Home DIY

Thanks, they’re sort of grippy without being too rough. In hindsight, I probably should have changed the sponge water at least once which would have left them cleaner for the ‘polish’. The sponge I have seems decent and has a scrubby side so I might try that dry-ish for the final bit instead of a microfibre cloth.

Our bar shower mixer has got very stiff to turn on and off, pretty much overnight. Replace the tap gland, descale or...?

Turn it on and off again as quickly as you can a couple of dozen times. That should see you right for another couple of years.

stiff, turn on, tap gland...
I need a lie down

Definitely change the water often. Sometimes it's easier to get the last film of grout after it's dried overnight but that depends on the type of tile.

Here's a photo of my stiff gland.

@jsabine it's that stiff that it's tough getting it on or off, hasn't loosened after a few attempts.

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hasn't loosened after a few attempts.

It's reverse threaded, isn't it?

I mean the gland end, not the actual fitting to the shower.

Ah, got you.

Might help to take it out, and descale the ceramic bits (with citric acid mechanically with a very fine grit). Replace the o-rings too.

Just isolate the supply and replace the cartridge, they don't last for ever and ceramic ones aren't worth repairing.

Probably more for the "I hate" thread

DIY door repair where the muppet had packed the glass wrong, so the weight of the glass was pushing down on the handle side of the door, instead of the glass supporting it... No big deal to rectify this.

But the absolute cock had silicone sealed all the beads back on. An hour and a half scraping sealant off before the beads would clip back in!

Maybe insert a small screw and pull the dowel out with some grips or pry bar?

Yep. This is also a thought.
However. It's a Tarva bed. and the bits that are "fucked" are the top bar dowels of the head board

Which, I think means hoping i don't have to unbuild it to rebuild it.

Could you poke it out from the other side with a coat hanger?

Coincidentally I was building one of those on the weekend.

Maybe you could just shove more dowels in there and call it a day. I doubt that joint is critical to the structural integrity of the bed

Coat hanger yes!
Good tip.

I don't think the bed depends on it but they top doesn't fit flush.

As

I would like to paint my living room white, currently it is painted dark red and grey. Is there any point getting special paint (e.g. extra thick stuff)(does this eve exist) or will regular trade emulsion, with as many coats as it takes, suffice?

Not sure about the english name but isn't there some kind of primer to use for the first coat? This'll help cover the dark colour as well as helping the paint bond to the surface.

We're painting a cieling next week and speaking to our local painter we should start with 1 coat of primer, then 2 coats of actual colour

Zinnser one coat - we’ve used it for exactly that.

Thanks, do you mean Allcoat? https://www.zinsseruk.com/product/allcoat-water-based/

Assuming these are plaster walls you should use a paint with very high solid content and water it down for the first coat. A paint like this is available from Ray Munn on the Fulham Road, I don't know where else or what it's called but I always have 2 pots of it one diluted to 50% for the first coat and one diluted with 20% water for the top coat. It's the best white paint I've ever used for finishing ceilings without roller marks. If you ring them they can tell you what it is.

Problem you have loading the walls with a trade emulsion is drying time and issues from too many layers not completely drying. There is a super matt paint from Dulux that I used prior to the Ray Munn paint being released or Johnstones trade was a cheaper favourite. They will do the job on darker colour but it's always going to take time to cover.

The term primer is usually used to describe woodwork paints and they do have more stain sealing properties. Zinsser Allcoat is a self priming paint normally used for woodwork, I can't think of an example where it would be the best choice on walls. The Zinsser primer you could use although it would be expensive and overkill would be Zinsser 123 plus, I wouldn't do that unless you were trying to cover water stains in which case Zinsser cover stain would be a better choice. All the Zinsser primers will block the underlying color more effectively than emulsion though but at a cost.

Use an undercoat. It took 4 coats of white emulsion to cover light blue paint in our living room, and if i squint I'm sure I can still see it in places.

edit - just do what @Airhead says. The @mdcc_tester of DIY.

Whipped my gland out and after an aggressive descale it's now not at all stiff.

Ordered a replacement for when it happens again.

Thanks...I think?!? :)

It's true that you might never feel that you've quite covered it. If I'm painting for a client with x-ray vision I would insist that lining is the only way to cover it. For my own use I might start with Zinsser Gardz then the Ray Munn stuff or in the past Dulux super matt. Roller quality and pattern, thickness of pile etc. makes a difference. I get great coverage with a 3" roller set I have but you really want something bigger to get a whole room done. Sometimes I'll line it, roll with a 3" roller and brush out the roller marks in vertical lines as I go round the room to get a really lovely finish. Takes time though.

Ah - that’s the one - we had some Zinsser 123 left after using for priming oil based yellowed skirting. I just used it on the walls - covering yellow and blue paint which we then painted white. Expensive and maybe not the right product but only took 2 maybe 3 coats of white emulsion for a good finish. I just made it up as I went along so listen to Airhead not me!!

When you descale it and replace the o-rings. I would add some lubricant to avoid galling.