|
Jaded Burnout posted:
You know that cement has a best before date on it and if you read the manufacturers website they all seem to say that it looses strength if you store it a long time past that. How much of this is true if it is well stored I don’t know! If it is only for filling holes I doubt it matters but bear this in mind if doing anything structural. I think the hardest bit of mortar is first getting the mix right and then not accidentally adding that extra drop of water that turns it from perfect and into too sloppy!. Have fun!
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2019 21:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 16:30 |
|
|
Tomarse posted:You know that cement has a best before date on it and if you read the manufacturers website they all seem to say that it looses strength if you store it a long time past that. You might have other information than I do but from what I can tell the use by date isn't about structural strength but about the slow breakdown of the chemicals they use to reduce chromium VI levels (which causes skin irritation). With proper gloves, goggles, and a respirator I should be fine mixing these small amounts. Which I'd probably wear even if it was fresh.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2019 22:16
|
|
|
You got the stuff sealed in plastic bags right? I've already made the mistake of "sure I'll use 6 bags before it goes off" then had to cart 4 bags to the tip.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2019 22:42
|
|
|
I've used well past it's sell by date cement. Nothing exploded.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2019 01:13
|
|
|
cakesmith handyman posted:You got the stuff sealed in plastic bags right? I've already made the mistake of "sure I'll use 6 bags before it goes off" then had to cart 4 bags to the tip. Yeah. It's a bunch of bags and sand left over from the builder. I'll use it for some odd jobs and then chuck the rest.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2019 07:41
|
|
|
Up bright and early to harvest from the garden. Good yield this year! First up I gathered a bucket worth of fresh sand and a nice ripe bag of cement from the herb garden out front.  Next I went to the vegetable patch in the back garden and picked 12 bricks and set them out to dry.  I have the plan pretty well laid out for fixing up the bedroom wall, the only thing I'm not sure about is venting. I understand the purpose of venting a closed chimney is to allow the house to heat & dry it and prevent mould growth, but I hate them, and I don't like the fact that it also allows the outside to chill and draught the house. I was thinking of leaving out a couple of bricks up high in the bedroom but it occurred to me that there's probably a flue liner and I wouldn't be going into that. So maybe I'll just seal up the master bedroom and vent it in the guest bedroom downstairs and be done with it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2019 10:47
|
|
|
 Spent some time after work today removing broken bricks and cleaning up, ahead of the actual repair (which I'm procrastinating on a little bit). Turns out my plasterboard knife does wonders against 110 year old lime mortar, too.   Some other gaps to clear. I'm going to have to get creative around the slope of the ceiling. Bricks will fit back there, but not if I've cemented in the ones below them, and there's nothing to hold them up if I don't..     A possible vent above the old ceiling line, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't go into the flue sleeve.  Bit of a sunset view while I was up on the tower  And this is where we're at so far. I'm glad I moved to another room to sleep. 
Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Mar 7, 2019 |
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2019 21:16
|
|
|
I missed it in the thread, but you're replacing those bricks with a lime based mortar? if you go portland cement mortar (i've heard from masons and IANAM so take this as the internet based advice it is) it might put undue stress on the mortar around the repaired place causing more cracks and issues down the line.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2019 22:23
|
|
|
Heck I would just jam some wood in there, or fill with expanding foam and carve to look brickly.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2019 23:34
|
|
|
beep-beep car is go posted:I missed it in the thread, but you're replacing those bricks with a lime based mortar? if you go portland cement mortar (i've heard from masons and IANAM so take this as the internet based advice it is) it might put undue stress on the mortar around the repaired place causing more cracks and issues down the line. hm. Something to think about for sure. The replacements aren't actually due to cracks etc, but gaps left after other things were removed, like purlins and heater vents. I'm just assuming the existing mortar is lime on account of the age and colour, it's pretty well beat throughout the house. peanut posted:Heck I would just jam some wood in there, or fill with expanding foam and carve to look brickly. this is my heckin bedroom peanut, I must do a good
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2019 23:48
|
|
|
Lime let's thing breathe. Do you want to breathe?
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2019 01:58
|
|
|
Oh hey I just posted in my own thread about my next project of repointing my sandstone basement and doing so with lime mortar. I did a bunch of research about how to go about it (don't want to pay out the nose for someone else to do it) and with soft stone like sandstone and old bricks (which are softer than modern bricks), I learned that you generally want to avoid Portland cement-based mortars because they dry super hard (harder than the stones/bricks) and can result in spalling or cracking if there's any settling/shifting. Lime mortar is soft and can shift with the stones/bricks and self-heals. And it breathes. There's some interesting chemical stuff that goes on in lime. Also the rats are adorable.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2019 05:21
|
|
|
Queen Victorian posted:Oh hey I just posted in my own thread about my next project of repointing my sandstone basement and doing so with lime mortar. I did a bunch of research about how to go about it (don't want to pay out the nose for someone else to do it) and with soft stone like sandstone and old bricks (which are softer than modern bricks), I learned that you generally want to avoid Portland cement-based mortars because they dry super hard (harder than the stones/bricks) and can result in spalling or cracking if there's any settling/shifting. Lime mortar is soft and can shift with the stones/bricks and self-heals. And it breathes. There's some interesting chemical stuff that goes on in lime. I think you're all right on this one, however it being only a few bricks on an internal skin that'll be sealed and painted I think it'll be OK. I'll probably do a deliberately weak mix to compensate a little. Queen Victorian posted:Also the rats are adorable. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2019 07:32
|
|
|
Me da was down for the weekend and the main thing we hit was flipping round the front door. First up had to cut down and round off the new locking strip.      Pulled the door apart and redid the hinjiz.   Recutting these insets on both sides was a huge pain because the plastic's fairly tough and I don't have a router.     Door back in place during fitting  Annoyingly this strike plate isn't reversible so I'm going to have to buy a new one. For the meantime I just cut off the plate and used tape to protect the doorframe when closing the door. And there we go, a flipped door. Now it won't piss me off every time I go into the house and previously would up faced with stairs rather than an entryway. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2019 16:46
|
|
|
is the last pic inside or outside
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2019 01:08
|
|
|
Honestly I think I was only about 60% conscious when I wrote that post, left out half the stuff. That's the inside.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2019 09:38
|
|
|
Looks like that striker plate could be flipped if the insert had its rivets ground off and you used screws into the frame to resecure it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2019 11:07
|
|
|
cakesmith handyman posted:Looks like that striker plate could be flipped if the insert had its rivets ground off and you used screws into the frame to resecure it. That's probably true. Had it occurred to us I don't think we would've done it, as switching to grinding off rivets late in the day when we needed to get a functioning door wasn't going to be option A vs buying a replacement.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2019 11:22
|
|
|
I picked up some squirt bottles to fill the "smaller than a bucket but bigger than a ramekin" container gap I had, and put two to immediate use. I wanted to test different mortar mixes to find one close to the existing mortar. First up busted out the PPE and cleaned up some bricks.   Sand + cement = sament  Mixing these up gave me a new appreciation of how hard it is to judge the amount of water needed.  Then sealed up and wet down any remaining cement so I don't get a die from chromium IV poisoning  I'll leave all that for 24 hours and then see how they came out.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2019 16:34
|
|
|
Please don’t catch a case of death, tia
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2019 19:12
|
|
|
I havent read back recently to look, but your mortar looks white and limey? Certianly not heavy in cement? ALso the way its broken off those test bricks suggests the same? NotJustANumber99 fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Mar 8, 2019 |
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2019 01:06
|
|
|
NotJustANumber99 posted:I havent read back recently to look, but your mortar looks white and limey? This has been discussed already. I'm not aiming for a visual match here, just a similar strength. And even then, not super important on the scale I'm working at.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2019 06:47
|
|
|
sup Before & after  The higher ratios behave as expected, with 1:3 and 1:5 being called out on the cement back as "strong" and "standard" mortar mixes. The 1:1 and 1:3 dang near blunted my knife.  The 1:7 mix is just a little bit stronger than the lime mortar which is good for me, especially since it's 111 years newer.  So that's my mix.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2019 17:41
|
|
|
Fought through the procrastination and got stuck in on repairing the bedroom wall. Cleaned some bricks.   Dry fitted and then did the same for some other gaps  Mixed up some mortar    Cemented them in.  After finishing that up (and conveniently all the mortar, at least the amount that didn't end up on the floor) I cleaned up and immediately texted a brickie to get them to do the rest because gently caress that. I like trying to do things myself first but I know a difficult learning curve when I see one. By the time I got half good at working with the material I'd be done already with no benefit from all the sweat and time.
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2019 17:30
|
|
|
Also I had a site visit from a roofer regarding the upstands on the rear skylights, he said "you don't need to pay me to do this, you can do it yourself" and told me how, though I think it'll be a touch more complicated than that but worth a try anyway.
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2019 19:06
|
|
|
Wife that honest roofer!
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2019 00:58
|
|
|
peanut posted:Wife that honest roofer! Geordies ain't my type
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2019 20:46
|
|
|
im paying my handyman to install an electric shower even though the idiots on diy.com say they cna do it in an hour.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2019 23:19
|
|
|
Brickie quote is £200 including the downstairs fireplace which is a little steep but it'll be done and I can move on to painting! I've ordered some special non-clog anti-dust sanding pads which will be interesting to try out.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2019 23:24
|
|
|
I decided in the end that £200 felt too expensive for the work being done so I did it myself yesterday. The problem with doing everything yourself is that when you leave something alone for 2 weeks hoping it'll go away, when you come back everything is exactly how you left it.   Mixed up mortar from all the remaining sand I had upstairs. Winds up probably around 4:1. This time I worked with my (double-gloved) hands because I wasn't getting on well with the trowel (which is why people have a variety of trowels and years of experience using them).  It was deeply unpleasant to do especially since the overalls I have have poppers that keep popping open and giant wizard sleeves which catch any falling mortar when working overhead and funnel it straight into your clothes. But it's done and ready for cleanup and then everything can be prepped, sanded and painted.  
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2019 10:20
|
|
|
I don't recall if you ever mentioned, is there a reason you chose not to reopen that fireplace?
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2019 12:21
|
|
|
Coasterphreak posted:I don't recall if you ever mentioned, is there a reason you chose not to reopen that fireplace? It being a bedroom I wouldn't want to reopen it anyway, I don't have a lot of interest in "structural" things that don't do anything and, with modern central heating, open fires are mostly about the experience, but I'll actually be closing the downstairs fireplace in that stack because it's against regulations to actively use a chimney stack which is being used as a structural support, and the steel beam holding the roof up (to allow the vaulting in that room and the entryway) has one end propped on that chimney stack. This is a choice I made willingly when vaulting the roof; having the vault was more important to me than having a live fire in either of the bedrooms on that side of the house. The chimney on the other gable is still active and the downstairs fireplace will be an open fire there, in what will be the "winter" chill zone.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2019 12:47
|
|
|
Today I moved on to sanding the plaster in the master bedroom, to prep for painting. This being the first time I'd used my new random orbital sander I spent at least an hour just unpacking and hooking up the dust extraction. The instructions for opening the extractor were inside it, by the way. The extractor came with hose adapters, the 5m slim hose I bought also came with adapters, and I bought an additional pack of adapters too, and it's good I did since I needed a lot.   These are the ones I *didn't* use  The objective was to even out the surface of the plaster and remove the glassy final coat since it hinders the application of paint. Here's the three stages of gloss removal:    The sander worked very well, though I'm going to pause while I order some more sanding pads since I need to step up the grit. The finish I was getting was good but the removal rate was too slow and I'd just burn through pads if I kept going with the P240s. I'm using Mirka Autonet pads which are I guess designed for car paint and promise "dust-free" sanding since the mesh allows dust to pass straight through into the extraction ports without clogging or spreading around. I was a touch skeptical and donned all the usual PPE, but it actually works and I'm going to be ditching the goggles and switching from a full respirator to the disposable dust masks. While looking for some I found this guy who I'm 98% sure was a bad guy in 24..  .. and Psycho Mantis has fallen from grace  I'll be keeping with the gloves to reduce vibration and I'll also be switching to my heavier duty ear protection. I have for now been using these:  Which are good but they trade a slimmer profile for reduced noise reduction. I'll switch back to my red ones which look like I should be on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier but the sander plus extractor makes for a very loud environment. I also picked up some woodworking books so I could do a bit of more formal learnin'.  So far I've only gone through Simply Stairs which was very useful since following his steps to the letter I came out with a very similar design to what I was going to do on my own but with some confidence that he actually knew what he was talking about. I'll be digging further into the carpentry and joinery books when it comes time to deal with doors. Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Mar 24, 2019 |
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2019 17:50
|
|
|
Fancy popping over and plastering my walls? Looks like you got it down pat.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2019 19:16
|
|
|
cakesmith handyman posted:Fancy popping over and plastering my walls? Looks like you got it down pat. I didn't plaster mine, I've only prepped some.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2019 19:20
|
|
|
I'm sure I missed this earlier in the thread, but why can't you just put up some gat dang drywall?
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2019 20:13
|
|
|
Ghostnuke posted:I'm sure I missed this earlier in the thread, but why can't you just put up some gat dang drywall? ? Where?
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2019 20:22
|
|
|
Jaded Burnout posted:Today I moved on to sanding the plaster in the master bedroom, to prep for painting. This being the first time I'd used my new random orbital sander I spent at least an hour just unpacking and hooking up the dust extraction. The instructions for opening the extractor were inside it, by the way. Is sanding recently done plaster definitely a thing? I’ve never heard of it, and seems like a lot of work that shouldn’t really be necessary. I’ve painted on top of a skim coat (once fully dry & only using ultramatt), but certainly had no difficulty with paint adhesion.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2019 20:34
|
|
|
wooger posted:Is sanding recently done plaster definitely a thing? I’ve never heard of it, and seems like a lot of work that shouldn’t really be necessary. It's not strictly necessary, no, but a) I found it mildly annoying to paint onto the glassy finish in the room I did start on already and it led to a less than perfect paint finish, b) if I'm sanding out imperfections and fill-ins in various places I might as well take the whole thing to a consistent level
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2019 20:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 16:30 |
|
|
Ghostnuke posted:I'm sure I missed this earlier in the thread, but why can't you just put up some gat dang drywall? I argue that they are silly perfectionists making their lives much more difficult, but then, we still run all our electrical in conduit here, so different strokes for different folks.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2019 22:07
|
|
