Home DIY

Cool, ordered, thanks for your help. I owe you a couple of virtual beers if this works.

I've got a high chair project (or two of them, actually).

They have some kind of lacquer on which I'll need to remove.

Questions:

1. I've got some Paint Panther from a previous project. Will I need some kind of cabinet scraper to remove the varnish? I saw someone using one on a table restoration video on YouTube and it looked great.

2. I'm hoping to paint it with emulsion because we've got so many leftover colours and tester pots. What is the forum recommended top coat for protecting the paint from mucky babies?

Does anyone know where I could get some melamine coated birch ply cut to size? Looking to replace some shelving - thinking face coated ply with the edge grain showing.

I’m in Scotland so it would need to be delivered.

what are good blinds for a UPVC double glazed bi-fold doors?

We have these https://www.blinds-2go.co.uk/bifold-door-blinds

Any tool nerds know what this screwdriver is?
Looks like a Stanley knockoff but is probably older than me, gets used frequently and the tip is still just about perfect.

1 Attachment

@Dramatic_Hammer I think Draper and Stanley had very similar handle shapes. Most likely one of those brands.

It looks similar to both but isn't either, as far as I can tell. It doesn't really matter I suppose - just curious about my favourite screwdriver!

Next week on Me and my spoon Screwdriver ?

I feel you. This lad is my absolute favourite and it stresses me out when my wife borrows it as it never gets put back, lol.

1 Attachment

The colour reminds me of Faithfull who make surprisingly good budget tools with little or no frills.

Why on earth is it stored in a place where your wife has access. You only have yourself to blame :)

Ah mate! My parents have a few of those, including a massive one that was only ever used to open tins of paint.

.

I'm pretty sure my dad had both of those screwdrivers. A whole variety of manky handled yellow ones and a set with the blue ones and also reds which were flat heads. Can't remember the make though.

@hugo7 cheers. Cleaned it with a wire brush and random shit like oven cleaner but without much success in getting a fully clean brick. Lots of the soot came out though which I guess would be good to enable it being painted on.

Once the log burner is in its kind of in permanently - how confident would you be in a paint that doesn't flake next to this much heat?

Thinking either paint the bricks or kind of plaster concrete scree (as in this brochure pic) the back and sides. Or pursue fully cleaning the bricks (which is proving impossible).

Edit - I actually think that picture is some kind of fireproof board

2 Attachments

Fascinating decking removal update. Borrowed a corded drill from neighbour. Lots of torque but all too easy to round off the inside of the square drive decking screws. After doing this a couple of times I found it easier to do the first two turns with a manual screwdriver (often after scraping away a load of crap to find the screw head) before going over the rest with the drill.

About 1/3 of the way through the top layer. I've done 9 of the 31 slats although I'll leave everything supporting the shed alone for now (the garden bloke can deal with that when he gets round to our job; raised beds in, concrete pad for new shed, paving to replace decking, new lawn.) Once the top layer is gone I can borrow a circular saw and chop up the joists. Then pile it all up and await the local tip taking wood (they're only taking household waste/recycling and garden waste and this won't count).

Some shots of before, various rotten boards, during and as I left it tonight, plus the bucket of ~250 screws I've removed so far.

5 Attachments

Don't think I'm saving much in terms of doing it myself instead of getting the garden bloke to remove it, but I hate the idea of it all going into a skip (with screws still in the wood) and then going into landfill, plus my labour is free and it's a good workout so anything it does save me is free money.

Hammer, cheapshit screwdriver with square drive bit, wood saw and borrowed drill. No money spent so far. I get to borrow power tools from neighbour in return for sorting his sometimes uber-tricky Ubiquiti networking shite out.

Biggest worry was finding any number of dead animals under there but the support spars mean it's quite well comparmentalised. No sign of anything so far.

It’s the circle of life/diy...

5 Attachments

Sounds an ideal job for a Yankee screwdriver.

Outdoor floodlight. Any recommendations?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-led-floodlight-50w-black-daylight/901cc

?

Sounds an ideal job for a Yankee screwdriver.

There is no ideal job for a Yankee screwdriver except lending to someone you don't like.

I have used TLC for this kind of thing. Fitted one of these in our garden years ago, it's been working. Handy to be able to light 2 different areas. They do a single head one which is cheaper.

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SME200PIRB.html

I have come to the conclusion I'm unlikely rot be able to afford a proper bathroom refit and redesign anytime soon so going to try and do the majority of it myself/just spruce it up.

First up, the floor, crappy plastic tiles that bounce. I want to rip them all up and replace with either large normal tiles or maybe cork tiles (I like cork).

I know I'll have to level the floor, prob with some thin ply? But that's about as much as I know... going to do some googling but if anyone has done similar and has pointers im all ears.

@chrisbmx116 I did similar in two different places and and planning on doing the same in my house soon. I have previously used cement board (hardiebacker) and tiled on top with good result and it felt super solid.

I have also tiled on top of ply and I wasn't 100% happy - but that may have been my error. I think I used too thin ply and at some very specific points there was still movement/unevenness which meant the grout cracked. It was barely noticeable but as I had done it I was obsessively looking at it to find fault.

When I do it again soon I'm going to use hardiebacker as it provides a much flatter/solid surface that you'd only achieve with much thicker ply (which means trimming doors etc).

I'm an absolute novice with all this so take what I have said with a pinch of salt but thats my experience to date.