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Nov 18, 2023 22:01
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| # ? May 3, 2024 23:22 |
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Looks pretty good to me! Are you cutting in or taping?
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Nov 18, 2023 22:27
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Finished the second coat. It could maybe use a third but I’m stamping it Good Enough. Remove your pencil marks before painting, folks. CancerCakes posted:Looks pretty good to me! Are you cutting in or taping? Cutting in and cleaning up. The tape either doesn’t stick or sticks too much.
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Nov 19, 2023 11:52
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Carpet fitters are booked in for next Thursday. Greepers: grass is still growing actually, Bertie’s retirement indefinitely postponed
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Nov 21, 2023 12:53
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Carpet went in last week.        All well and good. However, I also had the boiler serviced and it looks like three of my thermostats aren't working. One of them in that bedroom that I want to now use and also condition the carpet by running the heating underneath it. I tried swapping the low voltage faceplate with a known-working one, no difference, so the problem is either in 3 specific circuits of the base unit (unlikely) or in the high voltage backplate of the stats (more likely, apparently they just fail?). Here's the base unit. Dark photo to make the LEDs easier to see, but the expected 3 loops are out.   Powered off the boiler and base unit (which feeds 230VAC to the stats), let's swap the important dead one..  .. with a currently unimportant working one..  I'd already swapped the face plates so they can stay swapped, but I need the back bits.  They're wired up using a switched live.  Bedroom side.   Wired the other one in, the same way.    And while not strictly necessary, wired the presumed broken one back too. When I pulled each of these off a small metal thing dropped out and I didn't figure out what it was until the second one, it's a washer for the screw holding the faceplate, but this one sat above a dusty floor covered in building materials may be lost forever.  Powered everything back on. You can't see it in the photo but there's numbers here now.  And this one is dead as expected.  So I have heating to the important room, which is good. I'm going to have to replace the broken ones at some point, and I guess the other 5 will also die soon? You can't just buy the high voltage side, of course, and they're £80 each. Maybe I'll repair them or replace them with something better. They're 5 whole years old and have been off most of the time.
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Dec 3, 2023 18:59
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It's ridiculous how much thermostats cost. I have one wireless Tado unit doing the upstairs and linked back to a unit that does heating and hot water, then there's a separate set of switches live (but also battery powered) wall mounted ones, but to convert that to the same system would be like £300 just for the convenience of being able to turn it on from my phone. Well, it might also let me partly fix the wild overshoot I get with the underfloor heating I guess which at today's gas prices may actually be a good money saving idea. The old wall mounted dial thermostat I replaced never worked because it turned out that the wires are actually coded backwards, so no matter what you did it never actually did anything and, I'm guessing, just ran non stop and let the radiator valves sort it out.
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Dec 4, 2023 00:46
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Bit of strimmer work to clear some critical areas.    Not much but it's something I've been putting off, and now my doorways are all clear and the area I need to fix the drains on is clear, so I no longer have that barrier to stop me doing that work. Mental as much as physical. Also, buried in the grass I found this.  I'd like to say some tradie left it here but I think it's actually mine. I have a doorway-height version and I have a vague memory of it being a 2 pack.
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Dec 23, 2023 13:27
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Visiting family for christmas, so I've been sewing my bedroom curtains with my mother's assistance and tutelage.
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Dec 27, 2023 21:28
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Jaded Burnout posted:Not into that brick I can't, but maybe into the floor below the carpet line if needed. You don't drive them into the brick, tack them in at a 90 degree angle into the other bit of trim. For tricky angles, I'd do two on one side, and one the other way, then set down weights while the glue dried.
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Dec 28, 2023 02:48
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Jaded Burnout posted:Visiting family for christmas, so I've been sewing my bedroom curtains with my mother's assistance and tutelage. Got any tips? We've got two pairs that need shortening and I was just gonna use that iron on stuff.
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Dec 28, 2023 10:43
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Powerful Two-Hander posted:Got any tips? We've got two pairs that need shortening and I was just gonna use that iron on stuff. Well, from my limited experience so far, they’re not that hard to do a good enough job on, it’s just straight lines. Just a bit tricky to keep everything aligned as you go. Assumes you’ve got a sewing machine though? Would not do them by hand, takes forever already.
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Dec 28, 2023 11:01
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Powerful Two-Hander posted:Got any tips? We've got two pairs that need shortening and I was just gonna use that iron on stuff. Going by similar things I've done: Fold them to the length you want, and then fold the leftover material over itself so the old edge is hidden. Stick in place with pins. When you're sewing it, the easiest way to get a consistent distance from the upper fold to the stitching is to align the edge of the fold with the side of the foot on the sewing machine - and then you should be able to adjust the needle sideways to get it where you want it. After that it's just a matter of feeding it in straight and making sure you're not sewing into any pins.
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Dec 28, 2023 18:51
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My wife does quilting. This thing is like goddamn magic for straight lines. https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-BuddySew-Machine-Universal-Attachments/dp/B0CJRCKL58/
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Dec 31, 2023 15:27
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Computer viking posted:and making sure you're not sewing into any pins. A tip from my mother to me to you: if you pin perpendicular to the seam instead of parallel, you can run right over the pins and remove them after.
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Dec 31, 2023 16:00
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Jaded Burnout posted:A tip from my mother to me to you: if you pin perpendicular to the seam instead of parallel, you can run right over the pins and remove them after. I do the same, but I have seen people recommend against it.
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Jan 1, 2024 00:15
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She did manage to hit a pin while we were working on them.
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Jan 1, 2024 00:22
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Jaded Burnout posted:A tip from my mother to me to you: if you pin perpendicular to the seam instead of parallel, you can run right over the pins and remove them after. Instead, buy sewing clips, which you clip from the outside edge of the seam to just outside of where the presser foot goes. They're perfect for nearly all fabrics except sheers and satin. It takes no time at all to place or remove them.
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Jan 1, 2024 00:33
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We were discussing these new fangled sewing clips while I was there. She wanted to give them a try, so hopefully no more struck pins.
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Jan 1, 2024 10:55
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Last night's 50mph winds tore a section of housewrap off the workshop that had been double-sided taped and stapled. Restapled & vinyl taped it this morning ahead of today's 55mph winds. I need to get on with the cladding for that thing when the weather lets up.
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Jan 2, 2024 15:02
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Post the curtains!!! Very surprised your curtain-making didn’t involve you getting a pair of lambs.
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Jan 2, 2024 15:33
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Did you end up getting the stairs done?
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Jan 3, 2024 06:42
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TheMightyHandful posted:Do you have stairs in your house?
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Jan 3, 2024 07:39
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Post the curtains!!! I'll post them when they're up. I need to buy steel tube for the rail. Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Very surprised your curtain-making didn’t involve you getting a pair of lambs. A single cotton plant and a bee. TheMightyHandful posted:Did you end up getting the stairs done? I didn't get much of anything done this year unfortunately, and the new stairs were bumped in favour of other things.
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Jan 3, 2024 21:45
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Jaded Burnout posted:...the new stairs were bumped in favour of other things. Can't wait to see the completed elevator 
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Jan 4, 2024 00:17
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I’ve just woken from an afternoon nap to find a bird aggressively trying to leave through a closed window. This is the second time now, and equally I have no idea how or where or when it got in. Once was a mystery, twice is a pattern.
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Jan 6, 2024 16:59
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a pattern of FREE BIRDS
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Jan 6, 2024 19:04
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Well, we know they're not nesting under the stairs odd though, I'd think you'd notice any gaps large enough for them with it being winter and all.
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Jan 6, 2024 21:22
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The one I’m wondering about is if they’re sneaking under the eaves into the attic, there’s one spot of unfinished internal wall which leaves a gap at the ceiling which I think goes up there. I’ll have to have another look up there, but it’s difficult as it’s very low roof and no flooring
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Jan 6, 2024 22:11
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Get a drone & fly it up there
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Jan 7, 2024 00:47
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Vim Fuego posted:Get thousands of pounds worth of tools and build another building so you can make a drone & fly it up there
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Jan 8, 2024 14:31
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I've found you get to the point where birds leaving you isn't even worth mentioning.
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Jan 12, 2024 22:11
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That’s why I’m always surprised to find one in my house in the morning
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Jan 13, 2024 11:58
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Today I got myself into the workshop to do more of the insulation. The ceiling is the worst part so I'm trying to get that out of the way. The end pieces require trimming as the bay is narrower.  I got it to about 2/3rds done before I reached my itchiness limit.    Some of them went in very easy, some fought. I'm hoping that the current downward bulge doesn't poing upwards into the ventilation space when the panels go on, but there's not much I can do about that. It's the insulation that we're trying to ventilate anyway, so maybe it'd be OK. I also wedged a drainpipe into the output that's been making a real mess of the wall, and I believe is responsible for the ceiling leak mentioned earlier.   I'd had this up there before but it fell out, this time I really wedged it in. Every one of the drainpipes has come out of its outlet, regardless of brackets used or person who fitted it, so clearly we're not using enough adhesive. You can see here where I think the problem is. Large amounts of water from the roof running down the wall possibly being directed under the flat roof by the lead flashing. As it happens there's a second roof under there and I don't know whether the water's going on or under that, but either way that one was leaky which is why there's a second one on top. I also don't know why this would've started this year and not last year. Obviously I do need to properly finish off that guttering outlet from the flat roof, into a hopper, and also clean up the wall and add brackets. Last week I also had the gas and electric meters replaced. Do not get a British Gas subcontractor talking on the topic of how bad British Gas are.   The electric meter was old, the gas less so, but they both got replaced together so they would keep being smart meters and not no-longer-supported-former-smart-meters. Apparently ours work on GSM data whereas the germans did it right with some kind of electrical data transfer or something, I don't know I was only half listening. It took far too long for the "Home Area Network" to come online so this could connect to it, and then (IMO) a much far too long time for it to get the electrical data. I didn't bother waiting for the gas data before shutting it off, because I need the socket back.  And finally, when I said I'd post the curtains later I thought I'd at least shown them a bit.  We put together the set for the main bedroom. Plain colour, but in order to make things a bit easier for us I specified the same materials left and right on the front of the house, and upstairs the cinema room was more important in terms of material and colour choice. I bought a soft black material for sound and light absorbtion. When attached to the blackout lining it feels almost like a woolen overcoat. The downstairs curtins will be white, and in a firmer cotton material.
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Jan 14, 2024 14:53
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I'm not sure but those look like big gaps in the insulation to me? Is it`because it's just half done? Over here they stagger the insulation in two layers to avoid a gap all the way through.
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Jan 16, 2024 14:55
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I’m going to be going back over and filling gaps with smaller pieces, but at the same time I’m not being super precious about it as it’s just a workshop.
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Jan 16, 2024 15:23
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Heard a scrabbling this morning and went to check if my suspicions on bird entry route were correct. Sure fuckin' were. OK so how are they getting into the attic?  This hole that was "repaired" by a professional roofer was apparently not repaired well enough to repel starlings. So now I get to choose either going up on the roof to see about the damage, or getting ANOTHER roofer in. As for the bird, I've left the attic hatch and a couple of nearby windows open, I can hear it trotting around, so hopefully with me gone it'll leave (or at least leave the attic) before I freeze to death.
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Jan 17, 2024 10:08
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Is it your soffits? An actual roof problem would surely leak?
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Jan 17, 2024 10:12
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Update, the bird has left. While I was checking the attic I also saw this tear which could be another entry point if they wedge under the tiles somehow. Powerful Two-Hander posted:Is it your soffits? An actual roof problem would surely leak? That large hole with the plastic (formerly) over it was there when I bought the house, I had it patched up by the roofer because it was letting the wind in. I haven't seen it myself from the outside but that is where what used to be a soffit now meets the flat roof of an extension added in the 90s, so my assumption is maybe there's a loose tile or gap there that the birds are using. I often hear seagulls scrabbling up there and they're pretty big, maybe they loosened something a bit. It's hard to say without being able to see it.
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Jan 17, 2024 10:18
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Holy hell I was behind on this thread. Sorry about your imminent lack of freebird. Workshop looking great, and I totally understand the "too many things in the way and too many layers of yak shaving to want to do anything on any project" morass. Have you considered lead for your flat roof parapet instead of aluminum? I follow this guy "Leadwork SW" on various social media who does amazing lead sheet roofing work, mainly valleys, parapets, chimney flashings, etc. I believe he may actually service your area but I'm not too familiar with geography of the UK. He's located in Exeter and serves "the southwest area" if that is of any help. Even if he does not serve your area he may have a recommendation of similar quality to make.
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Jan 18, 2024 13:09
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I hope your roof works out. I’m about to start a major renovation on my 1969 Canadian house and I’m a little worried. Went with an all in one renovation/ new home company that seems to be highly respected. However they invited us to see their show homes and I found multiple finish problems. Two main issues being sticker labels on baths and showers being caulked over but very visible. Also metal railings that were visibly damaged around their base. I showed them pictures of my concerns and they came back with “this is standard for show homes, we want homeowners to have realistic expectations of a lived in home.” Is this as dumb as it sounds or am I being to picky?
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Jan 18, 2024 21:59
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