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Post by technoish on Oct 7, 2022 16:22:15 GMT
I love wooden floors like 1000x over carpet. It needn't be cold at all. If laying a new floor also great time to put in extra insulation (if I was laying new floor I would do UFH).
If you to add softness add a rug.
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Post by khanivor on Oct 8, 2022 17:45:20 GMT
Our bedrooms almost finished. Been a slog but getting there renovating this house. Struggling to decide on flooring though. We were going to go solid wood as we plan on dying here. Everyone seems to be pointing us towards LVT though. Any of you had experiences with either? Spoke to a carpenter and we can source the wood floor ourselves from on-line same price as high end LVT. In a few years everyone is going to realize that LVT is essentially linoleum and is shit Any advice you want for hardwood flooring, I installed and finished hardwood for a decade. Installing is fairly simple if you posses basic carpentry skills. You’ll also need to know a few basic techniques. Doesn’t require much equipment - miter saw, table saw, multi tool, compressor, finish nailer, flooring stapler, floor jack. All of these tools hold their value very well, (at least here in the states) so buying then selling what you won’t use again is better than rental Sanding and finishing is a whole other ball game. You can do it yourself but it’s not fun work. You might even think you did a good job by the end. You won’t have. It will be total shit. Hire someone for that Better yet install pre finished wood. Then no sanding required. You just have to be more careful during install as you can’t sand out any fuckups or damage. Engineered wood is wank unless you’re installing on concrete, in which case it’s a must. A wood floor will require refinishing. Pre finished can last a good few decades before it’s needed. Engineered wood can only be sanded once or twice before you go through the veneer and it’s fucked and needs ripped out and replaced |
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X201
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Post by X201 on Oct 10, 2022 15:05:03 GMT
I've never had indoor wall lights before. What's the norm for the electric cable? Just have it hanging out of the wall and the plasterer works around it, or does it need to be a pattress box or something?
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Post by Dougs on Oct 10, 2022 15:07:53 GMT
When I had some in an old house, it was just cable that was plastered over and then wired into the fitting. But it was an old house with some suspect wiring so that may not conform to building regs now!
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minimatt
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Post by minimatt on Oct 12, 2022 15:34:06 GMT
Ten days ago I promised stixxuk that by that afternoon I'd post photos of recent loft boarding. Only ten days late, this is the kind of punctual attention to detail in DIY tasks I am legendary for. Not much to add to what already said I guess. One tip is to make islands: accept that not a single damn joist is going to be straight or parallel with its neighbours, and by the end of a wall to wall span of boarding your maths & spacing is going to be well out as a result. So just make adjacent island sections of boarding to cover either your storage or access requirements - that way whenever a joist starts going a bit squiffy making the spacing tricky, you just leave a gap, start another island next to it. Those loftboard packs the big box stores sell at extortionate prices are actually pretty good for small areas. They cover, together, 1.22m by 1m but because the tongue and groove is only on the long edge you need to ensure the short edge is directly atop a leg support (half a leg support if has a neighbour which also wants support) - this means if your joists are not divisible by 1.22m - ie. 400mm or 600mm centres then you're going to have some wastage to get them to fit. The 8ft x 2ft boards are tongue & grooved all the way round and can cope with their joining edges overhanging a support as a result; they're also quite a bit cheaper for a given area but a right pain to manhandle around.
Already said, but plan spacing out in advance, physically on the living room carpet if necessary. We removed all the old between-joist insulation, what there was of it, first - your call if that's necessary, but we figured once this is done, nobody's going to see that side of the ceiling for a long time so best check it first, clean it all out, remove the mummified mice, crap the original builders dropped, etc. So step one, put in new between-joist insulation. Step two, install the leg supports for your boarding, according to your meticulously planned in advance spacing. Step three, roll the second layer of insulation over the top of your leg supports, then cut it with a stanley knife where its over a leg support and push the insulation down around that leg. Once this all done install the boarding on top of the legs. You'll need measuring tools, straight edge of some sort, drill (either two of them, or drill + impact driver recommended). If doing anything more than a small section you'll also need something - preferably several things, to cut boards as necessary - a circular saw, track saw, sliding mitre saw can do the short ends of those small boards. The long edges only really need to be trimmed if you're a perfectionist and want to tidy up the tongue on end sections like in photo above. Here you could use a table saw if you feel you have too many fingers, a circular saw & straight edge or track saw if you like your fingers attached. For odd bits of notching around trusses and the like a jigsaw and/or multi-tool comes in handy too. You'll want knee pads and a good dust mask too. Was also noodling around the idea of building a 5x3 shed so knocked this up in sketchup:
 2x3 for the base, 2x2 everywhere else, technoish mentioned putting a green roof on so I'm stealing that idea for a start, that's why the pitch is toward the door. It'll mean we have to duck to get in but means we get to see the pretty flowers and bees and nature and shit rather than have all that pointing toward the back fence. Priced it up at £155 for the framing, £150 for featheredge, finger in air £50 for whatever shuttering ply or osb I can find for floor & roof. Plus roof felt, nails, screws etc, probably another £50. Cost is more than the cheapest commercial shed, less than the posh commercial sheds. Undervaluing my labour massively but I think we'll self build. Sheds this size probably lose too much usable space by having a window, but I'm a firm believer in shed windows if only to give small children with footballs something to aim for. Plus we had a load of old greenhouse glass dumped in the garden when we moved in to this tip. So I spent £3.99 on a glass cutter and cut some big bits of cracked and chipped glass into.... smaller bits of cracked and chipped glass.  It was about this point, just as the screws were home and the glue was going off, that I realised it would have been easier to cut the rebate for the glass to sit in before I assembled the frame  But finally, with filler & silicone standing in for skill and craftsmanship, I've my first ever window. A window for a shed I've not even decided if we're building yet. And yes, the rebate should not have been wider than the beading, I realise that now. 
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Post by henroben on Oct 12, 2022 15:48:52 GMT
I've never had indoor wall lights before. What's the norm for the electric cable? Just have it hanging out of the wall and the plasterer works around it, or does it need to be a pattress box or something? I fitted a 1930's Odeon light a couple of years ago in my bedroom - chased out the vertical with a hammer & chisel, I drilled a load of holes along the way beforehand to make it easier to knock out - top tip, if you score the plaster with a sharp knife it'll usually break with a neat edge, at least mine did. I also chased out an area for a shallow pattress box - you don't have to, but it makes everything a bit neater. Ran the cable down the channel and then secured a galvanised steel capping over the channel to hopefully stop accidental drilling into the cable in the future, secured with a few galvanised nails to hold it in place before plastering. Then it was just a matter of plastering, painting, attaching the actual light etc. etc. Remember you're going to have to add in a light switch somewhere as well, unless you've one integrated into the wall light. |
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dogbot
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Post by dogbot on Oct 12, 2022 15:48:55 GMT
I love seeing these minimatt. I'm not even jealous (well, not much) of how much better at this stuff you are than me!  |
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X201
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Post by X201 on Oct 12, 2022 15:54:38 GMT
I've never had indoor wall lights before. What's the norm for the electric cable? Just have it hanging out of the wall and the plasterer works around it, or does it need to be a pattress box or something? I fitted a 1930's Odeon light a couple of years ago in my bedroom - chased out the vertical with a hammer & chisel, I drilled a load of holes along the way beforehand to make it easier to knock out - top tip, if you score the plaster with a sharp knife it'll usually break with a neat edge, at least mine did. I also chased out an area for a shallow pattress box - you don't have to, but it makes everything a bit neater. Ran the cable down the channel and then secured a galvanised steel capping over the channel to hopefully stop accidental drilling into the cable in the future, secured with a few galvanised nails to hold it in place before plastering. Then it was just a matter of plastering, painting, attaching the actual light etc. etc. Remember you're going to have to add in a light switch somewhere as well, unless you've one integrated into the wall light.
Thanks.
Plaster not a problem at the moment, the room is back to bare brick. I think I'll go the pattress box route, it leaves the option to put a blanking plate over it in future if needed.
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minimatt
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Post by minimatt on Oct 12, 2022 16:00:31 GMT
ha ha ha - I also put the lighting in the attic at the same time. Want to guess what I wired earth to on my first attempt? Want to guess what I wired earth to on my second attempt?  Third time's the charm |
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dogbot
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Post by dogbot on Oct 12, 2022 16:31:56 GMT
ha ha ha - I also put the lighting in the attic at the same time. Want to guess what I wired earth to on my first attempt? Want to guess what I wired earth to on my second attempt? Third time's the charm TV Aerial? Cold water tank? Tbh, I don't even do wiring anymore if I can help it. I can do plugs, sockets, light fittings etc, but I draw the line after that. I have done more complicated stuff, but I hate it. Always have. I've been putting off changing a socket in the Laundry from a single to a double, even though it's just a few wires. In other news, I just got a (small, cheap) bench grinder. It's only really a home/hobby one, but still. Woo hoo, power tools! Let the spark creation commence! |
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minimatt
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Post by minimatt on Oct 12, 2022 16:36:23 GMT
Ooh, I lose chisels at about the same rate they dull but if you fancy a mail order sharpening business I'll be customer one |
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dogbot
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Post by dogbot on Oct 12, 2022 16:47:31 GMT
Tbh, it cost less than £20. It might just be cheaper to buy one... although, you could always pop over and use it! I still need to bolt it down (it didn't come with any mounting bolts) and clear some stuff (oil, motorcycle) out of the way before I grind or sharpen anything. |
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Post by Dougs on Oct 13, 2022 6:40:42 GMT
That reminds me, I need to grab my dad's old grinder from his shed before my mum gives it away....she's already given away loads of stuff to a random.
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dogbot
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Post by dogbot on Oct 13, 2022 9:56:40 GMT
That reminds me, I need to grab my dad's old grinder from his shed before my mum gives it away....she's already given away loads of stuff to a random. Yeah, sounds like you need to go and do a recce! |
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Post by stixxuk on Oct 13, 2022 10:24:51 GMT
Ten days ago I promised stixxuk that by that afternoon I'd post photos of recent loft boarding. Only ten days late, this is the kind of punctual attention to detail in DIY tasks I am legendary for.
Awesome post, thanks for the advice on the loft boarding. I'll definitely have to do some between-joist stuff as it's very inconsistent. How come you've got the lowered bit in the middle (with presumably just the between joist stuff there... were you tempted to raise that up at all? Nice window too  |
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minimatt
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Post by minimatt on Oct 13, 2022 11:49:44 GMT
the bit in the middle with original boards is just the bit you step out onto from the loft hatch & the bit the ladder retracts to. was briefly tempted but it would mean remounting the ladder higher, which in turn would make either the ladder angle too steep to be safe, or require the hatch opening cut longer to allow you to get in without scraping your back - either way too much like hard work for my tastes & as it compromises maybe 5% max of the total loft area I figure it's fine
edit: ooh, one thing I'm wishing we did with hindsight is staple some light webbing between the joists and put the between joist insulation on top of that - just so if you ever have to replace the ceiling plasterboard all the insulation above it won't fall out. The likelihood of you ever needing that depends on how much water damage you've got after hundreds of hours and thousands of pounds spent on that loft we've begun to realise why the house was cheap
edit 2: SEXY SHED UPDATE have put travis perkins order in, some* assembly required shed bits arriving tuesday, £293 of framing & featheredge (would have preferred shiplap, but would put another couple hundred on the bill)
*all
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geefe
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Post by geefe on Oct 13, 2022 14:21:15 GMT
I made a shit garden gate out of an old palette for the dog (see Cost of living thread for annoying doggo talk). My drill was shite and had to get a nice man with his SDS to drill into the concrete and the locking mechanism is a bit of string because wickes were out of bolts.
But still. Proper DIY that.
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Post by stixxuk on Oct 13, 2022 14:26:49 GMT
after hundreds of hours and thousands of pounds spent on that loft
Tell me this isn't just referring to the boarding/insulating bit, I thought it would be a couple of weekends' fairly relaxed pace work at most and you clearly know what you're doing way more than I do! |
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minimatt
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Post by minimatt on Oct 13, 2022 14:53:02 GMT
oh no, the insulation and boarding was a cake walk compared to everything else two rafters and pretty much all battens were rotten, about 10% of the tiles and all of the ridge tile were shot, and the membrane (aka the bit I still think could do more harm than good if you attach it to the inside edge of the rafters) was the original non-breathable bituminous type - I say non-breathable, after 70 years it was as breathable, and waterproof, and strong, as a lace doily |
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X201
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Post by X201 on Oct 13, 2022 15:16:02 GMT
When I regain control of my Flickr account I'll fulfil the "house is falling down" part of the thread title and post some photos of the perilous state of my internal lintels.
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minimatt
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Post by minimatt on Oct 13, 2022 15:32:14 GMT
that reminds me - didn't you have the weird cast concrete mini fireplace within a fireplace thing? I had exact same thing in a house about ten years ago and think I have a photo somewhere of knocking the fucker out.
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X201
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Post by X201 on Oct 13, 2022 15:48:00 GMT
No, that wasn't me.
Although after removing the plaster I discovered I have got a fireplace within a fireplace.
The original fireplace was a 4ft tall brick arch, about 3.5 ft wide, seriously this thing wouldn't look out of place in a stately home, it looks massive in the living room of a 1920s council house.
My aunt remembers these houses from when she was young and says that there was a cast iron range of some kind in the living room fireplace.
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minimatt
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Post by minimatt on Oct 13, 2022 15:52:59 GMT
bloody hell! probably room for a hog roast in there |
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nexus6
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Post by nexus6 on Oct 13, 2022 16:20:41 GMT
bloody hell! probably room for a spit roast in there Filthy |
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Post by stixxuk on Oct 13, 2022 16:39:52 GMT
OK so what if I left a couple of metres toward the bottom of the roof (it's fairly steep pitched) - then any run-off should hit the edge of my boards, where I can see it, and take the stuff down if it looks like it's getting wet.
Really just need some means of keeping the dust off my stuff. I guess it won't solve the fly problem as they'll just come in under it...
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minimatt
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Post by minimatt on Oct 13, 2022 17:48:38 GMT
you probably need to speak to a roofer tbh, whereas I'm ultimately just a part owner of a once very leaky roof
my amateur take remains - wouldn't it just be easier, cheaper, and less likely to cause problems or hide problems, just to put a dust sheet over your stuff?
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X201
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Post by X201 on Oct 14, 2022 8:35:57 GMT
Does anyone speak builder?
When they say "About 9" what do they mean?
Possibly at 9 or just a random time with a 9 in it?
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Post by freddiemercurystwin on Oct 14, 2022 8:55:40 GMT
He meant that's how many builders you have to contact before one actually turns up.
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Post by Dougs on Oct 14, 2022 9:01:47 GMT
Does anyone speak builder? When they say "About 9" what do they mean? Possibly at 9 or just a random time with a 9 in it? Any time in the morning after 9 imo. |
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nexus6
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Post by nexus6 on Oct 14, 2022 9:12:12 GMT
Does anyone speak builder? When they say "About 9" what do they mean? Possibly at 9 or just a random time with a 9 in it? Any time in the morning after 9 imo. Check Mr Optimism here |
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Third time's the charm 
