Search results

Where I live (Belgium) it's common practice to tile the bath panel. I've just had mine done and the tiler built a render layer that came to just under level with the edge of the bath. He then tiled up to the edge of the bath, and did a silicon bead running between the bath and the tiling. To...

In our toilet we've just tiled up to about 1.4m and the rest of the wall is painted. What should I use along the top of the tiles where they meet the painted wall? Should I use grout, or something like silicone sealant? I basically want the finish to be clean and cleanable, which is why I was...

I tried at the weekend a suggestion I found on this site for restoring white grout, and it worked fantastically! I mixed bleach and water (70%-30%) and then used a sponge to put it on the tiles and grout. Left it for 10 minutes then scrubbed it off with a toothbrush. It worked really well. We...

Blimey - that socket looks awful! I would say it's the responsibility of the plasterer. It certainly was when we had our walls plastered and the socket covers replaced. I could understand a few small gaps that should be filled by the decorator. But in your photo there's a huge gap that should...

Plumber is boxing in pipes in my bathroom using plasterboard (gyproc?). He says I can put a primer on and then paint directly. Is this true? I thought I'd need to get them skimmed. If not, do I need to do anything special to the plasterboard before painting it. I would obviously use a primer...

Is there a difference between acrylic based emulsion and acrylic based eggshell? We normally use a paint that is acrylic matt for walls/ceilings. Can I use that in the bathroom?

Bathroom being renovated, but we're doing the painting ourselves. In the toilet I guess I can just use normal emulsion? In the bathroom do I have to use special paint? It's about 4m2, high ceilings (just over 3m) and the tiling goes up to 2m70. There's no extractor fan - but there is a big...

We're having our bathroom renovated. Along the wall between the bathroom and the bedroom, where the plumber has channelled out a space for the new pipes, we've got cracks in the bedroom wall. The wall was reskimmed and painted a couple of months ago.... The builders/plumber are going to fix it...

I'm not a plumber, but we've having a hung toilet fitted next week, and all the ones in the catalogue (there was quite an extensive collection) have the cistern behind them. It seems that the toilet has to fit to a frame, which the cistern is behind. The one we're having fitted in our bathroom...

Thanks for the replies. I'm having pretty good result with a Stanley knife and running the blade right up to the edge of the windows. It's managing to get me a very clean line and is even managing to get rid of paint left by the previous owners. The only problem is that with 5 doors to do, front...

We have those old-fashioned internal doors with windows in them. Despite masking taping the windows before painting, some paint has managed to get on the windows, as the windows have a bumpy pattern on them and the masking tape didn't quite sit flat.... I'm just wondering if there's an easy way...

Yeah, that's what's in the bathroom at the moment, and is at a lovely jaunty angle after being used everyday by 2 people.... I want something that's going to look good in my new bathroom, and not fall to a jaunty angle after a few months of use!

Heating comes on for an 1.5 hours on weekday mornings (21oC) - comes on 30 minutes before I have to get up so the flat is nice and warm. During the day it's set to 18.5oC, so the house never gets to cold. In the evenings it's on for 4 or 5 hours (21oC). On the weekends it's set to come on in the...

We have pretty old and crumbly plaster in some of our rooms (1930s flat). We managed to fit solid curtain tracks by buying a good quality hammer drill and masonry drill bit, and then drilling about 2.5 inches into the wall to get into the brickwork. We then used good quality raw plugs and...

I don't quite understand what you mean.. I can't fit a standard wall fitting, as I don't have any end walls to fix a rail to (my bath is in the middle of the wall and the window juts in at one end...). In any case, I managed to find a shower rail on Screwfix that has 60cm supports, so that...

Help! I have 3.5m high ceilings and am just about to get my bathroom done. I need to find a "U" shaped shower curtain rail that can have long enough ceiling supports to fit to my ceiling. Any ideas where I might find one? Alternatively, can you think of any other solutions - my plumber/bathroom...

Thanks for the response. The condensation problem is I think from before we moved in, as it hasn't got worse in the time we've lived there. We have double glazing and a large size window, which we usually open when we have long baths, etc. Hopefully it shouldn't come back!

There is a slight bit of mould caused by condensation in my bathroom, around the top of the window frame. I suspect it's from before the double-glazing was installed a couple of years ago, as it hasn't got any worse in the 10 months I've lived in the flat. Anyway, I'm about the have the bathroom...

We're renovating our bathroom and toilet, and in order to hide a load of unsightly pipework we're installing a "WC suspendu" (no idea of the English word!). It's basically one of those toilets where the cistern is encased behind the toilet and there's a button for the flush. We wanted to...

Ah, that old chestnut. What would the world be like if we all thought like that? I'm not a scrooge, I just think that Christmas lights like that look grim, and I'm very glad that I don't have to live next door to someone who does that!