Home DIY

We had some cast iron gutters replaced as part of an insurance claim (A deliver drivers van caught the edge and he drove off with them) - the insurance company have been really good, sent folk round who deal with specific parts of the job (slates replaced, lime mortared redone and gutter). The final bit was for it to be painted, came back from a weekend away and it’s been done, looks good and he even left the tin on my request so I could do another gutter.

However, the paint is Dulux Trade Eggshell mixed to a RAL of our choice but the tin says internal metal paint.

Is that likely to last or will it come off and my house fall down?

As it’s an insurance job I feel I want it done to the best it can be. I have no idea about internal vs external metal paints… paging @Airhead

Suspect if it is interior paint the sun will fuck it in short order.

Maybe they put something over the top of it to protect it.

If it's been mixed, it might have just been put in a tin with other writing on it. Does it say that on a stuck on label or metal tin?

@skinny that’s what I thought. It’s just on tin. The label just has the RAL and the name of the place that mixed it.

EDIT: it also says Eggshell and EXTRA DEEP on the label.

I would think that plasterboard adhesive is designed to be minimal slump. As you dab amounts onto the wall, you want it to stay there, not dribble down the wall.

This means, if you are using it on a horizontal surface, it will not self level. It will also not have free flow under the weight of the marble hearth.
Also it will not have been designed to offer any flexibility when cured.
If you are confident that you can lay the plasterboard adhesive level enough to support the entire surface area of the hearth, and can position the hearth without dusturbing this bed of adhesive, continue with your plan.

Extra Deep will refer to the base, it's a very dark colour so they start from a very dark (or deep) base colour.

Not sure on the differences in formulation between interior and exterior eggshell from Dulux but normally it should be weathershield if it's exterior paint from Dulux.

Was it primed first?

Cheers! Doubt it was primed with anything other than the standard primer a cast iron gutter comes with. He also painted an extra section that was pre-painted with a gloss of some sort as it’s the OG gutter.

It’s not big deal but the insurance co want me to sign a thing to say I’m happy etc - I’ll have zero come back after I sign it.

What do I plug into here? Think they’re for LED under cabinet lights in kitchen of new house but not entirely sure.

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It'll have a woodburner sitting on it. I am a tight arse (got the marble for free too) but yeah you're probably right that I should just use the correct product.

I think there's an element of (albeit vertical) slump to plasterboard adhesive as the recommended dollup thickness is huge, 50mm from memory. Also not sure why it would require flexibility when cured.

I think I'll just use mortar. Cheers.

If you're so worried, email the painter and ask. Then you've it in writing.

Flexibility is useful for coping with different thermal coefficients of expansion.
If the filler is lying on a solid floor, in effect a giant heat sink, it will experience less temperature variation than the marble slab exposed to the temperature in your (living?) room.
Now there is a woodburner, (raised legs?, clearance from floor?), confirmed the hearth is likely to experience an even greater range of temperatures.

If you do choose 'mortar' do you have any PVA to use in it to help prevent shrinkage cracking?

Personally I would be priming/undercoating the factory coating with a tinted primer/undercoat after cleaning/degreasing it and then using 2 coats of an exterior eggshell. Maybe overkill. If what you have is a single coat of eggshell over a factory primer I would be asking why it's been done that way.

Most exterior paints will 'guarantee' 8 years (for dark colours), that requires proper preparation. The details are normally printed on the label.

the insurance co want me to sign a thing to say I’m happy

Don't. Reply and ask them to confirm what paint was used. Your contract is with them, not the painter.

Porch update - cedar chosen and delivered quickly by Southgate timber. Highly recommended. Lots of fiddling around scribing around the stupid pole but hopefully will go quicker now . It’s very rich in colour so I will test a white oil finish or let it go grey

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Hung my first door yesterday with some vague memory of a description someone posted on here. Went ok but fuck me it's a fiddly job!

It’s the driver for some kind of extra low voltage lighting. You’re unlikely to easily find something that fits IME, as that looks like a proprietary connector and isn’t one I’ve seen before. Unless of course you have the lights still there.

Looks much better than the other wood imo, great choice!

Changing an oven, currently attached to dedicated spur and switch with a block. Any reason not to just wire a new one into the block myself (I am not wedded to the idea just if it’s that simple I might as well do it)?

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Can you wire it in to the switch directly? I'm not a spark, but I'd like to reduce the number of connections like that ^ if possible.

No unfortunately direct to the switch would be too difficult for me, the kitchen is all finished and tiled by the switch and the switch was put in an awkward place to run a wire up to it (it’s my mother’s kitchen and I had no part in the refurb of it). I suspect a sparky would find it very difficult as well.

Thanks for the Johnstone's suggestion @Hefty - just what I wanted

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Normally the switch is connected to an outlet behind the oven (or in an adjacent cupboard) and the oven is connected there.

What you have there is a standard terminal block which is a bit outdated these days. An improvement would be a Wago box with wago connectors, all rated for at least 30 amps.

This is not advice or a suggestion that you do it as someone experienced needs to check the highest current requirement for your new oven and check that all the cable between the oven and the consumer unit (fuse box) is capable of dealing with that current and also that the breaker will disconnect in the case of a fault.

Of course I have to say that because I've no idea what's going on in your Mums fuse box and the first bit of wire looks a bit small for some cookers but it could just be the photo.

Also some cookers (i.e. gas cookers) just need power for the clock and ignition in which case it's fine on a 13amp socket..

We always bed a mantle in cement personally.

Yes cheers for that. It’s all a bit of a mess and reading elsewhere did suggest a wago based solution as opposed to the present one.

The consumer unit is one of the newer bits in the house so one would hope it’s ok, I think it went in at the time of the kitchen but my brother used his usual half-arsed contacts (last week a builder refurbing a toilet who doesn’t drive so leaves all the crap in the front garden) to do the re-fit so fuck knows is the more realistic answer!!