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Is this an external door? If so, you would NOT do the wax final finish as I do this on INTERNAL doors only and if I am using the normal range of woodstains to get my colour followed by a couple of clear coats of spirit varnish to get my finish. The process I mention above is nothing like...

First off, what was the original finish on the downpipe, these were usually painted black, sometimes white, and a few years ago, a 'bitumastic' paint was used a lot. This had a slight Tar smell and hung around for days. If you have painted the downpipe then I am guessing you will now want to...

Hi emilybronti. I am guessing by your post that the window surrounds are stone mullion and have many years of lichen growing on it. You can pressure wash stone surrounds with no problem, the only thing is that you can blast flaky or poor paint off the window frames. Also the water can blast...

You will always wear out any paint that you put on the stair treds and the need to refresh goes with it. As a basic floorboard paint, Farrow & Ball do a couple of nice colours so you could look in their selection, or get a Dulux mix. These are all simple paint brush options. As an...

Not sure how you were advised to do the door with shellac first. Sounds like you have already done some prep on the door. Dipping is not great for a door but if needs must!!! The door will have come back a bit on the rough side so I am assumimg you have sanded and cleaned off the door. First...

c & r eggshell is an ok finish for kitchen and bathroom, as an alternative you could try the dulux Diamond paint as these have a better quality finish than normal and you could get away with using a matt finish. Best to stay away from any el-cheapo matt paint as they will not hold up to...

Sounds like you may have jumped the gun a bit.. Question is, do you know it was eggshell? Was it oil based eggshell or just a mid sheen water based kitchen or bathroom paint. On old property years ago it was common to paint ceilings with oil undercoat, followed by oil eggshell or even gloss...

You say the rooms were re-skimmed. Are you sure the plaster skim has not seperated from the original surface? Does the plaster sound hollow if you tap it with your knuckle. If it sounds firm, then all well and good. Don't use the ready mixed fillers or caulk to fill in the cracks. The...

If the walls have only been given a couple of skim coats of plaster, they should be about dry enough when the walls go from the damp brown colour to the lighter pink. Use Dulux 'Supermatt' at a mix ratio of 1.5 ltr of clean water to 5ltr of paint. This paint has no vinyl in it. Apply this...

I have tried this liquid sanding product but very much found it a waste of time. It comes out the can very similar to T-Cut, a product used to take out fine scratches on car body work. It is applied with a cloth then washed off afterwards. It was a little messy and did not sand off very much...

To be honest, if you are going to try and remove all the paint back to bare wood and you do not own a proper gas blowtorch with a wide flat nozzel, then hire one! If you use those small handy gas refills on a gun at £4 to £5 a pop, then you may need a pile of these and you may not be so lucky...

Without a doubt, the correct method is to remove all the paint as I am guessing this is exterior paint over wood work. The blisters can happen after many coats of paint have been added over the years and it then separates away from the very first original primer coat. Hot sun on old garage...

I know it is not a quick process but the job will always look better if you start by fitting the door to the hole so to speak, i keep 6 or 8 very thin wedges in the tool bag to set the door in just the right place, trimming with the plane until the door fit is just right. Cut and fit all the...

Would totaly agree with vibrobullit407, the Crown solo satin black is one of the best to use. Had to do some quaint old Cotswold offices back last year and the client spec wanted 'non' gloss black so tried the solo as an alternative, it did the trick and after a quick sand over, covered up all...

Just to add something to the pot! Many of the DIY store ready mix fillers have other substances added to them, either to make sure they do not go hard in the tubs, or when used, go off so rock hard it makes sanding impossible. This has the effect of making them useless for paint to bond...

Are you using a varnish stripper or just a scraper, sandpaper and elbow grease! If you are using a chemical stripper, try and make sure it does not dry out too quickly as this will stop it working. Some makes of stripper have cover pads to keep it wet while it is working, sometimes overnight...

For matching in the doors to the floor colour, best to start by giving the doors a light sanding with a 150 to 180 grit paper to remove all the odd nibs and any little splinters as they are new doors. Next use a water based wood stain in a colour that is a near match to the floor colour...