DIY thread...

[Victor Mildew]

Make it stop

We've paid for our carpet, and have a fitting date, so now it's full steam ahead to get everything done. The bedroom is finished and looks great, so if the rest of it looks as good (it's the same colour scheme) it'll be well worth it and will transform the house, but strawberry floating hell I'm so sick of it.

[abcd]

I replaced an electric shower today and it works.

I'm pretty sure that I'm now a DIY expert engineer.

[Rex Kramer]

I fixed our oven last week after the main element burning out (this will be the third it's had since we bought it and I was getting sick of paying £60+ to get someone to do it when you can buy the elements for £20). Turned out to be trickier than I was expecting as I had to pull the whole thing out to unscrew the element from the back. Still, works fine now and I saved £40 so it's all good.

[Jenuall]

How long have you had the oven Rex? Three burnouts seems like a lot. I think I've had it happen once and that was after about 10 years of use.

[Rex Kramer]

Yeah, I'm surprised by just how quickly it's getting through them (it's 2 burnouts, it's on to it's third element). Not convinced the one that was installed last time around though was the correct one as it looks different to the official part I sourced (less turns on the coil). I think we've had it around 7-8 years.

[Victor Mildew]

I replaced an electric shower today and it works.

I'm pretty sure that I'm now a DIY expert engineer.

Good work!

@Rex - also good work. Fixing things like that is really satisfying.

We're over the decorating hump now. Spent the entire weekend decorating which involved wall repairs when the 'low tac' masking tape ripped a load of the wall back to the plasterboard Did the ceilings in the back bedroom and landing/stairs/hallway, did all the skirting, then got a single coat on the walls of the same rooms. Will do the second coat tonight, then start on the final room this week. Nearly there.

[Rex Kramer]

I also finished the hedgehog house I was making and installed it in the garden. Got a couple of teething issues with the stream keep crashing and I've had to run at 480p to keep it vaguely stable. Haven't figured out the best way of broadcasting it, keeping it going 24/7 seems a waste but I'm unsure whether you can set Youtube up to only stream for an hour every day. Anyway, here's a stream for the other day so you can see another massive design flaw in the instructions I followed particularly pertinent to making it safe against predators.

[Green Gecko]

I replaced an electric shower today and it works.

I'm pretty sure that I'm now a DIY expert engineer.

Good work!

@Rex - also good work. Fixing things like that is really satisfying.

We're over the decorating hump now. Spent the entire weekend decorating which involved wall repairs when the 'low tac' masking tape ripped a load of the wall back to the plasterboard Did the ceilings in the back bedroom and landing/stairs/hallway, did all the skirting, then got a single coat on the walls of the same rooms. Will do the second coat tonight, then start on the final room this week. Nearly there.

How long did you leave the masking tape on for?

Try frog tape or tessa blue painters tape. It stays tacky for 2 weeks. The other stuff dries.

Also I'm not sure this is a thing but a shellac base gloss white might dry faster than an oil base. I'm not sure gloss is ever water based emulsion... A primer with a thin layer of gloss should dry faster anyway. Prime with a mini roller after keying and then finish with a decent brush (bought some monarch Adanced/pro kind ones half price in home base at the moment - yeah im still banned). Thick layers of oil gloss indeed take forever to cure.

Zinsser BIN (red) is amazing, covers anything it sands really smooth too with say 400 or 600 grit, so then you'd only need a really thin layer of gloss. £18 a tin though. A primers a good idea I find or it's pretty likely to peel eventually.

[Victor Mildew]

It was frog tape that did it Its been great in most places, but it was gooseberry fool in this particular room (obviously the wall was weaker in those places). I finished those rooms last night, and the cheap stuff had let some paint under in some places, so that'll need a tiny brush to fix at the end, but it's mostly done now.

[Victor Mildew]

All the carpet is in, the house looks amazing now

[Jenuall]

Mmm, gotta love that carpet look.

[Victor Mildew]

I asked you not to share that

[Jenuall]

Off to the back of the van for me again then!

[Moggy]

Bump!

We're currently trying to smarten up our flat a bit in case we ever get the chance to sell it.

I'm ok with filling in small cracks (nocontextbait) but we have one big hole I'd like to fill (nocontextbait2).

When we first moved in we called Sky to put in a satellite dish and they drilled a hole through the wall. Then they realised they couldn't get a signal at the front and so the dish went on the back.

They put a plastic cap over the hole and it's never bothered me so I just left it.

Is there any easy way to fill it? I'm assuming Pollyfilla isn't going to be any good for a big long hole (nocontextbait3), are there any other simple solutions?

[Jenuall]

How big are we talking? You can get specific filler that's designed for larger holes/gaps but you may need to apply it in layers letting each set so you can build it up

[Moggy]

How big are we talking? You can get specific filler that's designed for larger holes/gaps but you may need to apply it in layers letting each set so you can build it up

Hmm, about an inch in diameter. The walls are pretty think so probably 8 inches long?

I'm on the first floor and don't fancy climbing up outside on a ladder so I'm guessing the specific filler wouldn't work?

If it's too much of a faff or needs a professional then I'm leaving it alone, if there's a relatively simple solution then I'll have a go.

Or I could just blu-tac the strawberry floater as protection against a future wasp army.

[Drumstick]

I am by no means an expert but something like Postcrete might be an option for you.

[Moggy]

I am by no means an expert but something like Postcrete might be an option for you.

Cheers, a Google search suggests that's used for putting posts in the ground? I'll take proper look around to see how easy it'd be to use.

[Rex Kramer]

Cut a piece of plasterboard to just smaller than the hole. Drill small hole in centre and thread and knot string in it. Pop the piece inside the hole, put caulk or filler around the hole then pull the piece in place. Once dry, push the string inside the hole, fill that hole and tidy up the join by sanding.

[Jenuall]

How visible is the external hole and how much do you care about making it perfect? Most people probably just worry about the inside which you should be able to fill easily enough with DIY filler. If you want to sort the outside then a small amount of silicone filler, cement or render will do the job depending on what finish you want