Home DIY

👍 taking it to the other thread

Can't wait to get rid of the flaking nightmare our predecessors left us.

I think, looking at it I'd just as soon get the bit covered as it's so ugly and seems impossible to wipe clean. Wouldn't know where to begin in terms of covering it with a tidier finish.

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You need to do it in the winter don't you? You need a decent temperature differential between the inside and outside to spot the issues.

I got this kind of thing where it was pretty obvious my window had a draft

thanks. yea planning to do it in winter (though there’s been no difference in weather between winter and this june really). what interventions did you do after surveying? weather stripping windows? install insulation?

If that's the bed and it's staying for the long term, then I'd carpet right up underneath.

Otherwise I'd leave the hearth black and put an edging strip around it.

What would you call this little roof /rain cover thing for a garden gate - I ripped my gate in half this morning taking the bin out (brute strength, nothing to do with crumbling, rotten 20 year old softwood). I'll try and patch the gate temporarily with battens today but will try and either build or buy and fit a replacement before long. But to ensure longevity this feels like a good idea?

Or just get a metal gate? Or some kind of composite? If the last two, any recs?

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If that's the bed and it's staying for the long term, then I'd carpet right up underneath.

It is, it is and agree. It probably looks closer from that perspective than it actually is, and we might slide it slightly closer to the window but it'll still be too close for it to feel like a space used for anything other than access to the shelf/window.

I mainly thought "I need to sort that stuff out" and then did nothing.

Plumber round today to sort out a second outdoor tap. Plumbing work was great. Drilling fixings, not so much.

Clearly didn’t set depth on the drill and blew out three bricks as garage is single skin.

I haven’t paid so hoping he’ll resolve but any thoughts on how to fix? Luckily the pieces which broke off are almost entirely intact.

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Probably just epoxy them back on

Mdf can be a total pain, loads of paint flatten paint flatten!

Great advice! I got a lot of bathroom accessories second hand but not sure why (lack of sleep due to little toddler probably) did not think of buying a kitchen tap secondhand. Thank you I will check the usual portal and the brita stuff

Doing up our new pad, so expect questions galore over the next few weeks... Next up - what's this with the red and black terminals? It's in the living room behind where their TV was.

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I can only think it's some kind of home hifi or surround sound wiring. Are there other terminals on the other side of the room, or even in another room? Could be for a hifi with two sets of outputs so you could have music in the living room or kitchen for example.

Speakers would be my guess too. Take the front off and see what type of wire is in there.

I'm trying to anchor a rack into drywall that is about 1.5cm thick at the anchoring point. I've tried to use snap toggles because it's pretty weighty, but have run into an issue in that the supplied 5.5cm screws can't seem to engage on the toggle on the other side of the drywall. I think it's because the drywall itself is 1.5in (I think) deep, and the toggle has a little 0.5cm space between where it anchors on the wall and the actual screw point. It's odd however that I tried buying a 6cm screw but still no bueno.

Anyone come across this problem before? Seems like a bit of a design flaw to have fixings shorter than necessary for 1.5in drywall+item to be affixed considering a M6*6.5 screw is a bit niche to have lying around.

?
https://www.gripitfixings.co.uk/

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On this tip, what would be the best fixings to use for fixing through 38mm insulated plasterboard and into masonry underneath?

Long Fischer plugs?

I've found these things good for that kind of thing, in part because there's a very big range of sizes so you can almost always get something to fit.

https://rawlplug.co.uk/product/sm-interset/
https://www.orbitalfasteners.co.uk/search?term=interset

fischer duo plug, Fischer duo-tec (the ones with the zip tie) and grip-its are my go to but the grip-its may not do the depth.

The duo-tec will go into the masonry or act as an anchor behind the plasterboard depending on how far you drill.

So I went back and did the math and realised something didn't quite add up since the 6cm screw should have sufficed. Realised maybe the problem was improper installation of the toggle; removed the original one and put a new one in and realised the insulation in the wall had gotten in the way of the first one engaging properly.. problem now solved and the fixing is in there way tight.

Didn't want to get the rawlplugs because those need drilling into the wall to figure out how deep it is and getting the right size for the wall before you can use them! Did consider gripits but figured the snap toggles were cheaper and did the same thing..

Have a different question as I am slowly learning how to do things myself - I'm thinking of changing out my ceiling (pendant) lights and am I right in presuming this is a pretty straightforward DIY job? Looked up videos and seems pretty plug and play, but I am slightly apprehensive of anything involving electrics so just thought to check.

Yes, I bought a load of those rawlplugs in a variety of sizes so I have some to hand in the right size.

Changing lights should be easy enough but, particularly if the wiring is a bit old, you may have new terminals that don't match to the old ones and need to work out what to do with all the wires (you might need a wago connector or similar as well as the terminals on the rose). Take lots of pictures so you can double check where everything went and what was connected to what.

Also, in terms of actual logistics, look at the size of the rose that is in now and the new one. You might end up with a bare patch of ceiling that hasn't been painted or you might not have a convenient way to attach the new rose in the same spot as the old.

Hammerfix are alright for multi materials, just lightly tap in then treat as a screw

Didn’t realise you had insulation there, I use an undercutting tool for grip-its which removes the PIR, the duo-plugs work fine as the knot of plastic just compresses it.

changing pendants/ceiling roses is easy as long as you take a pic of the wires/terminals