Recent content by Fliss

Hi All I've read the postings around the topic of cold radiators and just wanted to check. Only the front panel of a double radiator was heating up, so yesterday I bled the back panel and it all heated up. Half an hour later I went back to revel in the glorious heat to find that the...

I am not actually going to do this re-wiring myself, but don't want to look a complete idiot when I speak to the electrician. In a 1930s house with fantastic original light switches, etc., is it possible to re-use these when the house is re-wired? Many thanks Fliss

Hi All Do I need to seal knots in pine skirting before varnishing or will the varnish do the sealing? Thanks Fliss

Hello Can someone tell me whether fence panels get destroyed because the posts are weaving about hysterically in the wind or whether they will get destroyed in a windy area even if the posts are rock solid? Two panels have recently gone in the wind tunnel area of our garden and the posts...

Our new-to-us 60s house has sliding glass windows in the serving hatch (kitchen/dining-room) that are jammed. We would like to replace them with a similar system (as a period feature!!). Are there any better sliding mechanisms than the plastic groove kits? Obviously it will have to be safety...

You may have done this by now... Anyway, we fitted the RB system (although using the cut off newels). Their leaflet was very helpful, providing all the measurements, but maybe there isn't so much information if using new newel posts. Following their measurements we had to cut down all the...

Thanks, everyone. In the end, we started by not pinning, but ended up having to at the top of the spindles as the top rail was sagging in the middle and it seemed the only way to keep the spindles vertical as we were going along (we had to push the rail up). It probably would have been possible...

Hello We are just renovating our stairs and have installed new spindles and rail. I get the impression from reading comments that poly varnish is best for the treads and risers (these will be partially covered in a stair runner). What is the best wood treatment for pine spindles and rail...

Have a look at www.richardburbidge.co.uk. (I think that is the right website address) They do a bracket fix system for replacing that style staircase with spindles. There is a modular newel post kit. You saw of the top of the existing newel, drill a hole in the bottom bit and insert a new top...

Hello I have a bracket fix stair system - all going well, but about to start the spindles. On the accompanying video, it says "the spindles are held in place by the fillets and glue" (i.e. the spindles are just glued in) but in the printed instructions it says "cross pin and glue spindles"...

Hi I have a 1960s stair rail (one long piece of wood sideways between the top and bottom rail) and want to replace it with spindles. Can I just remove the long piece of wood and fit spindles between the existing top and bottom rail? I'd like to replace the bottom newel post, as it is square...

In your situation, I would get a couple of quotes from some ceramic tile fitters and take note of how they propose to sort out the floor in order to lay level tiles. If it sounded simple, I would do it myself - if not, I would appoint one of the tile fitters! Is the lino really vinyl? The people...

Can I skim a wall with plaster and leave the existing solidly fixed previous skim? Huge patches came of with the tiles I took off, but much of it is completely stuck to the wall and is proving a nightmare to get off. I plan to re-tile once the new skim is dry. I don't want to use plasterboard...

Is it OK to use glass mosaic tiles as a border between ordinary bathroom tiles - are they the same thickness? (I'm thinking of a sheet rather than individual ones from a craft shop). On a similary theme, if not using mosaic tiles but border tiles, would it look really naff if the border tiles...

hi I am taking off tiles in the bathroom and the plaster underneath is coming off too. Will I have to re-plaster the wall before re-tiling? I can't really tile over the old tiles - the bathroom is tiny as it is. thanks