Graham's Top Tips

[DaveBrigg]

Top tip No. 47
If you have an old property and are concerned about the condition of some of the timber, you have two options.

1. Employ the services of an expert. They will probably poke the wood with a sharp instrument, measure the humidity, count the woodworm holes and paste tissue paper over the top of them, look for beetle poo, take a few pictures and then write a report. This will be couched in terms such as 'probably', 'in my opinion', and 'it is possible that'.

2. Fail to set the alarm properly. Oversleep, and realise as you hurry out the door to work that you haven't brushed your hair. Race upstairs two at a time and sprint to the bathroom mirror, forgetting there is a 'flexible' floorboard that you have been careful to avoid while devoting time to stopping the upstairs window dropping into the road (see above). A size 10, enclosed in outdoor footwear and placed centrally on the affected board, will provide instant and conclusive evidence of the need to source some reclaimed timber before a small child makes an unplanned entrance into the room below.

If you do have a floorboard such as the one above, a small investment in a wood pellet burner will allow you to convert the discarded timber into eco-friendly heating.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

When heating linseed oil in the microwave, do not test if it is hot enough by dipping your index finger in it. If you do, you may be typing left handed for a few days.

 

[Penners]

When heating linseed oil in the microwave, do not test if it is hot enough by dipping your index finger in it.

Wow! What a valuable piece of advice. Without it, I would have been shoving my finger into pretty well anything that came out of the microwave. After all, who would have expected it to be hot?

:roll:

:wink:

 

[DaveBrigg]

After all, who would have expected it to be hot?

I think it was the 'hot enough' that caused the problems. Our microwave has no warnings at all about overheating linseed oil, so there may be grounds to sue.
I have a related complaint about all those warnings on the side of the linseed oil bottle, about no naked flames, dispose of used cloths carefully because of risk of spontaneous combustion etc etc. I left a cloth out inthe sun all afternoon and there was not even a hint of explosion. Dropping lighted matches on it didn't help, and even when the rag was thrown on the fire the effect was pretty disappointing.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

To be honest, I hadn't expected our microwave to be capable of superheating a liquid in so short a space of time...

 

[Ian Bond]

I find that it's safer to put the oil in a metal paint kettle, and heat it on a hob - much easier to control the heat.

And I always rinse out my oily rags and hang them on the washing line - just in case.

An experiment with linseed soaked rags...
http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/spontaneouscombustion/rbjul05/index.html

You lot need to heed the advice of Health & Safety expert Mr Ernest Moss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62oFV68bxe4

Remember: Safety FIrst, Fun Last 8)

 

[Penners]

I have a related complaint about all those warnings on the side of the linseed oil bottle, about no naked flames, dispose of used cloths carefully because of risk of spontaneous combustion etc etc. I left a cloth out inthe sun all afternoon and there was not even a hint of explosion. Dropping lighted matches on it didn't help, and even when the rag was thrown on the fire the effect was pretty disappointing.

I'm not one who is happy with all the spurious warnings that are placed on products today, to protect the manufacturers from spurious lawsuits. But don't treat those warnings about linseed oily rags in too cavalier a fashion. Spontaneous combustion really can happen, particularly where a scrunched up oily rag is left in a hot, confined space, like a dustbin.

 

[Ian Bond]

Agreed, and as the experiment I posted a link to demonstrates, it's tricky to get the right conditions for combustion, which I suppose could lead to a false sense of security.

I'll admit that I have started to think that the risk is a bit exaggerated since I've been using linseed oils with no problems for a year or so.

But something's always made me pick up the rags, soak them and keep them outside, just in case.

Probably the same affliction that has me going back to check that I locked the back door, etc

 

[FamilyWiggs]

And turned the iron off. Locked the car. Wired in the sockets properly. And a million and one other OCD things!

 

[Penners]

Ooh - that reminds me...!

 

[Pford75]

Back to the 'top tips'......before vigorously rubbing the floorboards with a sponge and your hand to remove tile adhesive....check to make sure that there are no nails standing proud of the surface

 

[Feltwell]

I wouldn't underestimate the dangers of linseed soaked rags.

I used to run the supply chain for decorative products for a very well known DIY retailer, one of those products being linseed oil. A store manager's house was badly damaged after he left linseed soaked rags in his (integral to the house) garage, and they ignited.

Yes, it does need a specific set of circumstances for rags to ignite, but it's not unknown! The warnings aren't put on the bottles for nothing.

 

[Penners]

Back to the 'top tips'......before vigorously rubbing the floorboards with a sponge and your hand to remove tile adhesive....check to make sure that there are no nails standing proud of the surface

Ouch!!! (Or words to that effect...?)

 

[DaveBrigg]

Following the excellent advice about safety with linseed oil, can anyone explain the following guidance which appears on the side of a packet of filler?

The first one sounds like sensible advice at the best of times, let alone when waving a trowel and tub of plaster, but does the work really have to be done with a frown?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

If your wedding ring is a bit loose, remove it before undertaking a day's lime plastering.

I have no idea if the ring is in the wall somewhere, in the garden where I was mixing up, somewhere between the two or somewhere else entirely.

SWMBO think I did it on purpose...

 

[Penners]

If your wedding ring is a bit loose, remove it before undertaking a day's lime plastering.

Presumably it fell off after the lime had removed sufficient flesh from your finger.

 

[MdB]

I have no idea if the ring is in the wall somewhere, in the garden where I was mixing up, somewhere between the two or somewhere else entirely.

I lost my wedding ring (which my wife had hand made out of platinum) one week after we got married. She was very very good about this so I knew I was in real trouble. Fortunately I found it again three weeks later inside a box file. To this day I still have no idea how it got there.

 

[middi]

Back to linseed oil.

Has anybody thought if ,unadvertitely, the riddle of spontaneous human combustion has been solved. " wino's " diversified consumption out of sheer desperation. ( just a thought)

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I once got asked by a tramp in Cardiff to go into Boots and buy him a bottle of surgical spirits.

That would definitely have increased his combustibility. :shock:

 

[Penners]

Poor chap. Did he have a nasty cut that needed disinfecting?