Home DIY

Have you called your insurer yet?

Not yet, if it’s outside I’ll fix it myself, because it’s a £10 job to do it’s the labour that’s the killer. If it’s under the floor I’ll make the call tomorrow.

cheers!

I want to box in some bits that run the length of a bedroom wall. It'll be a span of 3.5m, 1.2m tall and 0.3m deep. I was going to build some studwork then cover in 9mm MDF, mantlepiece thing on top and beading for a panelling effect then paint. Can't see any tongue and groove type MDF in the pattern my wife wants. Should I consider plasterboard instead of the MDF? Main concern is getting a neat join between the MDF or plaster sheets spanning the width not sure how to approach.

Plasterboard is a lot cheaper and easier to work with, if you mess up a board it’s £7.
You will likely only have 1 or 2 joins so get feather edge boards and tape/joint.
Use a Stanley or jigsaw for cutting and sureform to tweak fit.

I did this with some walnut veneered mdf with a mitred joint. from a distance it looks great, but shit close up. Would probably do it with plasterboard and paint it if i redid it.

This sounds super frustrating but I'm invested already. Keep us updated please? Hope you get it sorted quickly and easily.

I've always cut plasterboard by scoring with a Stanley blade and knocking it open with my knee. Then cut the back paper with the knife again.

big cuts yes, done a lot of fiddly scribed window reveal stuff that’s an interference fit so knife/knee needs an upgrade.

Thanks for the mdf vs plasterboard advice. Will plan for the latter

Polyfilla, etc are they all the same? Got some rawlpug holes to fill on a bedroom wall, one has about an inch of plaster off around it too

Toupret is my go to brand. Pre-made is fine but I would buy a box of powder and mix your own.

A very easy one I use for small patch up is red devil one time. They sell a small pot.

my wife wants to mount a wee seat (sort of like a hammock) in the kids room. We have sturdy joists in the attic. Any idea what the load bearing capacity of one might be? Ballpark?

I'd probably mount a new thicker beam across several joists and stick the seat into that rather than an existing beam

you'll want to put a wee seat in the bathroom. carpets will smell otherwise

I have Google imaged and do not believe this is a real thing that exists.

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The Leak Saga continues.
We had the water company out today to have a look. Well we have a leak, no shit Sherlock! But it’s gone from an 28 litres an hour to 70 litres and hour. Which is nice.
He was open about not bothering with going through insurance if it turns out to be under the house though, Anecdatally he said that they would only repair the leak and not replace the whole pipe and as there’s one hole…
I explained that to connect to the old rising main I would still have to dig under the slab to do it, but No I can use an Insuduct, which will save digging the floor up. I’ll still have to lay around 50m of pipe and relay the path and patio, but it’s still probably quicker and cheaper in the long run that digging up the oak floor or tiles or carpet or LVT on the concrete floor.
Anyway he was impressed by my work so far and said if I did replace the whole run of pipe he would class it as a repair, so there would be no need for him to inspect the work before signing the repair off.
I’m still no closer to finding the pipe at the house end though, despite more digging and more, but not loads of water. The saga continue …

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Help!! Help ! more help and some other people please

Fun times!

Where is 70 l/hr going though?

We could have trench party. I’ll supply the pizza, sticks and shovels. Actually it’s probably cheaper to just hire a mini digger.

We have a soak away each side of the house that end and a French drain plus the ground is clay so it’s most likely just made it’s own pipe and found it’s way into the sewer

Have you considered moling?

a French drain

Bloody French, coming over here and draining our water.