- Thread starter MatthewC
- Start date
Me! said:
Had to replace both of the gate valves on my hot water system. The replacement 22mm valve on 3/4" pipe was fairly easy to do. But had to wait for an excuse yo drain the hot water tank before tackling the 15mm tap. Need to fit a 22mm on the outlet so that I can actually turn the water off instead of reducing it to a small dribble. A job for another day.
New grump... My phone is TPS registered and exdirectory. Still get cold calls trying to flog useless "stuff". The latest was some outfit claiming to do an energy survey and they had an agent in my area today. OK. Want to waste my time, fine, I'll waste his. Measured up my windows and declared them to be substandard (no sh.. Sherlock). Then came the sales pitch and including "funding", I could get £14K of windows installed for just £7K as long as I signed a contract and handed over a £1200 deposit there and then.
Um. Nope. Not signing anything without a clear statement of how the work would be undertaken, and certainly not handing over any money. But what I would do is report the company to the ICO for failing to abide by TPS rules.
Clearing out some clutter in the dining room, I find a B&D TLD100 that I don't recognise. I think it got left behind by the muppet agent. Oh well, his loss, my gain :lol:
Anyone want a non-contact thermometer - Good for measuring walls and identifying where the cold draughts are coming in.
Um. Nope. Not signing anything without a clear statement of how the work would be undertaken, and certainly not handing over any money. But what I would do is report the company to the ICO for failing to abide by TPS rules.
Clearing out some clutter in the dining room, I find a B&D TLD100 that I don't recognise. I think it got left behind by the muppet agent. Oh well, his loss, my gain :lol:
Anyone want a non-contact thermometer - Good for measuring walls and identifying where the cold draughts are coming in.
88v8
Member
- Messages
- 3,131
- Location
- Glorious Gloucs
Water based paint... been around long enough, one would think, that any issues pertaining to its storage would be pretty well worked out.
So, I have this tin of clay paint, Earthborn, bought in 2012. I wanted some for a couple of brick panels.
Amazingly, I knew where it was, in the shed.
Took it down to the garage, it had completely separated of course, so began stirring.
Noticed a drip on the floor. Then another. Then a trickle. Then two trickles. The can is leaking in two places about an inch from the bottom. Not the seam. Arrrgh, it's rusted through :shock:
By chance, I have a couple of empty cans, new. Why? Because I bought some Bedec Barn, it was in a tin. I have a lot left over and I know that if one keeps water paint, the lid rusts and one gets flakes in the paint, so I bought some coated tins to transfer it into, they're supposed to be more durable. Luckily, I hadn't made the transfer, so I still had the empty tins.
So, here's this tin leaking on the floor, on my nice textured plastic floor tiles, need to transfer it, quick. But I need to stir it properly or it will be useless. But the more I stir the faster it leaks. The clay has been sealing the holes, like the puddle lining of a canal.
Anyway, I saved a couple of pints. And yes, the lid was rusty, and yes there were rust flakes in the cream paint :x
Dulux and no doubt others have been selling water paint in plastic containers for years. Why do Bedec and Earthborn still use tins ?!!
A couple more years and, just imagine, pick up the tin and the entire bottom falls out !!!
I feel a complaint coming on.
Ivor
So, I have this tin of clay paint, Earthborn, bought in 2012. I wanted some for a couple of brick panels.
Amazingly, I knew where it was, in the shed.
Took it down to the garage, it had completely separated of course, so began stirring.
Noticed a drip on the floor. Then another. Then a trickle. Then two trickles. The can is leaking in two places about an inch from the bottom. Not the seam. Arrrgh, it's rusted through :shock:
By chance, I have a couple of empty cans, new. Why? Because I bought some Bedec Barn, it was in a tin. I have a lot left over and I know that if one keeps water paint, the lid rusts and one gets flakes in the paint, so I bought some coated tins to transfer it into, they're supposed to be more durable. Luckily, I hadn't made the transfer, so I still had the empty tins.
So, here's this tin leaking on the floor, on my nice textured plastic floor tiles, need to transfer it, quick. But I need to stir it properly or it will be useless. But the more I stir the faster it leaks. The clay has been sealing the holes, like the puddle lining of a canal.
Anyway, I saved a couple of pints. And yes, the lid was rusty, and yes there were rust flakes in the cream paint :x
Dulux and no doubt others have been selling water paint in plastic containers for years. Why do Bedec and Earthborn still use tins ?!!
A couple more years and, just imagine, pick up the tin and the entire bottom falls out !!!
I feel a complaint coming on.
Ivor
My grump is about the state our builders, who skimmed the ceiling, left our beams in - KNOWING we had already shelled out a small fortune to get them cleaned previously, okay we did things in the wrong order but that's no excuse]. All for the sake of saving an hour or so and not masking the beams off [and he knocked off nearly two hours early on the last day so it could have been done]. Six weeks it has taken up to clean them again - SIX WEEKS. I'm STILL hopping mad about it.
88v8
Member
- Messages
- 3,131
- Location
- Glorious Gloucs
Most builders are hopeless when it comes to protecting things. Until one knows them very well, they need supervising. Most of them don't even possess a vacuum, never mind exotic stuff such as masking tape.
We had some paint blasted off recently, I made an elaborate framed/sheeted partition, screwed to the walls, screwed to the ceiling, complete with self-closing door. Dunno what the builders would have done, left to themselves, but at least they had a big Henry.
There is something to be said for doing that sort of stuff oneself, rather than paying a builder £150/day to do it.
Still, you haven't paid him yet, have you?
Ivor
We had some paint blasted off recently, I made an elaborate framed/sheeted partition, screwed to the walls, screwed to the ceiling, complete with self-closing door. Dunno what the builders would have done, left to themselves, but at least they had a big Henry.
There is something to be said for doing that sort of stuff oneself, rather than paying a builder £150/day to do it.
Still, you haven't paid him yet, have you?
Ivor
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: yes88v8 said:
However, he left a lot of 'stuff' behind - a cement mixer being the biggest item. They are being held hostage for the while as he 'should' come back and finish up some remedial work that needs to be done - though I doubt we shall see him again and we certainly aren't employing him again.
In the process of running a few cables under the ground floor floorboards, I needed to lift a couple in the larder. A few of them are decidedly manky scraps of whatever boards that had been used to cover a gaping chasm. Some idjit in the dim & distant past had decided to remove floorboards and joists so that a 1950s fridge could be placed in the space under the stairs. Anyway, after lifting these scrappy bits of timber plus one more abutting against the wall, found soil and debris piled up against the sleeper wall and well up the side of some of the joists. The gap between the sleeper wall and external wall was likewise piled full of this muck.
It is very fortunate that there is no sign of rot in the timbers, perhaps due to a garage attached to the other side of the wall that had been built around 1976. Still, the muck needed digging out, which required the services of dainty little lady like hands.. Now need to find some suitable floorboards at the local reclaim yard or pay through the nose for some planed to size planks.
It is very fortunate that there is no sign of rot in the timbers, perhaps due to a garage attached to the other side of the wall that had been built around 1976. Still, the muck needed digging out, which required the services of dainty little lady like hands.. Now need to find some suitable floorboards at the local reclaim yard or pay through the nose for some planed to size planks.
Pennyviz
Member
- Messages
- 233
- Location
- Wick, BS30
Wasps.
In the v old section of roof, the beams are exposed and insulation boards of some sort have been attached to the rafters on the inside (with old felt and pantiles on the outside) so no loft space. We are now getting a continuous stream of wasps who I'm guessing have nested in the gap between the felt and the insulation boards at the apex about 15 foot high, but have now found an exit into our living space.
Think we are just going to have to keep on going with current strategy of hand held dyson for removal, unless anyone can suggest a solution that doesn't involve chemicals or scaffolding.
Penny
In the v old section of roof, the beams are exposed and insulation boards of some sort have been attached to the rafters on the inside (with old felt and pantiles on the outside) so no loft space. We are now getting a continuous stream of wasps who I'm guessing have nested in the gap between the felt and the insulation boards at the apex about 15 foot high, but have now found an exit into our living space.
Think we are just going to have to keep on going with current strategy of hand held dyson for removal, unless anyone can suggest a solution that doesn't involve chemicals or scaffolding.
Penny
Feltwell
Member
- Messages
- 6,369
- Location
- Shropshire, England
My green inclinations run out when it comes to wasps that are in the house. Pest control gets called out! They're such aggressive little s@ds.
88v8
Member
- Messages
- 3,131
- Location
- Glorious Gloucs
They'll come back next year too.
You need to block up the ingress.
When we had bees in our chimney, sadly I had to kill them with insect smoke bombs.
Yours sound hard to get at.
If you can creep up on the nest at night, a CO2 fire extinguisher will make short work of it, and the wasps. Be careful though, they're never quite asleep.
Ivor
You need to block up the ingress.
When we had bees in our chimney, sadly I had to kill them with insect smoke bombs.
Yours sound hard to get at.
If you can creep up on the nest at night, a CO2 fire extinguisher will make short work of it, and the wasps. Be careful though, they're never quite asleep.
Ivor
MatthewC
Member
- Messages
- 1,733
- Location
- Central/South England
Surely wasps die in the winter? I have also been told that the queen does not use the exact same nest spot next year, but that doesn't exclude another similar place two feet away. I'd get blocking when it gets colder.
Pennyviz
Member
- Messages
- 233
- Location
- Wick, BS30
MatthewC said:
I gather they just starve when food runs out, so might be another month of them. Hoovered up 32 so far today and my daughter is trying to revise in their room, and they are getting more aggressive.
Saw somewhere a nest might have 20,000. Can't see it being that big but even so.
Have therefore called in Pest control, £40 call out even if can't be done, £95 if can be.
Hate them.
Pennyviz
Member
- Messages
- 233
- Location
- Wick, BS30
Well fair play to the wasp man, he had a v long telescopic pole that he was able to treat their nest with from the outside on a ladder.Pennyviz said:
Apparently bees return but wasps don't, so hopefully that is them done and dusted (literally) for this year. Although as you say they might find a similar spot.
Penny
88v8
Member
- Messages
- 3,131
- Location
- Glorious Gloucs
Wasps return year after year to the tiles under our bedroom window. We have a battle where I squirt and puff them, after a few days they give up for a while then after some months they come back.
It's true that they won't return to an external nest, but inside a building I'm sure they do.
Inside and outside nests are very different; outside, they're classically an ovoid, les than paper-thin. Wonderful constructs. Not reused.
Inside, they can be any shape. In our previous house they were in one of the attics, nesting between the insulation and the ceiling, so the nest was a flat linear like an omelette. There again they came back because I couldn't get at the entrance.
Also in our previous house, they used to nest in the superstructure above our side gate. Year after year. Which was annoying, as I built the gate. Still, it's nice to know that one has created a wildlife habitat. Gives one a warm glow. Especially in the scalp when one of the little blighters falls on one's head and ouch!
And when I say 'block up the ingress' it ain't always so easy :?
Ivor
It's true that they won't return to an external nest, but inside a building I'm sure they do.
Inside and outside nests are very different; outside, they're classically an ovoid, les than paper-thin. Wonderful constructs. Not reused.
Inside, they can be any shape. In our previous house they were in one of the attics, nesting between the insulation and the ceiling, so the nest was a flat linear like an omelette. There again they came back because I couldn't get at the entrance.
Also in our previous house, they used to nest in the superstructure above our side gate. Year after year. Which was annoying, as I built the gate. Still, it's nice to know that one has created a wildlife habitat. Gives one a warm glow. Especially in the scalp when one of the little blighters falls on one's head and ouch!
And when I say 'block up the ingress' it ain't always so easy :?
Ivor
Gothichome
Member
- Messages
- 355
We have an annual issue with mud dauber wasps. They make their next high up on our eaves. Bit of a nuisance though, every couple of years I go at the nests with the garden hose to wash them off. Some of them get pretty hard, so maybe they are mixing with lime. Well at least they are building historically correct. :lol:
MatthewC
Member
- Messages
- 1,733
- Location
- Central/South England
Actually, it soounds as though the wasps have blocked up YOUR ingress! :lol:88v8 said:
88v8
Member
- Messages
- 3,131
- Location
- Glorious Gloucs
I hadn't thought of that, but yes
Wasps take a dim view of having their egress blocked. A neighbour noticed that wasps had set up shop in the lime pointing of his brick wall. He has a Viccie house but is not into 'Period' so used cement to stop up the hole.
Only to find the next afternoon that they had tunnelled though the lime mortar and lime plaster into the house, emerging in his bedroom which was now full of angry wasps.
It took him a couple of days and several cans of fly spray to evict them.
Ivor
Wasps take a dim view of having their egress blocked. A neighbour noticed that wasps had set up shop in the lime pointing of his brick wall. He has a Viccie house but is not into 'Period' so used cement to stop up the hole.
Only to find the next afternoon that they had tunnelled though the lime mortar and lime plaster into the house, emerging in his bedroom which was now full of angry wasps.
It took him a couple of days and several cans of fly spray to evict them.
Ivor
Flyfisher
Member
- Messages
- 10,086
- Location
- Norfolk, UK
88v8 said:
I don't mind them building under our pantiles but it's a bit much when they chew through the breathable membrane to get into the roof space :evil:
In fact, they must like the membrane because there was no need to chew a 6-inch hole merely for access :twisted:
