Home DIY

LED panels. They start at about £20 and increase depending on how much you care about the colour temperature etc.

https://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/led-battens/cat8010010

How good is colour matching paint and how do you do it? (I'm assuming that a photo is going to depend on the camera, lighting, etc) Would like to colour match an existing wall.

Take a sample to a shop, have them do the colour match and mix.

Doing it from a photo guarantees that they match the colour as per your screen, and it won't quite be the same.

If you're colour matching then Johnson's is the best paint (so says painters I use)... ignore the posh paints, colour matching is #1 Johnson's, #2 Crown, #3 Dulux... and there's not much between those.

Now... a wall... that does make it hard. You wouldn't consider just giving that wall another coat so that it matches all the rest perfectly?

thanks both

Looking to remove the previous owner's built in wardrobes in 2 rooms. One room will be replaced with IKEA Pax system, the other with bookcases and bench to create a sort of reading nook.

I can't tell if this could be a DIY job or I'll end up pulling down plaster and fucking it all up.

Pictures attached - looks to be glued to the wall/skirting and then a timber frame for the doors/rails/shelf. Logic tells me a good electric saw with a thin blade, then carefully take back what is left with another tool should give me something good to work with? Or should I just put it on my tab and get someone in?

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Cheers. It's a 20' wall and I'll just need to paint a couple of areas where I've chased some wires so I would prefer not to paint the whole thing.

I wonder if I can neatly chop out a piece whilst doing the chasing. Sounds ambitious ...

I wouldn’t have vast confidence taking that on, but if I did I would go at it carefully with a multitool rather than a regular saw. Perhaps that’s what you meant.

On the subject of adhesives...

Almost 5yrs ago I wood glued and screwed an outside gate as a temp fix, as we were going to take it down.

Just been taking it apart after it's been left outside all that time.

Some of it is still stuck while the wood above ripped.

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Got a call last night from a mate saying he had a leak. His insurance covers a plumber, but not "track and trace", which in this instance means that they won't get a plumber out to you unless you know what the source of the leak is - not that he needs to have a QR code to scan. Confusing terminology to have at this time.
This alone struck me as pretty bizarre - imagine a sparky saying they'd only come and look at your electrics if you knew the location of the fault?!
Anyway, after some exploratory hole making into the plasterboard behind his kitchen units, I got access to the cavity between the chimney breast and the wall by contorting myself through the 12x20 inch hole. It was fucking soaking. So wet that trying to figure out the source of the leak seemed impossible. Until we realised it felt like it was raining in there, and we spotted that one of the old copper feeds to the boiler upstairs had sprung a leak and was spraying water out (only a pin sized hole). Thanks to someone in this thread who recommended LSX leak sealant when I was refitting my toilet, I had a tube in my toolbox. So I was able to clean up the area around the hole and coat a bandage in the paste and bind it on - which seemed to do the trick until he can get a plumber from the insurance to come out.

My brother in law was very keen to explain to me over the phone how to fix it properly with press fit fixings, but I can't say I was that enthusiastic at half 9 at night.

The point of this very long winded story is to ask how reliable LSX fixes are, and is it normal for a completely undisturbed pipe to spring a leak? He's getting a plumber in to fix it properly but I advised that letting the plumber know it isn't urgent will likely save him some money.

My mate says he's been hearing dripping for weeks and even had a plumber out, but the plumber just told him he was being paranoid. Weeks go by and last night my mate spotted a big wet patch under the unit in the corner - hence my visit. FFS, why are so many tradespeople happy to fob customers off like that? The water was spraying very near the back of a load of sockets - could have been disastrous if it got any worse.

Oh, and the insurance won't cover any works to make the plaster right etc. I'm happy to do that myself, but the scope of the insurance is shockingly half arsed. One question about that - where I've cut through the plasterboard, I've also gone through the membrane/building wrap, and the plasterboard is foil backed. When I come to patch it back in, are there any considerations I should make as to repairing the membrane/integrity of the foil? I've never repaired plasterboard with a moisture barrier like that.

Anyway, /csb.

Yeah I'm completely out my depth when it comes to DIY terminology. In my head it was something resembling a handheld jigsaw but something a little more powerful/less brittle. I suppose best person to get a quote from here would be a joiner or a carpenter?

The plunge blade (the one fitted in the photo) on an oscillating multi tool will make short work of it:
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4768458

Gypsum plaster is pretty resilient stuff, and even if you gouge out bits, patching is fairly straight forward with filler.

These might be all you need, for both getting through the glue & filling the holes.

Well done fixing that with LSX. I'm pretty sure it was me who recommended it but I've never used it for anything other than sealing the threads on compression fittings. There's a bit of kit I carry these days which makes temporary repairs like this very quick and easy, google Rothenberger Kibosh for details.

I've seen u bends assembled with LSX that shouldn't have held water but lasted at least 6 months because of the LSX. I would be looking at getting something more sturdy done early next week though. It is pretty easy to repair with a compression fitting if you cut the pipe and slide the compression fitting over the cut, there are different lengths available. Biggest pain is stopping the water flow for a while and then recommissioning. Alternatively try the Rothenberger thing and you can wait until whenever to get the leak fixed!

and is it normal for a completely undisturbed pipe to spring a leak?

we just had similar under our kitchen floor - apparently some concretes can accelerate corrosion in copper (also per: https://www.copper.org/applications/plumbing/techcorner/problem_embedding_copper_concrete.html ).

We replaced with MDPE (to contribute to the copper vs plastic discussion upthread!)

Thankfully, our insurance were a little kinder than his sounds!

As if my walls are that solid.
Spent a whole eve fixing three batons to an alcove, sub 50% success rate with drilling holes, the slight majority just crumbled away.

Ordered!
The list of @Airhead recommended essentials is worth subscribing to.

Q: We sandblasted some oak panelling and I want to treat it. Which Osmo (or other) product will give the least colour and most matte finish?

TW has a better suggestion than mine, and one less likely to cause major damage.

Rothenberger Kibosh

Looks bang on. Will pick up a couple to have in the toolbox for sure. I think the lsx hasn’t completely worked but they’re now in a position to get the insurance to cover the plumber anyway. So good enough. The slide method will be a reasonable backup if the plumber no shows today.

This thread coming with the goods as always.

Spent today on top of my mate’s dormer roof trying to remove the sag in the ceiling before the surveyor comes on Wednesday. We succeeded and no one fell off - we had harnesses and a safety loop of sorts, but was deffo glad to be finished!

When hanging pictures in frame. Is it better to use nails or screws?

I’ve got with the thinking screw/wall plug for all fixings to the wall.

Suppose depends on weight and size, right?

Weight is the consideration. Wall plugs and screws for heavy things. Nails/pins for lighter. There are plastic three pinned hooks which come in various sizes which are handy and don’t mark the wall too badly.

Nails or screws are only part of the equation. What’s the fixing on the back? Wire between two eyelets?
What’s the wall made of?

So if I were to try and fix it properly, what should I try?

Cut the pipe with pipe cutter, slide coupler on, realign pipes and slide coupler back down?

One of these do? https://www.screwfix.com/p/compression-equal-couplers-15mm-2-pack/95828?tc=ST2&ds_kid=92700055281954514&ds_rl=1249404&gclid=CjwKCAjwiaX8BRBZEiwAQQxGx2YYmYEhZhR3Ne7Czop1aSJU0LzR_uYSifuIE6xdHlyooHa6O7fXzhoCcdkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Would I want to slather the fucker in lsx, or just the thread, or what about the contact surface between coupler and pipe? If we can turn the water off at the stop cock, and drain as much out as possible (taps on upstairs and down), should I be ok to just try and cut it, or do I need to freeze the pipe? It’s wet as fuck where the leak is anyway. And I imagine I could catch a lot with a bucket. Not ideal but possible.

We’re now in a situation where the plumber wants to take half their kitchen apart, and insurance doesn’t cover putting it back together, so it might not actually be economical to get them in to do the repair.

Also, is freeze spray a waste of cash?

So if I were to try and fix it properly, what should I try?

If it spontaneously sprang a leak mid way along the pipe, try and replace the run as far as possible/practical.

If it's corroded you don't want to be doing this again in a week or months time after plastering

All the walls are solid bar 2 which are lath and plaster

I think I might invest in those picture hooks tgoing forward. At least it will keep the nail straight and not wanting to go off tangent.

The last smaller ones I just used nails as they are sitting on their own