Home DIY

I looked at that one, but the neighbours have got one (painted dark blue because 2020) so I'd be inclined to have something different. And the back will be facing onto The Formal Rose Garden so it would have to look not to fugly.

Oh, and I've gone off the idea of the VidaXL stainless one. I enquired about the possibility of buying a spare door, with the idea of turning it into a gate by the water butt, only for them to explain that they don't sell any spare parts, and have no plans to do so. Out...

Your perspective work with the red square 🟥 really pleases me.

Thank you. The joys of the enduringly useful Microsoft Paint.

@Cupcakes if you need to get rid of your old floorboards just chuck an advert up on Gumtree. Loads of tenements in Edinburgh / Glasgow have terrible floors.

When I was renovating my old tenement flat in Glasgow I would have jumped on a bunch of reclaimed boards to fix all the broken/damaged ones. Someone will want them.

That looks fantastic.

Wrapped in cling film and took them with us I think

Ta. It was a massive pain to do. Lifted the whole floor (utter ballache with tongue & groove), cleared out all the crap from beneath, took out the hearths, added new joists, repointed the walls, rebuilt dwarf walls, suspended wool institution between joists, laid airtight membrane fixed behind the skirting, relaid the floor with some additional boards from a reclamation yard to replace broken ones/fill the gaps from the hearths, countersunk all the screws, filled over the heads, sanded, oiled, rubbed down.
I wouldn't bother.

These are the original one boards. The amber is quite orangey brown (amber, I guess). I like it. Did some shelves with the clear too. This wood was already pretty reddish.

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Just noticed small amount of water on the kitchen wall underneath the old chimney stack. I had new flashing on the chimney stack put in two months ago, any ideas what I should be looking out for in terms of obvious areas where water comes in on the roof? Water drops are forming alongside the full length of the chimney breast. I will call the roofer who replaced the flashing and gave a guarantee but obviously it could be the brickwork as well.

All help welcome, thank you!

Could be many things. Incorrect or insufficent capping of the chimney stack, failed pointing on the chimney stack, failed mortar on the crown of the chimney, or simply the fact that the chimney is a single skin of brick which was built on the basis there'd be a roaring fire underneath to drive off any moisture. You really need a man with a camera-onna-stick or drone to inspect the chimney stack.

Of course it could be condensation, but I'm assuming that it's water ingress related to the current shitty weather.

Looks as though the deductive skills of Sherlock Holmes are not required to work out why the soil pipe leading from the lavatory in the main bathroom has been leaking. Ironically the lavatory in the ensuite has a flexible pan connector despite not needing one, while the lavatory in the main bathroom doesn't have one but should have one.

I hasten to add the brown stains are limescale from the other leak rather than anything more unpleasant...

The more I dismantle this house, the more I realise the people that built it just didn't even start to give a flying one about how it was built. Not surprising, I suppose, given it's a ticky tacky modern box built by a major housebuilder, but depressing all the same.

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Thanks all for the advice on floors. We are home and the new floor is in. It's good, and will grow on me as we do the finishing. There will be some finessing to do at edges and joints for which I'll be back tomorrow with photos :)

Most impressive that someone got the old boards out and the new ones in within 2 days.

@chrisbmx116

Yeah it’s good for a rummage.

@Tenderloin if you’re after f&b head down to https://frpuk.org/ on hoe st bakers arms end. They recycle paint but also get given bashed up new cans of F&B 5l for £10, not every colour obviously but we’ve got Calke Green, great white plus more. Also some down pipe exterior for £2.5 for small can.

Open Friday and sat mornings

Anyone have a recommendation for a plastered in East? Dont think I'll be able to pull off a decent finish.

Thank you. Hate to be dealing with this now, baby due date next week, and other freeholder completing their sale on Friday too.
I think I try to get a temporary fix for now and address it properly when things are less frantic.

Door seal question. Don't have one, would like one to stop draughts. It's a timber frame with a groove which I presume is for a seal. Can anyone what style of seal to go for here?

Cheers

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I get weatherstripping from a few places but Mighton seem to have a good selection.

https://www.mightonproducts.com/products/sash-window-hardware/weatherstripping-beads/weatherseals

You need to measure the groove and the gaps obviously but it should be pretty obvious what the options are once you've measured. If possible I like to use a seal that has some acoustic properties as well as draught sealing.

Just to add, I've never found one in small quantities from the big box depots that lasts. I usually buy a quantity of the expensive stuff and then I'm fitting it to different places for a few years. My go to for that purpose has been the corner type which wouldn't work because you have the groove.

What would you use to stop water getting under a front door? No lip on the doorstep, wooden door.

I'd have to see if a water bar could be fitted. You need to cut a groove in the doorstep and put a galvanised water bar in, there are plastic water bars but having lived with both types I'd tend to go for the metal one. That also requires that the front door has some material taken off the front part so that there is a lip which butts up against the bar.

Creating a 6mm groove in an installed doorstep (cill) is not a simple process but a small mortice chisel and some patience/careful marking it should be easy enough to achieve. You could set up a combination of router and hand finishing to achieve it but that's personal taste.

An easier alternative that might help stop wind blown rain is a large bit of moulding on the front door with a drip edge. Easier to achieve with simple skills but needs painting and I'm not sure it would solve the problem without seeing what's causing the water to get blown underneath the door.

Pro tip, don't order galvanised bars on-line. Most general builders merchants have them for less than the postage price, even if you have to walk/cycle there and pick it up.

@Airhead while you're on the premises ; ), any idea about this conundrum

priming the wood work in our living room today. trying to keep a portion of the walls as the raw pink plaster colour but accidentally splashed a little dab of the primer on one section. what's the best way to get it off? try scrape it off with a scraper if it's proud enough and then sand down any remnants? not the end of the world if it won't lift off, can always paint that section

got to say btw, doing the first coat of colour today, and having never painted with primer before - really impressed with how the paint just takes

You seem to be on the right track, scraping with a very sharp blade would be a good thing to try. With unpainted plaster it can be very absorbent so you might struggle to get the primer from the pores of the plaster.

If it's relatively fresh you might have some luck wetting it a bit and running a steel edge over it to try and 'turn' the surface. Depends how long it's been dry.

Regarding the primer, yes it's for grip both to the substrate and for the next coat. Paint has a lot of different qualities that you can start to differentiate with experience. I like to prime and then undercoat with something a bit thicker for opacity and levelling. Oil based paints used to be great for this, it was like icing skirting boards with Dulux oil based eggshell.

thanks - has dried overnight now so option two not a prospect. will try option 1 and cross my fingers...

Do I need a special dimmer switch for led bulbs? Mine is buzzing loudly and doing my head in. Even when fully on.

need special bulbs I think?