How to Lay Wooden Flooring

This blog discusses how to lay wood flooring, not necassarily leminate flooring. Layinging wooden flooring, like most jobs discussed in these blogs, is not an overly difficult task once you know how to do so. Like in the tiling blog, you wnat to work out how much this is going to cost in terms of how many wooden panels you will need, so like in the tiling blog, measure the length and the width of the room and multiply to get the area of the room and then measure the length and width of one tile and multiply to get the area of one tile, now divide the larger number by the smaller number. This number is how many tiles you will need, but it is a safer bet to get a few more tiles than that number actually reads. Now to the floor laying!

First of all you must check that your sub-floor has a damp-proof membrane you will need to install some, before attempting to lay the wooden flooring, if there is not. Once you have a damp-proof membrane in place you will also need to check that the subfloor is level. To continue you need a self-adhesive underlay; these are almost essential as they mean you do not have to glue or nail the wooden boards down and creates what is called a ‘floating floor’ as the panels are not fastened directly to the sub-floor. You can purchase a roll of self adhesive underlay from DIY stores such as B&Q.

Roll your self-adhesive underlay across the floor in the direction you wish to lay your flooring, with the shiny side facing upwards towards the ceiling. Make sure that you do not allow adjoining pieces of underlay to overlap each other as this will cause a difference in height when you come to actually lay the wooden panels. Once you have laid down the underlay it is time to actually lay down the wooden panels.
To begin this, gently peel back a portion of the self-adhesive underlay that is equal to about half the width of your first panel. The first tile is always the most difficult as it justifies the spacing and location of the rest of the tiles. First, have a spacer ready so that you can place it inbetween your wooden tile and your skirting board, now take the additional plastic sheet, that you should have when you purchased your underlay, fold almost a quarter of this sheet and place it over the top of the sticky underlay making sure that it covers almost all of it. Now, place your first tile upon the underlay that is exposed and is not covered up by the plastic sheet and gently remove the plastic sheet as you place the board into place. The difficult part is now over, you can continue by peeling back the underlay and lay wooden tiles as your progress.

You may need to cut many of your end rows, the easiest way to do this I find is to place the tile upside down, still adding a spacer between it and the skiriting board, and mark with a pencil the position at which you shall need to cut the panel, now you can cut the tile using a saw. However it is suggested that you wait up to 48hours before adding trims and finishes to the floor to allow the wooden panels to settle. You now know how to lay wooden flooring, and it wasn’t even as difficult as you may have first thought!

Tiling walls

Tiling walls alone is definately a weekend thing, rarely will it take less than 48hours to tile a decent size/amount of walls, this includes grouting and drying time of course. Following this blog couldn’t make tiling much easier and with the array of patterned and textured tiles available today the only difficult part will be choosing the tile style. To begin with tiling walls has the approximate budget of £150, however there are many variables involved such as; Tile style, amount of tiles needed, that this can either drive costs up or down.

You can find out how many tiles you will need by measuring the area of the space you wish to tile. Measure the length and the width, add these two numbers together and then divide this by the length and width of a sungle tile; this number is the amount of tiles you will need. Allow an extra 10% of tiles ontop of this number for cuttings and wastage. First you must create a tile guage, a piece of wood that goes near where you are going to lay the tiles so that you may mark out and plan tile positions before laying them. This will need to be a piece of wood that stretches the length and then the width of the area that needs to be tiled.

Nail a gauage to the bottom of the wall to be used as a guide, do not hammer the nails in fully; they will need to be removed later. Check that the guage is in-line with a spirit level. Do the same again for a guage against the left hand side of the wall, you can then use these two guages to mark out the positions of tiles using the corner it creates as the corner of a planned tile. This is the time when you need to cut tiles that you will need to place into smaller positions than your whole tiles can fit into. For the actually attatchment of the tiles to the walls you will need tile adhesive, this can be bought from stores such as B&Q at anything from £5 to £15 depending on what sort you decide to buy.
Work outwards and upwards from the corner that the guages create, using a notched spreaded to spread the adhesive in level and even spreads over about half a square meter of the wall. Of course waterproof adhesive must be used around anything that relases water, such as sinks or showers and use a more ‘flexible’ adhesive for surfaces that may move a little for example, plywood panelling around a bath.

Now it is time to begin actually placing the tiles onto the wall, first use the whole tiles as the cut tiles will be placed in afterwards. Place the tiles firmly upon the adhesive and use soft movements to glide the tiles across the adhesive into the correct position. Place the first tile into the corner that the guages create and place the next tiles next to it and so on, leaving small gaps to allow for grouting. Once you have finished the first row, place a tile above the first one of the first row to begin creating a second row, making sure that the tiles are flat to the walla as well as relative to the other tiles.
You now have a good foundation to continue your tiling, working in half metere squares as to make sure your adhesive doesn’t dry before you are able to tile it. Continue to work in the same fashion until you have filled as many areas as you can with whole tiles, continually working in half metere squares. When tiling above a window, any tiles that you have cut and placed above the window will have nothing underneath them to stop them slipping. Use masking tape to attach them to a previously fixed tile to hold them in place until the adhesive dries.

Remove the guages and fill in the areas that require cut tiles. A tile cutter is required to cut tiles properly, use a tile cutting jig to cut tiles straight and they can ever create curved and shaped cuts, whatever is required. Once you have attacthed all your cut tiles as well as your whole tiles it is time for grouting. Wipe off any extra adhesive and leave all the tiles to semi dry, now you can grout* the tiles with a squeegee working small areas each time to avoid drying before it is in place. Work the grout* in every direction pushing the grout into all the joints, use a piece of dowel to smooth the grout* once in joints.

Now you can finish, use a damp sponge to wipe away all excess grout* before it is able to set indefinately. Once the surface has dried polish it with a dry cloth to give it that nice proffesional finish. I hope you found this blog simple and easy to follow.

Happy Tiling!

* Grout is another word for adhesive when moving it around in its semi dry form so that you are able to create a nicer looking adhesive within all the tiles.

Painting woodwork

Continuing from our previous blog, painting woodwork is the focus of this blog. In particular focussing on doors that have recently been stripped, however the general nature of this blog can relate to any sort of woodwork painting you have needs for. As usual within these blogs I have tips and techniques for you that you may wish to follow. Of course, creating that sleek, shiny, smooth finish on woodwork takes a great deal of attention and patience, but it is not a completely difficult job. Being attentive and patient will create a very good finished product. If the old paint is in a decent condition then a simple re-coat or two will suffice. However, as usual, a different approach is needed when dealing with paint that is in bad condition. Old, flaky or discoloured are synonyms that describe bad conditioned paint.

In relation to recently stripped doors; if the exterior paint is in decent condition, then there is no need to hard work the paint back to the bare timber. If there is flaky paint remove it with a scraper and then sand areas to create greater even surfaces. Always try and remove furniture decorations (handles, knobs, plates and knockers) so as not to cover them in paint.

Repainting: Fill any sort of holes with cellulose filler costing less than £8 from DIY stores, such as B&Q. Sandpaper the surface to create an area that the new paint can ‘adhere’ to. (Make sure your new paint is of the same colour as woodwork if you wish to repaint). In the same way as neutralisation in the last blog, rub the door with white spirit or warm water to clean particle to stop them from attaching to the paintbrush. If old paintwork is in good condition ignore this step, if not; an undercoat will help cover this up((If the woodwork has been stripped to timber then an undercoat is important)). Sand down any sort of ‘primer’ coating to continue with ‘upper’ layers, for which the sandpapering will create a new are for the paint to attach to again. Once enough coats have been applied and dried and your door is refurbished to the eye and the feel, you are done!

 

Happy Painting!

Stripping

Stripping paint from doors for redecoration or varnishing can take up to four days to complete. One solution for older doors, doors that are not covered in hardboard, is take the door to be dipped; this usually costs about £15. Dipping is where the door is covered in an acid (much like the chemical method) and the paint is ‘peeled’ off by the intense acids, ready for you to the redecorate. Most new doors are covered in hardboard and require a different approach, for this reason I have compiled the methods I, personally, feel work best.

Chemical stripping: Paint strippers can be bought from DIY stores, such as B&Q, for as little as £10 a litre. Apply paint stripper to the door, dabbing and rubbing it in to create an even coat. Leave the stripper to wear down the surface paint (Should take 20 minutes or so). Once it has worn down slightly begin to scrape away, using a shaped scraped to access crevices and mouldings. Once you have scraped away as much paint as possible the door must be neutralised. Rub warm water or white spirits into the door very well, as this will reduce acidity, wait 24hours before attempting to paint or varnish to produce the best result.

A second method for stripping is the heat gun method; costing about £15 from the same stores as paint stripper. Hold the gun 75mm (3inch) away from the door and move the gun around the door to get an even flow of heat. When the door has reached a decent level of heat the paint will begin to bubble, scrape the paint away in the same manner as the chemical method, using a shaped scraper of mouldings or shapings. This method does not require neutralisation therefore it saves 24hours.

Even though dipping is the easiest method because it requires less effort, it does cost £15 a door. Chemical stripping takes slightly more effort but costs about £7 a door as it takes about 750ml to do a whole door. Therefore even though the heat gun method requires the most effort it is best in terms of price if you have more than 2-3 doors to redecorate.

Happy paint stripping.

Planning

As with any DIY job planning is everything. We love Grand Designs and watch as many shows as we can; We’re never amazed like Kevin McCloud when things get out of hand, and the project ends up costing a lot more and over running the original budget. However we have to admire the odd, (may be that should be the exceptional) one or two who bring their project in on cost, or just over, if not on time (for time waits for none), because they have planned very well.

So if you’re planning to change a tap washer or revamp the bedroom, factor in as many stumbling blocks as you can think of, because as sure as there’s snow in the north or south pole, it’s going to take a little longer and cost a little more than you originally thought.

Just one more thought on the planning process is this, our great great and may be great grandfathers over engineered a lot of what they did compared to what we do today, costs as ever got out of hand, but if we over estimate then just maybe we’ll come in on budget and time.

Till the next time, plan for everything plus the devils detail.

Your planning duo Chris & Pete.

New Plaster

If you’ve had a wall re-plastered, please allow it to dry out before decorating it. Two weeks is a good length of time for the drying process, however, if you’re in a rush to proceed, wait until the whole of the wall has a dry powdery look to it. You can then carry on with your decorating job.

Till the next time, and I’ll make sure it’s not so long, happy decorating.

 

Tap Washers

Hi,

if like a few of our customers you’ve had trouble with a dripping tap, don’t forget changing the washer may work but if the seat isn’t flat and smooth the problem will only come back. always check the tap seat before re-assembly.

If you not sure give us a call, sometimes the simplest job can turn into a nightmare.

Gutters are so much fun

Gutters need to be cleared, because a blocked passage is good for no one. When cleaning gutters, remember they don’t have to be new looking, just free of any blockage.

See the Gallery for a birds eye view.

Till the next time.

 

Laminate Flooring

Always use a good underlay for your flooring, it helps with noise level and fitting issues.

Always read the fitting instruction, no matter how many floors you fitted, each manufacturer uses a different fitting method.

If you’re not sure what to do or can’t do the job gives us a call.

Happy floor laying.

Before and After Show

It’s good to keep a record of your DIY jobs, take photos of the area you’re working on before, during and after the job. A new feature on the site will be the Gallery, and to start us off, with kind permission of Kevin a customer from Halesowen, we feature his kitchen floor. Until the next time.