Home DIY

Champion Timber in Bromley are excellent. They machined us some skirting to match the original.
10/10. Would trade again.

https://www.championtimber.com/branch-locator/bromley

Thanks.
Localish too.

Engineered boards with a (very, very, very thin) "real wood" top layer. Had a fun few days of realising I messed up and ordered too little and that B&Q have since discontinued it. Managed to track down enough extra stock at various stores around the country and have basically bought all of it.

Advice here has been helpful, thank you. I feel like I can probably manage with just a jigsaw or circ saw plus a multitool for fiddly bits. Will take longer than if I had a mitre saw, but I have no other need for one currently.

I did it with a mitre saw on a stand one time but that was with 2 people. Otherwise crosscutting with a jigsaw is too easy.

What’s the best option for sealing this downpipe into the drain? Whatever goes in will be buried under soil so needs to be a good fit I imagine..

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Id re-cement again if I was you.

I have a mitre saw you’re welcome to borrow if you’re in London. Comes with a stand if you need that.

Victorian terrace, had a plasterer round the other day who was suggesting instead of just skimming/replastering external walls on 1st floor putting in plasterboards with 27mm insulation. Is this pretty standard to do now? My concern is around the breathability for those houses and risking creating damp issues? Any thoughts?

Unless you were going to plaster skim with chalk / lime plaster, the only difference it would make is better insulation.

I'd only be really concerned if there was cement render on the outside too, and if it was ground floor.

we have two painted staircases in our house - they're painted in one colour and they always show up lots of dust, dirt, hair etc. I think adding a fleck to the finish would help disguise a lot of this

is it even possible to get flecked paint tho ?

Okay thanks, outside will be freshly repointed and cleaned bricks

Do them in silver / black Hammerite. That’d be sick.

Actually, expect to see it on my Instagram sometime soon.

What is the forum choice when it comes to treating wooden (pine) floors. Needs to be reasonably hardwearing. I had thought of treating with Osmo Polyx as the kitchen worktops have held up well with that, although no-one walks on those! Thanks

Osmo is good for floors too, pretty much slap it on everywhere...

Osmo is good a easy to apply, but if it’ll get a pounding / mopped all the time then Bona Mega or similar is much tougher.

Did my floor in Osmo Polyx, but it’s beech rather than pine. Looks great (I used the colourless semi matte 3065).

Fiddes floor wax is a bit cheaper and sets harder, which some people prefer. But I reckon it scratches easier, and scratches show up a lot more.

We had a little flood in our kitchen yesterday (thankfully just rainwater). Lino started bubbling up in the middle so I took it up to find this below - looks like 2/3 layers of plywood incl some tongue and groove with rubber tiles glued on top.

I have found a source for the same tiles - is it as simple as replacing the ply, stapling it all down then gluing the tiles on? Anything I need to be careful of?

Cheers

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What’s this called? (It locates the PVC window so it closes properly)

Mine has broken, so closing it leaves the bottom of the window ajar.

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Boilers. What's the general consensus?

The place I'm in was a rental before and I'm in the process of updating (almost) everything. Got me thinking should I replace the boiler while I'm doing this work?
There's no problems with it from what I can tell and I'd only be replacing as a piece of mind.

Get it serviced, the engineer doing the service can let you know if it's good for another year or so or if it's kaput.

If it was previously a rental, it should have been regularly inspected.

If you don't have the paperwork, look for an engineer's sticker, maybe inside the lid.

Yours look to be Side hung friction hinges, but the same applies....

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/14604189/­

What's the general consensus?

It’s it’s fifteen or so years old replace it. Unless it’s 30 years old in which case it will last forever ;)

Worth looking at its location, output and what it’s doing, all might be stupid / wrong like a 15kw combi in your garage that’s doing hot water in an area with shit water pressure for a six bedroom house and puts its flue through the back wall at eye height.

If you are re doing everything I’d fit the best heating and hot water system I could; it’s the last one you’ll buy because we’ll all be on heat pumps in space year 2040

No chance, well still be fitting boilers then now matter what bs they are currently coming out with.

If you are re doing everything I’d fit the best heating and hot water system I could; it’s the last one you’ll buy because we’ll all be on heat pumps in space year 2040

Indeed. Gas boilers were due to be banned (for new builds) from 2023 but that seems to have slipped with no update on when it has moved to.

There's a push (but just a push) from the IEA that no new fossil fuel boilers should be sold globally from 2025 onwards.

Obviously replacing existing boilers in homes should get some protection but it could easily become expensive quickly a few years down the line.

More info here: https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/boilers/uk-gas-boiler-ban

A ground source heat pump would be interesting to fit in our first floor flat.