Home DIY

lol

Wish I'd thought of that sooner. Thanks.

Looks like my laser is a bit off.

Dull ache in my arms and shoulders, but the disgusting black/green decking is now mint again.

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Impressive work!!

What was the stuff you used? I have similar to do on mine, been looking at the ronseal stripper stuff to then seal again afterwards

First I wet the wood down, then spread sand over it and then scrubbed it, dipping the brush in a bucket of caustic soda + washing up liquid (and water of course). Found I got the best result when all this formed a loose porridgey goo, like facial scrub or something. You can see it in the left part of the second pic. Used a pressure washer to clean it off after a couple of minutes, working in sections.

Looks great now.

Re: shower, I'd tear everything down, put up new framing or dot and dab adhesive to hold cement board in place, sealed with the correct goop, then tile onto that, with an enamelled steel tray at the base on a decent framing base. Eliminate all movement, and separate anything that can rot from the water with an impermeable layer.

A big mirror is a very fast method of waterproofing an entire wall, and surprisingly affordable.

and it's decent on the ceiling too...!

all sound advice, aquapanel on the walls via dot and dab is a good barrier....I always use a load of sealant up the corners before tanking....and make sure the tanking goes a good way up the walls, using the fibreglass matting, not just the jollop.
You can get a good, solid floor, with no movement, and use very flexible two part adhesives and grout, but water is an insidious bugger and can get through most things eventually. There are some very nice stone-looking trays that fit as flush, or as proud as you want them to be. Them buggers are solid too!

Jebus, marine ply is pricey!
Mrs Hammer likes the look of black/slate shower trays and installation instructions are all 18mm marine ply under 5/1 sand/cement mix under the tray.

Sounds like a much better idea. I'll give it a go

So cleaning / unblocking drains is a fucking hideous job then.

The first jet of water, and the air is filled with a fine mist of poo.

I've showered twice, and I'm sure I can still smell it.

At least the bogs flush though.

fucking hideous job

...which is why this is not a DIY area. Get a pro to do this, and all you have to do is open the windows for 20 mins after you come home from work.

I'm sure you find my opinion very helpful at this time.

We've had our place a year this month and only really making a start on diy now, first step is making our garden nice for summer.

Over the past 2 weekends we:
Took up the old sinking patio
Sold all bikes apart from my road bike and dismantled the shed
Dug 8 holes and post-creted in 8 fence posts
Built a basic fence from decking boards
Built a gate from off cuts of the fence
Painted the fence (for sone reason the light makes it look uneven in my pic)

Next steps:
Level garden
Order gravel
Compact gravel
Fit patio slabs
Buy asgard locker

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Oh yeh and seeing this pic reminded me we refreshed our front door a bit.

Filled in the awful old catflap with expanding foam and sandwiched it in with plywood (could have done a neater job but it's better than it was).

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Next steps:

Level garden
Order gravel
Compact gravel
Fit patio slabs
Buy asgard locker
Buy more bikes again

^^^he knows

Love the look of that place... hope you are not taking out all those plants...

What's there now is staying, it was much wilder before. We had to cut it back a lot to build the fence.

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That looks amazing!
Good to hear you’re not cutting it back anymore though.

Thank you! Our neighbours cherry blossom looks stunning in spring time!

We're paving most of the garden with slabs but keeping decent sized flowerbeds either side of the gate where the trees are. We also have planters with sweet pea and mint, and a few nice potted trees. We're aiming to keep it as green as possible for a small house in se5!

First half of new floor is in, no new horrors uncovered as the old one came out!
Not sure how easy getting the final section in will be though. At the very least I think the door architrave will have to be cut off.

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I have lots of woodwork to be painted in my new place. Starting in the living room I bought 2.5l of Zinnser Perma White and thought it would do a good cover job, however each coat (4 so far) yellows pretty quickly which I assume is some sort of stain. Any ideas what paint I should be using?

Paging @Airhead as I think he'll know :-)

Shellac primer to seal in the stain?