Home DIY

many people swear by Frenchic - any thoughts on this?

If you like I can send you the plans for our deck which were done by a professional. we used 6 x 2 for the framing and instead of using noggins we ran the cross beams underneath the main beams, as apparently this gives more strength, but does depend on the clearance you have.

As with all decking the point of weakness will be the posts into the ground, there are a few options you can use to help this

1. Use postsaver sleeves (bitumen sleeves you burn on)
   
2. Upgrade the wood to oak
   
3. switch from wood to concrete, you can get concrete posts designed for decking which have a l shape cut in the top for the wood to rest in
   
   

We went with upgrading the wood, and got oak sleepers which we got ripped in half down to 4x4 and then also pot postsavers on them as well for belt and braces.

I already stalked you and found the pictures you posted of your deck a while back... Unfortunately I don't have enough clearance to run a beam under the joists otherwise I would definetly do it this way.

Regarding oak posts, I found a few places selling oak posts cut to 4x4 in actually, but they don't look like the best quality timbers, and I'd have to drive out to collect them so am debating using PT stuff with post savers. Didn't know concrete was an option so will investigate that.

But I love my impact driver too much I can't imagine not using it for a project like this!

My plan was to use 100mm screws to attach the joists to the end beams and then joist hangers both ends. I'll switch to nails based on your recommendation however. Got a bag of 100mm galvanised nails left over from my shed*.

Any recommendation for attaching the posts to the joists? Was planning on so coach bolts and or big structural screws.

Lapped joints would give you more structural integrity above bolts alone, I'd have thought.

My decks going to be a lot smaller than yours (1m deep, 5m wide). I'm going to cheat and have composite joists laying directly on concrete blocks that I have spare. Saves having to do anything too engineeringy.

Never used it. I would be interested who makes it and what it's best at though.

Benjamin Moore is an American brand that's worth trying. They have outlets in the uk now. I tried a tester of theirs and was very impressed. Just not had a job/client that called for it yet. I might try some for my own place to get a feel for it.

Here's kind of my list of paint by brands :-

Leyland are pretty decent if you want something cheaper
Dulux Trade for special finishes like diamond emulsion in hallways
Little Green/Craig & Rose wood work
Little Green walls where there's little contact
Mylands walls
EICO ceiling paint (yes, special paint for the ceiling!)
EICO porcelin for cupboards and shelves. (occasionally the whole room)

Top tip for painting walls in London is wash the existing walls with sugar soap first. That might save you having to paint 3 coats of emulsion.

I should add that primers and exterior stuff :-

Zinsser 123+ or cover stain if required primer
Zinsser All Coat for exterior woodwork and window cills etc.
I have done quite a few f&b exteriors and they have lasted very well. Otherwise Dulux weather shield.

Ah yes, did wonder about your clearances.

These are the concrete posts, we didn't use them as would have to get them at the right level, which we couldn't be bothered to do! http://www.chilterntimber.co.uk/product/decking-concrete-deck-post-100-x-100mm/

Yeah for sure lapped would be better. If I'm feeling confident I will give it a go, but I question my ability to get the posts in the right spots.

We defo need a knowledge base / FAQ for this kind of thing - invaluable tips from the pros!

Thanks, it would be useful if the forum had a bookmark or save post feature for things like this

Loving the knowledge! Super helpful to know. Usually go Leyland or Dulux trade, but I know who to ask when I’m next looking at painting.

One of these is much more satisfying to use than an impact driver

I really should have back when I started my shed.

I picked up a Paslode IM350 and a IM65 - I'll likely sell them after the build is complete, as they are not cheap.

The old adage about hammers & nails is even more true with a nail gun.

Nail ALL the things.

£££. I can't believe I hammered all the sheathing on my shed, my ears are still ringing and the hatred my neighbours harbour must be deep.

I picked up an old paslode off facebook for £100 has since nailed a lot of random things together without missing a beat...

The biggest issues with gas powered guns are:

1. If you don't use them often the gas has a habit of going bad. How butane had a sell by date is beyond me. When this happens you need to buy new gas but many places (especially the type where you can turn up and buy what you need on the day) don't stock anything other than gas/nail combo packs. This means you end up with many, many collated nails that you don't have the gas to drive, and if you're like me.you hoard them.
   
2. They need to be serviced regularly otherwise they won't spark. It's a relatively simple procedure but worth while paying someone to do it every 3rd time or so just to give it a safety check.
   
3. If it's cold the gas won't spark so you end up wandering around site with a couple of nail gun fuel cells in your thermals. Sometime you forget and go for lunch or to the pub after-work people give you funny looks when you're sat in the pub and pull an aerosol can of butane out of your crotch.
   
   

For all of these reasons gas less unit are becoming very popular. The best examples I know of areade by Milwaukee, hikoki and De Walt. The first two have a small compressor in them the last one uses a flywheel to drive the nails.

If you think regular paslode are expensive look up the positive placement models (they're designed to attach joist hangers). Or my Hilti powder actuated gun:

I found Hague blue estate emulsion goes on fine, but blue green modern emulsion was impossible to use as the brush dragged off more paint than it put on.

thanks for the list will save this going forward

frenchic seems to be that universal where people have painted most things, upvc windows, leather seats, woodwork to floors/tiles

(edit) saved it to my site - just need to go back few pages and copy the rest

If it's cold the gas won't spark so you end up wandering around site with a couple of nail gun fuel cells in your thermals.

The other half did ask why I had gas canisters in my pants one breakfast time

I need an advice to replace the front door, please.

I would like to do that my-self. Never done it before and I have this situation. The new wooden door is about 40mm wider that the old one and not sure what is the best course of action for DIY.

Does it sound feasable to take the door and have it trimmed to the required width?

I am asking that as checking the existing door frame I would imagine all its parts are made from 3 individual "blocks" of wood(appologies as I am not familiar with the technical terms for them). I am refering to the 2 vertical sides and the top horizontal ones. As such I consider that trimming one or both of the vertical parts to acommodate the 40mm wider door is a harder task with a very good chance for me to make it unusable.

Any inputs for a DIY solution are very welcome. Thanks!

That Hilti reminds me of The Wire... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyWJ_rattv8

Hanging a door is tricky, you’d usually make several cuts (the more experienced you are, the fewer you’d need to make), so you may find that even if you measure it and cut to size, it might not fit.

Greatest scene in television.

Snoop is such a great character. So cold. And the story of how she got involved in the show is great too.