The House Projects Thread

[IanF]

Anyone ever plastered a room.. it’s something that fills me with dread and I normally try anything once (sometimes before having to pay someone to fix a now bigger issue)

[Jimexpl]

This is driving me completely mental, any suggestions appreciated.

I made the fatal mistake of using the wall anchors supplied with a telescopic light bracket. I usually only use my own fittings but these looked okay so I ploughed on with them. Unfortunately they're completely shite and made from toffee.

They fixings are comprised of a metal sleeve and a bolt down the middle, with a flared tip (now deep in the wall). You hammer the whole thing into the wall, and then as you tighten a nut down onto the end of the bolt, it's supposed to flare the sleeve into the wall. Except it's not.



The hole in the wall was sized perfectly; the sleeves were an interference fit, and I really had to batter them into the wall. Despite that, as I've tightened the bracket, none of the bolts were going up tight. They're all just slowly pulling the bolt (not the sleeve) out the wall. Fucking useless toffee metal shite.

Now I can't use these steaming piile of horse shite fixings, but I am also completely stumped how to remove them from the wall. I've tried attaching a nut to the end and levering out, however that's not worked. I've reached the shank on one of them so can't wind it out any further with a nut.

I've checked YouTube and it seems to be either lever them out, or smack them a hammer and pull them out. Absolutey BS.




I'd be finished having a cup of tea now if I'd listened to myself and gone straight to my lovely selection box of Fischer wall fixings

Use the Fischer fixings in a different position and ignore the mess behind your light?...

Whenever my engineers use the supplied fixings rather than the Fischer ones that I supply them with it ends up in failure. Expensive hand-blown glass fittings from Italy tend to be the worst offenders.

[Gavster]

Anyone ever plastered a room.. it’s something that fills me with dread and I normally try anything once (sometimes before having to pay someone to fix a now bigger issue)

Every friend who has tried it made a complete mess on their first go although I'm convinced it's a fairly easy skill to learn with a bit of practice. However, it's only worth learning if you will have opportunities to practice and improve, e.g. renovating a house and working through each room. If you have one wall/room that needs plaster then I don't think it's worth the hassle of screwing it up.

[Jobbo]

Anyone ever plastered a room.. it’s something that fills me with dread and I normally try anything once (sometimes before having to pay someone to fix a now bigger issue)

I did once - a downstairs loo which was fully tiled. Took the tiles off (they were horrid) and the walls needed plastering so I bought ready-mixed plaster. It was not a very good finish.

[Mito Man]

I drywalled and plastered the tiny room the boiler is situated in after it sprung a leak and ruined it to the point the plaster just fell off in chunks. Now the room was barely bigger than the boiler and had the boiler in it with all the associated pipework. Horrific job and the finish was so bad I then skimmed it was a layer of Polyfilla from one of those massive tubs - sanded that down and it was actually acceptable.
Not my proudest job!

[Jimmy Choo]

Anyone ever plastered a room.. it’s something that fills me with dread and I normally try anything once (sometimes before having to pay someone to fix a now bigger issue)

Yeah. I took the horrid dado rail off my stairwell and discovered it was the join between two different bodges. I learned to plaster. The finish isn't brilliant but I'll be papering over it at some point and that will hide it.

The correct way to deal with it is strip all the plaster off, whack up plasterboard and just skim it.

[duncs500]

This is driving me completely mental, any suggestions appreciated.

I made the fatal mistake of using the wall anchors supplied with a telescopic light bracket. I usually only use my own fittings but these looked okay so I ploughed on with them. Unfortunately they're completely shite and made from toffee.

They fixings are comprised of a metal sleeve and a bolt down the middle, with a flared tip (now deep in the wall). You hammer the whole thing into the wall, and then as you tighten a nut down onto the end of the bolt, it's supposed to flare the sleeve into the wall. Except it's not.



The hole in the wall was sized perfectly; the sleeves were an interference fit, and I really had to batter them into the wall. Despite that, as I've tightened the bracket, none of the bolts were going up tight. They're all just slowly pulling the bolt (not the sleeve) out the wall. Fucking useless toffee metal shite.

Now I can't use these steaming piile of horse shite fixings, but I am also completely stumped how to remove them from the wall. I've tried attaching a nut to the end and levering out, however that's not worked. I've reached the shank on one of them so can't wind it out any further with a nut.

I've checked YouTube and it seems to be either lever them out, or smack them a hammer and pull them out. Absolutey BS.




I'd be finished having a cup of tea now if I'd listened to myself and gone straight to my lovely selection box of Fischer wall fixings

I had some very similar fixings for a bike bracket I've put in the garage, I read everyone bitching about the fixings in the review as I think the recommended hole (10mm IIRC) was too big and so they would just spin in the hole rather than allow you to tighten the nut. I therefore started with the next size down hole, but I needed to twat the fixing so much that I knackered the end of the thread and had to use my Dremel to cut the end off to release the nut. On the other ones I found a way of starting with the small hole but reaming it out slightly so that they hammered in just enough to bite. They are very hole size sensitive.

The other thing I note is that the sheath needs to push against the washer, not sure whether that's a good fixing type if you are not directly into brick, but I suppose if the length of the rod and the sheath are correct it might work.

They can be a decent type of fixing if you get them right. I've used them in a few things recently and managed never to have one that didn't bite.

[Rich B]

Anyone ever plastered a room.. it’s something that fills me with dread and I normally try anything once (sometimes before having to pay someone to fix a now bigger issue)

nope, you pay someone to plaster. it’s not a skill that’s worth doing yourself!

[V8Granite]

Your hole was too small, it had nowhere for the flare to dig into the brick. It’s like using a smooth tube to bite into a brick surface.

I simply use good quality Rawl plugs everywhere and never have a problem, I just use the size bigger than recommended.

Dave!

[integrale_evo]

This is driving me completely mental, any suggestions appreciated.

I made the fatal mistake of using the wall anchors supplied with a telescopic light bracket. I usually only use my own fittings but these looked okay so I ploughed on with them. Unfortunately they're completely shite and made from toffee.

They fixings are comprised of a metal sleeve and a bolt down the middle, with a flared tip (now deep in the wall). You hammer the whole thing into the wall, and then as you tighten a nut down onto the end of the bolt, it's supposed to flare the sleeve into the wall. Except it's not.



The hole in the wall was sized perfectly; the sleeves were an interference fit, and I really had to batter them into the wall. Despite that, as I've tightened the bracket, none of the bolts were going up tight. They're all just slowly pulling the bolt (not the sleeve) out the wall. Fucking useless toffee metal shite.

Now I can't use these steaming piile of horse shite fixings, but I am also completely stumped how to remove them from the wall. I've tried attaching a nut to the end and levering out, however that's not worked. I've reached the shank on one of them so can't wind it out any further with a nut.

I've checked YouTube and it seems to be either lever them out, or smack them a hammer and pull them out. Absolutey BS.




I'd be finished having a cup of tea now if I'd listened to myself and gone straight to my lovely selection box of Fischer wall fixings

I had some very similar fixings for a bike bracket I've put in the garage, I read everyone bitching about the fixings in the review as I think the recommended hole (10mm IIRC) was too big and so they would just spin in the hole rather than allow you to tighten the nut. I therefore started with the next size down hole, but I needed to twat the fixing so much that I knackered the end of the thread and had to use my Dremel to cut the end off to release the nut. On the other ones I found a way of starting with the small hole but reaming it out slightly so that they hammered in just enough to bite. They are very hole size sensitive.

The other thing I note is that the sheath needs to push against the washer, not sure whether that's a good fixing type if you are not directly into brick, but I suppose if the length of the rod and the sheath are correct it might work.

They can be a decent type of fixing if you get them right. I've used them in a few things recently and managed never to have one that didn't bite.

Yep! Proper rawl ones with sprung hinged arms are better as they take so little pressure to get started that you can just hold the insert with a finger so it doesn’t spin even if you go too big with the hole.

Have made the mistake in the past trying to bolt a U- section item down. Yep, will pull the insert out. Needs the washer against it to pull the wedge into the case. If you’ve got thick plaster you’ll need a longer fitting so the legs bite brick but the front of the insert is still flush with the front of the wall. You can’t just push a shorter one further in, it just won’t work. The shorter ones are only really any good straight into brick or concrete.

[mik]

This is driving me completely mental, any suggestions appreciated.

I made the fatal mistake of using the wall anchors supplied with a telescopic light bracket. I usually only use my own fittings but these looked okay so I ploughed on with them. Unfortunately they're completely shite and made from toffee.

These are fixings designed to go into brick or other strong solid materials. I can’t tell from the pics if that’s what you were going into?

[Carlos]

I'm convinced it's a fairly easy skill to learn with a bit of practice. However, it's only worth learning if you will have opportunities to practice and improve, e.g. renovating a house and working through each room. If you have one wall/room that needs plaster then I don't think it's worth the hassle of screwing it up.

A bit of content there for you. Can you patch that up in less than half day to a professional standard ?

I've tried but ended up sanding and filling and so on to get a decent finish. Even then my experience is a pro would knock a better finish out first time.

[IanF]

I'm convinced it's a fairly easy skill to learn with a bit of practice. However, it's only worth learning if you will have opportunities to practice and improve, e.g. renovating a house and working through each room. If you have one wall/room that needs plaster then I don't think it's worth the hassle of screwing it up.

A bit of content there for you. Can you patch that up in less than half day to a professional standard ?

I've tried but ended up sanding and filling and so on to get a decent finish. Even then my experience is a pro would knock a better finish out first time.

Yeah, but it’d be mostly filler..

[Beany]

Outstanding, Ian.

At least you don't have to worry about ruining the rest of the wall pulling the other ones out Gav, so might as well go ham on it - you're replastering that anyway, an extra square foot isn't going to make a massive difference to the job at this stage.

[Explosive Newt]

We have always had middling to poor water pressure and flow. Shower on the 2nd floor was ok but not powerful, hosepipes useful for watering but not washing, occasional low water pressure warning lights on appliances.

Apparently the regs have changed recently so you can have a pump fitted to your inflow to increase your water pressure (and, presumably, flow). The plumber bodged one in last week and it's transformative. It's like having a power shower and all the old issues with hoses and appliances are gone. Would recommend.

[jamcg]

Plastering takes minutes to learn and years to get good at. I have to patch stuff in at work, and I’m still shit at it, sometimes it’s better to use a powdered filler you mix yourself, fill high and sand back

[jamcg]

We have always had middling to poor water pressure and flow. Shower on the 2nd floor was ok but not powerful, hosepipes useful for watering but not washing, occasional low water pressure warning lights on appliances.

Apparently the regs have changed recently so you can have a pump fitted to your inflow to increase your water pressure (and, presumably, flow). The plumber bodged one in last week and it's transformative. It's like having a power shower and all the old issues with hoses and appliances are gone. Would recommend.

Yup,they’re definitely a game changer. Not always a one size fits all solution, but amazing results when you can use them

[V8Granite]

As our 1952 ex council house has been an utter pain, walls that were 3” out of plumb, multiple ceilings, weird central heating routes etc. Well we decided to buy another one next door to add to the hassle.

A few more signatures to sign and it’s ours. Holly Protect from this fine forum sorted it all for us and it’s a rare case of being beneficial to us and to the person renting it.

Plan retire well by 55 is in full effect!

Dave!

[Rich B]

nice work Dave!

[Gavster]

Posted on 15th March 2024:

Being told to expect a 6 to 7 month wait for a hearing now. At least this means we’re almost certainly going to get an order at the next hearing, barring any freak occurrence

I've received a notice for a hearing on late Feb 2025, so over 11 months since the last hearing . At least it has been listed a disposal hearing, and it has been allocated 3 hours, so we've got every chance of it being wrapped up (in terms of court hearings)