Home DIY

Yep, stripping the risers is hard work. I’m going to pull more carpet up this weekend to see what the wood is like and get a carpenter friend of a friend in to take a look before I make any decisions. Cheers

just done mine (still need to paint the skirting, etc) and would never do again. I'd go carpet, I only went this way because it was the cheapest option. I used an IR paint stripper, Festool belt sander and festool rotax sander and it still took me 3 days.
Mine are two toned due to the use of a stair runner but I'm hoping this might fade a little or I may eventually install a carpet runner when I've some spare cash.

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If it’s any conciliation they look properly brilliant

Yep, great job. Am now thinking treat wood, paint white and stair runners.
I just can’t bear looking at this tatty carpet for much longer

thanks, I'm still at the stage that they don't look good enough for the amount of effort which went into it!

that's the reason I started mine, the carpet was worn through in several places. That would definitely be the easiest option but the cost of carpet runners was higher than I thought.

I did this a few years ago.

It took days of effort and a lot of swearing, lots of job satisfaction but next time I paid someone to do it.

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Stairs project parked for the minute, now a small plumbing job question.

I forgot to wrap our outside tap in a recent frost and it’s sheared off. Is there a clever way of extracting the threaded part of the tap left inside the wall plate or easier to just replace the whole thing?

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I guess if you buy a new tap it comes with the wall fixture ?

No, they’re separate. It’s not the cost, just the extra hassle of removing wall plate and installing new one. Was hoping someone might have a clever trick to remove the old threaded bit

If the tap wasn't tightened by an over enthusiastic strongman, you might get lucky with a pair of pliers inserted into the void, then opened against the inside surface.

Sadly it appears plumber was doing his best Geoff Capes impression that day.

I managed once with using a hacksaw blade similar to the stuck seatpost removal technique.

Thanks all, ended up just replacing the whole thing.

That’s weird, it’s -30c outside my door now and with more than 3 decades in this hovel our outdoor faucet has never been wrapped, in fact it doesn’t even have a separate indoor shutoff.

-30! Where are you?

I know, I was surprised. Maybe just a weak tap? Anyway, glad I’m not dealing with those temps

Winnipeg, the first real cold this year, we’ve been coasting along in the minus teens and single digits for too long.

Also Winnipeg, South Headingley area. It’s a sweltering minus 25 here lol.
Strongly recommend an inside shut off. A few tears ago I saw a pipe burst and the resident did not realise until the basement flooded.
Ideally 2 valves close together so you can drain the pipe that goes outside.

Also: get a DAP kit and blow closed cell foam into the space between your sill plate and your joists. You’ll have to wait till April because it doesn’t cure well in cooler basements.

See, that's what I thought too but when my uncle redid the plumbing in 1991 when we bought the place he said it's not necessary for us.

Poured five bags of self leveller on my living room floor yesterday. Initial results look good this morning: smooth, at least, but there's areas where it definitely isn't flat. Or particularly level. Is that normal? Should I try and grind any higher spots down? Or pour another thin top layer and hope that fixes it? Or leave it because I'm only going to make it worse?

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Did you just pour it out and walk away? Self-leveller is a misnomer really, you do need to help it along with levelling with a long baton then spiked roller.

Quite commonly it's mixed with more water than the instructions state so it's even less viscous, for better results.
Pouring another thin (i.e. dilute) layer on top will be the least work, but be aware the height difference to adjacent rooms will only increase, and that it is a dark art that requires practice so great results on your first attempt is luck-dependent.

Screwfix have £12 off a £50 online spend today, pretty good discount.

I smoothed it all out and pushed it into the corners with an 18" trowel and spiky roller. A long batton would have been more effective, I can see that.

It's a two-part SLC I've used (arditex na) so I was married to the manufacturer's ratio of powder:latex (1 bag to 1 bottle). It came out pretty viscous and I imagine a thin skim coat is unlikely to run into the low spots unless I have a way of forcing it in there. Perhaps I could try upping the latex in the mix? The data sheet does suggest you can do that for smaller areas.

Sorry that's annoying. I think the answer depends on how out it is and what you are planning to floor it with.

This is a brilliant discount!