Home DIY

Something like the wcf26s would be easier to fit/remove. The 90 bend on your linked one will stop you being able to get it through the ‘wall’ connected to the pan.

The push fit connectors are very secure when new. Once they age and the seal deforms it’s harder to remove/replace better to renew if you need to touch an older one. Never need a jubilee clip one.

Brilliant, thanks. That makes sense and the wcf26s is available locally tomorrow. Bonus Sunday toilet fitting!

What handles the 90º in this situation?

I want to replace the decking in my garden. It's about 4.3m x 1.95m. Basically, a fairly simple rectangle. I don't want to go fancy because, being honest, I'm very unlikely to look after it very well. Any reason not to go for the basic pine options on B&Q/TP? Pretty sure this is what I've just ripped out and it did fine for 12+ years before rotting away (with no treatment or care from me). I can probably be persuaded to go slightly up the food chain but unless there's an appreciable benefit I'd rather not throw money at something that is purely functional and will not get looked after.

RE installing - I assume just build a wooden rectangle a wee bit smaller than the total area to be decked, put some cross-joists in (internet seems to think 40cm intervals, which seems quite close to me?) and some bracings between them then have it? The deck I've just removed certainly had no fancier construction than as described, but any wisdom or experience would be appreciated....

Cheers

It stretches out and flexes in any direction. They are very easy to use, just leave it as short as you can.

Has anyone installed insulation beneath Victorian floorboards, and if so have you noticed a significant difference in the warmth of the room? My partner and I are going to sand back the boards in our Victorian terrace and are weighing up whether it’s worth installing insulation beforehand… would value folks’ experiences!

The composite stuff might be worth considering if you won’t maintain it.

Supposed to have a much longer lifespan. But pressure treated timber installed correctly should be pretty durable too.

@edscoble has

Massive difference, not only it warmer and kept the thermostat low at 18.5 degrees and still feel lukewarm, it is also noticeably quieter also cooler in the heatwave (paired with shutter windows result in it being 23 degrees during the 40 degree heatwave).

We also have more reclaimed timber added to tighten up the gap too.

I think we spend £5,000 in all but the hallway which was an astronomical amount, but the thermostat in the coldest room never dip below 15 degrees (forget to mention, we live ground floor in a terraced)

Heating bills work out around £100/months with the insane gas cost.

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Finished floor that’s more fused than before

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Cheers for the photos @edscoble and info. How many rooms did you do and did you do it yourself or does that cost also include labour ? 5k seems quite a lot! I’ve been looking at ragg wool vs celotex, both look pretty straightforward and I would do all the labour myself. Ragg wool seems like it would be quite a bit cheaper

Rockwool is good, 2 big room, 1 small room, kitchen, bathroom hallway between bathroom and kitchen.

It is a lots, 1.5k for each big room, small room is £900, the biggest expense is kitchen with new wood as they’re bad and it gonna get painted anyway.

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You definitely can do it yourself, just we couldn’t get it done in a short space of time rendering the house unliveable for a week as opposed to one day to get someone to do it.

I want to fit loft ladders. It'll need a new hole cut in the ceiling

Is it as simple as cutting thru the ceiling, lathe and plaster, then thru the joists, noggin up the ones I cut thru, then fit a ladder kit and make good with polyfilla and trim etc?

I went for larch (from evil Russia via southgate timber) - its held up well for 3yrs - i cleaned it after 2yrs and oiled - didn't initially - which was a mistake as even though they say it does't need it - some boards have spilt. It's super solid though. Framing was out of treated timber deck joists at 400 centres - which is important to make sure its not springy underfoot.

Yes

Thanks for the further info. Both my partner and I are pretty handy so it should be pretty straightforward. There has been some pretty shoddy work done on some of the boards previously and there is a section that was replaced at some point with sheet material so we’ll need to source some new boards and, I suspect, possibly need to do some work on the joists beneath where the sheet material is as I suspect there was probably an issue with damp or a leak

thanks - are ceiling timbers ever structural?

and what is the best way to ensure the hole i cut is straight/90 degrees at corners etc? Just conscious you want the hole to be pretty precise in terms of dimensions

I DIY'd this too, though did it whilst renovating before we moved in to the house after buying it.
Did all of downstairs, about 50sqm, and it took about a day (boards already lifted; not including nailing them back down). Wasn't quite as neat looking as Ed's photos, I must admit, but we've never felt any draughts nor notable coldness in the floor, which is/was always naturally quite gappy (might buy and install draughtex at some point, but more for aesthetics).

Materials-wise it was probs only a couple of hundred quid - screwfix roofing membrane; cheapo rockwool alternative; screwfix DPM; staples.

Structural in that they hold the ceiling up - though should be redundancy (touch wood!) - but not holding the roof together (generally..!)
Before i cut through one of them temporarily braced across them with a 2x4 from above to be sure.

There's usually a decent bit of play in the 'lip' of the hatch that you screw into the timbers, so you can afford to be a within a few mm or so.
Hopefully the existing ones are parallel - I just used a set square when adding in the bracing between them top and bottom.

I've extended a hatch which was pretty much as you describe and the guys I got to fit my hatch in my new place did similar. They warned against using power tools for the cutting, said the vibrations can cause some cracking of the ceiling.

You can get away with a bit of neatening up with the beading if it isn't perfect.

Be warned, it's a messy job. Clear as much as you can from the room below and put dust sheets down if possible.

aye, i recently had to cut a hole the ceiling of another room (structural engineer needed a look) and the house was built 1908 i believe so there's a lot of dirt/dust/crud flying about generally.

Thanks for the reassurance and to you too @hvsds!

Unlikely but would anyone want my offcuts of Kingspan K118 72mm? (60mm insulation) probably only good for doing below a bay window or round a front door in a hallway and would have to be a patchwork job but the foam adhesive fills any gaps and you can tape/joint or skim after fitting.
Will eventually be collected for landfill but I hate waste and this stuff is expensive to buy.
any interest and i’ll take some pics of the pile.

Nice one cheers. Yeah we’ve moved all our stuff in so will be quite a lot of double handling of moving stuff around but the floors need sanding so we’ll be making mess anyway and it seems a worthwhile effort etc

I'd say it's worth doing although it can take a while. Boards which look terrible can spruce up nicely with a sander - as long as they're structurally sound they should be fine.

You'll probably need to remove the skirting and it may not come off without a fight.

If the boards are Victorian hopefully that means they're not tongue and grooved.

I'd say it's worth doing although it can take a while. Boards which look terrible can spruce up nicely with a sander - as long as they're structurally sound they should be fine.

Hiring a sander definitely a cost effective way of getting a more uniform appearance and enable you to put whatever oil on it (we opt for a matt pale oil to show off the old Victorian wood).