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Hi guys, Our new place needed the mortar sorting on the brick path, mainly due to years of bad guttering and age. I've raked out the old stuff, and am planing on a 1:6 mix - but is it best to do it by doing a dry mix and brushing in, or should I mix it wet and do it the long way...

Excellent, thank you for that; that's great advice.

Our new place has several wooden windows, most of which have been updated with double glazing; a couple of windows have a single pane. The wooden frames are fine, but I'd like to replace the glass. Is it normally just a case of stripping back the paint, locating any beading or fixing putty...

We filled ours with rubble and sand, then threw a load of topsoil on for the top half foot.

Just wanted to say thanks, it all went very well.

I didn't didn find the sticky backs overly sticky, so I had to use flexible tile adhesive to make them really grip. They had a tendency to move a very small amount as you went along. This isn't a problem when you're grouting, as half a millimetre difference between two out of twenty tiles is...

Here's one of the few pictures I have (we moved) after tarting up the kitchen. I don't think I would ever use vinyl tiles again. They're a bit of a pain in the ass, and the good ones aren't any cheaper than basic 'real' tiles. 20150705_114720 by Grenage posted 12 Sep 2016 at 9:35 AM

Definitely take up those slabs if you can; the twigs and roots won't cause a problem.

Hi Chappers, Cheers! That makes sense, although God knows why they stipulate that it's for water-based; maybe they figure than people know if it's suitable for water-based, it's suitable for oil-based. Either way, I'll crack on with that I've got - thanks!

Ahoy there, I've got a fair amount of external painting to do- all the soffits, fascias and barge-boards. Are there any particularly decent brushes for oil-based paints? I've got a few hamilton and purdy brushes, but I'm pretty sure they said they were for water-based only. Cheers in advance.

After clearing the topsoil of large stones, I compacted it using a spare piece of mdf, then walked on it; I did that again a few days later. Bought the turf from this place, laid it neatly and watered every day for a couple of weeks; no problems were had.

When I tarted up my radiators: Removed and laid flat. removed any trim from sides and top. Sanded any rust back to metal (if you have any, we did in bathroom). Painted any bare metal with oil-based primer. Lightly sanded the whole lot. Two coats of water-based satin (preferred to gloss)...

If you are finding that low-tack tape is taking the paint off the wall (and it's weeks old), then there are probably adhesion problems with the paint, and you're on a hiding to nothing. I'd avoid using the tape!

I'll certainly be painting, so that's good advice, cheers. I'll scrape the existing failing paint. Cut out any bad wood. Sand with 40 grit. Apply Wood hardener to bad bits, and fill. Paint!

Ah great cheers - I'll go ahead with the Weathershield trade then; I'm guessing I won't need the 1st step (the preservative) as it's been painted before. Good call with the ogee guttering, I'd not seen that before and it looks ideal. Well two-part wood filler is what I meant when I said putty. :)

Greetings, I've just moved into a 1905 house; it's got wooden fascias/soffits and decorative barge boards. The paint is peeling and the gutter has dropped, so it needs some loving; it's a characterful house so I don't really wants to rip it out or clad in uPVC. I'm going to get some...

You're right that the last coat of paint probably didn't bond properly, and this is why I will generally give any wall a light sanding before fresh paint. Low-tack masking tape may well stop this happening, but you're best off avoiding the stuff if possible.

I think a decent pattern can still look very nice...

You'll probably want to rake out the crack so it's more substantial, then fill; that should sort it.

If water-based is bleeding through, what about oil-based?