Home DIY

Yeah I think a good chunk of those sellers were suggested by you.

I can't remember what we bought in the end of the top of my head.

One of them used some different heat output measurements to make their rads sound more powerful.

On radiator chat - presumably triple column require more energy ? Is there a reliable way to work out the most efficient?

They should have BTU ratings that tell you how much they put out.

This is what I was thinking about
https://www.onlyradiators.co.uk/blog/heating-essentials/radiator-delta-ratings-explained
Scroll to the bit about Delta T50 vs Delta T60 vs Delta T70

EBay.

Yes we made that mistake when speccing from different sellers, had to go back and dig in the info for the Delta values especially as it’s beneficial to run a boiler lower and having an eye on future heat pump switch.

Any tips for finding studs in an internal plasterboard wall without shelling out for a stud finder?

I’m mounting up some bike hooks, got quite a few bikes to hang so and fist going to mount a plywood board, mounted at the studs and then hooks on that.

I’m not super DIY savvy so any tips welcome!

Studs should be 400mm on centre. Simplest method is to use a magnet to help you locate plasterboard screws.

Wow that worked wonders, magnet did the trick

Alright. Go gentle on me. I've lived in flats for the last 30 years so all this proper DIY stuff is quite new to me.

I've got this bathroom which only has a bath. Ultimately I want to tear the whole thing out and start again but until I've got the cash for that, I want to install a shower as cheaply and easily as possible.

The easiest way would be to have a handheld shower on the wall, plastic mixer taps, and a straight curtain rail following the left side of the bath. Unfortunately I don't think I can do that because then the water would bounce off onto the window and sill.

So I think I need a curved curtain rail at the window side to protect the windowsill. And then I need a rainfall type shower to fall over the top of it, inside the curtain rail. If that's right, I think I ALSO need to replace the taps with a combined tap / shower mixer, and run a flexible hose up and over the curtain rail. Something like this (forgive the crap photoshop):

Does this sound about right? It feels like a lot of graft to get a basic shower without soaking the whole bathroom!

What does the other end of the bath look like? Can the shower we wall mounted a bit further to that end instead of an all-around curtain?

Reflecto!

Ah, gotcha. Nothing is simple, is it?

My answer is always https://www.traderadiators.com/

Not too negative, decided it sounds like a lot of effort and I can live with it for the time being

Another question, I’m planning to mount a board of birch plywood to my wall, secured at the studs (now that I’ve found them). I was planning to get a board that is 18mm. I’ll be 1900mm wide, probably about 50-60cm tall.

To this board, I’m planning to mount 5 of these. They have 2 screw points, one at the top and one at the bottom. My question is what screws should I use to secure the hooks? 15mm to avoid going through the other side of the plywood too short for the weight of a bike? I guess it’s okay to use long screws which would go through the plywood as it’ll all be hidden?

What’s on the other side of that wall?
A few years ago my wife requested a yoga wall so I put up at least 18mm thick slabs of plywood, one on the yoga wall and the other on the other side (interior of a closet). Both sheets rest on the floor and are secured through the wall with multiple 1/2” bolts, this will easily support most humans.
I recently hung a chin up bar on the same sheet, easily done.

I forgot to buy spacers

Drill bit shank. If you're worried about dropping it, drill into a scrap of wood, stop, reomve from drill leavign the shank sticking out of the wood. Stick shank between boards, spaced.

Space one end of the board and fix, move down the length of the board with your spacer near the fixing points. Or what I did on the 5m boards, fix each end then the middle, using clamps to pull in or spread the boards.

I want to put in shutters around a bay window. The wall is made it seems, mostly, of sand and spit. What can I do to strengthen the install short of chipping it back to the brick that is presumably under there somewhere?

Edit: second query - is there a minimum thickness of plasterboard that's safe to hang a radiator from? How can I tell the thickness short of cutting a chunk out? Presuming boards vary by brand and age in terms of weight supported.

Top hack. I'll do that next time, because I'm sure to forget to get spacers again.

I started to use the bottom of some clamps, then noticed that I'd kept two right angled cardboard corner protectors to raise things for painting. They were a handy 5mm.

Get a corner pole and two shower curtains.

One lives permanently at the window end to stop the window getting wet and rotting.

The second pulls back like a normal one.

Then hook up a tap mounted shower with a couple of jubilee clips for reinforcement. You can shower perfectly well holding a handheld shower and then standing on it when you need to use two hands.

Imo everything else is a halfway house and you'd be better off just saving the money and putting it towards getting the bathroom done. Obvs depends on your time scale. That window latch on the right kills off any of my other bright ideas.

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Avocado bath suite! Should hang onto that, it'll be trendy again soon I imagine

Anyone want this book? Free to collect from SE6 or I’ll post for cost.

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https://www.screwfix.com/p/swirl-ciao-deck-mounted-bath-shower-mixer-chrome/280pg

Feel like this isn't enough more expensive to fuck about with a tap converter.

True.

You'd need to buy a new shower head too.