Home DIY

Finally got these interior doors in, meaning we can get the floor replaced now.

Need to get a plasterer in to do around the arch and over the new mini stud wall. Do they normally do the plaster boarding or would they expect it to be ready to skim already?

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They’ll board it for you. Better they know it’s flat and sound.

Is there going to be enough support at that corner or will you need a leg?

Is this cement layer likely to be breaching the dpc? It looks like something has been injected at some point in the past.

It's not present all along the wall

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Hmm, how far up in and through are you suspecting the water to have travelled? Exterior wall is kinda looking ok

Yes that brickwork above looks good I think.

It's 280mm above ground level, which is quite high.

Oh, and another question

Why do I have two water tanks? The small one on the right contains opaque water :/

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I was guessing your major concern was with an interior wall - it's a bastard thing that everything is damp atm

Isnt that the overflow tank? (the smaller one, IANAPlumber)

Header tank for a vented central heating system?

it's all screwed into thick osb walls under the plaster with 100mm screws so it feels rock solid.

but i am going to cap off the window on the underside of the desk and probably build some shelves under there along the long wall for storage (think similar to a kallax but with 600mm openings to keep some of my larger board game boxes in) so i'll tie in a few uprights to that about 300mm in from the back.

regarding the table top, I ordered a pack of assorted figure 8 and z type tabletop fasteners (who knew these weren't really a thing outside of amazon/ebay in the uk) . will test both and go with the one i find easiest to install. think it's either making a 2mm inlay with a forstner bit for the figure 8 and chisel the corners off so it can pivot or cut a slot with a router slot cutter for the z type ones to slide in.

missed your reply. it's 18mm. the screws that come with the fasteners i mention above are 14.4 incl the head i think and the thickness of the fastener is 2mm so should sink about 10mm in which is probably fine if i use a decent amount of them spaced out.

Are you sure those holes weren't for clips to carry pipework?

Could be. I assumed they were where some kind of damp proof injection was done..

finished the noggins and cut the plywood top to size today. pretty happy with how it looks.

once the top is attached i want to put a small surround 10-15cm high around the back edge of the desk to cover where it meets the wall and help stop things falling off the back by the window.

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As greenbank said - large one is probably your cold water tank, feeding your hot water system.

Small one is probably the header/expansion tank for your central heating.

Heating water makes it expand a bit and the way this is handled in older setups is to leave the system open to the air so that when the water expands in your pipework/cylinder/radiators it can just push up against the atmosphere.

This probably means your hot water pressure is dictated by the height of the larger tank as the water is basically falling from that height down through your system and out of your taps.

More modern systems tend to be sealed with a closed expansion tank, allowing mains pressure to pressurise the system and fewer critters and bits of debris to get into the tanks.

The opaque water suggests that it is indeed central heating water, which tends to get pretty foul even when you mix corrosion inhibitor into it. It's a closed loop so unless you actively drain and flush it, it just slowly collects gunk as it eats away the insides of your radiators etc.

Anyone removed old sealant from around their double glazing and put in fresh sealant? Any tips?
Also what’s the best way to remove sealant, Stanley blade and acetone?

C Tec Multisolve and there are special tools for removal 0r could get away with a small scraper / blade of some kind. Depends on how careful you need to be about adjacent walls etc.

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made a huge amount of progress yesterday getting my workshop area into some semblance of a usable space.

will be adding a simple stud wall where the black room partition is once my office is finished and building more workbench space along it.

have a mountain of shelf brackets and wall hooks and organisers ready to go up too when i decide on how i'd like to lay out all the tools too.

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Looking for a screw recommendation. I'm installing an engineered wood floor, 18mm think t&g stuff onto a 22mm chipboard subfloor. Manufacturer says you can install with mechanical fasteners diagonally through the tongue so you dont see them. I assume 99% of the world would do this with a nail gun. I would like to do it with screws because i dont have a nail gun, and also it gives the option to reverse it should I ever need to some day.

I've found these tongue tite screws that look up for the job, but they use a tx10 head and my experience with tx10 is frustrating to say the least (bits dont last long at all). https://www.screwfix.com/p/tongue-tite-tx-countersunk-thread-cutting-floorboard-screws-3-5mm-x-45mm-200-pack/85991
Does anyone know of similar small headed screw that is a tx15?

Looking for a screw

Ooh matron

Hire a nailgun to do it, you'll be forever with a screw gun and you've always got the chance of splitting boards too.

I’m sure this has been asked a thousand times, but…
I want to paint my front door bright yellow, it’s solid oak, has a bit of water staining at the bottom and Liz hates it. If it was painted bright yellow she may let it stay. How and other what should I do?

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don't paint it [yellow] , remove all previous coatings (machine sand) apply a stain - you'll find it more sympathetic to the timber and the opacity can be built to appear like paint . Sadolin classic (first coat) and sadolin extra durable for two three more, the 'oil' stuff. Loads of other brands available

For red, blue or green I'm with you, but I suspect transparent yellow stain will look like very shit wood.