Home DIY

How long did it take you to do 40m2? I'm looking at about the same on this side. I don't need it especially perfect and the quotes I'm getting are all the other side of £700 which is jsut out of the question for me at the moment :(

I did our through lounge. It wasn't so difficult and the results were ok. Think I hired kit for 2-3 days but can't remember how much it was. The key is in the prep and then taking your time, doing the sanding carefully and robotically, working your way through the grades.
It's difficult to see scratches and blemishes once you've sanded but they'll show up when you put any kind of finish down.
You'll see talk of mixing the dust with pva to make a matching wood filler. Don't do it, it's a bitch to sand and clogs the paper. Use a proper floor filler

Hired the bona belt sander, edger and dust control system from http://www.floorsanderhirelondon.co.uk/

Sanding belts and discs were on a sale or return basis

I hired kit for 2 days, but was done a bit quicker than that and that included getting an edge sander swapped out as it stopped working.

I got the Bona Flexi 8", Bona Edger 7" and Bosch 2" corner sander for stairs from these guys

Edit: Just found my invoice - £190 including a shitonne of belts/discs

I want to get out front garden sorted as we're having the pebbledash removed from our house.

My house is on the left. Front wall is knackered and the front garden is really awful concrete.
I want to replace the wall with a new brick one but with horizontal timber batons across the top third (similar to attached image). I like the look and will also hide the bins from street view, give some privacy whilst still allowing light to pass through. For the garden I want to tile from the front gate to the porch step but not sure what to do with the rest of the front (ideas?)

Is this a job for a builder or gardener? Anyone had similar work sorted?

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I am moving a load of stud wall around/modifying doorways etc. and is currently constructed with 44 x 69. I need 70 x 3m lengths of the same but the only place I can find it is Tradepoint and I need it before they process my account.

Could I just use 38 x 63? I'm partitioning commercial space/workshops so no need to be completely square and the drywall won't be being skimmed. I imagine 3mm variance in a few places each side of wall wont matter too much?

Or:

Anyone know another source (London) or have a Tradepoint account I can 'borrow' this weekend?

Would have thought you could get a better service/price from a local builders merchant. Where are you in London?

Have you considered using metal framing, for the quantity you are using I'd have thought it would be more reliable (straight and dry) than wood. I've never looked at the prices though, maybe it's crazy money.

The quality of stud these days is so bad I'm not surprised people are switching over. Of course it complicates wiring a little as the metal stud can rip the insulation off and you have to follow strict guidelines for fire safety when making holes for sockets.

I spend a lot of time finding decent straight lengths of timber at the merchants. I wouldn't just buy a shit load and have it delivered unless you're building a boat and want a lot of curvy wood :)

N4 and need to use wood really as I'm much more confident working with it. I will be collecting it and ordering +20% surplus which should mean I get enough straight stock for the project.

I'm shuffling along 4 stud walls (3.1 x 4.5m) and building a 5th, then need to move all the doors etc. along. If I can find the 44 x 69 by the weekend then it will make my life much easier.

Edit: Jewsons have got 45 x 70. That'll do.

Scaffolding up, all walls stripped and started to repair all the cracks.

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Extension people...

2 bed semi in Brighton (not a particularly fancy bit but without 5 minutes walk to Kemptown, 10 minutes to seafront etc, quiet - lovely views blah).

Bought in 2015 for 237k. Spent 12k on a kitchen, plastered and redecorated everywhere (it needed it), new fixtures/fittings/electrics etc, same old bathroom but it's on the cards for the summer. 2-bed houses in the same street to a similar standard going for about 310k at the moment.

Looking at options now either to move on or to stay and extend. I doubt we'd be able to get what we want if we sold - we'd probably want to find at least 200k down the back of a sofa to realistically live somewhere nicer in Brighton which is where we want to be.

To stay and extend we'd get a home improvement loan and either build up or out with the aim being buying us time as family grows while we save up some more dollar and also acting as an investment to help us reach dollar faster.

We've got quite a large garden which makes me think building out is the way, but then we'd just have an extra living area rather than a new bedroom/bathroom and I wonder how much value that adds to a place?

The garden is also tiered steeply on a hill which is a bit of a pig for extending outwards as you'd realistically need to lower all the terraces to make it viable so you weren't just looking at a wall out the window once you extended.

To build up we'd get a mansard(?) conversion and add an en-suite with a large master bedroom.
To build out we'd extend the kitchen and open it up into a large and bright open plan kitchen/diner thing leaving the living room at the front of the house intact.

In either option we'd also build a decent office at the end of the garden on top of the hill with the view out to sea/big glass windows etc.

Would building up or building out be more profitable for us by the time we came to sell? To be clear I want to make as much from selling this place as the market will allow so practicality or our desires while living here for the next 2 years (3 max) aren't issues - just what's the most cost effective way of seeing the best return.

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I paid the architect good money for those drawings ^

The money might have been good; shame about the drawings.... :)

I paid the architect good money for those drawings

Was that the local one who drinks at Fox on the Downs? ;)

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In my experience 20% is optimistic but you may get lucky. what you are asking for is 3 by 2 par. 3" by 2" planed all round, you lose a little in the planing hence the overall measurements being less than 3"x 2" rough sawn. B&Q have been sneaking their planed wood down a few mm although in fairness they have some good straight stock and dry in comparison with most of the timber yards I visit, and the guys in the yards generally don't care what they sell you so you need to lean on them.

It's the sharp edges of the holes in the metal that can damage the insulation. Same problem with the flush metal backboxes if you don't fit grommets, even the plastic pb backboxes will take a chunk out of a cable sheath. Plasterboard backboxes in metal frame walls should have fire insulation surrounds, presumably you're insulating the walls between the plasterboard.

I still have some pieces of stud I removed from the Barbican years ago, each one stamped with a union mark to show it was fit for the job! All of it straight and largely knot free.

Decided to go for it as I don't have a spare £700 to get someone else to do it. Grabbed the sanders from this place and one room down:

Cheers for the steer.

Oh boy.

Yeah I know that - we'll have to wait and see. We've agreed a fixed price with the company so if there's more, then there's more. Fingers crossed as the pebbledash makes the place look so god damn sad!

In terms of wall/front garden any steer on whether it's a job for a builder or gardener?

A landscape gardener should be able to handle it but you could try and find a bricklayer for the first part, let it dry out properly and then find a carpenter for the remaining bit. Problem is most trades are working in teams doing renovations at the moment so good luck finding individuals, you'll probably need to deal with a builder.

Ah this looks great. Working up to doing ours. What did you finish it with?

A gardener would likely sub the bricklaying and tiling, whereas a builder could also do the hardstanding for the bins (three/four paving slabs?).

And if the garden is just going to be gravel or similar they could also do that, but laying some weed suppressing membrane and emptying a couple of bags of stone is hardly worth paying someone else to do.

If you want the garden planted I'm not sure there's enough to make it worthwhile for a gardener, but they would have plenty of ideas about what to do.

A single dwarf ornamental tree or a bushy shrub (eg Fuschia), with ground cover planting?

Any front gardens around your way that you like the look of? Anyone who's put work into their garden will be more than happy to talk to you about it, pass on tips (and perhaps plants) and may be up for the job or at least help you with it.

That's a good idea - I'll try and look for something I like.

I was thinking of planting bamboo at the back of the screens and round the bins - I like the idea of plants rather than gravel etc.