Top DIY Tips
- Thread starter Mrs Magpie
- Start date
Been away for awhile so this will just restart the thread. My best tip for DIY Wallpapering.
Slap the wall paper paste directly on the wall, even if you are using the "pre-pasted" kind that requires dipping in water. This prevents stretching and tearing of long wet sheets of wallpaper when you try to hang it and eliminates the mess of folding over long sheets to add water and or paste. Trust me it really works, and if you use the "pealable" type paste the paper will come off easily should you change the decor!
Slap the wall paper paste directly on the wall, even if you are using the "pre-pasted" kind that requires dipping in water. This prevents stretching and tearing of long wet sheets of wallpaper when you try to hang it and eliminates the mess of folding over long sheets to add water and or paste. Trust me it really works, and if you use the "pealable" type paste the paper will come off easily should you change the decor!
Greasemonkey Al
New Member
Chemical safety.
If you're working with caustic soda (lye, sodium hydroxide; potassium hydroxide is also found in some drain cleaners) have a jug of cheap vinegar handy. If you get any caustic on your skin it will quickly start turning you into soap, it's very painful. Water won't wash it off quick enough, but vinegar will neutralise it instantly - you'll feel the soapy feeling disappear straight away.
Acids - sulphuric (drain cleaner, car batteries) or hydrochloric (brick &mortar cleaner) - neutralise with lots of water followed immediately with baking soda. Also, if you need to dilute concentrated sulphuric acid, add it to a large volume of water - never attempt to add water to conc. sulphuric as it can boil up and shower you with the stuff. A bad way to go.
If you're working with caustic soda (lye, sodium hydroxide; potassium hydroxide is also found in some drain cleaners) have a jug of cheap vinegar handy. If you get any caustic on your skin it will quickly start turning you into soap, it's very painful. Water won't wash it off quick enough, but vinegar will neutralise it instantly - you'll feel the soapy feeling disappear straight away.
Acids - sulphuric (drain cleaner, car batteries) or hydrochloric (brick &mortar cleaner) - neutralise with lots of water followed immediately with baking soda. Also, if you need to dilute concentrated sulphuric acid, add it to a large volume of water - never attempt to add water to conc. sulphuric as it can boil up and shower you with the stuff. A bad way to go.
rowan
Well-Known Member
Oh, I've only just noticed this thread 
Some great tips 
Anyway, I've got a good tip that I discovered one Easter, when I was absolutely skint, couldn't afford any help, the loo was blocked solid (no, wasn't me, my delightful older son
) and I'd tried everything I could think of.
I looked in this book I'd got years before and never looked at (DIY tips for women' or something like that) ...
If you've got one of those old-fashioned type floor mops, or the fabric vileda ones, put a carrier bag over the mophead and secure it with elastic bands, and use it as a plunger - it works!
Some great tips Anyway, I've got a good tip that I discovered one Easter, when I was absolutely skint, couldn't afford any help, the loo was blocked solid (no, wasn't me, my delightful older son
) and I'd tried everything I could think of.I looked in this book I'd got years before and never looked at (DIY tips for women' or something like that) ...
If you've got one of those old-fashioned type floor mops, or the fabric vileda ones, put a carrier bag over the mophead and secure it with elastic bands, and use it as a plunger - it works!
Greasemonkey Al
New Member
Here's another one that works genuinely well. If you drill a hole in a wall that's too big for the rawlplugs you're using, wrap them in paper 'til they grip.
If you run out of rawlplugs, use a bit of wooden dowel instead.
Metal cutting - if you're hacksawing metal, use the following lubricants -
Aluminium - paraffin
Steel - engine or gearbox oil
Brass or bronze - cut dry
Copper - cut dry but use a fine tooth blade for thin sections.
fibreglass - soapy water to reduce poisonous dust.
plastics - dry.
If you run out of rawlplugs, use a bit of wooden dowel instead.
Metal cutting - if you're hacksawing metal, use the following lubricants -
Aluminium - paraffin
Steel - engine or gearbox oil
Brass or bronze - cut dry
Copper - cut dry but use a fine tooth blade for thin sections.
fibreglass - soapy water to reduce poisonous dust.
plastics - dry.
When putting screws into holes in wood that you have drilled for them drive them nearly home with a hammer (Brixton screwdriver)and only use the screwdriver for the last few millimetres.
This does not work with screws going into metal.
Screw top lids that will not come off can often be loosened by turning clockwise as if to tighten and them then going back to unscrewing them. (If someone sees you doing this they will think you are stupid - but watch their face when the lid that they couldn't shift comes off).
Staples put into notices or pictures will be easier to remove if you hold the stapler at an angle so that te staple does not go fully in on one side. A thin-bladed fruit knife or similar will get under it better than a staple remover. If only one spike goes through the paper it is less damaged as well.
Files and saws only cut on the forward stroke - don't press down on the back stroke.
Remember with any product or piece of kit: if all else fails read the instructions.
Permanent marker pen on smooth shiny surfaces can be almost completey removed by scribbling over them with another such pen and wiping with a cloth while still wet. A pale stain will remain but obscene or other words and pictures can be removed.
Stains on clothes caused by dry-wipe marker pens...
...cannot be removed - sorry
Hocus Eye
)and only use the screwdriver for the last few millimetres. This does not work with screws going into metal.
Screw top lids that will not come off can often be loosened by turning clockwise as if to tighten and them then going back to unscrewing them. (If someone sees you doing this they will think you are stupid - but watch their face when the lid that they couldn't shift comes off).
Staples put into notices or pictures will be easier to remove if you hold the stapler at an angle so that te staple does not go fully in on one side. A thin-bladed fruit knife or similar will get under it better than a staple remover. If only one spike goes through the paper it is less damaged as well.
Files and saws only cut on the forward stroke - don't press down on the back stroke.
Remember with any product or piece of kit: if all else fails read the instructions.
Permanent marker pen on smooth shiny surfaces can be almost completey removed by scribbling over them with another such pen and wiping with a cloth while still wet. A pale stain will remain but obscene or other words and pictures can be removed.
Stains on clothes caused by dry-wipe marker pens...
...cannot be removed - sorry
Hocus Eye
Spilt red wine stains can be prevented if white wine is added to the spill immediatley and then mopped up.
Invaluable when you have cream carpets....
Soak shower heads in a bowl of vinegar (warmed if possible) to remove limescale.
Put a cat under your duvet before getting into bed for instantly warmed sheets...
Battery drills can be easily borrowed from certain rowdy members of U75 and kept for a year without any problems.
Invaluable when you have cream carpets....
Soak shower heads in a bowl of vinegar (warmed if possible) to remove limescale.
Put a cat under your duvet before getting into bed for instantly warmed sheets...
Battery drills can be easily borrowed from certain rowdy members of U75 and kept for a year without any problems.
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
End folded cigarette packet misery!
To correct wonky table-leg woes, superglue 2 pence pieces to the bottom of the offending shorter leg until the wobble is no more......
Just done it, didn't know whether it would work, but it does.
To correct wonky table-leg woes, superglue 2 pence pieces to the bottom of the offending shorter leg until the wobble is no more......
Just done it, didn't know whether it would work, but it does.
the big bad pig
Fuck to the power of ****
Fruit juice/wine stains on upholstery/clothes/carpet
soak up with kitchen towel, wash a bit and then use sodium metabisulphite/campden tablet dry - it bleaches it without damaging the material
i haven't tried standard homebrew sterilising powder but it should work aswell - but might damage the material
soak up with kitchen towel, wash a bit and then use sodium metabisulphite/campden tablet dry - it bleaches it without damaging the material
i haven't tried standard homebrew sterilising powder but it should work aswell - but might damage the material
Louloubelle
Well-Known Member
These days there are a variety of wonderful flushable wipes for cleaning your loo!
Whatever you do, don't put your moist toilet tissues and your flushable toilet cleaning wipes next to one another on the cistern as it can lead to confusion.
Whatever you do, don't put your moist toilet tissues and your flushable toilet cleaning wipes next to one another on the cistern as it can lead to confusion.
Louloubelle
Well-Known Member
or even a handfull of straw (organic obviously)
or an owl!
Oh it matters all right.
No..... an extra coat makes it worse.
You've fucked it mate.
But it's only DIY..it makes little difference in the grand scheme of things. Nothing ever does unless it's a nucleur explosion or we collide with a comet maybe..that'd make a fuck of a difference IMO. There wouldn't be much point in painting a door just before either of those events..or getting your hair cut even.
No..... an extra coat makes it worse.
You've fucked it mate.
But it's only DIY..it makes little difference in the grand scheme of things. Nothing ever does unless it's a nucleur explosion or we collide with a comet maybe..that'd make a fuck of a difference IMO. There wouldn't be much point in painting a door just before either of those events..or getting your hair cut even.
My bedroom, after hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of work - where Urban 75, and its mad and merry hoards, has been the sole thing to offer my frayed sensibilities distraction - now looks like a Tuscan barn!!!
Its based on paint and mud and straw - to achieve that "distressed" look!
It looks really good!!!
Its based on paint and mud and straw - to achieve that "distressed" look!
It looks really good!!!
Don't do 8 days solid, 12 hours a day, DIY, on your own, with only the internet to distract you!
You just get incredibly fucking horny!
You put on Led Zeppelin II and start throwing yourself around the room in sexual frustration. For any long, protracted, intensive DIY session get in as large a stack of pornography as you can - as you will, white-paint-on-your-cock, wank yourself stupid!
Goodnight and thank you!
You just get incredibly fucking horny!
You put on Led Zeppelin II and start throwing yourself around the room in sexual frustration. For any long, protracted, intensive DIY session get in as large a stack of pornography as you can - as you will, white-paint-on-your-cock, wank yourself stupid!
Goodnight and thank you!
Its not just a figure of speech
Thanks rory
(((rory)))Happy xmas!
The sad thing is I'm starting to look forward to it!
My Top Tip (DIY) for today.
Don't paint yourself into a corner.
While varnishing me floor, I did this yesterday. I didn't think anyone could be so stupid. They can, and I was.
I spent an immensely tedious 3 hours in my tiny kitchenette as I waited for the varnish to dry ( 4 hours on the tin, more like 12!) There is a limit to what you can do in my kitchen. I cooked something. I looked out the window. I got very bored. Its like watching paint dry. Only its varnish.
So, don't paint yourself into a corner. Figuratively, or literally...
Happy Christmas to all at Homebase!!!!
Thanks rory
(((rory)))Happy xmas!
The sad thing is I'm starting to look forward to it!
My Top Tip (DIY) for today.
Don't paint yourself into a corner.
While varnishing me floor, I did this yesterday. I didn't think anyone could be so stupid. They can, and I was.
I spent an immensely tedious 3 hours in my tiny kitchenette as I waited for the varnish to dry ( 4 hours on the tin, more like 12!) There is a limit to what you can do in my kitchen. I cooked something. I looked out the window. I got very bored. Its like watching paint dry. Only its varnish.
So, don't paint yourself into a corner. Figuratively, or literally...
Happy Christmas to all at Homebase!!!!
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
Its not just a figure of speech
I've done that, but it was nearly three decades ago when I was young and foolish......
