Home DIY

ceilings are all done finally.

not perfect but they look pretty fucking decent and my neck and back refuse to do anything else to them.

next up: 5 rooms of priming, painting and coving *shudder*

Is 10mm gravel ok to backfill a trench? I've already put large rocks and bricks in the base.

I'm probably going to finish with top soil and then weed membrane?

@dst2 check what paint they’ll use. We have had big units done off-site and on-site. We couldn’t be in our house for about 36 hours after the on-site as the smell/toxins were brutal.

I would opt for as many pieces to be done off-site (doors etc) then the bare minimal on-site if it’s essential.

Good luck with this. We have been trying to get rid of the bastard things for two months so far.

Will be interested to hear if you have one visit success.

Thanks, will check.

It's all been fitted already. Original painters were going to brush/roll and this is the fall back.

Is this trench functional, as in a 'French Drain'?
If 'Yes', you would be best lining the trench with geotextile to prevent soil particles from (eventually) filling all the gaps between your 10mm aggregate.
The geotextile will also prevent your aggregate just 'sinking' into the soil and (eventually) leaving a shallow, longitudinal deoression the fill effectively collapses over time.

Finally a bit of DIY luck.

Got the replacement boards for the Wendy House cut to size before the rain hit...Well had to do a little sanding of the cutouts in the rain but still, nice to have done what I planned within the time available. Basically the opposite of every other recent attempt at anything.

Also really nice to use the mitre saw. It's just so much quicker and more accurate.

I need to get some spacers and decking screws. But that's a fairly quick job with accessible tools.

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On the subject of saws, my hand saw has seen better days.

Does anyone have a recommendation?

Just get this irwin top seller from screwfix https://www.screwfix.com/p/irwin-jack-8tpi-wood-saw-20-500mm-/15083

Or is there something else reasonably priced that's nicer?

Cheers

Gah. Polystyrene ceiling tiles. Does anyone just put new ones back up when the see the carnage that the old ones were put up to hide?

Winter's coming. Spent this weekend faffing around putting a curtain rail up in the bay window. Hoping full length curtains will help keep the heat in and the cold out. Last winter a thermal camera revealed the bay window wall was so cold it might actually be possessed by demons.

Horrible job. Angles all over the place and no idea how what 'the right way' to do this job was. Would not recommend. Need to buy more rail to finish it off.

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Gah. Polystyrene ceiling tiles. Does anyone just put new ones back up when the see the carnage that the old ones were put up to hide?

having just finished 5 rooms of overboarding, taping, jointing, filling, sanding, priming and painting I can see the appeal of just replacing and pretending they don't exist

Not really - just backfilling a hole, there was a pond there previously - so now thats gone, looking at making it an area for the kids to play -

Aah.
Geotextile will ensure your gravel doesn't just sink into the strata that was under the pond.

Buy whatever is on offer at Screwfix/b&q unless you are into resharpening saws as a past time and want something fancy

Nah. That irwin one seems to get good reviews and is cheap. I've got a Japanese Lidl middle isle thing, but I don't really get on with the floppiness.

I think this will actually be the first pannel saw I've bought!

Okay makes sense. I've already backfilled with large rocks/bricks etc in the base

Would the geotextile still be needed? Just want to get the ground level.

I'm now thinking to remove all the hardcore and backfil/compact with the excess soil (from how the pond was designed)and put a layer of top soil everywhere.

If that's fine then happy to whateve makes an easy job and quicker

I've got that (although the smaller one). Seems fine and slightly better than the similar Stanley one it replaced. Most recently used to chop through a sleeper.

Sure go for whatever suits. I was just saying that there's almost no difference between any of the induction hardened saws so buy cheap and replace as soon as the teeth dull and cutting gets harder.

Spring steel saws are great to use when sharp but they lose that sharpness quicker and you have to file the teeth back to sharpness.

It depends on what you are going to do with it and how often you are going to use it. I have not used my western/push saws at all since I got my japanese pull saws. For anything I want to do by hand, they are IME/O way better. Anything bigger/more agricultural I will go to power tools. The floppiness is something that took me a while to get over and was for me a case of technique. They are not designed to be put into compression (I properly kinked a blade once by catching it on the push stroke - cheap-ish to swap the blade out). Once you can get that nailed down, I have found they cut faster than any cheap western push saw I've had. Also, it may be personal preference again, with the pull cut and the handle shape, I find it easier to keep a straight cut. Much narrower kerf too. Again, if it is something where the size of kerf doesn't matter, I'm going circ/mitre/track saw.

Cheers. What one(s) do you have?

I'm sure there's a practice element, but unfortunately nowadays when I need to saw something, I need to saw it. For me, they also seem to require you and the wood to be in the right place - idk if that is to do with the handle(?)

I do however find horizontal cuts easier when they're needed.

Suizan Dozuki (equivalent to a tenon or dovetail with a thick spine) and Ryoba (double sided for rip or cross cut).

I have a 45/50mm shower waste but no cap for it. I'm really struggling to find one. Everything seems to be for a wider fast flow waste. Anyone able to direct me!

Ideally chrome one that sits proud of the drain and is wider...

This is an astonishingly basic question by the standard of this thread, but what's the consensus on repainting this ironwork to a new colour—does it need sanding/roughing up and re-priming to give bright green a fighting chance?

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Sanding is a must. Priming not necessary but would be better.

If you're after a really good finish, you might want to think about stripping the existing paint or doing lots of sanding.

Thanks so much, that's what I expected/feared. The handrails on the wall side can be unscrewed but the central piece is going to have to be done in situ, so I guess stripping will make most sense then and be less fiddly? With appropriate ventilation...