Home DIY

50% deposit standard in my experience.

yes, £300 deposit. Seems fair enough, I'm just concerned that as it's a top floor flat they might get here, decide I need scaffolding, massively increase the price then keep the deposit when I can't afford that. I guess I'll just have to get a guarantee that won't happen

I'm guessing they're recommending new boards so they don't have to worry about damaging the old ones,makes things easier for the fitter so unless they are period skirting it shouldn't make a lot of difference, if its a flooding floor your having fitted then skirting should really come off, (its quicker to fit when you know you can just rip off the old shirting and bin it), the price of the new skirting is probably less than their time carefully removing old and refitting..hope this helps good luck..

Wallpaper stripping.

I've got a steamer but is there anything else that would ease the process? The last room i did it in, the lining paper took forever to come off.

If theres nothing in the room wet the paper with sponge/water before steaming and use a good scraper, the wetter the paper is the better..

Too good for him.

Good to know, thanks. That was my thinking.

Now, is a ply subfloor worth it or not? One company quoting thinks it's essential, another said it's a waste of time.

Hi B, a ply sub floor really depends on the condition of what your new flooring will lay on, they are more essential when laying a glued down floor as it needs to be as level as possible, you need to know what kind of flooring your having, if its a flooding floor then a ply sub floor isn't essential better to spend this money on a good quality sound proofing membrane instead, if your existing floor is floorboards and uneven with big gaps then a sub floor would help but it would only need to be a few mm's thick. A ply sub floor is neither a waste of time or essential cos its certain factors that decide this, but its become standard for some people to apply a sub floor when in many cases its not needed, it can also be used when floors from different rooms are at different levels so in these cases it makes sense to apply,

orange spherical fungal growth

?

exciting post alert

Anyone have a kitchen sink waste to recommend that works well? Got around to replacing mine a few weeks back and the water dribbles out of it even when clear and as such all the food and bits just spread themselves over the bottom of the sink.

I'm still considering how best to put my TV on the wall...

To add a spur socket in the middle of the wall, SDS drills have been mentioned as a cheaper alternative to a wall chaser. But is using an angle grinder to keep the channel neat a waste of time?

Also, on the other side of the wall is a bedroom (which shares sockets with the main room). Is it a dick move to run the cables on the bedroom side then punch through to the main room side where I want the socket?

Finally, I also have to route a bunch of A/V cables. Should I do the same as with the power: cut a channel, chuck the cables and then plaster directly over the top? Or should I use conduit for that, incase I (or subsequent people) want to add/remove cables?

Rubbish. Just considering getting my drainage all re-done for that reason.

For the AV cable run, you could consider using those brush opening fascia plates. That way you can pull more cables through the channel when tech moves on.

Something like this:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=brush+opening+fascia&safe=off&client=ms-android-orange-gb&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiLjLbjwv3RAhXhJsAKHXlBBoIQ_AUICCgC&biw=360&bih=518#safe=off&tbm=isch&q=brush+opening+fascia+gang&imgrc=_

I wouldn't worry too much about neatness, chasing walls is a messy business, you'll have to make it good anyway. Angle grinders/wall chasers will fill your house with brick dust from top to bottom. If it's only one run I'd channel with an sds chisel, although it's not ideal if you're going to spur off from the socket in the bedroom punch through behind the socket and do the run inside the room where the new socket will be, keep things vertical. Better still use floorboard voids or run from the ceiling down.
Always stick any cables in oval plastic conduit or metal capping, like you say it's not to protect them, it just saves time if you need to remove or add a cable later.

Where are you in London?

To add a spur socket in the middle of the wall, SDS drills have been mentioned as a cheaper alternative to a wall chaser. But is using an angle grinder to keep the channel neat a waste of time?

You don't even need an SDS drill, a normal hammer drill will do. 'Pepper pot' where you want the socket/channel to be (i.e. drill spaced out holes starting at the corners) then use an electrician's bolster (basically a big chisel - much cheaper than an angle grinder) to cut out.

Here's a back box for a light switch I did the other weekend:

Flakey paint. Painting a room and the old paint on the ceiling is flaking randomly. I've DA sanded but feel that'll it'll go again as soon as I give it another coat. Scraping kind of lifts it but haven't got the back strength to sand the whole ceiling... any bright ideas, a stabiliser?

1 Attachment

Also have a bit of a think about the AV setup. For instance an AV receiver or HDMI switcher means you'll only have one HDMI cable going to your TV rather than multiple ones.

This is sometimes what happens when a mist coat wasn't applied, so the paint doesn't soak in properly to get a good bond. Just sand the loose stuff and you'll hopefully be ok. I think I'd use a 50/50 mist coat first this time.

Massive DIY binge...

Hung my Katana (a bike) and surround sound on my walls, and managed to put up a blind in the kitchen... Started steaming the walls to finally get rid of the shit backing and wallpaper.

The sound is wicked sick now! Amazing how just putting them up correctly affects the sound...

DIY definitely gives a sense of accomplishment!!

Any suggestions on hiding the cables? I was thinking of making a daydo (?) rail from trunking parallel to the floor.

Any particularly good places to buy carpet / stair runner?
Either online or near to Greenwich/Charlton.

Had the stairs sanded down and painted white when the new flooring went in and after 9 months of procrastinating then I should probably just finish it off.

Something similar to this.

Maybe not the same pattern/colour but not the full width of the stair and no rods.

1 Attachment

Nice flooring - where's it from?

http://www.ukflooringdirect.co.uk/engineered-wood-flooring/galleria-elite-engineered-oak-150mm-white-fumed-oiled

Was £35/sqm when I got it

Same floor in the living room, from the Brompton thread

I did a 60/40 mist coat, the problem is the old ceiling paint, the other walls were bare plaster. Decoraters merchant just gave me some Zinsser sealer so we'll see how that goes. Least he could do seeing as we just dropped £600 on Little Greene paint.

Thanks for the advice guys.

@inchpincher Unfortunately I moved out of London a while ago and I now live in Sydney's famous Sydney.

@Fox I'll have a go with this "electrician's bolster" you speak of and see how I get on.

@aggi Yeah, I was just thinking about that. I realise that power, 1 x hdmi and an aerial are mandatory, and I'd like to chuck one ethernet cable in there too, because I can.

In the past when I've encountered this problem I've been able to take a sharp blade (6in wide) and scrape the whole lot off. Only ever done walls that way though and it was easier than any other solution. Doing a ceiling could be a pain though.

I'm not sure the Zinsser will help you, as you say the problem is the old paint's not bonded so anything else that sticks on top of it won't bond either. It does however help to hide the plaster and can give you a bit of body to fill in the patches, I've done touch ups where water damage causes the paint to peel using Zinsser.

I'm glad it's not my job, you have my sympathy.