Home DIY

Perhaps a PVC shower panel. About £50 for a 1m X 2.4m panel. Glue it to whatever is solid.

We've had those is this flat since we bought it (5yrs). I always intended on ripping it out if we redid the bathroom, but never got round to it. It's fine, easy to clean and doesn't look too bad. If I wanted something easy to install I'd go for it.

Getting a mostly covered pendant light in kitchen. Will have it on a dimmer switch. Need a dimmable warmish bulb with a decent range of brightness. Any reccomendations?

Cheers. I’m going to try and replace the backer board with Stixall and then retile it.

Probably making it a longer job but it’ll work out cheaper and I won’t have to throw a sheet of plastic away.

Never open. Seems a pointless hinge.

There is actually marine ply under the shingles so probably utterly superfluous to have the cedar. But I was told it needed the shingles to look nice by my wife and she ordered them. Luckily I also had blue dyed wood battens left over from home renovation last year so apart from the shingles all other materials were leftovers.

I got an outdoor camera/floodlight to replace an existing outdoor light.

Intention was to chop the plug off and wire it to the existing supply using an outdoor junction box. Turns out though that it's a transformer plug so that doesn't seem to be an option.

It's also hard to tell if outdoor socket boxes have enough space for them, lots seem to only fit a 13A plug.

Any bright ideas to install it?

There are lots of plastic waterproof boxes available, you can drill a hole in them and put a waterproof gland on it. Feed the mains in and put a socket on it, then plug in. Or go commando and solder the mains to the pins or even split the transformer apart and wire the mains directly onto the transformer board.

There are a lot of other options if you are prepared to buy specialised transformers etc.

Screwfix have larger boxes on offer today. I had an email about it this morning.

Cheers both. Not as neat but waterproof box may be the way to go.

Should I put a drain hole in the bottom or rely on the glands keeping everything dry. Online opinion seems split.

I need to fit new skirting in my living room. I've went for the pre-primed mdf stuff. I was going to give it a coat of not-gloss before i fit it. Should I cut all the bits ready then paint or just give the full lengths a coat then fit.

Water always finds a way in so add a drain hole. Although it will get found by spiders who will move in.

Cheers, I was thinking that would probably be the way to go.

I'm going to repair this hearthstone in my kitchen.

It's stone, but the back corner has previously been broken out for pipes (now redundant) and filled with concrete.

Plan is :

Remove loose bits;
Infill with rapid set repair mortar mixed to a stiff consistency;
Seal surface with PVA/water mix;
Paint with black masonry paint.

The gap between floorboards and stone is to be filled with a wood filler prior to sanding/finishing of the wood floor.

What have I missed?
What wood filler do I want for this application?

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I've used Wiska boxes for some applications and they have a gland that breathes. It's about £10 per gland though. I would aim for totally waterproof. There is an electricians putty which can be useful for sealing but it's apparently condensation caused by temp changes that can create moisture inside sealed boxes.

I've seen a gel used to fill junction boxes outside but I'm not sure what the thermal properties are like with something that generates heat like a plug back PSU?

I've got some tile adhesive (old and relatively new) and grout (old and relatively new).

I don't think I'll use them.

I want to raise these paving stones a bit as the water currently collects over them.

Any reason I can't mix it all up and use as a way to raise the height? I'm short on top soil /similar.

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As they are presumably for interior use, they will not be frost-resistant.
Probably won't crumble to dust after the first frost.
You may as well try it and see.

That was my thought.

The only issue I wondered was whether it would reduce drainage or something. But then it would just do the same as the actual slab. I've got a bit of gravel I thought about padding it out with.

Bit random, but does anyone want a 15oz grease gun? Didn't realise 15oz is actually quite big.

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Sink removed and plumbing redirected, now to wait for it to fully dry before I realise it's not watertight. Thanks @user69121 for the help.

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Also any tips for removing the old tile cement, or is chiselling off the best way?

This reminds me a little of Donnelly's Footsteps:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Footsteps_at_Donnelly%27s_Hollow_on_the_Curragh_in_County_Kildare.JPG

I had thought the same thing but wouldn't recommend 'potting' the transformer with that gel. There are other materials you can use to 'pot' a transformer though. I don't have the experience to recommend one though.

Decided to get on with the hearthstone repair and do a few floorboard end repairs too. Pretty pleased with the outcome, especially as it's my first attempt at the timber stuff. Terrible camera doesn't help, they look fine to me up close.

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