Search results

Use a salt cellar and sprinkle salt along the joins every month or so. It only takes a short time but does a good job in keeping ordinary weeds down.

Hi, Bamboo makes wonderful screening. Each year the new shoots will quickly grow to their full height. My bamboo throws new shoots which grow to about sixteen feet in a few months. If you cut it down to a shorter height it does not grow bushy, it just stays short till next year, and since...

Hi, For cutting acrylic I always use a fine hard point saw. The one I have at the moment is Bahco Prizecut 300. It is a toolbox saw about 14 inches long, with 15 teeth to the inch. The last one I had was made by Sandvik and was just a good. There are loads to choose from - fine teeth is...

Hi, Recently I installed a radio room thermostat to replace my old cabled one. First of all I identified the cable in the wiring center, and reran this to the radio receiver which I installed nearby. Then took the old thermostat down off the wall and filled the holes. The radio thermostat can...

For tools in a toolbox I put an old piece of towel with a little engine oil on it over the tools and it keeps them clean and bright - also useful for cleaning hands after using them. Similarly putting an old piece of slightly oily towel over power tools helps to keep moisture out too. I find...

Hi Scrit, Thanks for that. I didn't realise that the problem was with the fleck. These chairs do have quite a pronounced fleck, and will probably look somewhat sad if the fleck retains its own colour amongst the stained wood!! To tell the truth I was hoping for a natural-ish looking...

Hi, I am trying to refurbish some old fireside chairs which are made of beech, and I want to re-colour them darker, sort of afromosia or teak sort of colour. From what I have read it appears that it is very difficult to stain or dye this wood. So before I set about trying various products I...

Hi, This happened to my cistern and I found that the end of the plastic chain that lifts the flapper valve had got under the valve so that it could not shut after a flush. I trimmed the spare bit off and that solved it.

I had exactly this problem last year, and having checked with a builder friend I did the following: Using coarse wire wool, scrub the tiles using white spirit and wipe dry. This removes the surface shine. Then apply PVA and let dry. Then use B&Q or similar self-levelling compound - the type...