Home DIY

Not a word about the wonky horizon? :)

Having quite a headache over the issue that the bottom one goes right to the edge to be honest but was not gonna say anything as it's Sunday.

the previous owner was a maniac.

They all are

For a moment I thought you had made an Andrew Goldsworthy inspired
'tower-of-rawlplugs'!

I'm a bit late replying,
I was just drilling 6x 75mm deep 10mm holes in a party wall,
to properly fix my Rawlplug dispensing unit.

It's the best combination of quality and price according to most of the professional plumbers I've asked. Spares are easily available and the hardware is designed to be repaired if necessary. I've been using a shower kit for 15 years and it still works and looks like new. I had a red plastic button break after a couple of years and they sent me 2 replacements in the post for free. I still have one of those replacement buttons.

They don't do any victorian looking stuff, maybe some hints in a couple of their ranges but generally it's a contemporary European design style.

For very grand English style there's always Perrin & Rowe.

Really interesting to learn a bit about how the pros do it!

At the other end of the spectrum, I'm staining my Ikea furniture with an Ikea stain called "VÅRDA". I figured it was my best bet to get something that worked.

I'll try to get a photo of how it beads up.

Thanks, that and the other responses are fairly comprehensive. I’m not sold on chrome but that appears to be the only option (AXOR custom finishes aside ££££).
Perrin & Rowe might work, depends what Mrs Hammer decides. Current sketches depict a mix of modern minimalism with Victorian accents.

Had some fun with a chainsaw yesterday. Still got the two big ones to go (the pear tree on the left is being spared). Think I might pay someone to do the tall one in the middle after a few not according to plan moments...

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People who've never done one underestimate the weight involved. I had a few close shaves tree felling!

It is fun, isn't it! A few 'oh shit' moments aside perhaps.

Is it possible to shorten and rethread a brushed stainless steel shower arm? It's the type that comes out of the wall with a 90 degree bend and I'd be taking 10 cms off the wall end. And if so, where do I get it done...plumbers merchant? Or hire a pipe threader?

Do you know what thread it is? You might be able to bodge it with a 1/2" tap thread push fit connector if that's the right thread and the arm is 10mm or 15mm.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/tectite-sprint-tt3cp-push-fit-chrome-plated-male-iron-coupling-15-x/784fj

Broken toilet cistern can't be replaced so got a whole new cistern/pan

Located downstairs on tile.

How easy is it to replace a toilet?

Pretty easy. The cistern will be attached to the wall from the inside. The bowl should a fixing either side attaching it to the floor.

The tricky part is getting the sealant to look nice when going round the curved bits at the bottom of the bowl.

If anyone has one of these wall mounted fuckers remember to tighten the bolts every few years or at least when you move into a house which has one already. Otherwise it will apparently sag mm by mm until it starts to leak and you have to replace some rubber bits and do a lot of swearing and not have a toilet for two days.

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Currently experimenting with our grim terrace. At some point we will redo it properly, but in the meantime I tried cleaning a section and brushing some spare sand in the cracks to make it look like the brick work it's supposed to rather than, well whatever the fuck it looks like now.

This photo doesn't show what it looks like clean, but you get an idea of the tiles and pattern.

Plan is to:

1. Pressure wash
   
2. Cleaning product if needed, but probably not
   
3. Clean all the cracks thoroughly
   
4. "point"
   
   

For the pointing what would people recommend?

I've seen this easy joint stuff which looks good, but is a bit pricey. I would have thought an old-school 1:1 mix of sand and cement brushed into the cracks and packed down, then left would do the job.

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old-school 1:1 mix

Wouldn't a 3:1 sand / cement mix would be more appropriate for paving?

No idea.

Is it just value or extra flexibility / porosity?

More cement makes a stronger bond (to a point - too much cement takes more water, which means more cracking when it dries), and you just don't need that strong a bond for paving - a sand only mix would work fine.

Cheers.

Here's the test patch fairly dry.

I think it's a success and Mrs H has greenlit the project. Plus my folks have a pressure washer, so at some point I'm going to do it.

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You don't need cement really, just sand. Use sharp sand not builders, so it drains.

I've got a Karcher you can borrow that has a special floor cleaning head, designed for just such a circumstance.

Did mine with more like 5:1. Doesn't seem to have worked all that well though.

Cheers, that's really helpful.

I think my folks just has a jet, so might take a while.

@hoefla - honestly sand on its own will blow away. Its fucking windy round here. Plus they're brick tiles (8 bricks to a tile) so a lot of the cracks aren't that deep.