Stiff Screws
Screws are sometimes little buggers and don’t want to go where we want them to. To over come any stiffness when inserting screws use a little lubricate like hard soap or petroleum jelly.

Cracks in Plaster

When filling cracks in plaster, use the edge of a scrapper or filler knife to make the crack wider. Make the crack in to a triangle shaped groove. This will allow the filler to bond better and let you build up the filler for rubbing down once its dry and hard.

Drilling holes in cupboard doors

When drilling holes in cupboards doors to fit handles. Mark the door where you want the handle to be, in order not to damage the laminate or wood surface on both sides of the door, start drilling through the door from one side but don’t let the drill break through the other side just leave a witness on the other side. Now turn the door over and drill back through to the hole you started. Perfect hole no damage to the door surface.

Holes galore

If the wall you want to paint has a lot of small holes and dips. Paint the wall first before filling any holes, this will show up all the imperfections you can’t see then rub it down and paint again.

Sticky tiles

When fixing tiles to a plastered wall to ensure good adhesion, paint the wall with a PVA water mix 1 : 5  This will ensure a good sound sticky surface for the tile adhesive to get hold of. Similarly if the wall is previously painted, as long as paint work is of a sound condition then PVA it.