Home DIY

New DIY skill unlocked. I needed to shorten one of our copper drainpipes, so thought it was a good excuse to buy a new blowtorch.
Luckily whoever did it before did such a bad job that the tube just fell out with the slightest heat, I don't think they drew the solder into the joint at all.
I probably could have done a better job on prepping and heating, but I'm confident it is at least 10x better than it was before.

1 Attachment

Depends. The big grey patterned tiles were fine. The small orange mosaic ones, we couldn't get the colour we wanted on a sheet so got individual ones. They are also much thinner and slightly translucent. So I had to lay a strip of ply to raise them up and also use white adhesive as the grey stuff dulled them badly. They were then a pain in the dick to individually lay and get straight. It's not perfect, but it's the best I could do. They are also 20mm x 20mm, whereas the original design used 25x25, so the self levelling compound base is too wide so I had to order a different strip of oak beading, which ended up being £60 posted. It's a bit of a labour of love at this point.

Fair play.

Those diy jobs are the absolute worst. The never ending browsing online for the right bits is a fucker.

@Sharkstar @Howard
Ok sounds like there may be some hope. The wood is wet in that photo because I'd just been blasting it with a pressure washer. A few chunks of wood did fly off, but that's the worst of it in that photos. Cheers

The nails still holding is a good sign it hasn’t gone completely. You can rub rotten wood off with your fingers. It’s like that foam stuff they put flowers in

Ripped up the shitty laminate and decayed underlay, put down 5.5mm ply ready for carpet going in on Thursday.

1 Attachment

Idk if it'd be too late, but better to say than not...

... I'd definitely recommend going with premium underlay. That's what we used to have/replaced and we just went for one of the cheaper ones when we redid the stairs and landing. Definitely a mistake.

Money gun was definitely aimed squarely at "best undrlay". Our thought was if we're going carpet, it's going to be as plush as possible. Especially in mini_com's room to try and take something away from her thundering around on 100 year old suspended flooring.

Good choice. We assumed it wouldn't matter on stairs and a landing.

Probably would have been better keeping the old and worn, but better quality underlay.

The underlay I'm taking up has a plasticky weave on top and the foam underneath has just turned into crumbled shit.

Anyone interested in this rad: https://nwtdirect.co.uk/designer-anthracite-towel-rails/2545-500mm-w-x-800mm-h-flow-anthracite-double-aluminium-towel-rail-14-extrusions.html?token=dbe83d66bc82738e04b6d9e716e62191283637bc&utm_source=yotpo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=map

for a reasonable price - brand new, not fitted, ordered the wrong size and too late to return

Using an outdoor oil based, normally very thick, door paint on this bit of wood trim on an outdoor Wendy house.

The ends are just sucking it up.

Is there anything I can do at this point now a few coats are on?
Cheers

1 Attachment

Annoying as I knew I should have pushed for stripping the OG green and going raw, but buckled for want of an easy life.

#note
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/causes-gas-dryer-stop-heating-69469.html

Is there a decorating thread?
Just wondering if with paint you get what you pay for, or if you're just paying a fancy marketing budget (crown colour matching a farrow and ball colour vs buying an actual farrow and ball tin).

Same on rollers etc - any brands to look out for?

Cheers :)

Hopefully get keys on Monday
Painting and fireplace back in bedroom up there on the to do list

2 Attachments

I always buy tikkurila paint now, its very good.

Benjamin Moore is good.

with paint you get what you pay for

Yes and no.

F&B have nice colours and a particular type of finish, but is that worth the money? Idk. It is if that's what you must have.

Cheap paint is generally shit and isn't worth it. We've never used "expensive" paint, but have used more expensive mid-tier ones like the Dulux kitchen stuff and Layland Trade which both went on with fewer coats. For colours we've always gone for Valspar from B&Q out of geographical convenience, and it's been good - the darker, more solid colours go on differently to the lighter ones idk why.

My folks had a very pro paint job and for the hall/staircases/etc. had F&B matched to the Dulux hard wearing stuff. Got to be closing on 15yrs since their refurb and it still looks great. Admittedly it's no longer a high traffic family home and like I said was applied by quality pros but still I think that says something vs our shitshow of a hall 5yrs in.

We took samples from F&B, Lick and Valspar to get matched at the local Dulux centre with their Diamond Matt and have been really impressed so far. It's only marginally cheaper than F&B I think, but went on really well and is hard wearing and 'scrubbable'. We stupidly painted before having plaster coving fitted and for the most part, were able to clean away all the crap that left behind without having to do any touch ups.

With rollers, I wish I had realised at the start of our decorating just how much better even the cheap Dulux branded cages and sleeves they sell at the decorator centre are than whatever you can get from B&Q/Wickes/etc.

Not a paid ad for Dulux.

As others have said, it's worth considering the hard wearing stuff. I've got a load of paint in my place that marks incredibly easily, it's really bloody annoying.

Is diamond Matt a finish or a paint product (think I may do the matched thing)

Scrubbable as in soap and water for marks?

I've only scrubbed the white dulux kitchen stuff so Idk what colours are like, but I used a scourer and cleaner.

Although tbf that's on a stool I painted.

Also Life-hack tip: a decent quality rubber (pencil eraser) can often remove marks.

It's their premium trade paint (but is available to non-trade also).

And yeah exactly, can wipe marks away with a damp cloth without taking the paint off with it.

Is there a minimum distance between a fused spur and the recipient(?) socket?

Given that MK make this, I'm gonna say no? https://www.screwfix.com/p/mk-logic-plus-13a-3-gang-dp-switched-plug-socket-white/17315