Home DIY

Could you do something fancy with lighting without making a hole in the wall, like Philips OneSpace or this stuff which i'm not sure is commercially available or not

If you can stomach it you are better off stripping the whole lot out and replacing with modern (wooden or ZMG plastic / composite) units. The cost will be similar to a retrofit + service and they will last a lot longer. We looked at retrofitting dg panels to older sg frames and like Airhead knows it's not really feasible or if it is it's not durable. It's almost certainly non-economical.

Secondary glazing seems to be recommended by conservation folks, so if you really want to keep whatever is there now, or you can't remove it for whatever reason, you can add a new layer of glass internally (or even that stick on plastic stuff).

Airhead has covered it better, but when we looked it didn’t seem like a practical conversion because of the many complications.
And then there’s the fact that sliding sash aren’t the most efficient design in the first place - so it can be really hard to service old units to the point that they’re effective (and on top of that it’s hard to find someone with the skills who’s willing to do it).

We ended up with PVC sliding sash at a cost of around 7.5k because we weren’t planning on staying on the flat long enough to justify the 15-20k new wood ones would cost. The downstairs neighbours had theirs retrofitted with double glazing, I’m not sure what the cost was, but I wouldn’t have been happy with the result if it was my flat.

If you don't have brushes sealing the gaps in your existing sash windows use something like this for this winter and strip it off in the spring :-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Duck-10-Window-Insulator-62-Inch-420-Inch/dp/B002GKC2GW

And get some thick or interlined curtains. Not having thick curtains is going to be a very flashy interior decor statement this winter!

Can anyone recommend a good window supplier/glazier in East London/Leyton? Looking to extend the kitchen and trying to work out some options, ideally energy efficient with minimal internal frames.

@jono84 had a kitchen spray tap at my last place, would definitely get again but hard to quantify quite why - felt like it was dead handy at the time, but can't think of of anything now you couldn't really do with a normal tap!

we’ve recently got our first pully-outy spray tap, most useful for rinsing residue off pans and crockery in such a way that it doesn’t splash anywhere near as choatically as a normal tap.

Could definitely live without it, but it’s a nice thing to have.

Just saw this, thank you

Looking at re-doing the back yard, as it's currently an uneven mess of cracked quarry tiles, old bricks, and muddy patches.

Have a vague recollection that someone on here might have done something similar - but is it a terrible idea to think about re-purposing these concrete fence base panels as large-ish format floor 'tiles'?

Main goal is keeping things cheap, and these would be just about the same price as the cheapest standard driveway brick-blocks, if not a bit cheaper.

gravel boards in lawn

Yeah guess sits just polyester. Rather than that, I'd order some climashield apex and sew it in.

Wife ordered something from Amazon. Will see how it goes.

thanks! not the one i thought i was thinking of, but looks great!

edit: this was the one: https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16251049/

actually maybe this one too: https://www.lfgss.com/comments/15851353/

Very helpful RE windows thanks all. In an ideal world I’d love to keep the OG wibbly glass but we’re all paying for energy bills from Russian imperialism atm etc..

OH HAI.
I didn’t lay the patio ones but copied user @cozey (where have they gone?!) path which was super simple to lay.
Would recommend, that Australian reference is great, you could plan it out really nicely with plants in the right places etc.

If you’re not ready to commit you can get little screw in sprayers like we have - I don’t miss having a full on spray unit.
Ours is the cheapest, simplest version like this:

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Have a feeling due to small kids we'll likely go for an 'as few gaps and as little gravel as possible' approach, and just have a load of potted plants here there and everywhere - as much as that's a bit of a missed opportunity to do something nicer.

Thanks for the heads up.

I think mine has arrived. Unsure about opening it as it feels padded, so probably safer to put straight in the loft.

Thought it would be a nice treat for me after a mixed year. Plus it looks to have some useful tools this year / filling gaps in, or improving my tool collection.

Thought I’d put this here in the first instance - apologies if it’s already been asked / answered, it’s a big thread and the search function shows nowt!

Question: has anyone on here built anything with sips? I have questions!

I'd like a horse shoe shaped rail to hang utensils on, which fits in thid alcove.

What are my best options?

Inital thought was 3 peices of copper pipe with two 90° joins. The only thing is what offsets would I go for?

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Yes, I built my garden studio from SIPS. So it’s a freestanding structure, not an extension of a brick/block building.
What are your questions?

I’ll bullet point these, any answers would be appreciated!

• What kind of base/foundation did you go for? Would you do it again or different? (Realise this is pretty subjective based on location etc)

• What did you join the panels with in terms of adhesive? Seen everything from pu glue, foam, specialist sip mastics (in the states). PU glue seems to be the go to in the UK? Obviously the adhesive is crucial as it’s what really joins the panels and provides the air sealing.

• Have you had any problems? Either on install or long term? Seems the general consensus is sips are great if done right but crap if done badly.

• What would you do different, if anything?

• Any tips?

Sorry for the many questions! Any answers appreciated.

Munsen rings and copper pipe would work. If you have access to a pipe bender then you could bend the pipe to fit the alcove. The simplest and easiest to make would just be three lengths of pipe (one on each side) with no joins... but where's the fun in that?

1. What kind of base/foundation did you go for? Would you do it again
   or different? (Realise this is pretty subjective based on location
   etc)
   Block piers. I did look at ground screws but they're expensive. Would use piers again as they're cheap and quick enough.

2. What did you join the panels with in terms of adhesive? Seen
   everything from pu glue, foam, specialist sip mastics (in the
   states). PU glue seems to be the go to in the UK? Obviously the
   adhesive is crucial as it’s what really joins the panels and
   provides the air sealing.
   I used gripfill as recommended by the manufacturer. I used plenty of it so there was squeeze-out and the panels themselves are built with pretty good tolerances so everything slotted together tightly. I aluminium taped all the joints inside.

3. Have you had any problems? Either on install or long term? Seems the
   general consensus is sips are great if done right but crap if done
   badly.
   No problems. the structure is only about 18 months old though so maybe time will tell.
   Installation was really quick and easy - bar the size of some of the panels, particularly the roof ones and getting them through the house and lifting them onto the walls. I''d definitely use them again.

4. What would you do different, if anything?
   Nothing really. For my particular design I created the main structure and then added a stud wall to the left and extended the roof to create a storage space along the depth of the building. I would consider creating the whole structure from SIPS if I was to do it again as it'd be slightly sturdier. However I'd lose some internal space due to the thickness of the walls and it would have cost a fair bit more. And I'd have struggled with access against the boundary fence.
   This is unique to my use case though. I'd happily use SIPS again though for the speed and convenience.

5. Any tips?
   Make 100% sure of your design as any changes on the fly are much harder than if you build with stud walls. You still need to consider panel sizes in the design to minimise wastage. The company I used (SimplySips) were really helpful and provided a lot of free advice and helped me tweak my design to make the most of their panel sizes.

Cheers all. The water pressure is now comfortably over 1 bar as so that shouldn't be an issue but taking a look at the taps they appear to be half decent (Bristan) and replacement parts are available. Undecided how useful the flex spray would be so might put the money towards some plumbing tools instead and give them an overhaul.

Also need to replace the basket strainer waste with something better as the last two cheap ones from screwfix have been useless. Might just stump up for a Bristan unless anyone has other recommendations

https://www.bristan.com/products/Complementary-Products?code=W%20SNK4%20C

taps they appear to be half decent (Bristan)

Sample size of 1 but I installed a Bristan tap at home about a year ago and both indices have now fallen off. V disappointed given the pricing.

Bought a briston shower for my old house. Gravity fed system based on the published specification indicating a reasonable static head. Apparently they were an order of magnitude out so had zero flow. be careful what you buy off them. Took me months to resolve with bristan as I'd obviously installed it before finding out.