Home DIY

Can't find it in here but what's the goto for priming bare wood windowsills (hardwood) and architrave (pine) before eggshell?

Zinsser Cover Stain is a solid option. It's oil based and not moisture vapour permeable but resists the wood staining the primer, I use it on any wood that has been stripped and most new wood. Zinsser 123+ often works well enough on new hardwood as long as there are no problems with staining which varies from one piece to another in my experience.

I would normally add an undercoat matching the manufacturer of the eggshell on top of the primers I've mentioned above.

Much obliged, as always.

Another question. The windowsills are a nice dark hardwood (species I can't recall). We're still in two minds about keeping some of them as bare wood. If we did, what's a good treatment for that?

Donation going to the forum and some kind of payment in kind mentally banked for @Airhead and others who freely give out their learned knowledge. I would be totally lost without it.

Digging holes for fence posts: is there any way I can make life easier for myself with a 5kg SDS+? I'm guessing not really as most augers and clay spades seem to be SDS max.

That looks great.

I now have to deal with oiling my deck. I've been told I need a jet wash to clean, then deck oil and spray. That right?

Depends how fucked it is. You might end up doing this which is a horrible job.

Share a photo? Can suggest things that might allow you to avoid the mistakes I’ve made.

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5 years old, never been oiled as far as I'm aware.

this horrible job

Which is what exactly? Sanding?

Any help would be appreciated

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If it’s never been treated then happy days.

You might be able to bring it up nicely with some deck specific cleaner and a scrubbing brush. Then finish it how you want or just leave it raw if you don’t mind it greying.

Pressure washing will clean it back well but it’s a very messy job and you can bugger the wood surface up if you get to close so it won’t take a treatment and will need sanding anyway. A patio attachment is mandatory if you don’t know what you are doing.

Our deck had what was either a paint or a stain on it which failed locally. Over time I’ve been removing it all with various horrible chemical and mechanical methods. It’s a big deck too.

Rip it up and put down composite. Harder wearing & scrubs up much nicer.

Probably an ecogical disaster though.

Everyone says this which means it must be wrong :p

Probably an ecogical disaster though.

Isn’t it a mix of old plastic, wood shavings and epoxy? It’s kind of ok unless you ever decide to dispose of it.

To be fair I probably should have just ripped it all up and fitted new decking and balustrade over the existing frame.

e deck specific cleaner

Whats the difference versus normal soap or fairy liquid?

Outdoor tap collar has split (see pic). It’s been spewing water all over the brickwork. I’ve turn d it off at the mains and removed the tap.

Looking for replacements, it seems they all come soldered to pipe. Any thoughts on being able to replace this myself or is this a plumber job?

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Whats the difference versus normal soap or fairy liquid?

Soap attacks grease and oil. Wood has a bit of natural oil in it, and oil based finishes are…oil. So household stuff just fucks it up.

That should scrub up well with deck cleaner. Pressure washer can make things quicker, but can fuck things up as said. Hose, scrubbing brush and cleaning fluid would do that. After, I used Ronseal Deck Protect on my last place. I liked it.

You'll need to change the full thing, you buy it as one unit. If you hand just cut it inside and put a union to connect the old one onto the new one.

If not get someone in, should be about £60 ish quid for a new outside tap as most people seem to charge the same sorta money up here.

If your house looked like this, what would you do?
Internal wall - damp
External wall - mossy at the bottom
Patio - does it have to come up or is there a less destructive option? Should there be some kind of french drain/gravel trap here?

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Someone probably knows more than me but I think the DPC is likely to be directly above the air brick so the mossy brick is below the DPC and not a problem as such. The patio also appears to be below the DPC. I'd be looking for other problems.

Hmmm OK thanks for the heads up. The hunt continues then I guess. Roof looks fine but I'll have to have a closer look...based on my very limited clues if anyone has any further suggestions then please do share!

I think the DPC is likely to be directly above the air brick so the mossy brick is below the DPC and not a problem as such

That's what I was thinking too (not that I know more by any stretch - I just spend my time trying to fix damp problems).

What does the door frame look like on the side that has the damp?

If that's damp around the light switch, it suggests that water is running down the wire from somewhere - which means that it's possible travelling along a joist from somewhere else.

Yeah the DPC is above the damp but I wonder if it could have been breached/damaged.

I hadn't thougt about it travelling from elsewhere. We had a new roof last summer so perhaps they messed that up somewhere.
The paint all down the doorframe is darker due to moisture.

The plot thicken (worsens?).

Can you just put a jubilee clip around it?

I just got a bag of "oxygen bleach" because the internets told me this was a good option for deck cleaning - we'll see.

Potentially - got a plumber coming to replace tonight so we'll never find out :-D

If you’ve got flat boards I’d just sand the fucker back. Mine are bloody ridged though!