Home DIY

Moved into a house with these smoke alarm base plates on the ceiling. How do I find what alarm will fit them? Thanks

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I’d start by googling “EI easy-fit alarm”…

Or just remove the base and fit whatever alarm you want. They’re all about the same size so you shouldn’t notice much around the new base.

@el_presidente Depending on where you live, your local fire service may supply and fit them for free.

Likely battery only though, not sure the Fire Service would like to dick around with unknown wiring. Might be accused of touting for business.

Site mixed sand/cement mortar has only poor cohesive strength: it will shrink and crack.
Dual shrinkage compensated grouts are available.

Ha thanks, never even read that

Got them to do this the other day, they stick it up on your ceiling with a plunger on a long stick and no more nails. It fell off the ceiling a week later, missing my friend's baby by cms. Pulled down all the paint. Free (10 year battery) fire alarm but do not get them to stick them up!

I'm about to paint some doors white that the previous owner had painted a fetching shade of blue. Regarding an undercoat where the blue colour won't bleed through and require 100 coats, is it Zinsser Bulls Eye that I want?

For colour changes I would expect 4 coats required. Zinsser 123+ then undercoat to suit top coat then 2 top coats. It's not so much physical bleed you are worried about, just that 123 or BIN are not very opaque.

I'd like to fit a lamp holder like this:

To a terminal box like this:

Anyone know if there's a specific type of bulb holder made for this, or is it a case of taking pot luck that the mounting screws are on close enough centres that it'll go together?

The "rose diameter" of the bulb holder is 2.52", the terminal box is 65mm - Google suggests that these are close to being the same measurements, which makes me somewhat hopeful that this would work.

I'd be fairly confident the screw will fit as it's a standard mounting method, albeit not the prettiest. These things tend to be surprisingly congruent IME. Worse comes to worst, you'll only be out about £3 in materials, lol.

Looks like a standard Aico base (I think that's the brand we use, looks identical to what we fit). We regularly just replace the unit and reuse the mount plate.
The bigger question mark is about the status/condition of the fixed wiring, but the unit should have a test button on it.

The cost of this experiment is roughly equivalent to the cost of a coffee it is true.

In terms of looks, this is for my garage so I'm ok with "cheap but works". I can always make it pretty at some point in the future.

The main thing is that trying to find a definitive answer online will waste more time than just buying and trying it. I've regularly gone mental trying to find out this kind of information which could have been totally skipped by just going to screwfix or a wholesaler.

Also true. I've ordered the bits and will walk over to Screwfix tomorrow.

I can always make it pretty at some point in the future.

I think we both know this is fucking bullshit.

It's true that I have no history of fiddling with stuff, going through multiple iterations until I've spent a fortune on each detail.

Could try

https://www.urbancottageindustries.com

They’ll probably be able to make/supply something that would fit that aesthetic.

Legend! Helpful as always.

Thanks, i bought 2 from screwfix for £20 each and they slotted in perfectly. Got no concerns on the wiring, the previous owner of this house was a perfectionist, the smoke alarms have their own dedicated labelled circuit on the consumer unit

The old owners should be condemned to hell for painting everything blue. Walls, doors, door surrounds, all the same blue. Lucky they left the ceiling.... Its taken more time than I care to admit to get the whole room white. Going to start on the door once the filler dries.

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Removing tiles as part of bathroom renovation. Plaster under the window crumbled away. Was going to pva solution the brickwork and fire a load of bonding plaster onto it. Plan is to retile this area. Just sounding out if a sensible plan or if I should consider an alternative. First foray into plastering potentially.

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Sounds fine. It won't be a perfect finish though, but doesnt matter if you're tiling over. Keep a wet rag handy and wipe off any that runs over onto the surface of the existing plaster. Apply in two to three layers with half an hour or so between. Use a float. Mix in a bucket with a spoon or summat, to save you buying a proper mixer.