Home DIY

Removing artex from ceilings, house is from 2005 so am assuming no asbestos, is x-tex the best option or other recommendations?

I think you'll be hard pushed to find anyone who has done this. Is the substrate it's on really worth conserving, time and effort & refinishing Vs pulling the boards and covering down in one and starting again.
There are other options plastering over (but there's only so much weight a ceiling can take) or boarding over and plastering - it's a proper dilemma and can depend on its condition 2005 is a crazy time to artex finish. Those guys spend years training to do it

smallest purchase quantity of xtex for a test patch will sort out how much is needed/ if it works

Cheers, appreciated!

^^ I want to withdraw the negativity from this, it just comes from seeing artex ceilings with massive drops and splits in

is the best thing to just mix up some sawdust and pva and fill with that?

It's certainly cheap to do but in my experience it's a bastard to sand. Proper filler is likely better (I did a whole through lounge and it was a pain)

Decking done.

Still need to fix and fit the steps. But TBH the kids are probably big enough to climb up. At least the slide is on.

I forgot to buy spacers so the bulk of the time was spent measuring random bits of stuff with calipers.

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This is brilliant. Where did you get the slide from?

I built a fence out of an old fence, scrap wood and three new fenceposts.

It doesn't look great but it only has to last until next year and make it harder for my children to run away.

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shout out to whoever said to run the outdoor tap to drain the system

Want to replace the equal tee's as they don't inspire as much confidence compared to the JG pushfit I used for the elbows but that would involve replacing 4 bits of copper as well. Maybe another time..

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Cheers.

Slide came with it. We got the it 2nd hand from Facebook and then I did a bit of pimping. It's a bit like the one pictured, but called the Chestnut House. We wanted something that could blend in with the garden.

My eldest had a tantrum because I squirted them back in a water-flight and then stamped the worn decking in. So this was the fix.

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Can anyone recommend a supplier for column radiators. My googling has brought up best heating which looks good but a bit more expensive than Screwfix.

https://www.designerradiatorconcepts.com/reina-casina-horizontal-double-designer-aluminium-radiator-600x660mm

https://www.bestheating.com/milano-aruba-vertical-double-panel-designer-radiator-choice-of-bright-colours-and-sizes-113785

https://www.screwfix.com/p/moretti-modena-designer-radiator-1800-x-433mm-matt-charcoal-4505btu/4938d

https://www.screwfix.com/p/ximax-oceanus-duplex-horizontal-or-vertical-designer-radiator-1800-x-445mm-anthracite/22505

https://www.radiatoroutlet.co.uk/1780-x-354mm-black-double-oval-tube-vertical-radiator

https://www.bathroommountain.co.uk/faro-matt-black-double-flat-panel-vertical-radiator-1800x420mm-31079?parent=V3077

https://www.screwfix.com/p/ximax-fortuna-duplex-designer-radiator-1800-x-526mm-anthracite-5331btu/6694h

https://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/metro-vertical-radiator-anthracite-double-panel-1800mm-high?categoryId=562ce032-ecdf-450b-9345-9097e560c022-28BA%3Aen-GB&sku=AVT18X480&preSelected=true

https://ukradiators.com/k-rad-type-22-double-panel-central-heating-radiator-h600mm-x-w900mm.html

https://www.bathroommountain.co.uk/athens-anthracite-triple-column-vertical-traditional-radiator-1800x380mm-31133?parent=V3047
https://www.bathroommountain.co.uk/faro-matt-black-double-flat-panel-vertical-radiator-1800x420mm-31079?parent=V3077

^this is the 'hyperlinks' column from my rad sheet for shortlisting our nice column rad and small ugly rad.

I went and picked up and sealed our dormer valleys with some of this stuff at around 13.00 today, I’m still off my tit! (Well have a stonker of a headache) once you get the hang of it it covers really well.

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We have the Athens from bathroom mountain, worked out cheaper than the other places selling the same rads.
Think we had Reina as well as a Polish made Terma one which again was just rebranded and more expensive elsewhere.

The Health & Safety data sheet
https://www.cromarbuildingproducts.com/products/acrypol/
does advise respiratory equipment.
Also 420g/l of solvent!

Can't remember where we got it from but we have the DQ Cove and it's not exploded or leaked yet, after maybe 4 years?
Heavy AF though and the wall it's in is made of cheese so I expect it to fall off at some point.

Ah thanks for the insight! I’ll have a crack on a discreet area

We want to replace some of the hideous radiators in our Victorian house. Does anyone here have experience of the cast iron Victorian ones - buying new ones that is and whether they’re worth it over more modern designs? We are trying to renovate the house sympathetically

I survived the night ;)

Good to hear.
Any hallucinatory dreams?

You've probably done this by now, but grinding off or banging your nails cut flooring brads flat are bodges IMO because you'll leave metal in the joist.

This is what the claw end of your hammer is for. If you can't do it the conventional way (by using the claw to catch the hook of the brad and opposing it by pulling the hammer towards you) put the brad at the bottom of the claw and pull the hammer side to side from the top. It will loosen the brad and ultimately pull it out. It will also bend it, but you can always buy more:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/timco-cut-flooring-brads-11mm-x-65mm-1kg-pack/663KG

Thanks for the response. I’m aware what the claw end of a hammer is for but appreciate you taking the time to explain it just in case. I have various crowbars and hammers all of which have helped with the extraction of the old brads but the problem is that many of them are totally rusted and corroded from historic damp and some refused to budge regardless of whether I wiggled them side to side, front to back, spoke in tongues, or prayed to a higher power. The heads were far too soft and corroded to offer any resistance to the claw and just crumbled when attempted and often when wiggling they’d just snap. The damp must have been very bad as half of the boards had been removed and replaced with ply that looked to date to the 70s.

Anyway, what brads snapped and couldn’t be removed have been punched down, the joists have been reinforced where necessary, the boards have been cut and nailed down (except for a few by the consumer unit and mains water pipes that instead have been screwed to allow easy access should we need to in the future) and the floor is down and ready for next weekend’s task… sanding. I haven’t sanded floors in about fifteen years so I guess I’m due another round.

Thanks for the brad link, I’d bought a whole bunch last week already

turns out my feverish symptoms was a massively infected cut on my leg that's spread across my entire calf. been laid up since tuesday.

carpets have gone in so i just have to accept i need to recover the floors before i can do any final touchups to the paint and putting the coving in. probably won't be doing anything til middle of the week the rate the antibiotics are working.

I did forget to share the end result of my final finish on the alcove filling though so here is the before and after, very pleased with myself tbh.

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