Basic DIY questions?
- Thread starter UnderOpenSky
- Start date
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
I've recently (like today) taken to volunteering at a local cats rescue
They have builders "on-site" who build pens as and when needed, but they're built quickly and cheaply so we are NOT talking cabinet makers quality here
I'm dipping my foot in the water and offering a "maintenance" service - I'm OK'ish at DIY and what they want doing initially isn't too demanding, but fuck me, there's a LOT that needs doing
Number 1 priority seems to be sealing up any gaps in the individual cat pens of which there are a fair few
What they ideally try to do in-between each cat in / cat out is to sanitise the pen, leave for 24hrs to air, then re-sanitise leave for a further 24 hrs to air and then put in the next cat. An admirable aim but there's an every increasing pressure on getting the pens prepared for the next cat
Here's the problem. Each pen is lined with white plastic fronted sheeting and each join between each sheet is covered with 50mm'ish wide by 2-3mm thick plastic strips attached with white plastic headed nails. Initially it looks great, but the more you look at it the more then joins just seem to get bigger and bigger and bigger and so the job of sanitising is become more and more difficult. What they want to me do is "seal" each and every edge to fill in any gaps that would harbour dirt and potential virus / bacteria spots and leave a wipe clean / spray over surface
Each corner has L shaped white plastic sealing strips, again nailed in place. But where you only had one corner you've now got 2 edges
Then you get into each corner where the plastic L sealing strips have been mitred, just not very well, there's a 1-2mm gap in each corner
Then each window has got L sealing strips and mitred corners and joins in the plastic sheeting
There are literally 10's of metres of joints that need sealing per pen and there's 15-20 pens, so 100s if not 1000s of metres of sealing that needs doing
Initially I was thinking silicon, but this will make painting the Forth Bridge looking like a five minute job to be done before nipping off home on a Friday afternoon
Whatever solution has also got to look "professional" - so simply slapping a load of sealer all over the place isn't going to wash . . . probably. Would depend on the end result I suppose
Thoughts?
Obviously if the original work had been doing "better" then there wouldn't be so bad. I "guess" that a certain amount of re-doing might be possible but I don't want to start taking stuff when I've only just started there
Also - cost effective. If there's a magic sealing paint that they use in hospitals but it costs £1000 / litre pot and one litre only does 1m2 then that's a non-starter
or will it be a simple question of sucking it up and cracking on with it . . . bear in mind that I'm only planning on doing 1 day per week
They have builders "on-site" who build pens as and when needed, but they're built quickly and cheaply so we are NOT talking cabinet makers quality here
I'm dipping my foot in the water and offering a "maintenance" service - I'm OK'ish at DIY and what they want doing initially isn't too demanding, but fuck me, there's a LOT that needs doing
Number 1 priority seems to be sealing up any gaps in the individual cat pens of which there are a fair few
What they ideally try to do in-between each cat in / cat out is to sanitise the pen, leave for 24hrs to air, then re-sanitise leave for a further 24 hrs to air and then put in the next cat. An admirable aim but there's an every increasing pressure on getting the pens prepared for the next cat
Here's the problem. Each pen is lined with white plastic fronted sheeting and each join between each sheet is covered with 50mm'ish wide by 2-3mm thick plastic strips attached with white plastic headed nails. Initially it looks great, but the more you look at it the more then joins just seem to get bigger and bigger and bigger and so the job of sanitising is become more and more difficult. What they want to me do is "seal" each and every edge to fill in any gaps that would harbour dirt and potential virus / bacteria spots and leave a wipe clean / spray over surface
Each corner has L shaped white plastic sealing strips, again nailed in place. But where you only had one corner you've now got 2 edges
Then you get into each corner where the plastic L sealing strips have been mitred, just not very well, there's a 1-2mm gap in each corner
Then each window has got L sealing strips and mitred corners and joins in the plastic sheeting
There are literally 10's of metres of joints that need sealing per pen and there's 15-20 pens, so 100s if not 1000s of metres of sealing that needs doing
Initially I was thinking silicon, but this will make painting the Forth Bridge looking like a five minute job to be done before nipping off home on a Friday afternoon
Whatever solution has also got to look "professional" - so simply slapping a load of sealer all over the place isn't going to wash . . . probably. Would depend on the end result I suppose
Thoughts?
Obviously if the original work had been doing "better" then there wouldn't be so bad. I "guess" that a certain amount of re-doing might be possible but I don't want to start taking stuff when I've only just started there
Also - cost effective. If there's a magic sealing paint that they use in hospitals but it costs £1000 / litre pot and one litre only does 1m2 then that's a non-starter
or will it be a simple question of sucking it up and cracking on with it . . . bear in mind that I'm only planning on doing 1 day per week
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
My lavatory got blocked. Who knew it was so hard to find a loo bowl plunger that you don't have to wait a day for?
Anyway, I got creative. Baled out the bog (DISGUSTING), unscrewed it from the floor, pulled it away from the soilpipe connector, removed the accumulation of bits of hay, bog roll, and unmentionableness, whacked it all back together again, and RESULT. All that without a plumber callout fee, even.
Anyway, I got creative. Baled out the bog (DISGUSTING), unscrewed it from the floor, pulled it away from the soilpipe connector, removed the accumulation of bits of hay, bog roll, and unmentionableness, whacked it all back together again, and RESULT. All that without a plumber callout fee, even.
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
High Voltage - Are these pens inside or outside ?
I swear by Stixall - both a sealant and glue, which takes a bit of getting used to. [Can be messy] for exterior sealing.
For interior use, possibly something like a gunable decorators caulk, which has the advantage of being much easier to use - wipe off / shape with a wet sponge.
I swear by Stixall - both a sealant and glue, which takes a bit of getting used to. [Can be messy] for exterior sealing.
For interior use, possibly something like a gunable decorators caulk, which has the advantage of being much easier to use - wipe off / shape with a wet sponge.
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
Also, some of the gaps that needs sealing are pretty fine - literally a 1mm step so the caulk might not have anything to key to given that it would be going straight onto plastic
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
I'm back in there tomorrow - will take photos and post then
And you're right the original build is poor but it is what it is
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
Sounds like kitchen cladding.
claddingmonkey.co.uk
Trims
claddingmonkey.co.uk
Will be a pig to paint.
If it is good enough for kitchen hygiene standards then hopefully good enough for moggies so maybe the gaps aren't that bad?
Pics would definitely help.
One suggestion could be kitchen floor paint but still wouldn't be sure if it would stick to the plastic for long.
www.resincoat.co.uk
3mm White Hygienic Wall Cladding Sheets | Premium Grade - Cladding Monkey
Roechling Trovidur EC Clad -Highest Quality WHITE PVC sheets 3mm SOLID PVC Hygienic Cladding Sheets Food Grade | High Chemical Resistance Class 0 fire rating, HIGH impact resistant Matching Profile Trims Available (see cladding trims in top menu) *Our thickest most rigid hygienic cladding sheet.
claddingmonkey.co.uk
Trims
White Cladding Trims - Cladding Monkey
claddingmonkey.co.uk
Will be a pig to paint.
If it is good enough for kitchen hygiene standards then hopefully good enough for moggies so maybe the gaps aren't that bad?
Pics would definitely help.
One suggestion could be kitchen floor paint but still wouldn't be sure if it would stick to the plastic for long.
Food Safe Floor Paint | Hygienic & Anti-Bacterial | Resincoat
Resincoat Food Safe Floor Paint is ideal for industrial kitchens which are required to be as hygienic as possible for food preparation or storage.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Commonly with gaps that use sealant the problem can be:
- the gap isn't deep enough to retain the sealant (I think there's a rule of thumb that it should be at least as deep as it's wide, or something like that
- the gap is too deep or has no back to it so there's a void behind the sealant (this is what foam backer rods are for)
- the sealant is somehow trying to stick the two sides together (this is not what sealant is for)
In that last case, sometimes the solution is to use a mechanical fixing to hold the pieces securely where they should be, and then use the sealant to fill the gap and fill the gap only.
Where you describe the sealing strips as nailed into place - it makes me wonder, does this mean they can slowly work themselves loose. A more robust approach could be to have them fixed with screw fixings. That way you can actually put a bit of pressure onto the gaps where the (flexible) sealant is. Then things can move a bit but in a way that doesn't mean they become loose or that causes gaps to open.
May be infeasible/unhelpful in your particular case.
WouldBe
Dislicksick
WouldBe
Dislicksick
Stop letting the horse using the bog.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
It's not a horse - it's bloody rabbits! They have lately started, for some reason only known to them, chucking hay (and rabbit poo) in their water bowl. When I replenish it (daily), I empty it down the bog, wash it out, and refill it. It didn't matter when it was a few bits of hay, but clearly the larger quantities were catching on the pan/soilpipe connector, and building up. I have a colander I very rarely use, so I shall start emptying the bowl through that now, and put the rabbit poo/hay in the compost. I really don't want to have to do that job again, even if it did end up being rather quicker than calling out a plumber.Stop letting the horse using the bog.
RiderOnTheStorm
Well-Known Member
that sounds like a lot of work existentialist . Can you compost it instead? Hay & poo are great mix for the plants ....
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
I don't have any garden or other outside space. And I regularly make the offer to people I know in the town that I have some great compost material, but I've had no takers yet! It all goes out to the landfill rubbish collection
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
I got some mdf cut to add a few new shelves to this wardrobe (the hanging rail is going to be removed). It’s a surprisingly good colour match to the actual wardrobe, and as it’s an internal shelf in my bedroom which no one will see, I’m happy enough from that perspective. The less said about the second shelf not being entirely level the better
I’d like it to have a clear smooth finish it as I’ll be putting clothes on it.
So what do I need, some clear varnish, or a sealer?
I won’t be doing this until sometime in the spring when I can do it outside and it can dry
I’d like it to have a clear smooth finish it as I’ll be putting clothes on it.
So what do I need, some clear varnish, or a sealer?
I won’t be doing this until sometime in the spring when I can do it outside and it can dry
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
I'ld go with a clear [polyurethane] hard varnish - probably thinning the first coat, and sanding the next coat back quite a way before the last coat, to get it smooth.
Oh, use a reasonable quality synthetic bristle brush and leave the last coat to fully harden before putting anything on it.
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
I suppose it depends on how smooth your clothes need the shelf. Silk or satin at one extreme and chunky wool knitwear at the other.I'd just slap on a couple of coats of satin varnish, cheapest you can find. And no sanding, it's an inside shelf, who cares?
(Sorry StoneRoad)
Something like jeans or cotton tees are unlikely to catch on snags ...
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
Silk and satins are not really in my wardrobe. Probably t shirts, shorts that sort of thing
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
The outdoor light has stopped working
The screws unscrew a bit but don't appear to come out
Any ideas?
The screws unscrew a bit but don't appear to come out
Any ideas?
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
All sorted now
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
The screws don't come out. The whole front comes off
Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
So on the subject of outdoor lights: I almost use the back door when I leave the house and this involves going up some steps to the back gate, and then exiting via an alleyway to the road. In the winter this means doing this in the dark or using a mobile phone torch, and this isn’t ideal especially when I return in the evening with bags of shopping etc.
There is already a wired light by the back door which is not that useful. It’s no good for example when I leave for work which is always before 0700 as I don’t want to leave it on all day.
So my thought is a solar powered light which is motion sensitive. The garden is only about 10m long, so I probably only need one. Seems I just need to drill into the wall and screw it in.
What else do I need to consider? I thought of making sure the location gets enough sun. Maybe try it in a few places to make sure it gets enough light - especially this time of year - getting the drill out? I’d want to get it from Wickes or B&Q or similar as I don’t like buying stuff like this online.
There is already a wired light by the back door which is not that useful. It’s no good for example when I leave for work which is always before 0700 as I don’t want to leave it on all day.
So my thought is a solar powered light which is motion sensitive. The garden is only about 10m long, so I probably only need one. Seems I just need to drill into the wall and screw it in.
What else do I need to consider? I thought of making sure the location gets enough sun. Maybe try it in a few places to make sure it gets enough light - especially this time of year - getting the drill out? I’d want to get it from Wickes or B&Q or similar as I don’t like buying stuff like this online.
danski
"vibey"
Think you’ve considered everything there.
I would add that it might also be worth checking out a local electrical wholesaler. Chances are they’ll be cheaper than the other two.
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