Home DIY

Another thing on my list of things i’m not qualified to do but will give it a go because no-one answers your messages, is patching the rendering on the back of the house.

Do i want a stop bead where the wall of the outrigger meets the frame of the bifolds? Or do i just butt up against the frame?

Leaning towards the former and using a bead, but as i say - not very experienced in this realm.

1 Attachment

that escaled quickly - removing the old beads where the back door used to be took most the wall off - it’d basically delaminated from the brickwork.

Didn’t plan on repointing, but might rake out and chuck a load of gear in here as it looks somewhat worse for wear.

1 Attachment

Have you got a (fully) weatherproof seal between the bifold door frame and the recently de-rendered wall?

good question - i don’t think so, just good old expanding foam

Edit: false alarm

makes the himalayas look flat in comparison, but that’ll do me for a first attempt (never plastered before, either).
few bits here and there to patch up later on but generally quite happy.

hoping that once it’s all dry, a bit of sanding to feather the edges and a load of Santex paint will even things out (ish).

also dog.

3 Attachments

Ms_com found some 60's hand printed wallpaper that she wanted in her office and I have been avoiding the job like the plague. Needed to replace the socket so decided it would be best just to get it over with. I never want to hang 60 year old paper ever again.

1 Attachment

I like the way that the patterns are so closely matched that you can barely see where they join.

Never question the artistic directors

More progress on ms_com's built in office space. Slow going due to all the crap (I mean, beloved personal belongings) in this room. Still need more shelves to fill the wall on the left then somehow sand the floor whilst not taking all the things out of the room.

1 Attachment

Hi - does anyone have any recommendations for a kitchen fitter? We are in Se19 and looking to replace our existing kitchen. Rip out the old and install the new type of job. Thanks

Can anyone recommend a good lead encapsulate paint to redo door frames with? I've noticed quite a few chips around several door frames in my flat (Victorian conversion) and have a two year old running around so assuming lead content is in there somewhere and want to cover it up asap.

Do I need something lead specific or would I be ok with a few coats of something like this: https://www.little-knights.co.uk/blogs/news/at-last-a-voc-free-gloss-paint

After reading about the effects of lead paint dust and children I'm prepared to sacrifice finish to avoid sanding / scraping etc.

Sounds like a job for Zinsser Bullseye but others can confirm I'm sure

I'm trying to get a speaker cable from one side of my brick fireplace to the other; can I drill right through? How thick will it likely be (Victorian terrace)? If I have a hole in the left and right side, how do I fish a cable through? There's a cast iron fire still in place and I don't know how much access I'll have.

What did you read?
They're hard to get in the UK but it's possible to test for it.. (I've not looked up the witches brew homemade method)

1 Attachment

That looks perfect, thank you.

@bluehuw Read that infants ingesting even tiny amounts of lead impacts on brain / learning development.

Not sure why those tests are so hard to come by in the UK, don’t particularly want to wait ages for them to arrive though if I can just seal up the chips.

Assuming you're never going to use it then yes.

I did it in a few spots here (green lines) for power, network and speaker cables.

Used a 20mm bit for the bottom ones and 10mm for those just carrying speaker wire. Put some conduit in the 20mm ones to make it smoother to shove stuff through.

Not sure of thickness, something upwards of 250mm I think.

Seem to remember I fished it through with a combination of rigid wire (earth cable I think) which I hooked with a coat hanger and taped the wire to the earth.

1 Attachment

Where / how / who did your alcove units, shelves, fireplace & mantel please.

I went through the basement to get lights in the alcoves recently. Only useful if you have access.

Cable came down 3 m from the bit of the basement I can stand in, but I fished it out with a bit of rope looped out the end of a plastic pipe, hooked the cable then pulled the rope to trap it. Worked surprisingly well.

Use a hoover to hoover a small thread through the hole, attach to speaker cable and pull through, same as you might thread a di2 wire through a bike frame.

Fireplace and mantel are original (although from looking at old pictures it seems that they were actually in the master bedroom originally and got moved by someone).

Alcove units and shelves were by these
https://www.lahartcarpentry.co.uk/
Very happy with them

I fished cables through a 125yo stud wall today using a gear outer, then winding the earth of a 3 core cable round an inner cable. Taped it all together and got it all through in one go.

Thanks all. That's exactly what I'm hoping to do. Finished putting in similar shelves over the weekend - but I've just realised that they may be too shallow to actually fit my speakers. Couldn't have made them any deeper than this, but still frustrating.

1 Attachment

You can also just hide the cables with all the house plants.

1 Attachment

Looks good. Fortunately I went the other way, shelves first and then find speakers to fit (including something that was ok being pushed pretty much back to the wall).