Search results for:

I thought about some kind of adhesive but both plugs are well seated in brick. It's not the most level but it will be behind furniture so hidden, and not much plugging/unplugging.

New double socket in, ring extended, me knackered. Will tidy up around the back boxes another day.

Granular speed control with a dial, locking keyless chuck, laser, light, depth reading. All good things you won't get with the Clarke or other cheap belt driven drills.

I'm not sure if I would have bought it had I not seen the deal, but once I did I was very happy with it.

Big, cumbersome, annoying to change belts to get different speeds so you probably won't bother. I got the Bosch PBD 40 and it's been awesome. Aldi/Ferrex also do a direct drive/digital one too. My Bosch was about £180 on a Black Friday deal.

New lighter colours (magnolia instead of sandstone for the main colour, anthracite instead of black for the bottom) are much better, even after one coat. I just need about three times as many hours in the day, and a proper ladder, to get it all done.

Yeah bro. I also learned today about the existence of intermediary switches.

Went to replace an old 2 gang 2 way switch thinking, like for like, that'll be easy. New switch has a completely different layout on the back. Sorted eventually with many photographs and labelling wires but shit like that is really fucking annoying.

I'll see how I get on with the double wagos I have. I think I also have some other non wago ones which are a bit smaller.

Consensus reached, thanks. Doing it in the back box makes sense, will see how much room there is in there.

New socket question. There is currently a double socket on one side of our hallway. I am fairly sure it's not already a spur (hope to confirm when I come to replace it). If it is on the ring, I'd like to spur off that to put another double socket on the other side of the hall where the furniture actually is for a lamp and things.

Question is, would it be better to just spur off the existing, or if I'm going under the floor anyway and can see the cable going to it, break into that and extend the ring to incorporate the new socket using wagos and boxes.

In my limited experience of working with an architect (once, and he's an old friend), he has explained that it is his job to look at as many options as possible as often the client will not be considering something or has internally vetoed something right out of the gate because of a fear of additional/ridiculous cost. Part of the architect's job is also to make sure that the client doesn't cut their nose off to spite their face and miss out on something that could add a great deal of value for "not as much as expected" cost. He has been absolutely fantastic in that regard when planning our extension. I would have been paralysed for fear of making the wrong/expensive choices and ended up with a shit design that met none of our needs if he hadn't suggested half of the stuff we are likely to end up with. But if they aren't then also explaining that value, then they are not doing a good enough job.

I swear paying someone to do the front of the house badly has set me way back. But clawing my way forward, again.

Cheers, it certainly is. I think it was only me that was annoyed by how they were, so subsequently it will be only me who is pleased by the outcome. Just the entire rest of the front of the house to do now. I'm going to repair and paint everything I can reach with a step ladder. A) because I'm not a huge fan of working at height and B) I don't trust anyone else to pay attention to the small details / can't be arsed to explain how I want it done. And anything higher I won't notice as much so just going to get someone in to paint the higher bits.

Bottom of the porch pillars were rotting when we moved in. I cleaned them up and used rot killer/wood gardener and a bit of filler. Then I paid some cowboys to paint the front of the house about a year or so ago. They said they'd "sort" the bases, where instead they slapped more filler on them and left them as asymmetric, amorphous blobs that promptly cracked. I've had a go at making them more presentable.

Yeah, the colour matching has never been successful with them. Finding a stock colour we like has caused far less stress.

It's good but no miracle worker, though test pot coverage is above average. Cheap and available at the usual outlets fairly readily. I used one and a half 15l tubs in the tiny loft extension bedroom trying to cover nicotine stains (which had been thoroughly sugar soaped also). Should have gone with Cover Stain instead. But 3 coats in I was invested.

Ms_com loves a tester pot. Was handy actually as this is "wicker" and dries much more light yellow than the paint card or online image, so is a better fit for the yellows we wanted to pick out of the stained glass.

Working on the hallway where DIY goes to die. Two coats of Leyland Superleytex High Solid white covered all (most of) the sins. The "easier" thing to do would have been to get a grown up in and rip down/replaster that wall but fucked if I could face the disruption. One coat of Albany Vinyl Matt has gone on, one more to do. Ordered new dado rail and beading to retrofit some wainscotting. That and the skirting will be painted the same colour as the wall in Albany eggshell. May also paint a simple single panel rad the same colour. Woodwork around the door/windows needs touched up so will straighten that edge then. Took a manky old rad off the wall and the act of shutting off the valve awoke a likely decades old leak. Water does not do my bidding so a plumber is coming on Monday to replace the valves and the copper leading to the valves.

Very likely the answer is whatever you feel the most confident doing is the best option.

I thought of was borrowing a small hand router thingy

Also have one for the lends

Well, I bought a roll of green and a roll of yellow today for working on the hallway. If I can be arsed to actually use it I will report back.

I bought a tin of MDF edge primer on a whim that I have yet to test out. Otherwise I saw a chap doing fine passes with toupret fine surface filler on the cut edge and sanding with a relatively high grit. Once painted it had the same appearance as the face. You're welcome to the tin of unopened primer or if I recall, it wasn't very expensive at SF/TS.

I've used it once, and it was OK. Currently trying out the blue 3M stuff for work outside. It is VERY tacky.

Agreed! They also do a low tack version (yellow) which helps avoid ripping paint.

Frog tape is also more than just smoke and mirrors. It has I think some particles in the adhesive that react when they come into contact with water based paints and swell creating a better barrier than just tape and adhesive alone. It's not fool proof, but better than standard tape IME. Although, EVERY time I lie to myself that I am a better painter than I am and don't need to tape....

At least I'm on my own this trip, I don't have to worry about what anyone else is playing at.

When you travel with a wife and toddler, then at some point travel on your own, the latter is positively enjoyable. Regardless of which airport. "I have to sit here for two hours and stare at a wall without talking to someone? Fuck yeah!"