Recent content by iturner1

Hi, I'm decorating my dining room which has coving, picture rails and skirting boards. I'm planning on putting lining paper on the walls to smooth out imperfections and then emulsioning the walls. All the coving and woodwork I'll be doing in silk. As some of the skirting has been...

thanks for the tip. I guess I need to have a good look in the loft. The roof is slate, but the previous owner must have had problems and had it lined with foam. Not sure what that is called, but it looks to me like they've squirted expanding foam on the underside of all the slates. I...

Hi, I've taken some tiles off my bathroom wall and have noticed that the wall underneath looks quite damp. You can actually see tracks where water has been running. Although I've never noticed any drips as such in the kitchen below.... but I've not decorated/investigated that one yet. The...

JamesA, I've updated my diagram to show how the design is developing. I have a compost bin at the back of the garage, could probably do with a 2nd one as it seems to fill pretty quickly when I cut the grass.... and I probably need to spend more time on working out how to make usable compost...

thanks I've ordered the book and another one that I found had quite a lot of recommendations on the web: All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space . Size of the beds on the left hand side will have to be smaller as otherwise they'll block my doors :-) I also want to retain some...

That looks the business and provides an excellent answer to a question I posted the other day, how high to build a raised bed? Yours looks about how high I want to go! Looks like you've gone 5 courses above the drive way? What did you fill it with bearing in mind the comments from others...

Thanks for the response, I've done a quick tinternet search and found this book: http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=0903505460 by Dr D G Hessayon. As for organic or not I think the answer to that is probably. I don't normally bother with the organic stuff in the supermarket as I think...

Hi, I knocked together the attached diagram of my back garden. I'm currently laying out the patio (the pale yellow area) and am thinking of creating a raised bed along one side of the garden. I thought about using it for growing herbs and vegetables. I'm not particularly green fingered but...

thanks for that, I've got some biggish drills so that shouldn't be a problem. I was a bit worried about loosening the coving with a drill, guess I need to be careful and avoid hammer action? Any hints on the best type of filler to use. I assume I'll get the best blend by having something I...

That makes more sense. Someone had told that they created the covings by dragging a former along the walls - which I assume is how they'd do "basic profile coving" that you mention. I couldn't see how they could do the complicated stuff with the same technique. In terms of cutting holes...

Can anyone explain how plaster coving is actually done? I don't mean the stick on variety we have these days I mean the type of coving in older houses. My house is 1920's or 30's and most of the rooms have original covings. Some are more ornate than others. When I was in a solicitors...

Hi, As part of my renovations some of the rooms will need to be re-plastered. I wondered whether there was any easy way of adding insulation as part of the re-plastering? I've looked at a couple of sites and found products like this: Gryproc Thermal Larfarge ThermalK Are these...

but a tip would be talk to a local tile shop as they often have people they can recommend for either delivering screed or doing it all for you.

I've got a small sander already so I'll give it a go...

I don't want bare wood, I'd expect to have to put something back on... options I'd considered are: a) a fairly neutral colour, a soft white perhaps - in line with your suggestion i think or b) Perhaps a varnish to match the internal doors which are light oak, for the later to work I...