The House Projects Thread

[Gavster]

In the ongoing battle with my downstairs neighbours and their absolute lunacy (which I'd love to share once all this is over), we have a possession hearing scheduled this Friday. The neighbours have been shouting about all kinds of reasons for an adjournment over the last month or so, including hospital appointments and their inability to print the exhibit or deliver their defence, yet the court has not adjourned the hearing and we're only three days away now.

The court could also adjourn to delay making a judgement (or order - I forget what's the right term!) at the hearing, because making a possession order is somewhat final, so they might give my neighbours one more chance to remedy the breaches of their lease (which they will not do). Either way, we need to get before a judge again, so really hoping this hearing goes ahead.

[dinny_g]

Jesus Gav, what a palaver.

I’m thinking of changing my Facebook profile pic to a pic of your face in solidarity at this stage…

Pray for Gav… etc

[V8Granite]

How are you going to sort that Dinny? I imagine tongue and groove flooring would solve the issue but that is much harder to fit to an existing floor and is going to make it impossible ever to get up without causing the same issues in future.

Yesterday unfortunately revealed a rather urgent house project - I mentally parked this as I was getting the keys to the new house, but I need to sort it because the house (my thatched place) is being sold, completing 7 March.

Basically a creature - probably a bird - has got down the chimney and been trapped in there. It has pecked at the wooden trim round the windows, causing a fair bit of superficial damage:



I'm not sure of the best way to sort this out. I think replacing that piece of trim is going to be pretty tricky to get right so my thought is to fill, sand and paint. With the amount of drying required after each fill and layer of paint I think it is going to take a good few days of visits to finish. Any suggestions?

Just find the closest match piece of trim, fix and paint.

As it’s the lower part then a different shape won’t stand out and filling and sanding the old piece already installed will probably look like a mess unless you use a straight edge and scrape it etc.

Dave!

[Ascender]

We're still waiting for a valuation on the plot of land and final build to come through, but have also been to look at a house that's come up for sale in the same village. It would be half the price of the new build and is much smaller, but comes with a long outbuilding attached to the house which is basically free and has enough space for a home office, gym, extra living space and utility room, so we're considering that as a plan b. Financially we'd be mad not to.

Its been used as an airbnb so could move in immediately, so am considering an offer to see what happens.

[Gavster]

Jesus Gav, what a palaver.

I’m thinking of changing my Facebook profile pic to a pic of your face in solidarity at this stage…

Pray for Gav… etc

I appreciate your thoughts and prayers

[Jobbo]

Just find the closest match piece of trim, fix and paint.

As it’s the lower part then a different shape won’t stand out and filling and sanding the old piece already installed will probably look like a mess unless you use a straight edge and scrape it etc.

Dave!

Easier said than done, Dave - the original trim is scalloped and all the windows are slightly different sizes so it wouldn't be particularly easy to match the shape. The trim is also behind the window sills. In an old house, inevitably removing window sills and bits of trim would reveal more jobs to do so I wasn't going to do that.

What I did was buy a multi-tool, used that to trim the ragged bits then sand back and stained with ebony Rustins wood stain.

After sanding:


After one coat of stain (I'm going to add another but it's not really necessary in the flesh):


It turns out it was a squirrel. He didn't manage to find his way out

[dinny_g]

What I did was buy a multi-tool, used that to trim the ragged bits then sand back and stained with ebony Rustins wood stain.

Multi-tools rule - what did you get ???

I bought one of these...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1

[Jobbo]

I thought it would be generally useful - I have a couple of floor tiles to take up so got a grout removal attachment as well. The multi-tool I bought is the Makita CXT one (12v rather than 18v) - I've loved the Makita CXT drill, impact driver and impact wrench I've had for some years so thought it was sensible to go for something matching. Surprised how heavy it is; comparing my 18v De Walt impact wrench to the Makita one, I imagine I'd find their multi-tool heavy for my weedy arms. It's a beast for cutting stuff and sanding anyway.

Bought it here for £146 delivered when it was in stock (with two batteries and charger - my existing two batteries are 7 years old so getting a bundle with some new ones seemed a good idea): https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/makita ... -0ah-batts

[Explosive Newt]

Mrs Newt and I use separate bathrooms because our house has two bathrooms so why wouldn't you.

Anyway it looks like the toilet cistern in her bathroom has come away from the wall a little, I guess the screws not well seated and have slowly pulled out of the drywall. I'll get the builder back to fix it as they are doing the fit and finish on the house next door now.

Anyway, the toilet in my bathroom looks just fine, so I took delight in informing Mrs Newt that she needs to shit less energetically. This went down as well as you can imagine.

[MikeHunt]

What I did was buy a multi-tool, used that to trim the ragged bits then sand back and stained with ebony Rustins wood stain.

Multi-tools rule - what did you get ???

I bought one of these...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1

I’ve had this one for a while I wouldnt describe myself as super handy but it seems really good. As I have the matching drill and socket driver, it’s useful to share batteries and have one on charge.

[IanF]

One of the bathrooms has two cracked tiles and needs some grout work. Unfortunately, it also has underfloor heating (elec). Do those multi-tools make it easier or harder to fuck it up compared to using manual tools?

[jamcg]

Use one with a carbide/diamond blade to cut the grout carefully, the element wire *should* be under a screed of self levelling compound or similar. Then to remove the tile just hit it with a hammer until it breaks into a million tiny bits- don’t be tempted to try and use a chisel to pry them up, just keep hitting with a hammer. It’s important to cut grout with this method so the breaks don’t travel into adjacent tiles

Try and have a look in the doorway before starting if you can pull back a carpet or something. You should be able to see the various layers there- should be something like cement board/plywood then screed then adhesive and finally the tile

[V8Granite]

Just find the closest match piece of trim, fix and paint.

As it’s the lower part then a different shape won’t stand out and filling and sanding the old piece already installed will probably look like a mess unless you use a straight edge and scrape it etc.

Dave!

Easier said than done, Dave - the original trim is scalloped and all the windows are slightly different sizes so it wouldn't be particularly easy to match the shape.

You can match the shape easy enough, I had to do it a few times on our old wooden double glazing when we first moved in.

Buried below times, fuck that, tiles can take being smacked with hammers, trodden on, dropped but randomly just go “dink” and snap in half

Should have gone persimmon, plasterboarded throughout and fixings made of cheese.

Dave!

[IanF]

Use one with a carbide/diamond blade to cut the grout carefully, the element wire *should* be under a screed of self levelling compound or similar. Then to remove the tile just hit it with a hammer until it breaks into a million tiny bits- don’t be tempted to try and use a chisel to pry them up, just keep hitting with a hammer. It’s important to cut grout with this method so the breaks don’t travel into adjacent tiles

Try and have a look in the doorway before starting if you can pull back a carpet or something. You should be able to see the various layers there- should be something like cement board/plywood then screed then adhesive and finally the tile

Excellent! Thank you very much!

Actually, double excellent!, as I get to go buy more tools!

[Simon]

What I did was buy a multi-tool, used that to trim the ragged bits then sand back and stained with ebony Rustins wood stain.

Multi-tools rule - what did you get ???

I bought one of these...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1

I have the wired version of this. I tend to shy away from battery power tools as I worry about how their little used batteries will fare in my cold garage.

[Jobbo]

Use one with a carbide/diamond blade to cut the grout carefully, the element wire *should* be under a screed of self levelling compound or similar. Then to remove the tile just hit it with a hammer until it breaks into a million tiny bits- don’t be tempted to try and use a chisel to pry them up, just keep hitting with a hammer. It’s important to cut grout with this method so the breaks don’t travel into adjacent tiles

Try and have a look in the doorway before starting if you can pull back a carpet or something. You should be able to see the various layers there- should be something like cement board/plywood then screed then adhesive and finally the tile

That's really useful - and I am not sure if we have under-tile heating so will try to find out before I go cutting the grout in my stepdaughter's bathroom

[Jobbo]

I have the wired version of this. I tend to shy away from battery power tools as I worry about how their little used batteries will fare in my cold garage.

My Makita CXT batteries seem to have coped with living in the garage over winter for 7 years without noticeable degradation, FWIW.

[dinny_g]

Yeah same with my Ryobi ones. I only have a drill (which was given to me by my FIL) but I'm slowly migrating to DeWalt

This is one of my 50th B-Day presents in May...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B099NQ1Y7V/ ... g_dp_it_im

[IanF]

On way to collect now.. only 10mins away

[Jobbo]

Did you make it back from Slough ok, Ian?