Home DIY

my mums place is in brighton, we're ending up a bit further west in littlehampton for time being.

the gods must have heard my wailing though as a guy who didn't pick up when i called him called back and is going to perform a christmas miracle and squeeze us in on tuesday for a quick look, he'll even try to do the work same day if it's a simple fix.

ah got you. I have a friend who recently set up on his own as a spark in Brighton, and comes to me in Worthing. He may be relocating near me soonish, at which point I imagine LA will be on the cards too. Might be a stretch at the moment but let me know if you want his number

i'll keep it in mind for when we move out in about 9-12 months as we may have to revert any changes we have done now to "make good" (by making it impossible to install a cooker again) other than that we'll try to avoid any work requiring tradesmen as it's just a rental.

if for any reason we run into trouble though I'll give you a shout.

Tap is 436mm tall.
Cupboard is 460mm above my worktop.
Is this too little?

I ain’t no DIYer

I do like it, and have specced it for every kitchen I’ve done in the last five years.

I mean, it’ll fit… might look a bit weird.

On le Franke, I replaced the cartridges on mine a few months ago, sent out FOC from Franke within warranty.

The Franke Pescara looks good / better but it's more £££.

And at 500mm way too high.

Mission/budget creep.

New kitchen time

looks better

bro, u mad?

Meh at least it has a single mixer control so you only get one wet spot on the sink surround.

They have a new version out for bathrooms.

Bit of covering old paint, very lax keying, sticks on well. and then new boards too, slightly watered down first coat then second coat straight out the tin.

Cutting directly into skirting or door frames, plasterboard, etc. Anything where access is tight.

Persistent crack. I have an MDF airing cupboard and the join between that and the wall, I can't seem to get the hairline crack to stay fucked off. I'm assuming it's just because of the constant heating and cooling of the airing cupboard with the heating/HW going on and off which is causing exapansion and shrinking. So far I have raked out the first cracked and used Gyproc easifill. Came back. Then did the same but with Soudal decorators caulk, thinking that would be more flexible. Came back.

It doesn't worry me in any structural way, it's just ugly. Any ideas? The boundary is also between 2 different paints. The exterior of the cupboard is painted with F&B eggshell and the wall with the same colour but in their modern emulsion. The ceiling (which has the same issue with its join to the cupboard) is Leyland Superleytex emulsion.

Strip of beading or similar to act as an expansion joint?

Soudal decorators caulk

If this is acrylic-based, it will accomodate 10% of total movement across the joint.
If you raked out the joint to be 3mm wide, an acrylic could cope with a maximum of 0.3mm of movement.

Did the acrylic stay bonded to the MDF?
The Soudal FixAll Turbo referenced above will have better adhesion, but to the substrate,
ot the painted surface.

Both are good ideas. Will confer with the internal design committee.

The only solution I've found that has worked long term is now called Fill-Flex, combined with Ultra Fine Elastic Scrim. From the usual suspects!

Only problem is application takes a few coats and the fill-flex is very difficult to smooth off by sanding. It does last a long time, not sure how long but it's been 10+ years in some places I've used it without cracking. It also shrinks so multiple coats are often required.

I apply some and press the scrim into it. Let it dry fully then start to build up very thin layers until it's almost completely smooth, then let it dry completely and by hand with a fine sandpaper very lightly feather it out. If you have some edges that don't feather properly you can use a bit of TX110 at the edges to blend it to the walls. Don't cover it with TX110 though as that will crack when the joint moves.

Easifill is designed to cover the joint tape between plaster boards before plastering, it's not a very good general filler.

Cheers. Initial rounds of discussion are leaning towards the beading, which might be the easiest option also. But good to know this info if she, I mean we decide the beading is not to our aesthetic tastes.

Beading is probably the most usual option. The alternative I described is very useful for skirtings on staircases where you can't add beading but it is a very time consuming job.

Beading will also cover some other sins on the interface on the other edge that is not cracking (I assume that because it is a smaller piece of MDF on that side, a few cm instead of a couple of feet, so the movement is less due to less material to expand across its surface) but is a bit of an ugly edge.

Prime with cover stain and paint with the eggshell of the cupboard then pin to the cupboard face without fixing to the wall?

Also, what's a good general electric nail gun for the DIY-er. Not framing or cabinetry grade. I have the nail only version of this (https://www.toolstation.com/tacwise-duo-35-stapler-nailer/p70520 - mine doesn't do staples) but it is shit. Never fully sinks the brads and the safety mechanism is really hit and miss. You have to press down in a really specific way then shift the gun slightly for it to fire. Which ends up with slips, marred surfaces, the rubber stopper breaking off and swearing.

Willing to spend a couple of hundred on something good as I forsee more beading, architrave and skirting work over the years.

For a given value of "good"

thanks all for the heads up,

i have a quote now £250 + VAT for ECIR testing, this will throw up what's needed, this house has been a rental for decades, so probably much neglected. I intend to replace all sockets, the house is still a building site.

Consumer Unit and cables around need sorting out, as you can see in the photo, smart meter fitted for free by British Gas earlier this year.

cheers
Al

1 Attachment

Prime with cover stain and paint with the eggshell of the cupboard then pin to the cupboard face without fixing to the wall?

On the basis it's more likely to be the MDF moving than the wall, I'd be inclined to attach the beading to the wall. Otherwise you might just end up with a gap between the beading and the wall rather than the MDF and the wall.