Overconfident DIY

Continuing with work in the red room, some bits of uPVC trim were loose, and so they were removed in order to refit them more securely. The trim is removed from the window on that left Removing the trim revealed the daylight that was shining through into the cavity to the side of the window frame. This was caused by a deterioration of the seal between the outside of the frame and the wall. The remnants of old burnt sand mastic still visible  Back when these were wooden windows, burnt sand mastic would have been used to seal the gap, but modern silicon sealant was used with these plastic windows. This particular window is up on the first floor, with a bay window below. Without scaffolding there is no way of getting up on the outside safely. The solution was to work from the inside out. This suction pad gripper was strong, but it was hard to trust The glass panels were surprisingly easy to remove, it's just a case of prying off the four glazing beads, and then lifting the glass out. ...

We're decorating one of the bedrooms - the red room, so named for the wall colours when we moved in - and part of doing so is giving all the woodwork a fresh coat of paint. It took quite some effort, but the result was worth it   Rather than simply sand the window frames, skirting, and door frames, to provide a key for the new coat, we decided to take it back to the bare wood. Over the dozen or so decades since being installed, the detail on the architrave has been hidden by a build up of paint. This seemed like a good opportunity to reveal that detail once more. The test patch, conspicuously located at eye level The test patch showed promise. A number of scraping tools were needed to get into the various parts of the moulding. The straight blades ensured the small flat parts remained flat. The curved blades, both convex and concave, while not matching the exact curvature, still allowed the rounded parts to be accessed, though care was needed to avoid leavin...

We bought our home - a Victorian detached house - a little over four years ago. Since then we've undertaken a fair number of DIY projects to either restore or enhance various aspects. Our long-term goal is to restore some of the period features that have been lost over many years of modernisation, and when dealing with the original features, our aim has been to utilise traditional techniques and materials where possible. Installing a rim lock with hand tools Throughout this endeavour, it has often proved difficult to research information about the correct techniques. Every house has been built differently, maintained differently, and altered by countless tradesmen, each working in their own way. As the realisation hit that there is no one true way, it became more about sourcing ideas and improvising. Bypassing a stretch of lead water pipe This blog is intended to serve as another source of ideas for others turning their hand to similar things. The concept of a blog feels somewhat d...