Home DIY

Yes ideally I would like wet stuff. Do you have a single boiler providing both radiators and underfloor? or underfloor everywhere? Your floorboards sounds like "engineered" board, which I think is slightly more tolerant of UF than the solid stuff.

as for paints, i've always put great store in the 'international' brand for exterior woodwork

@graunch
Yep "engineered" you're correct, I'd forgotten the proper name for it and yes I'm running off same boiler as my water (megaflo, which is GREAT) and regular radiators BUT the mistake I made was running UF and Rads off the same loop/circuit so that the main central heating has to be on AND the thermostat has to be up at higher temp than what I want my UF to be at. In retrospect my UF should have been connected up to the boiler on it's own and therefore truly independent. In practise it's not much of an issue but if I was doing it again I would separate it. I guess I could retrofit rad thermostats on each rad and rely on these instead of the room stat.

Going back to quality of the flooring, we used KersaintCobb, which I think at that time had only just started making wooden flooring. My installer said that cheaper brands he'd seen were out by as much as 3mm from one end of the plank to the other and it made laying it a nightmare and therefore more like to fail in the future.

@Brun
might be considered a bodge but have you considered simply scraping off the loose/flakey paint and where there's a large difference in the surface between paint/wood then filling and sanding it to a smooth finish. I've had decorators in the past that argued if the paints is solid why strip it. It's always felt like a bodge to me but it sorta makes sense.

Hmm, hadn't thought about that. Guess my main concern is making sure the new paint adheres properly and doesn't look like this again anytime soon. If that can be done without taking it all the way back to bare wood I'd certainly consider it.

Thanks for the other suggesting, very useful. With the exception of the charcoal snorkel, obvsly.

@brun,
my front door is done like this, i.e. not ALL burnt off and it's been like it for 15 years plus, I get it painted every few years. There's probably still some original Edwardian paint on there no doubt! You still need to ensure that any exposed wood is primed and knots sealed etc but otherwise sound paint is sound paint and makes a good base for new paint provided it's keyed and undercoated.
I suppose it comes down to what's easier scraping off the loose, filling and sanding the flaky parts or stripping, part filling and sanding the entire door?

Pah.

Breathing tube hanging out the nearest window.

I repainted a whole load of wooden window and door frames a few years ago. Scrape off what you can, sand the rest. If it's still adhered then don't worry, just give it a light sand (ie not 60 grit!) to give the paint a surface to adhere on to - every bit of bare wood you leave needs priming so less is better. After that, fill and prime anything that needs it and start glossing. We used Dulux Weathershield which worked very well.

i'd definitely weigh up the costs associated with underfloor heating vs a simple radiator. we had our loft done and its almost finished and by golly its hot up there and you definitely notice the difference with all the bucket loads of celotex they put up there.
unless your struggling for space i'd definitely recommend a radiator over underfloor heating. that's only based on me being cheap than anything else mind.

I've got underfloor wet heating.....I then pinned it with a nail gun!!!11!

@villa-ru
I should have emphasised the wet!

It was only diddly little brad of 15mm so not even enough to go through wooden flooring.

Anyone have any tips to bring back the lustre to my hall floor? I'd like to clean them up and use something to protect them. The tiles are very soft so something not too harsh.

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I'm sure I posted some time ago about the problem we were having with damp/mould/condensation and thinking it might be caused by the recent installation of wall cavity insulation.

The installers are coming to pump it all out this week. They don't in anyway think it's responsible for our problems, oh no, but it will be removed so we can 'find out what the real problem is.'

I used an all in one shellac based primer and undercoat on a gate and it's expensive but incredibly tough.

A litre would do the door and frame easily. You want to put it in thin and avoid having to rub out any drips or brush marks because that is easier said than done. Like I said, it's tough. Then two coats of gloss.

The proper way to do it would be to strip it back, primer, undercoat and two coats of gloss.

There are no shortcuts with exterior wood if you want a lasting finish. Go hard or go UPvC.

So my wife has come home with a couple of Ikea lights. These use hooks to attach to the ceiling in place of standard pendant/roses and have a terminal block for attaching to the house wiring. This I understand and, using my rudimentary understanding of electricity and no small amount of insulation tape, I have successfully fitted our dining room light.

However, when it came to fitting it's smaller brethren in the hallway, I encountered a problem. The current rose is attached to not one set of wires but two. I understand (or Google informs me) that this is one of these and allows for more than one light switch. I have no idea how this works with the Ikea lights and their holes for a single live and neutral wire.

What do I do now? My wife needs her lights attached to the ceiling and working.

@Trunkie
have a look here, I know it's a bit laxy pointing you at URLs and you may ahve already found em but.
http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/tiles/tiles.htm
http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/ppuk_discovering_article_015.shtml

We bought one of these encaustic floors out of Loot (anybody remeber Loot?) but never got around to laying it, I still have it in bags in the garden.

I think you're lucky your's don't look too bad.

good luck

Lighting wiring can get confusing when it wasn't you who installed it, and it is almost always unlabelled.

How many cables (each being 2/3 core) were present in the dining room? It may have been the end of a loop, whereas the hallway lamp may be mid-loop. A twin-switchable lamp does not require an extra cable at the ceiling rose.

@beseku
sorry this might be a bit obvious but was there not two cables coming from the old light in the ceiling to junction box?

as ever, a picture would be very helpful, can you post one up?

@TheShipwright @diable thanks guys

the saga continues.

i replaced the crimp spades to the best of my ability and slotted them on. to my delight, the 'privacy' button now works and when i ring the buzzer downstairs, laner informs me there is a (v loud) buzzing. hurrah! the doorbell works! :)

the intercom system, however, still does not, and neither does the 'unlock' button to let the visitor gain access to the building.

so, though it's improved drastically as we are now aware when someone is ringing the doorbell, unsure of what to do to fix the next bit...

pictures....

re-reading your document > http://www.intercomsrus.com/handset%20pdf/GDX%20Audio%20Door%20Intercom%20Handset%20Data%20Sheet.pdf < can you describe what is and isn't working more clearly against the described operation - sounds/lights/buttons pressed

with the cover off and marigolds on, if you press the buttons on the pcb, what happens (i ask this as it may be as simple as the front facia panel is bent and the button actuators on this panel aren't making contact with the pcb buttons)

also check you haven't dislodged the 4 stripey telephone wires going into terminals 1, 2, 3, 4, ensure they are all secure

lastly, once you've fedback on the points above, and if we can't solve it, there may be an anti-tamper lockout on the central controller that has detected a fault and needs resetting for your flat - you'd have to contact the facility management co to complain that 'suddenly' your door ain't working :/

loath to post pics of my v shoddy crimping of those tiny tiny crimp spades but needs must... i'll do what you've said first then feed back. fanx

Anybody got a recommendation for a decent handyman in SE London (SE13 to be precise).

There's a few minor bits that need doing for out tenants and the letting company's 'engineer' (ha!) couldn't even work out how to adjust a door at the hinges so it closes properly.

It would be about two hours' work total for me. Probably less for someone with better DIY expertise.