DIY/Home Improvement Thread

[rachhere]

5 hours ago, Tommy G said:

I doubt the frames are shot - we had a similar problem where we replaced a few but it wasn’t too big job if you get a decent carpenter. If you replace the surround rather than the actual frame this can make a massive different with new doors. We used oak veneer throughout, solid oak is too expensive and the veneer look the same if you go somewhere half decent. Finish it yourself with a cpl of coats of osmo oil and it will look great - get your door furniture from Broightons in Anstey, quality stuff. All in you are probs looking at £300 a door maybe. If you paint the frames and trim yourself you will save money and it’s really easy. 

Thats good to hear it’s an option just to put on a veneer. It sounds a lot less disruptive! Definitely want to pay to get someone to do it, otherwise it will never get done..! 

[tom27111]

20 hours ago, rachhere said:

We really need to get our downstairs internal doors replaced. One door keeps on falling off its hinges and another gets stuck whenever you close it. Not to mention they are really quite ugly doors that were here before we moved in! 
 

Ideally I would like to get the frames replaced too and then new skirting board in the hallway to match, to have a high quality finish all round. The wood on the frames at the moment is poor quality and not very well finished.

 

having googled a bit though and also having had the thoughts of a carpenter, I am a bit concerned about opening up a whole can of worms with things like damaged plaster if we were to replace the whole lot. 
 

Any thoughts?! Anyone done anything similar?

 

Never done it, our house has got metal door frames for some weird reason, so it would be a real pain to change them.

 

I just bought a heat gun to strip all the old paint off and they came out looking pretty decent. I still need to replace about 7 doors though!

 

It's definitely worth getting a decent chippie round to have a look. I imagine they'd know instantly if it was possible to do it without any damage to the plaster.

 

If it was an issue, they should be able to quote to have the plaster repaired too, most tradesmen work with others. For example, an electrician who does re-wiring work will have a mate who follows him around the house to patch the plaster.

[tom27111]

Oh, by the way @rachhere, skirting is dead easy to replace yourself 

[Free Falling Foxes]

A friend of ours has been modernising her 1930s house. One thing she tackled was heating efficiency. She had new windows, heating and insulation. Because of the age of the house and her circumstances, she was able to get a government green homes grant which payed for roof insulation including Spray Foam Insulation.

She is now trying to sell the house.

Potential buyers are being refused a mortgage because of the spray foam!

Basically, the government were offering grants to home owners that encouraged them to have work carried out that then makes the home unsaleable

Apparently, the foam can cause moisture to become trapped and rot the roof timbers.

She's been quoted  over three grand to get it removed.

Edited 17 November 2023 by Free Falling Foxes

[ajthefox]

5 hours ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

A friend of ours has been modernising her 1930s house. One thing she tackled was heating efficiency. She had new windows, heating and insulation. Because of the age of the house and her circumstances, she was able to get a government green homes grant which payed for roof insulation including Spray Foam Insulation.

She is now trying to sell the house.

Potential buyers are being refused a mortgage because of the spray foam!

Basically, the government were offering grants to home owners that encouraged them to have work carried out that then makes the home unsaleable

Apparently, the foam can cause moisture to become trapped and rot the roof timbers.

She's been quoted  over three grand to get it removed.

Sorry to hear of your friends problem.

 

She is far from the only one, I've read a few stories of the same issue. Unfortunately there are a decent number of small traders who don't understand building physics and/or couldn't give a toss about people so long as they make some money. I could be wrong but I don't believe the government ever encouraged use of this type product.

 

I received an email about this stuff years ago being advertised as eco something. It is nothing of the sort and shouldn't be anywhere near any buildings. 

[ian__marshall]

Anyone able to recommend a good tiler in the Leicestershire area? 

[Kinowe Soorie]

15 hours ago, ian__marshall said:

Anyone able to recommend a good tiler in the Leicestershire area? 

What area of Leicestershire?

[ian__marshall]

25 minutes ago, Kinowe Soorie said:

What area of Leicestershire?

North Leicestershire, Loughborough area. 

[FoyleFox]

16 hours ago, ian__marshall said:

Anyone able to recommend a good tiler in the Leicestershire area? 

Geoff is Shepshed, so ideal for Loughborough.

 

https://www.toppstiles.co.uk/tiler-hub/geoffwigstead-267

[ian__marshall]

13 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

Geoff is Shepshed, so ideal for Loughborough.

 

https://www.toppstiles.co.uk/tiler-hub/geoffwigstead-267

Many thanks FoyleFox

[guest123]

On 17/11/2023 at 17:35, Free Falling Foxes said:

A friend of ours has been modernising her 1930s house. One thing she tackled was heating efficiency. She had new windows, heating and insulation. Because of the age of the house and her circumstances, she was able to get a government green homes grant which payed for roof insulation including Spray Foam Insulation.

She is now trying to sell the house.

Potential buyers are being refused a mortgage because of the spray foam!

Basically, the government were offering grants to home owners that encouraged them to have work carried out that then makes the home unsaleable

Apparently, the foam can cause moisture to become trapped and rot the roof timbers.

She's been quoted  over three grand to get it removed.

I would look into how to get the government to cover the cost as they naffed it up. I wouldn't have even thought they'd not offer mortgages because of that but the theory is correct. If you are insulating the actual roof leave a gap of 50mm between the roof felt/tiles and the material you're using so air can move behind it and stop the damp and rot

[Free Falling Foxes]

On 14/12/2023 at 10:07, guest123 said:

I would look into how to get the government to cover the cost as they naffed it up. I wouldn't have even thought they'd not offer mortgages because of that but the theory is correct. If you are insulating the actual roof leave a gap of 50mm between the roof felt/tiles and the material you're using so air can move behind it and stop the damp and rot

The government have already covered their arses re this.

There is some encouraging news for her however.

Apparently, lenders got nervous and almost all said they wouldn't lend in such instances.

This followed concerns about damp etc in Oct 21.

Late this year they have relaxed their views somwhat. If a proper survey was carried-out prior to install and open cell spray foam was correctly applied and appropriate certificates and guarantees issued, then lenders are more likely to accept mortgages on such properties.

[Ian Nacho]

I posted on another thread about 9 months ago a damp issue I've got in and around the lower regions of my downstairs chimney breast of my circa 1900 solid wall end terrace. 

 

Around 6 months ago I had a company inject DPC cream into all of the external walls around the property at a cost of around £2.5k but since then the issue hasn't improved whatsoever; it seems to have got even worse in the current rainy conditions. 

 

My initial thinking was it wasn't improving because of salt deposits on the wall meaning excess moisture in the air was being absorbed into the plaster meaning it just never dried out, however, with the problem seemingly getting worse with the wet conditions I'm now leaning towards the problem being somewhat to do with rainwater penetrating the walls.

 

I have a humidity meter in the damp affected room and the humidity level isn't any higher than usual. The chimney has been capped, however, I doubt any rainwater is coming through the top as I would logically expect some dampness higher up the chimney breast and upstairs (it's only in around the skirting boards downstairs).

 

I'm planning on getting the company who did the job back to take a look and see what they say, then get someone to have a look at the chimney to see if that is the issue. If there are no issues there based on previous quotes the next best solution would be to get the plaster off and replace with a salt resistant one. 

 

Any ideas what my next course of action should be as I'm at a bit off a loss what to do next and don't fancy forking out an additional X thousands to not rectify the issue. 

Edited 3 January by Ian Nacho

[Free Falling Foxes]

No definite solution I'm afraid but recall my dad always telling me to check around the fireplace whenever we were buying an house.

I assume it is because of the lack of damp proofing/membranes and/or because of damage by heat to them over the years.

We have lived in 3 houses now and each one has had damp or dampness in that area.

Is there anyway to improve ventilation in that area? In our current house I put in an airbrick in the affected wall and it did the trick. This is especially important in a blocked off former fire place, even with a capped chimney. Any dampness will manifest itself at the lowest point in that case.

Also, if it is on an outside wall, is it clear on both sides of any clutter?

Edited 3 January by Free Falling Foxes

[Kinowe Soorie]

2 hours ago, Ian Nacho said:

I posted on another thread about 9 months ago a damp issue I've got in and around the lower regions of my downstairs chimney breast of my circa 1900 solid wall end terrace. 

 

Around 6 months ago I had a company inject DPC cream into all of the external walls around the property at a cost of around £2.5k but since then the issue hasn't improved whatsoever; it seems to have got even worse in the current rainy conditions. 

 

My initial thinking was it wasn't improving because of salt deposits on the wall meaning excess moisture in the air was being absorbed into the plaster meaning it just never dried out, however, with the problem seemingly getting worse with the wet conditions I'm now leaning towards the problem being somewhat to do with rainwater penetrating the walls.

 

I have a humidity meter in the damp affected room and the humidity level isn't any higher than usual. The chimney has been capped, however, I doubt any rainwater is coming through the top as I would logically expect some dampness higher up the chimney breast and upstairs (it's only in around the skirting boards downstairs).

 

I'm planning on getting the company who did the job back to take a look and see what they say, then get someone to have a look at the chimney to see if that is the issue. If there are no issues there based on previous quotes the next best solution would be to get the plaster off and replace with a salt resistant one. 

 

Any ideas what my next course of action should be as I'm at a bit off a loss what to do next and don't fancy forking out an additional X thousands to not rectify the issue. 

Check that your guttering isn’t leaking or overflowing, if it’s an external wall. You might also need some sort of soak away adding externally? It might be worth removing the skirting to check that the plaster doesn’t go all the way down to the floor.

[brucey]

10 hours ago, Ian Nacho said:

I posted on another thread about 9 months ago a damp issue I've got in and around the lower regions of my downstairs chimney breast of my circa 1900 solid wall end terrace. 

 

Around 6 months ago I had a company inject DPC cream into all of the external walls around the property at a cost of around £2.5k but since then the issue hasn't improved whatsoever; it seems to have got even worse in the current rainy conditions. 

 

My initial thinking was it wasn't improving because of salt deposits on the wall meaning excess moisture in the air was being absorbed into the plaster meaning it just never dried out, however, with the problem seemingly getting worse with the wet conditions I'm now leaning towards the problem being somewhat to do with rainwater penetrating the walls.

 

I have a humidity meter in the damp affected room and the humidity level isn't any higher than usual. The chimney has been capped, however, I doubt any rainwater is coming through the top as I would logically expect some dampness higher up the chimney breast and upstairs (it's only in around the skirting boards downstairs).

 

I'm planning on getting the company who did the job back to take a look and see what they say, then get someone to have a look at the chimney to see if that is the issue. If there are no issues there based on previous quotes the next best solution would be to get the plaster off and replace with a salt resistant one. 

 

Any ideas what my next course of action should be as I'm at a bit off a loss what to do next and don't fancy forking out an additional X thousands to not rectify the issue. 

I wouldn't trust what the DPC company says tbh. If you've got Facebook, there are good groups where similar questions get asked all the time and they'll give you sound advice. 

 

Try this one:

https://facebook.com/groups/1023449561785486/

[FLAN]

Is there such a thing as someone coming in to do a few repairs on a fitted kitchen rather than wholesale change?

had one in about 5 years ago and over time the shoddy work has surfaced. Need some stuff like reselling and adjusting. 
would a kitchen fitter do this?

[ajthefox]

On 03/01/2024 at 09:30, Ian Nacho said:

I posted on another thread about 9 months ago a damp issue I've got in and around the lower regions of my downstairs chimney breast of my circa 1900 solid wall end terrace. 

 

Around 6 months ago I had a company inject DPC cream into all of the external walls around the property at a cost of around £2.5k but since then the issue hasn't improved whatsoever; it seems to have got even worse in the current rainy conditions. 

 

My initial thinking was it wasn't improving because of salt deposits on the wall meaning excess moisture in the air was being absorbed into the plaster meaning it just never dried out, however, with the problem seemingly getting worse with the wet conditions I'm now leaning towards the problem being somewhat to do with rainwater penetrating the walls.

 

I have a humidity meter in the damp affected room and the humidity level isn't any higher than usual. The chimney has been capped, however, I doubt any rainwater is coming through the top as I would logically expect some dampness higher up the chimney breast and upstairs (it's only in around the skirting boards downstairs).

 

I'm planning on getting the company who did the job back to take a look and see what they say, then get someone to have a look at the chimney to see if that is the issue. If there are no issues there based on previous quotes the next best solution would be to get the plaster off and replace with a salt resistant one. 

 

Any ideas what my next course of action should be as I'm at a bit off a loss what to do next and don't fancy forking out an additional X thousands to not rectify the issue. 

Salt deposits are when moisture is coming to the surface of the wall and evaporating, not moisture being absorbed by the wall, so if your wall is drying out from significant damp you would expect to see some deposits.

 

I haven't done much with DPC injection but I don't think it's an exact process. Given how wet the weather has been recently, it could be small weakness in the DPC that has then allowed moisture to continue to rise. Its more likely to be rising than to be a leak from higher up unless there are marks at a higher level somewhere.

 

The suggestion of a gravel drain to the perimeter would be helpful if you can accommodate it externally, even temporarily to help it dry out before some warmer and dryer weather. If the ground level is above your floor level externally in this location that would certainly explain the moisture in the wall.

 

It's more likely to be lime plaster at present and I would avoid replacing this with anything that claims to be moisture or whatever resistant - in that case you will just trap moisture in the masonry and it will have a more detrimental effect on the wall over the longer term. 

 

I'd get in touch with the company and see what they think also - the least they can do for free is re-visit and review.

Keep us posted.