Home DIY

Solid run down, thanks.
Argh, time to colour match…

Any recommendations for MDF primer?
We’ve had some cupboards built so just bare MDF. Planning to prime, seal coat, topcoats.

I’ve always used Zinser 123

+1

Zinsser 123 but there's a new + version that is more opaque which I've been using for a year or 2.

If you can polish the edges of the MDF to around 400 grit it makes priming them as easy as priming the flat surfaces.

[https://www.screwfix.com/p/zinsser-bulls-eye-1-2-3-plus-primer-white-2-5ltr/756JG?

Great, thanks again for the advice. Have 2.5lt of the original 123, didn’t realise it was okay on MDF so I should be all set.

My folks bought us doors as an xmas present, so cost isn't a massive consideration. Obviously not going to take the piss though.

I get the sentiment and I know the picture looks like it's just the very bottom that's fucked, but it's not. You're talking about cutting out a third to half of both doors - not all at the bottom in a single section either. I agree with old wood being better quality, but a repair would replace the most vulnerable section with new wood, so Idk if that logic stands up.

Steps to repair:

1. Remove doors
   
2. Work out how to secure the left space during the work
   
3. Strip doors
   
4. Identify rotten sections
   
5. Cut out rotten sections
   
6. Hardener the smaller patches of rot
   
7. Measure up the replacement area
   
8. Buy replacement wood
   
9. Patch and repair
   
10. Treat knots
    
11. Prime
    
12. Paint
    
13. Refit
    
14. Add lock to the left door
    
    

Vs

Steps to replace:

1. Treat knots
   
2. Prime
   
3. Paint
   
4. Remove old door
   
5. Fit new doors
   
6. Add lock to the left door
   

Don't forget to stir the tin well before you decant any and as you go along if you are painting from the can. The solids settle very quickly and it has a big impact on opacity.

Makes sense with the Christmas gift, just not sure how much work fitting of new doors is in this case. If you get the right width and attachment points can go in the same spot, ok. But might well be that the list gets a bit longer.

True. I may be niave about how tricky fitting will be.

I think the real question is, whether this necessitates me finally buying a router :)

If going for new I'd be tempted to replace frames and door in one go with something that looks out of place but doesn't rot and is safe.

Took the water tank out of the little loft area by the bathroom. I can now see the 'removed' chimney.
Explains the slightly sagging ceiling in the spare bedroom.

I'm not sure there's anything in the house that isn't a bodge

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Hmmm. That’s pretty bad.

3 weeks into my first home and it's time to start the process.

Got artex textured ceilings throughout (couple of rooms with long cracks and another which is flaking). It's your classic victorian london house so worried about asbestos. Anyone in the Crystal Palace, Norwood, Penge, Thornton Heath (think there are a few of us around here) area got any recommendations for someone to do a survey?

I want to swap the side our fridge door opens but can't find the right replacement hinge bit. Can anyone advise?

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Whoah. Have you never been up in your loft before?

Seem to think that for our fridge it was the same hinges but reversed. Top right became bottom left and vice versa

It's the small loft space over the bathroom in the outrigger - so just one you can poke your head into rather than stand up in. It had a big cold water tank above the bathroom that I emptied a while ago, but I never got around to taking out the tank itself, so it hid the worst of the chimney bodge.
I had a fair idea it was crap to be honest - there's a small dent in the ceiling in the room that it's over and I could see the wall was a mess - just hadn't expected it to be quite that shoddy. Does at least look like it has gallows brackets so the stack isn't hanging at least...

Is the stack still present above the roofline?

Assume it’s above the rubble pile and not pictured?

Yep, above

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Yeah hope that rubble isn’t offering it any support :)

How did you get the tank out? There's one in our loft. I don't even know if it has water in it. And I'm scared of setting fire to the loft trying to get it out. Also thinking that eventually I'll want a tank again but probably not the same one...

Can someone give me a link to a description of how to unblock a wetroom/ low-profile shower trap? I know I can probably Google it, but it's one of many things that is fucked in the place I've just moved to, and I'm significantly past the point of losing control of my sanity, so Google skills are low and I would appreciate a pointer, cheers

One of ours has 3 screws that need unscrewing. The other is just all push fit (very tight fitting), so I guess it depends what you have

It was just a plastic cold water tank so once I’d drained it and sorted out the pipes feeding it then I cut it up with an oscillating multi tool, trying not to set fire to the loft in the process. Pretty tedious but was straightforward.

It was feeding the cold side of the shower, so guaranteed awful water pressure. First thing I did when I moved in was chop it out the loop and feed it from mains water instead. No idea how the family that lived here before tolerated it.