Home DIY

I'm going to sling a load of new, bagged plumbing stuff next weekend - lots of copper (T's, bends, both pre-tinned and standard) and poly pipe compression fittings, blanking plates, reducers, traps, T's.

I tried to launch the lot today but couldn't bring myself to do it, so the boxes got a stay of execution until next Sunday - unless someone wants them?

Tomorrow I'm going to try and attach a picture rail and skirting board (including round a corner - using the "cutting into chunks" method.

What should I be using to attach them? Nails, no more nails, both?

I have 3 - 4 unopened tubes of No More Nails that you are welcome to.

Grab adhesive worked well for my skirting board (sikaflex ebt+). Probably wouldn’t use for a picture rail if I intended to hang pictures from it though...

We used forbo sphera vinyl - colour was vivid pigeon - kind of industrial but with a sorta terrazzo vibe - great for kitchen floor and bomb proof for cleaning general piss and shit spills on family bathroom floor. Not expensive - sub floor needs to be really smooth if you want perfect finish. I actually love Lino (forbo marmoleum) but it fades/ stains round the loo with the inevitable piss splatter.

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Depends if the picture rail is purely decorative or if it's going to be use to hang things.

Personally I would at a minimum use a grab adhesive such as sticks like sh*t and 16g nails from a 2nd fix nail gun. Gold standard would be grab adhesive and countersunk then filled screws (use plugs if the final finish is raw wood and filler if it's going to be a painted finish).

Can I check, are you saying the sphera is more piss proof? I'll probably get some kind of vinyl/lino on my bathroom floor eventually.

Finally salvaged the kitchen worktop this weekend. It came out ok, but fuck, prevention is better than cure so if you have wooden worktops keep em dry as a bone...!

Thanks to everyone who helped advise - basically everyone on this thread I think - and @Hovis and @clefty who leant tools and ppe.

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Thanks for that. I don't have a nail gun so I will probably go for the second.

Hammer-in fixings - when and why would people use them?

I did the course after 20 years of doing small electrical works. Just to understand the rules etc.

It would probably benefit you to do it as an apprentice if you really want to make it as an electrician. There's a lot more to working in the trade than 4-5 weeks in class can teach. In the years following passing I have found it easy enough to continue to carry out small electrical works and some more complicated stuff but I'm not committed enough to register with a body and I've seen how it's easy to get out of your depth with anything beyond changing a breaker and testing circuits.

On-site experience is so important and it must help to learn in a team that supports you for a few years before you work out what suits you and how much of the maths and testing you are prepared to do.

There are lots of different types of electrical engineer so you have to find out which type you can be and then if that's something you want to do.

When you have a window frame in place and you don't want to remove it to put plugs in the walls.

Aye, basically, I'm currently going from small job to small job as a technician. I'm pretty sure I don't want to do domestic, more interested in industrial, with an eye on getting a full time job and hopefully working in a team. Being a sole trader or running a business isn't for me (at the moment) but I figure if I do the course I have options at least looking forward - fitting in small jobs between my normal technician work for example.

I know I'll probably need some experience to get a job but I figured the course was a quicker way in. I guess I just feel slightly wary about starting an apprenticeship in my 30s, especially when I'm trying to increase my earnings.

Vinyl is much tougher and the sphera is mostly for large commercial spaces so my assumption is that it will be piss proof in a domestic setting. Lino is hemp /linseed etc so a bit less tough - still fine to use but does wear /stain after a while (10yrs ish in my experience.

For old plaster do you need to do a mist coat or can paint straightway. I was going to line the walls but as it’s going to be an office for a short while thought I just splash some paint on it for now

I'd always do a mist coat if only to hilight imperfections and be rid of some old paint

It's a good entry point for further education. There are some other courses that cover stuff like carrying out eicr's but they don't like to register people for eicr work without them having some experience of installation (which makes sense).

At 30 you are only a few years behind college apprentices, from my position of a much longer time served! I'd say you would benefit from the course at least for many years, time served as an apprentice will take you further than the course on it's own and you may not find the qualifications relate to the industrial work you are really wanting to do although all the information is in the wiring regulations the installation and testing part doesn't cover much 3 phase for example.

I enjoyed the course and the challenge of passing exams because it had been a long time since I'd been in a classroom and it's like a holiday compared to working on site. :)

Just to add, if by small works you mean problem solving simple stuff like why do my lights flicker or changing broken fittings etc. the course is overkill but gives a lot of confidence. If you've never changed a breaker then the course is very useful for confidence inside the consumer unit.

If you want to add circuits or install in bathrooms/outdoors which is good money but bigger jobs and plenty of demand you will need to be registered and you will at least need this course before you get accepted by a registered body.

They will also test your competence by coming to view work that you have completed and that work will have to be something that requires registration. It all starts to add up to a situation where working for a firm helps you get registered before you start doing small works on your own.

Thanks. I have a small amount left which I can water down

What’s the best way to cover a visible wall plate? I was thinking plasterboarding as I can screw straight into it?

Thanks - this is mega helpful, I really appreciate it. Looks like more research is needed, but it seems like the right route to go down for me at the moment.

This corner has been a pain.

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A little late, but if you have any similar corners, try cutting 90% of the way through at similar intervals - you'll hopefully get enough flex to fit the curve without having loads of individual pieces.

I might try the that for skirting, which is the next task here after floor sanding.

You have the patience of Job AICMFP

I might just have been the fumes from the solvent-based adhesive, but it really didn't seem to take that long.

It looks a bit better now I've filled it but I think when I caulk it it might come together a bit better.

That "corner" is messing with my head badly,
why is it that the curve is bulging out towards me up there?