Getting Handy in 2013 - Man Skills

[ACE2M]

I have some concrete steps that go down to the lower floor in my house, they are slick with years of use, me and the wife have both gone arse over tit on them, i have some grip tape but i'd like to sort them properly. Thoughts?

[RED-DOG]

I have some concrete steps that go down to the lower floor in my house, they are slick with years of use, me and the wife have both gone arse over tit on them, i have some grip tape but i'd like to sort them properly. Thoughts?

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Non-Slip-Concrete-Steps

[outragous76]

Sharp sand in a clear silicone paint would work well.

[outragous76]

If you are going to use a silicone paint make sure the stairs are VERY dry, no retained water

[ACE2M]

If you are going to use a silicone paint make sure the stairs are VERY dry, no retained water

cheers gents, the are very dry, so i'll look at that. I don't want them to look shit though or the wife will pull her face. this will look ok?

[DaveShoelace]

Yesterday the toilet would not flush. I've had this happen before years ago in a previous house and I knew that taking the top of the cistern off usually does the trick, which it did again yesterday.

Just wondering for future reference, why that worked? And what the problem was?

[outragous76]

It's unlikely to have done much. Is it handle or button flush?

In what was wasn't it flushing? What happened?

[DaveShoelace]

Button flush. I pressed down on the button, no pressure at all. I took the lid off the cistern, which immediatley triggered some water to start moving around the pipes (I could hear it) and it worked again. Had the exact same thing happen about three times at a previous house.

[outragous76]

Button flush. I pressed down on the button, no pressure at all. I took the lid off the cistern, which immediatley triggered some water to start moving around the pipes (I could hear it) and it worked again. Had the exact same thing happen about three times at a previous house.

oh ok, wasn't expecting button flush

Probably something to do with the syphon not having release properly and when you unscrew it that's what happens.

If it works keep doing it ;0)

[outragous76]

I actually rebuilt some brickwork the other day, which in man skills terms ranks in my top 5 achievements for sure.

Its not worthy of pictures, there will be no appreciation of what I have done (no before pics). But I was chuffed !

[Acidmouse]

My toilet flushing thing is like 40 years old, it leaks into the overflow. Have to change it, do i need to turn off the water totally for the house? Its the full ball cock and fittings i need to change.

[simonnatur]

dereton33 has some useful videos on youtube for plumbing issues,there is one where he explains repairing this valve. The whole valve assembly is pretty cheap, sub £10 I think, so maybe simpler to replace the whole thing.

Worth checking whether the overflow can be cured by adjusting the height of the float first.

I replaced a ball valve recently and my toilet cistern is fed from the cold water tank in the roof (which I think is generally the case) , so you will need to find a stopcock for this. My internal stopcocks were seized so I turned off the mains supply that feeds the tank in the loft and let the taps and cistern run till they had emptied the tank. The replacement is very simple once you have the water off, I would wind a little PTFE tape around the thread that connects to the water pipe to ensure a leak free connection.

[Acidmouse]

thanks! very useful.

[millidonk]

Lolz, today I learned cars have fuse boxes! Just need to acquire some fuses and hopefully that will be the cigarette lighter port up and running again. If not it will be getting replaced.

[doubleup]

I've finally found where my roof leak is.

To the side of a chimney there is the lead flashing then the slates start.

From the inside of the house there is the brick of the chimney then a bit of roof to the left, then a rafter, then to the left of the rafter there is a line of nails protruding through the roof. 

The water is coming mainly through the nail holes but there is one larger wet patch, maybe about 2 inches square on the same line as the nails.

Anyone know what exactly has gone wrong and how it should be repaired?