this and that
A bit quiet on the list , so let me ramble a bit ! Well , its a DIY sort of day for me. Its ' little jobs ' day. All the things that are loose , broken , nearly broken , tatty etc. I can get quite a lot done if I am in the right frame of mind............which I am not hence this email. Snow is falling , which reminds me that I should have fired my ' winter ' transport a few weeks ago. I have not ran the vehicle for about 4 months. Its a Russian 4X4. A small ugly thing. Its called a Lada , and you probably have no idea what I am talking about. I bought it for a song ( and a very short weak song ) No one around here has the time to spend on keeping the rust at bay. It has a chassis that is built like a battle ship , infact it probably IS a melted down battle ship BUT The body work is of the poorest metal you could imagine. I left it in one of my fields last summer. When I returned to have a look , a cow had brushed up the side of it and pulled half the front wing off. I use it for driving across the fields and down to town when the weather is poor .Any longer trips would result in all occupants requiring a FULL teeth re build. Its in naff beige , with a British flag stuck on the back. Its also RH drive which looks odd here. It all goes to fuel the image of the ' mad Englishman ' in Belgium. A title I recieved from the locals with great honour. Anyway , enough of the ramble. Its small job day , remember , Have a good DIY weekend all of you. Oh BTW Dale. On the matter of sales tax , I can imagine you would be blowing gaskets at quite a rate if you lived here............but it would be fun to watch as you unfold an invoice. There is actually an American gentleman living near by. I have never spoke to him , I will one day , but he is rather elusive.I have heard he is from Texas. He came here just after the second world war. There used to be a US army base nearby. He was supposed to be here for 2 years. Its now been 59 years. He married a local girl. I wonder if he has got used to 21% sales tax yet ? Kevin, Wallonia Belgium.
I lived in a 20 year old motorhome one year, duct tape was my best friend (there is a brand called duck tape nyah nyah nyah) on the way back across the continent, some of the molding fell off and was dragging along the highway, I stopped and taped it all up with duct tape, added greatly to my appearance ;o) (well, it was the least of my problems) Liz
Kevin said... <snip Speaking as somebody who has not expertise or even a clue (lol), this is the first thing I thought of. Didn't think of it because it's right, just because there is a shoddy job doing exactly this in a bathroom here. I am *very* afraid to see what they were trying to hide with it. When I get mine out I may go ahead and put some right back up so long as it isn't a mold thing. Then I would caulk the edges just because it's a bathroom. My personal bathroom theory -- if I caulk it it can't get black gunk in the crack so caulk everything! Bwah-ha-ha-ha. Nothing worse to breath either! Eeeeew. Eileen
The main problem is probably not the crack at the ceiling but rather the support under that portion of the house. I would recommend placing a jack under that portion and slowly raising the floor over several weeks until the crack is closed. Then cover the remaining portion with DAP which is an acrylic product that is water soluble until dry but remains flexible and will take paint. This should effect a more permanent repair rather than simply filling the crack and waiting until the floor settles some more and doing it over again.
Hi all, I'm not quite sure how to word what I need to know here, but I'm going to try and describe it :-P I have a ceramic floor (ugly, ugly, UGLY) in my kitchen that I want to get rid of, however, the dufus who laid it put it under the cabinet bases. Some people have been telling me I need to remove the cabinets to rid myself of the unholy floor, but I saw once on This Old House or something where a guy had a special saw and cut the floor at the base of the cabinets, right flush with the kick plates. Can this be done? The floor, as far as I know, has the wonderboard/backerboard underneath, and I hope to install either ceramic tile again or a laminate wood floor. I do have some "buts" though: 1.) I don't think I will be replacing the cabinets, just painting them. Would it be best to paint them where they are, instead of removing them, taking them outside, painting, and replacing them where they were. Seems like a pain to me--what do you think? However, the smell of deglosser or whatever I would have to use would probably make me swoon inside. What are the pros/cons? If I should remove them anyway, the question is answered about the floor :-P 2.) Is cutting the floor (if possible) a half-a$$ed way to do it? I get *really* perturbed at the previous owners who obviously rigged everything they did, or did it wrong (and who actually laid the tile floor under the cabinet bases to begin with). Thanks for any thoughts, Gina
Hi all, Firstly Trinity , glad I gave you a laugh ! We did infact manage a little cussing down in the cellar , when we fitted the water heater. At one stage he was cussing in French and I joined in with some English expressions. Dale , most water heaters are wall mounted here. Reason being that they are nearly all fitted in our famous cellars. They need to be a foot or two off the floor just in case the tide comes in so to speak. I have to admit to being a right plonker , when I fitted this heater. A plonker is a English expression for a fool and a bit more. I unwrapped the new heater down in the cellar. We had shifted the old one out already. My old farmer friend looked at me and said " so you decided to buy a different voltage heater then " he added slowly........" why ? " Our heater runs on 380Volt. I had bought a 230Volt. I Just did not give it a thought. Anyway we ran a new wire through on 230Volt , from my cellar workshop and it seems ok. With regard to Dales cutting up items ,I now have the following in my cellar that will not get through the door. 1, Two old oil tanks , metal and rusty. They each used to hold 2000 litres . 2, a huge very old central heating boiler from the 20's. Roughlt the same size as a tank < g I fear a cutting up session is on the way. Any ideas on how to cut up oily tanks without the stink. Have a good week. Kevin
I fear a cutting up session is on the way. Any ideas on how to cut up oily tanks without the stink. Kevin: I would be less concerned about the stink then the explosion, from cutting into an empty oil tank. The boiler is probably cast iron and a good sledge hammer might reduce it to manageable portions.