Home DIY

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16316663/

That's good to know. I did wonder about foam after.

I had the mdf strip on the right already so used double sided tape the caulk on the back.... Which was very tricky to apply in some spots. Then the left was partially self leveled and higher so I just used more caulk.

Not quite what I meant. If I screed the floor which is currently concrete to smooth it out. Will it take the weight of a car?

If you’re talking about self levelling probably not. But if you then put decent thickness ceramic tiles over it then probably yes.

Yes, if you buy a quality screed.

Probably. Screed is apparently fairly incompressible so most of the load will be transferred straight through. The usual failure is when a point load causes the substrate underneath, eg foam insulation, to deform and then the screed cracks. You do seem to need the correct depth of screed depending on if if it is bonded to the concrete or not to prevent it failing via other methods. Which should all be in the datasheet of whatever mix you are considering. Unless you are going to try and mix your own which apparently has a much higher chance of failing even if done by a pro so presumably very high if it is your first time.

When you say quality screed, you don’t mean the cheap stuff off screw fix

Screwfix also stock Mapei.

That's what I did with mine before painting it. It took the weight of a car no problem. Although the car in question only weighed 560kg, so might not constitute a representative sample.

I can't help but think that after time, effort and cost to upgrade from concrete to screed you may as well make the next step up to either those plastic tiles people on pistonheads like. Or even better Dotti commercial tiles.

I’ve got concrete already but the house is from the 60s and the floor is rough as fuck. So screed to smooth it out and then paint.

After some reading bonded seems to be the way to go.

My cars not exactly heavy just under a tonne.

bonded

Bonded what?

It’s just some I’ve read. There is some prime and bond you can put on the concrete before screeding. Presumably it helps the screed keys to the concrete. But I’m no expert.

We used SBR before we poured self levelling for our kitchen, I didnt really think why but assumed it was to seal the porous substrate so that the self levelling didnt dry out too quickly and crack.

Just saying I've procrastinated to that pistonheads thread a few times, and paint never seems to be as economical as you expect, plus has downsides eg you probably need some sort of carpet where the wheels go to stop tyres sticking to the paint and lifting.

I'd definitely make a quick table of the costs for paint vs Ecotiles vs ceramic. If your floor is level enough to put the Ecotiles straight on, then it would be a lot less mess and give a nicer finish.

#2p

dust cobwebs oil spills and damp are good finishes for garages

Cementitious screeds have low adhesive strength to existing cementitious surfaces,
especially those that have not been adequately prepared.

Any primer, from PVA up, will improve the adhesion, if only by damping down dust/laitance that has not been removed.

We could do with some pictures of your garage floor.
If you have already assessed it needs an additional screed coat,
it suggests to me that the floor is not is not in a state to allow
you to just lay tiles/rubber mats,
due to potholes and surface spalling.

I've got a room that i'm about to re-carpet, and some of the floorboards have been replaced with ones that are the wrong thickness. Any recommendations on what to use to shim them up higher so that's its flat? Sourcing OG ones isn't quite worth the cost for this room.

I've got some of the plastic wedge shims, but wondered if there is something else I could or should use? Perhaps I could use the mitre saw to cut down custom thickness ones.

https://www.orbitalfasteners.co.uk/categories/plastic-shims-packers?page=2

2311411 might suffice?

Could you put a small piece of wood at the correct thickness on just the joist below?

I hate the position of this radiator.
What is stopping me from getting it
Moved to the right and further up the wall, apart from aesthetics.
And how much would I be looking at.

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Would you be happy with the pipes being extended rather than moved? You'd need the tiles taken up to move the pipes. The trickiest part is it will leave holes in your tiles where it's currently mounted when it's moved.

£100-150 for a plumber to come out.

A random question- there's an airbrick in my back room that seems to mostly vent into the back of a skirting board. Perhaps the very lowest quarter of it is venting into the floor joists.

Is there any reason it would be doing this, other than a bit of a bodge?

It looks like it's been added to the property as part of a renovation at some point. There's a damp proof membrane (plastic) that seems to wrap under the brick.
I can't work it out. The wall is a solid wall (10 inch) and the outside has been rendered- the airbrick is kind of tucked up behind the bottom of the render outside.
Obviously it's causing cold draughts, doesn't feel like a good idea just to block it up though.
Does anyone have experience of anything similar?

We've put new plasterboard ceilings up and some of the edges are a bit rough because we're noobs. The walls are going to be skimmed. How best to finish the joint between ceiling and walls without using coving?

Got pics? Your plasterer might just scrim tape it, or you could squeeze in some foam for them to scrim in the corners.

We did a shit job with our insulated plasterboard in the kitchen and the plasterer managed to get it looking sharp in spite of us.