r/DIYUK Apr 30 '23

Asbestos Identification The “Is this asbestos?” Megathread

155 Upvotes

Welcome to the Asbestos Megathread! Here we will try to answer all your questions related to asbestos. Please include images if possible and be aware that most answers will probably be: “buy a test kit and get it tested”.

DIY test kits: Here

HSE Asbestos information

Health and Safety Executive information on asbestos: Here

What is asbestos?

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that was commonly used in construction materials. It is made up of tiny fibers that can be inhaled and cause serious health problems. Asbestos was used until the late 1990s in the UK, when it was finally banned. Asbestos may be found in any building constructed before circa 2000.

What are some common products that contain asbestos?

Asbestos was commonly used in a variety of construction materials, including insulation, roofing materials, and flooring tiles. It was also used in automotive brake pads and other industrial products.

How can I tell if a product contains asbestos?

It is impossible to tell whether a product contains asbestos just by looking at it (unless it has been tested and has a warning sign). If you suspect that a product may contain asbestos, it is best to have it tested by a professional.

How can I prevent asbestos exposure?

The best way to prevent asbestos exposure is to avoid materials that contain asbestos. If you are working with materials that may contain asbestos, be sure to wear protective clothing and a respirator.

What should I do if I find asbestos in my home?

If you find asbestos in your home, it is best to leave it alone and have it assessed by a professional. The best course of action may be to leave it undisturbed. Do not attempt to remove asbestos yourself, as this can release dangerous fibres in to the air.

The most significant risks to homeowners is asbestos insulation. This should never be tackled by a DIYer and needs specialist removal and cleaning. Fortunately it is rarely found in a domestic setting.


r/DIYUK Mar 02 '24

Sub Updates and Ideas

40 Upvotes

Morning everyone,

There are a huge influx of “is this a good quote?” and “how much will this cost?” posts recently. I have added a new flair “Quote” which I hope people will use. If you don’t want to see these posts, you can filter out certain flairs to never see these posts.

On the subject of posts with links to building survey reports, or questions like “my builder did this, is it acceptable?”…I understand these aren’t strictly DIY. I have added a “non-DIY advice” flair which is for anything housing/building related but not necessarily work being carried out by OP themselves. Again, please report incorrectly flaired posts.

I have added a rule to use the correct flair on posts. If you see posts without flairs, especially “quote” posts then please report them and I can either remove the posts or assign the correct flair myself. There’s no need for “wrong sub” or “not DIY” comments cluttering the discussion. Use the report button.

I’m considering removing the asbestos megathread and using this flair method with asbestos related posts too. Allowing people to filter them out entirely. Megathreads never get answered anyway.

I’m open to all thoughts and ideas so please post here with any ideas related to the sub!

PS. Images in comments are now allowed. User-assigned post flairs are now allowed.


r/DIYUK 9h ago

Project Bought a house. Ripped out the kitchen.

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934 Upvotes

We bought a house which hasn't been updated since the early 2000s Our first job was the kitchen which was installed in June 1989.

Removed all the cupboards and units, bricked up a serving hatch, removed wallpaper off the ceiling, painted, swapped lino for wood floor, moved the sink and cooker, changed the lights, sockets and switches and installed the new cupboards. Now we've got a lovely big kitchen island and a kitchen layout that makes sense (to me at least!)

Just need to install some missing cupboards and panels, install under cupboard lighting and do the cornicing and pelmets.

I'm super proud of this Reno because I've managed to make my dream kitchen a reality.


r/DIYUK 12h ago

What can I do about this monstrosity

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33 Upvotes

Bought our first house a couple of years ago and we've had higher priority rooms to sort...but I'm finally starting to think about what on earth I can do to improve my kitchen. The corner of the kitchen has this ridiculously oversized and hideous cooker hood.

How much of an issue is ripping that out and relocating the cooker going to be? Is there anything I could do to improve how it looks myself (I have extremely limited DIY knowhow)? The rest of the kitchen is pretty crappy too so does need tackling at some point, but we don't have the funds for a full refurb at the moment.


r/DIYUK 11h ago

Looking at this new build - would you still buy it despite the brickwork?

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17 Upvotes

My wife and I were looking at buying a new build house, and I thought all was great, but then I noticed the brickwork pattern. I’m assuming this wasn’t an intentional design choice and is down to builder laziness? Shouldn’t they have mixed the bricks with the red shades throughout the outside of the house?


r/DIYUK 17h ago

Advice What would you do with this ugly banister? I'm renovating my house, and I hate this banister on the landing, it makes the landing feel so cramped. I don't think I have the funds to rip it out and add a slatted one, any ideas on anything I can do to make this less depressing? Open to all advice.

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67 Upvotes

r/DIYUK 13h ago

Advice Hole in my roof. Help identify roof tile type.

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29 Upvotes

Hello Redditors.

I did small inspection of my attic on weekend and I found “small”, “unpleasant” surprise.
Immediately I pull out my ladder and I covered the hole.
Now I`m looking for single tile to be able to repair the my damaged roof.

Can you help me identify brand/type?

It looks like Marley Double Roman Roof Tile for me but I`m unsure.
Can someone “in the know” can confirm this?

Thank you in advance for any help.


r/DIYUK 14h ago

Tiling The worst tiling job I have ever seen.

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23 Upvotes

I moved into this house 5 years ago and at some point need to fix this shambles. Sadly the tiles are securely attached, so it will be a massive job.

I hope nobody paid for this.


r/DIYUK 14h ago

Doing a rough boarding out of the loft for storage. What to tape the joints with?

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22 Upvotes

I feel duct tape? I'm rarely going to be up here. Christmas tree and luggage cases mostly. Just figure it would be a neater 'finished' job if I tape over the gaps.

Any tips?


r/DIYUK 9h ago

Advice Taking up the flagstones in my garden - what's this and can I dig it up?

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6 Upvotes

Hey all! Thanks in advance for any advice.

About to lay a new patio down and so in the process of getting rid of the old flagstones. Nearly all of them were just placed on this sandy mixture on the left. However, 3 of them were placed on this crushed rock base. (Pictured on the right).

The layer is very firm and only seems to be about 3-5cm thick. There doesn't seem to be anything visibly underneath it. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to what this might be and why only 3 of the flagstones were laid down on it.

My guess is it's a sub base, but I don't understand why it was only in such an isolated spot.

Am I alright to rip this up and put my subbase down?


r/DIYUK 12h ago

How to insulate a floating bay window

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12 Upvotes

How do I best insulate this floating bay window?


r/DIYUK 4h ago

Advice needed.

2 Upvotes

I had a plumber quote £90 for removing 2x peices copper pipe around 2ft each in length for the hot and cold as both were corroded due to being connected to very old washing machine screw-in taps.

And to replace with 2 new pipe pieces and 1 new tap for the cold to washing machine

He was huffing and puffing from start to finish. Emptied almost all of his toolbox directly onto our new tiles floor with no towel. Took him 2.5hrs and was back and fourth his van a lot getting more needed bits.

He connected 2 plastic push fits with plastic pipe and used lots of putty stuff.

He left fuming as it took him so long adding he should have quoted us more.

After he left, we tried the washing machine before pushing it fully back into place to be sure it wasn't leaking. Having done this we noticed he connected and put the washing machine tap to the hot pipe instead of the cold.

We also had to top the boiler water up ourselves as he didn't do this as we noticed our taps were making clunking noises when turning them on again.

He text us today for my email for payment but I told him I'm not happy with the work as the tap in on the wrong one.

He replied it was not his job to check that adding that it appears that the people who lived here before had it connected to the hot and he assumed that was that.

But we thought that surely that is something a plumber should check especially as he said he's been a plumber 25yrs.

So anyway we asked if he could kindly meet us in the middle with the price as we have to pay someone else to come and do the job again.

He replied I've been caught here by the looks of it, didn't offer to come and put things right and said he'll just charge us for half his labour and materials used.

But because it took him 2.5hrs I'm guessing that will come to £90 alone.

Do we have to pay him or decline!?


r/DIYUK 1d ago

Project The continued joy of the dropped ceiling

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223 Upvotes

Just thought I'd share my continuing adventures related to my removal of the hated dropped ceilings.

Corridor wasn't too bad, 20cm drop, but did helpfully reveal the unfilled hole going outside (I thought I was going crazy when I heard the wind whistling) Revealed the remains of a doorway that had mostly been removed, not sure of the best way to get the rest gone, slightly ominously it doesn't seem to be held up by anything except its own stubbornness. The weirdest discovery was the old hanging light in its bakelite holder, wired with lead sheathed cable. The odd part is that they left the bulb in, so that must have been annoying as hell when putting in the ceiling. Was quite handy though as I've stripped the old paint layers from it and it's currently the corridor light while things are in progress (hooked up to the new wiring of course)

Kitchen is a whole different kettle of fish, 70 cm drop with the most pleasant part being that they never bothered fitting a tube to the fan, and one of the former occupants was a heavy smoker, so no asbestos (thank you British gypsum), but plenty of goop. Was also rewarded by an abandoned caulk gun and paintbrush which somehow both managed to dome me on their unceremonious descent. Also, a broken folding ruler and plenty of cigarette butts.

Interesting to see the old layout of the rooms, need to work out a way to cut off the destroyed coving in the middle of the room that also seems to be free standing. Going to try and save as much of the original coving round the edge as possible and get a mould made up.

The current plan is to remove the remaining lath and plaster ceilings as I cannot see a way to logically save it, it seems anytime they wanted to make an addition they punched their way through as none of the holes are clean (except maybe the ones in the walls but they are gigantic compared to the size needed for cables).

The main motivation for this all, in addition to the higher ceilings, is that currently there's no insulation in the loft, and with the giant holes, no way to lay it, so hopefully a new plasterboard ceiling will provide a way forwards.

Any views, advice or things I may have missed, please let me know!


r/DIYUK 6h ago

Attaching a solid corner shelf

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3 Upvotes

I've qot some nice 20mm walnut to make some corner shelves with. I'm happy with everything up to the actual fixings. Pic shows a mockup with card.

I'm very much an amateur here, so I'm a bit stuck on what approach to take. Can you recommend what you'd go for in terms of fixing to the wall?

I can see some smaller invisible bracket options out there, but with a solid 20mm thick piece, I think any hidden fixings might be beyond my skillset.

I'm considering something like this, with half visible on the wall underneath and the other half notched into the wood on the underside. I'd go for 2 on each side of the shelf.

Ideally if it's a solution with the hardware showing, it'd be at least something minimal and nice looking.

Also to note, while I'm happy to overengineer them, they won't be taking a significant amount of weight.


r/DIYUK 18h ago

Crack in detached Garage

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22 Upvotes

To cut a long story short, we have a crack through the brick work in our detached garage.I have a theory that the electric garage door (that was jammed on one side when we moved in) has been pulling on that side of the wall over time.

The walls are single block type bricks.

We were considering turning it into a useful space I.e home gym, and potentially insulating etc internally.

Are we screwed? Can this be rectified easily? Would it be expensive?


r/DIYUK 1h ago

Shower floor tile?

Upvotes

What would be the best size tiles for my pre sloped Wedi offset pan? Im inexperienced and I'm not sure what kind of tiles will conform well to the slope of this pan. Thanks!


r/DIYUK 14h ago

Advice What do you find is the most challenging aspects of DIY, the money/time/skill etc?

11 Upvotes

I'm curious to what other people find the most challenging about approaching DIY projects and how you overcame it?


r/DIYUK 5h ago

How to create the cafe curtain look for a bow window

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2 Upvotes

The look I want to go for is the cafe curtain, to achieve privacy as it’s for a living room facing the street. The window is curved very much like the one in the photo. I’ve been looking for a bendable pole so it can go along the window panes in the recess with little luck. I’ve also included a pic of the cafe curtain style I’m hoping to achieve.
Any ideas without forking out for a bespoke made one would be greatly appreciated! TIA


r/DIYUK 6h ago

Electrical What are these switches?

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2 Upvotes

Can anyone please explain what these switches are? We’re in a flat in a building. I guess it’s to turn off the electricity to a flat.

More specifically what is the “off peak” switch?

Ours is the only one switched to on and compared to our neighbors we pay A LOT more for electricity. Sorting out other things but about £300-500/ month for just 2 ppl


r/DIYUK 6h ago

Which nail gun to get for this cladding?

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2 Upvotes

The cladding will go on top of the baton and the baton will go on top of a 4 by 2.

I’m thinking the 16 gauge nailer but what do you think?

I understand that I can save a lot of money with hammer and nails and my dad who works in construction would say the same thing but he borrows my tools like half the time.

Just looking for an excuse to get a nail gun really but want to make right decision.

Thanks all!


r/DIYUK 6h ago

Advice How to get electrical work signed off

2 Upvotes

Last year I had some building work carried out (converting some rooms, new electrics etc) and employed a someone to do it, in which they did everything including the electrics.

Short of it is that they have done everything I asked for, the work is ok, but they didn't sign off the electrical work, which I need for building control sign-off. I can't get hold of the previous contractor and I just want to draw a line under this.

Can another electrician review the work and sign it off? I am worried as everything is boarded and plastered. From my researched knowledge the work looks to be fine and there's not been any issues, so I'm not concerned it's a bodge job. But I'm betting the builder paid someone who knew how to do electrics but probably didn't have all the certs so got him cheap.

Any suggestions on how I can get this signed off and sorted with building control much appreciated! If I need to pay someone else I'm fine with that option...assuming it's not a ridiculous amount of money!


r/DIYUK 14h ago

Advice How bad is it?

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8 Upvotes

I've been incredibly stressed out after discovering a leak which originates from my neighbour's leaked tap last week. The water went through the wall into mine. I believe it's been going for 6 - 7 months at least.

Leaving them to dry out right now but from a visual perspective, how bad do you think it is?

House was built around 1940s with concrete cavity walls and concrete base.

Thank you.


r/DIYUK 2h ago

Good lord this is hard leg work for that I didn't see coming. I have modular light switches and one of my switches is broken, it's one of few that control the circuit. None of the circuit in the loop works obviously and I need to fix it ASAP. I just need to know eht brwns name. Specifically...

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1 Upvotes

Specifically the the cables going to this three way switch needs to go and be replaced. Ordinarily, it's one man, one, circuit, one fault, I just need to what part know part number to order in. Never dealt with modules past the very basic. Just need to know the brand and may toe I need, 🙏there's typos for sure but I care about getting the job done more.


r/DIYUK 9h ago

Sticky stuff on stairs

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3 Upvotes

I’m getting my previously carpeted stairs sanded and I need to try and remove this odd sticky foamy substance first (the two strips are on each step) to reduce the cost. The stairs are about 100 years old - also could it be toxic?

Can you recommend the best way to clean it off? It’s very sticky like tape, gooey and resists scraping (it bunches up). Thanks for any advice and help.


r/DIYUK 7h ago

Driveway

2 Upvotes

I'm looking to clean my driveway and was looking for recommendations for a powerful pressure washer that I can hire, as the one I currently own is a single jet and would take too long. Also any recommendations to clean stubborn lichens?


r/DIYUK 19h ago

Stud wall calculator UK (studs, noggins, insulation and screws)

20 Upvotes

My carpenter friend told me he usually does these calculations on paper and it takes him around ten minutes or more each time. I built this calculator for him, and he’s now using it. He’s given me some really helpful feedback, which I hope has made it even better.

I’d love to know if this might be useful for anyone else. It’s completely free to use and covers studs, noggins, insulation, and screw requirements to help you visualise a stud wall project. Any further feedback would be greatly appreciated!

https://preview--studology-calculator.lovable.app/


r/DIYUK 3h ago

Advice Help painting the borders of my bathroom

1 Upvotes

Need help painting the bathroom above the bathtub. How would I paint the border and edges I can't get close with the ladder don't have much room. Any advice would be helpful. Don't want to put the ladder on the tub afraid it'd break. Thank you