Search results

Is an 85mm door lock style wide enough for modern 5-lever mortice locks or lockable handle rim latches? Thanks Ian

Update: I ended up using 25mm ply. Three sections, cut to size by the timber yard. Used plastic spacers to get the surface level. I then sheeted the whole lot with 6mm ply, and sealed edges and under skirting with mastic. I borrowed a router to route the underside of the ply in places where the...

Anyone use these little devices that send HDMI over a single cat5e cable? I've got a pair, and they work fine for the HDMI. However I cant seem to get the IR signal to work in the reverse direction. Thanks Ian

They are in a bad state, after being lifted one time too many. Plus exposed floorboards are very draughty, and anti-social for the flat below. I plan to cover them up with carpet (living room) and laminate/vinyl (in the hall), so it's better to have level, draught free base. Ian

Some question on fitting the plywood .... Should I butt the edges together as close as possible? Or leave a small gap then fill that with floor mastic (to avoid boards rubbing together) Are 3.5 x 50mm screws the best choice for screwing 25mm plywood to floor joists? Or should I use a larger...

No, I'm pretty sure the walls dont stand on the floorboards. The skirting does though, and thats pretty tall and thick compared to modern skirting. I keep changing my mind about taking the skirting off. It would be much easier to replace the floorboards if I did, however it would be hard...

I kind off have to use 25mm sheets if I am to leave the edge floorboards in place. They will be difficult to handle and cut though. Ian

Thanks ... all good advice. The living room floor is actually in not too bad a state, apart from the ripped up boards. Plus I plan to carpet the LR anyway. So I might get away with patching up the LR floor with the 150mm boards lifted from the hall (i.e. replace two 75mm boards with one...

Between the joists is filled with 'deafening', so no space (or need) to add any mineral wool. Sound insulation is very good in these old Edinburgh flats. Good idea re. the 25mm plywood, plus the notching. I guess a router would be the best tool to take a few mm of the underside where the...

Hi, I have an old Victorian Edinburgh tenement flat. The floorboards in the hall and living room have been sanded and varnished, but are in a bad state after a rewire and re-plumb. To make matters worse, in some places the joists have been notched such that it will be impossible to re-lay the...

In my previous flat (an old victorian Edinburgh tenement) I stripped the old wall press by physically removing it from the wall and sending it off to be dipped-and-stripped. The owner before me in that flat had stripped back all the wood in the living room using paint stripper and wire...

Just to make my week even worse ... the sander has packed up :-( This was brand new on monday ... a Mac Allister 350w 1/2 sheet orbital sander from B&Q. Ian

Just as well I've got a 10 litre tub of Dulux Tradematt, I guess! I was really down after reading last night that sanding affects the surface this way. Especially after 10 hours of sanding over 4 days. But maybe I can recover the situation with enough coats of paint. I plan to thin...

So basically I've no other option than to put up lining paper ... ? Ian

Yes, you are probably right. But I think at this stage sanding is going to be the quickest and cheapest way to fix the problem. And, I've started so I may as well finish. Ian

Here's two photo's after I've done a bit of sanding .... Trying to hold a sanding machine above your head is such hard work!!! I know I dont really need to sand the ceiling that much, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Ian

Yes, this was a 'professional' who did the work. I had seen some plastering he had done at a friends house, and it looked great. I suspect he didnt spend the required time 'polishing' the semi dried skim coat. It took him 2 days. To put it in context, here's info on what the job was...

Oh well, I guess I've got a lot of sanding to do. I've got myself a 1/2 sheet orbital sander, and some of that drywall weave stuff for sanding plaster. Hopefully that will make the sanding go a bit quicker. I do plan to use uplighters, and table lamps around the space, so any...

Well, the plastering is now complete. Initially I was very pleased with it. In daylight the finish looks excellent. However I got a bit of a shock after putting on the mist coat, then shining a torch over the surface. It looks really rough: Is this to be expected? I now...

Not yet .... just finished putting plasterboard patches onto the gap where the partition wall used to be. In the process of looking for a plasterer just now. Its taken me a while because I've been installing wiring for a projector. One more question .... two walls have had new...