Home DIY

Hard to see why firms don't just put ballparks prices on their website

Too many variables - the customer will either be scared away if they're too high on the website, or annoyed when the cheap price online isn't possible for their job.

They have a policy where if it gets damaged during shipping or assembly they replace it no worries

The reason they do that is that use a royal mail delivery service with no insurance. We got a sink delivered from them which turned up in a box that was conspicuously demonstrating the sounds of the smashed porcelain. I pointed it out to the delivery driver who shrugged and said, they had no responsibility for the state of the items and we'd have to take it back to Ikea for a refund. Had to drive to Ikea to return it. They had none in stock so I had to go home again. I then forgot to pay the Dart charge and got a fine. A replacement did eventually turn up in one piece. Massive faff tho.

what state the boards are in

This is the most important thing IMO. We've got old pine floorboards throughout, apart from the tiles in the bathroom, lino in the kitchen, and the hallway that I replaced with reclaimed beech.

I fucking hate the old pine boards. One room was sanded and varnished. The gaps are massive, loads of the boards are in shite shape, there's lots of boards without tongue and groove because they've been cut and lifted to lay pipe/cable. Personally, unless they looked really good, I wouldn't bother - but that is partially due to a personal vendetta from living in places where they've pulled carpets and sanded knackered boards. It makes the place noticeably colder, and unless the boards are in good nick, it will be hard to get them looking decent IMO.

That is probably not the advice you wanted tbf. I would say however, that if you do plan on doing it, that it's worth spending the time to get everything as solid as possible, and take the time to fill the gaps properly. You can buy long slivers of timber to hammer into big gaps that you cut and then sand flush.

There's endless advice for the sanding bit tho.

For sure. I'm just being grumpy really. But if you do manage to speak to tradespeople they seem to complain of spending way too much time generating quotes and not enough doing work :)

@fatberg my top tip is get someone with experience to look at the boards, or at least post photos on here. I didn't think mine could reasonably be saved, but hindsight suggests they perhaps could and it would have saved me a lot of hassle and money. Of course one of the real issues for me is the project taking much longer and costing much more than expected, but that's DIY, I knew it would happen and it's still caught me out.

Great shout. They're winning so far as they've actually responded to my message and confirmed they work in Edinburgh!

Got any photos of the work they did for you in the past?

no worries - previous work was supplying/fitting cork flooring (comes in sheets/tiles) in our extension. not much to look at but will try get some pics

Thanks dudes. I went back and read your posts on sanding and watched some vids too. I think I’m going to give it a go. There’s a Jewson hire place 100m from here which helps make the DIY prospect easier.

It’s an 4 storey Victorian terrace townhouse and we already have sanded and varnished boards in hallway, living room and study on the upper ground floor. They have gaps but are in good nick and I think they look great for the age of the house and with the original features.

The room I’m contemplating is the main bedroom on the floor above. Currently thick carpet and underlay. Part of me thinks it’s madness to make it colder but I fucking hate the cream carpet and sleep with the windows open 10 months a year anyway so wtf.

If you've already done it elsewhere and are happy, then you might as well I guess. If you can, I'd do some research into hire places and machines. The Jewsons hire place might not have great sanders - and it will make a difference. I'd also consider how motivated you are to drag all the machinery up there.
Also, make a serious effort to seal the room in for dust. It will get fucking everywhere if you're not careful.

Not DIY, but is anyone using something like this?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/sylvania-rechargeable-under-cabinet-led-pir-sensor-light-white/579gv

I have a hive bulb in the hallway which does a decent job on a motion sensor, but the simplicity and cost of these appeals. Ideally I'd like them to have customisable brightness and activation threshold (in terms of how dark it is before they turn on) but google's not finding anything along those lines.

Added emergency anti child latch to spare bedroom/temp office door and I've never felt happier.

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Don't look at the crack.

Here’s the living room

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And hall

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Bedroom is 5 x 3.7 m so I reckon about £600 to get done. Weighing that up with c.£300 in hire fees and supplies.

EDIT Just had a peek under the carpet. Boards seem in similar nick to the above. Been quoted £695 up to 20m sq, then a rate thereafter.

Reclaimed beech on top, annoying pine below.

Admittedly that’s a particularly bad bit of the pine, but those are the bits you notice after all. And I still need to put a threshold in over the weird bit of unfinished pine, and cover the screws to stop them squeaking.

Is that price for just sanding, or sanding and finishing?

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Sand and finish but no filling or repairs

Are you gonna try and do some repairs and filling yourself first? I guess only you will know if it's worth it or not money wise. Saving yourself a lot of running around may well be worth the Extra £3-400 I guess.

I didn't find sanding and lacquering our floors that bad at all. It was just very messy. That wood dust just stuck to the walls. Mine were in pretty good condition though (and not old, c.1959) and any breaks, splits, and blemishes are just part of the history. I replaced a few lengths and some small sections too.

Don't forget to use appropriate nails,
https://www.screwfix.com/p/easyfix-cut-clasp-nails-2-65-x-50mm-1kg-pack/11092?tc=ET1&ds_kid=92700048793290424&ds_rl=1249413&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrafW2f3_7AIVZWHmCh07ZAPOEAQYASABEgKwbPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I used this stuff for lacquer,
https://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/product/manns-extra-tough-floor-varnish

.

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You can see some areas where the lacquer didn't really take which I've been told is probably where something oil based was spilled and it's soaked deep in the wood.

I'm probably going to do my floors with Osmo Polyx Satin. Anyone got opinions on whether the Osmo Protector primer is a good idea for a kitchen, or overkill?

Anyone got any tips for changing from gas to an induction hob? Looking at 13amp induction hobs so i don't need to increase the load and can plug in to the same mains socket the gas hob is currently using.

Do i need to install an isolator even though the current gas hob doesn't look it uses one? And should i use a gas safe engineer to cap the supply or is this a straight forward procedure?

it worked! New wire, button and batteries and we have a ring!

Thanks again.

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• bell.mp4

All this floor chat has me nervous about pulling up the carpet in the lounge. Was hoping it would be straight forward. I'll let you know next week!