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The small room in our house has two cold walls in winter. The side that has a roof, and the front wall on one side of the window. The other side of the window and the remaining internal walls are warm. There’s a radiator under the window. The front of the house is NE facing. I’ve redecorated...

Walls were skimmed four months ago. Looked good. Decorator came to paint. Did undercoat. Looked fine. As it dried over weekend, there were hairline cracks appearing in the plaster. Decorator plans to fill/sand/paint but I’m concerned why they appeared in the first place, mainly to stop it...

Chap on YouTube mixed filler with a bit of water and a bit of paint. Legitimate technique?

Thanks. I read somewhere that some fillers can be too fine and stand out when painted.

Room has been lined with Erfurt 2000 lining paper. Narrow gaps between some of the strips as the paper has dried. I will paint over the lining paper with Matt emulsion. 1. Which filler product is best for this? 2. Paint with undercoat and then fill/sand/topcoat? Or fill/sand/undercoat/topcoat?

Redecorating a bedroom. The coving joints look a bit obvious. What’s the best thing to use to fill and smooth? Decorator’s caulk? Toupret filler? Something else? When I painted the lining paper, I used acrylic primer undercoat and did the coving in the same paint too. Any prep work other than...

Upstairs landing walls have been freshly skimmed ready for painting. SWMBO has decided one of the bedroom doors should open the other way. Easy enough. But now the lightswitch is behind the door so need to move it. When I’ve done it previously, I just hammer and bolster to chase out. My only...

Recently installed printed concrete patio. I’ve been staining some wood outside (used barrettine wood protective treatment). I didn’t notice some of the stain had splodged on to the ground. It’s now dried and pressure washing does nothing. The concrete has been sealed. The stain is oil/spirit...

I’m trying to remove wallpaper and then hopefully get a professional in to skim and paint. How do I reach the walls around the staircase? My ladders (6ft) aren’t long enough.

Well I succumbed and bought a 100mm belt sander. I managed to get rid of the “stepped” edges from inaccurate blade cutting. Might post this separately but does anyone know how much a sleeper might expand lengthways in wet weather? They are laid in such a way that it’s surrounded by concrete...

I’ve checked again. Base plate adjusted so blade is 90° to it. But the back of the blade is 1-2mm further out from the edge of the sole plate compared to the front of the blade. How do I adjust this?

I completely agree. During secondary school, we did a project using entirely hand tools - plane, saw, hand drill etc. I was crap at it then and I’m still crap. Yes, it takes practice and whilst I would love to develop skills like Paul Sellers, I simply haven’t got the time. My most complicated...

I have a tendency for my cut line to waver. I normally resort to a mitre box where possible. Very true. But they help fools like me manage to do some basic work.

Making a raised bed. Sleepers were 2400mm long and needed to be cut to size. Because I’d left them out for so long, the surface had weathered a bit before I got a chance to use them. I wanted to clean them up a bit prior to using some outdoor wood treatment stuff. Sanding was taking forever even...

I did the first sleeper. Three passes at 0.2mm setting seemed to get the fresh wood underneath. Sanding with random orbital sander and P80 helped with any steps/unplanned areas. My only issue now is crosscuts. Using a speedsquare and pencil gives me a line around the circumference that is...

1mm at most. I tried to sand and couldn’t get a decent finish. The sleepers had been left outside uncovered for a few weeks until I got some time off. Was hoping to shave off a tiny amount, sand smooth and then use some wood preserver before fitting in the garden.

200x100x2400mm green oak sleepers. I need to plane off a tiny amount each surface . Makita DKP181 has 85mm wide planing blade. I was going to use the guide to plane Along the left and right edges of the timber, but what do I do with the 30mm in the centre. Just freehand?

7mm

497x497mm