Home DIY

I need to invest in a new track saw - I've got a Schleppach which is fucking terrible, quite honestly. Wobbles on the rails, isn't accurate, struggles to deliver a 90 degree cut.

I was set on a Festool - hadn't heard of the Mafell before. Whatever I go for I'd like to be a tool for life.

If you're looking at the festool try a google search "festool nut". It should give you the nuts and bolts website, they have a lot of deals on festool stuff and are generally the cheapest price. It's a slippery slope though.

For the Mafell you can find a deal or two around but the rails are usually more expensive than festool, I have mafell and festool rails and the mafell works on either but I don't mix the saws on the rails as the edge that gives you the reference point for the cut may vary. I use the festool in the CMS table so it doesn't go on the rails any more.

I would take a close look at the festool because they adopted a few of the things that made the mafell better. The mafell motor is better though.

Bosch rails are manufactured by Mafell, exactly the same, but less money.

Nice, thanks for the tips.

And thanks for that tip too!

Our bathroom ceiling is starting to peel.

I'm not sure though, is it as simple as scrape/sand the flaking paint (presuming it's just paint and not some plaster etc) off and paint over it?

Not sure how clear it is in that photo but kinda looks like it's been painted in this area before?

Maybe there's more I need to do to make a proper job of it?

The main causes are moisture or grease on the surface, you should check that the area is not damp, it looks from the photo as if it could be.

If it's not damp then you could prime it with an oil based primer like zinsser cover all, then paint emulsion on top.

I don't think it is 'damp' damp.

When the room gets steamy, having a shower etc, this bit of the ceiling does seem to get more condensation on it, I wondered if there was a metal bracket embedded in the ceiling in that area or something.

We are top floor so fingers crossed it's not dampness coming through from outside...

Edit: Just been and checked and it feels bone dry right now. The ceiling does sound pretty hollow there though. The entire ceiling in the bathroom looks pretty terrible actually, looks like it's been patched and filled in numerous places.

Will get around to repainting at some point and see how it lasts.

I'd sand back, and either use a primer as suggested or put a mist coat on before another coat since the current paint looks like it has delaminated from the coat underneath. I'd use acrylic paint like Leyland Eggshell. I've never had any issues with it in damp. Probably because its impervious.

I suppose if condensation collects there it's possible that's the cause. In which case you need a paint that's waterproof as rodabod suggested. Although I'm not sure an acrylic eggshell would be. It's also possible that a moisture Vapor permeable paint would be better as the moisture can travel through the paint, that will only help if the layer underneath is stable.

Soz if I missed it but what's the story here? You're going to live in it?

Are you actually doing this yourself?

Oooh, posh stud walls. That's a fuck load of engineering bricks too, is that because it's a kind of load bearing gable end?

Enzymatic wallpaper stripper is ace.

Easy kids. Sorry for the bait question, but any recommendations on white paint for walls and ceilings?

Am painting a whole two bed flat so the fewer coats I need to do the better, esp with the (historic) water damage I need to paint over. Is there any diff between the really expensive stuff and the bogstandard paint?

IME I've often regretted buying cheap paint but after I said fuck it, never again a few years back, I've never regretted buying expensive paint. Or paint that isn't suspiciously cheap, rather. Good white wall paint will cover well after two coats. Shit paint could mean four coats before it starts looking ok. The money saved really isn't worth it.

Edit: I'm sure there's very expensive paint that's not worth the money as well. I just meant don't buy cheap crappy paint.

Buy some decent, non-shedding brushes for cutting in the edges,
then buy and learn to use a roller.
Start with the smallest / least used room until you have learnt to
equally load up the roller with paint.

Wash down the paper with Sugar Soap, with two buckets.
One has the sugar soap solution,
the other is the rinsing water for the rag/cloth you are using to wash/clean your wall paper.
Change the rinsing water frequently, as soon as neccessary, so you are only ever washing the walls with clean sugar soap solution.

Quality water based paint can be 'let down' with 10-15% water to thin it,
for the first coat,
to reduce the 'grab' of dry wallpaper as the roller makes first impact.

All depends on the ventilation in the bathroom and how much condensation is created.

Definitely this. My bathroom had a terrible fan and was like a turkish sauna after 2 minutes of a shower, with the steam hanging around afterwards for ages. There were actual drips of condensation covering the ceiling. No matter what the paint, if the bathroom's this wet it won't last.

Got a proper fan installed and the problem went away.

The internal walls in my apartment are made out of something like this:

And I want to wall-mount my TV on one of those walls.

What are the chances I can just cut a couple of holes (one above the other), and just push the cables through the holes in the blocks?

In the tutorials I've found on youtube they are always mounting TVs on drywall with nice big cavities to run cables.

If you were cutting large enough holes for socket back boxes and wiring some connecting sockets, you would have enough room to use a small mirror to help fishing the cables through. There's a chance that the holes are lined up despite the blocks usually being offset and with a fair amount of overspill.

Electricians usually use a rod set/fish tape with a variety of attachments to help in this type of scenario.

Should I be using some kind of conduit and terminating all the cables at the holes? Or can I just put some large grommets on the holes and just push cables all the way through?

You don't really want to run a power cable from a socket through the wall. You can but it's a massive bodge. You shouldn't need to use conduit inside the wall.

A lot depends on where your current socket is. If you've got lucky and it's directly under the back of the tv then you can run a spur to a socket behind the TV. You can only fit a new socket horizontally or vertically in line with an existing one. If you can go that route you may as well have the signal cables wired properly too, the ends of the cables make it difficult to find grommets or any neat finishing otherwise.

If you must run the standard cables through the wall you could still use a back box/front plate to try and neaten up the hole/save on making good. The cables should have a bit of mechanical protection if you think they will be dragging across metal etc, plastic is ok though.

I would just push them through.
You can get your cables routed by feeding string through the top hole and using hoover at the bottom hole to vacuum up the end of the string.

This morning a patch of stains, and brown dripping water appeared in the corner celling of my bathroom.

My first thought was a leak in the roof. But I checked above and there didn’t seem to be any signs of water ingress.

Background:

· The ex-owners were heavy smokers.

· We repainted the bathroom celling (the rest is tiled)

· I am not sure what type of paint, but there seemed to be a bit of a reaction with how it adhered.

· I think there is a fan, which isn’t working at the moment.

· The stains / drips are in what is probably the coldest corner – x2 external walls, furthest away from the radiator.

Do we think that it is most probably condensation build up caused by the lack of proper ventilation over the winter?

Also any tips on how to fix / install a ceiling fan? Are they things that commonly break?

Cheers.

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Rough diagram of the bathroom - the criss-cross area is where the damp and staining is, and a pic of the bathroom fan in-line extractor fan in roof - it sits halfway in between the duct tubing from bathroom ceiling to some as yet unidentified exit.

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The markup for cutting MDF is insane though. A 2440 x 1220 x 12mm thick board is about £15. If I want that ripped into three long boards of 2440 x 400 it would cost between £25 and £35 + delivery. So that's a markup of at least £10 per board, increasing if you want smaller pieces.

I could buy a Festool ts 55 for £360, make all the stuff I need and sell it again in a couple of months for £250. That seems better value and more flexible.

Am I missing something, where do you suggest getting it cut?