirit or meths would probably be better than WD40 which contains oil. Oil and water based paint generally don't mix. If you have problems covering the remaining stain then use Zinsser cover stain on the spots and you can paint over it easily.

Anyone had their Artex ceilings tested for asbestos? I'm unsure if mine are Artex or textured paint, and don't really fancy messing with it too much, for obvious reasons

The plan is to plaster over them, but one ceiling has a large crack and bulge which needs dealing with first, and I don't want to start cutting it apart to investigate why until I know for sure I won't die in a cloud of lung destroying fibres

Any recommendations welcome. I've looked into self test kits and getting a pro in, just wondered if anyone had experience similar

Anyone had their Artex ceilings tested for asbestos?

Yes. They did, along with the textured paint on just about every wall. Paid for a proper tester, wasn't earth shatteringly expensive and wanted to know exactly what we were dealing with.

Ended up just plastering over it all, certain precautions to avoid when drilling into it but generally leave it as undisturbed as possible.

Make sure people you get to deal with it properly - one plaster who quoted for us suggested scraping it all flat (!)

I'll be plastering it myself, after advice from the guy teaching me. I'm just unsure how best to deal with this bulge in one room.

How much was the test?

Something like £60 callout then £10 a sample?

We've got a bulge on our bedroom ceiling where a previous leak has caused the plasterboard to sag, could you just plaster over it?

Oh, that's a lot less than I thought! Will get that done then

It's too big a bulge and crack to just plaster over, it's obviously pulled away and the weight of plaster would cause the whole lot to crash. I'm not even sure if it's plasterboard underneath or not, and can't investigate until I know the asbestos situation

Hard to see from that, but it's a good 2cm lower than the ceiling level

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Yes. I can see if I can find who did it.

It was pretty easy.

@Airhead cheers

Ta!

Pm'd

Multi tool with a grout removing blade, and patience. FWIW I bought a cheap (£25?) corded one which proved more than adequate for tiles and grout.

Passed my plastering course, stoked. Still drying in this photo so it looks a bit shit, but the instructor was bloody impressed with the finishing

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Impressive!

Nice.

You have now entered into the 'Dark Arts' of the building trade.

I have to use muck when I put cables in. Can't make a smooth skim however.

Multi tool with a grout removing blade, and patience.

Ah cheers. Been looking for an excuse to get one for a while ;)

Painting a fence.

What are the pros / cons about spray vs brush?

Any other tips / tricks?

If I'm careful will I be able to paint my neighbour's fence without it running through to the other side?

Cheers.

I painted these panels with a brush:

Took ages and two coats. So fiddly. Might be less faff with featheredge, but it still takes an age. Haven't done it, but spraying is going to be a lot quicker - you'll just need to be able to deal with overspray and maybe pick a non-windy day?

Even using a brush is fairly messy - it splashes everywhere, I found