Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Choose a Good Paint Rollers
A roller is basically a handle and a frame which holds a sleeve the part you paint with. Unlike brushes and pads, a roller cannot be used without a paint…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Choose a Paint Brush
Brushes are generally available in a range of sizes from 13mm to 175mm wide. The smaller ones (up to 100mm) are known as varnish brushes and the larger ones (100mm…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Cut Tiles of Equal Width all Around the Perimeter of the Ceiling
Whichever type of ceiling tile is to be fitted, setting out is the most important factor and, as with ceramic wall tiles, the object of the exercise is to have…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Deal with Corrosion in Surface Preparation
A metal usually corrodes when it is in contact with both water and oxygen. Some metals corrode faster than others iron corrodes rapidly while gold hardly corrodes at all. The…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Fill Cracks in Brickwork and Concrete
Cracks often occur in a rendered finish (a sand and cement finish 10 to 15mm thick which is applied lo the external side of a brick wall). They may be…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Fix Wall Tiles
Cork tiles Setting out is important, but as the joins are far less noticeable and the tiles much larger than ceramic tiles, you will be able to get away with…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Hang Fabrics
As an alternative to using fabric-backed wallcoverings, it is possible to decorate walls using ordinary fabrics bought off the roll from furnishing stores. The fabric should be firmly woven so…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Paint Walls and Ceilings
When painting the walls of a room, there are no strict rules to obey about where to begin, which direction to work and so on, but you should consider the…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Paint Doors
Painting a large area with gloss paint is not easy - you have to work quickly and evenly and the job can be tiring on the wrist. A door presents…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Hang Wallcoverings
The technique of hanging roll wallcoverings is basically the same for all the different types, although individual materials need one or two tricks of their own. The basic techniques First…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Paint Windows and Pipes
Wash the window frame well, opening it to reach all the mating or sliding surfaces, and make good all defects in the wood or metal. Cracked, crumbling or broken putty…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Paint with a Brush
A lot of residential and commercial painting jobs involve painting brushes. If you're planning a DIY painting work, here's how to do it properly: To avoid messing up the paint…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Rub Down a Surface for Better Paint
To get the best results from paint or varnish, it should be applied to an even surface which has been very slightly roughened. The process of providing this even surface…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Prepare New Surfaces for Your Home
Thorough surface preparation is the key to successful decorating and though it might seem a poorly rewarded chore, it should be approached with vigour and enthusiasm. Surface preparation means the…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Put up Wall Tiles
In general terms, decorating with materials in tile form is easier than using materials off the roll, since you are always handling something quite small. But against that is the…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Prepare Old Paintwork
Old paintwork generally falls into one or more of the following three conditions: sound, with no flaking, chips or blisters in fairly good condition, but with small areas requiring some…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Remove Old Paint
There are two main methods of removing old paint - with heat from a blowlamp or gun or by using a chemical paint stripper. Both methods work by softening the…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Tile a Ceiling
Tiling a ceiling is an alternative to papering for disguising a ceiling surface that is rough or cracked. By far the most common type of ceiling tile is made from…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Use a Roller in Painting
To use a roller, you must transfer paint from the can into something the roller will lit into. Special roller trays are available which have a raised back and a…
Posted inHome & Maintenance
How to Use a Spray Gun
Spray guns are most suited to spraying cellulose paint but can be used for emulsion and oil-based paints as well - sometimes, these require a different nozzle. Most spray guns…