#DIYDay This morning and this evening, I've been out in the sun room, scraping blown plaster and wallpaper residue, and then going over every single gap with gap filler expanding foam.

May not seem like a big job... but this was in 28ºC heat and 80% humidity, in an enclosed and well insulated space and even with doors and windows wide open... there was no wind today at all... no cooling breeze and no electrics to plug in a fan.

So... basically like working in an oven.

But it's done, I think I've got 98% of the gaps... missed a few tiny bits a few mm wide and a few cm long at the edges of some insulation board... Not enough to make a real difference... and I've run out of foam and solvent now anyway... The biggest and most important parts are done. I'll trim it back tomorrow and get cracking with the wallpaper steamer on the rest of the old residue.

Plaster popped in to do the quote, so tomorrow I'll know how much it will cost... Expecting about an £800-1000 bill for the job. Another plasterer popping in tomorrow to do a 2nd quote.

All because the original plasterer decided to ghost us... so have to start all over again... and probably pay extra.

I need my 2nd shower of the day... and I'm still picking out little bits of foam from my hair because I was working directly above my head a lot... and that stuff can fall down as it expands back out of the joins you squirt it into.

#DIYDay but not for me.

The electrician was in yesterday, getting the sun room ready.

he had to channel around the dining room to get electrics out to it.

He also found that the two ring mains for upstairs and downstairs... are joined for some unknown reason. It's not illegal to do so, just that the original electrician did it that way.

It's easy to separate them, he just disconnects the join at the socket and moves one of the main cables from the joined breaker to a spare one... and I do have a spare breaker on the consumer unit.

because he was doing spurs of the main downstairs ring, and because he's channelling around the whole room. he thought he might need to put a fused spur where the cable takes a turn through the wall into the sun room... something to do with electrical regs. But instead of a fused spur, he could put a socket instead.

Which is why in the 4th image, we have 2 plug sockets on either side of a corner.

Instead of adding 3 new sockets in the sun room, we're adding 7. He's also taken the existing internal light switch and installed another on the inside of the sun room, and channelled the cable up to the ceiling... this eliminates the mess that was there previously and also gets rid of a junction box above the doors.

Now waiting on the plasterer... who was supposed to pop round Monday and is now due to pop round today. Fingers crossed he can get it done quickly... it's about 2 days work to board and skim the room, plus redo some scratch and skim coats on the house walls.

Nothing more I can do until the plastering is done.. once done and dried, I can decorate and do the flooring. Then get the carpenter to make up some oak door thresholds... then it's skirting and window boards... and final fix on the electrics.

Getting closer to finishing.

#DIYDay or should that be BIY Day... Buy it yourself.

Because technically, that's all I've done.

Been looking for flooring for the new sun room. Everything we really liked... was going to cost £1200+

We've already decided that we're getting the blinds we really want... And those are going to cost about £1400.

We can't afford to spend a similar amount on the floor.

So, went looking for bargains... B & Q store, we found these... about £22 sq/m or £40 a pack. Water resistant and quite thick planks... not the thickest, there were others cheaper and thicker... and nicer. But not water resistant... and we want that more than anything as it's the door into the garden... much more likely to get water splashed on it.

I noticed a reduced price on one of the packs... Lifted it out to take a look... open pack, tiny bit of damage on one piece. Underneath that were 2 more open packs for £25 and 2 more for £5 with one having a missing board and the other far too much damage to consider.

We needed 10 packs... which is about 17.8sq/m to do a room that is about 16sq/m because of wasteage and so forth.

The ones with a tiny bit of damage, can be used as the offcuts and wall pieces, that will be hidden under skirting.

Flooring, underlay and a fitting kit cost £386.

At the till... the guy putting it all through for us... made a mistake and thought one of the £25 packs was £5... saving us an extra £20. So with £40 in vouchers (left over from xmas) and that mistake... We only paid £326.

I call that a bargain.

Can't lay it until the electrics and plastering are done though. But I've laid plenty of laminate floors over the last 20yrs.

Also... completely forgot to measure all of the windows for the blinds... and that was the main reason we went all that way... to order the blinds.

So we've gotta go back now... need to order them by next week as they're running a £20% sale on the blinds... and without the sale, we can't afford the £1800 or so they're going to cost.

#DIYDay but not for me.

Roof is on, tomorrow the glass can go in, all the finishing trim done, the render patched and the roof flashing installed.

Electrician is here on Monday... Plasterer within the next two weeks.

#DIYDay but not for me.

The sun room has begun.

This is one days work so far. Does not include any internal finishing. We're doing that.

What's left to do... finish sealing up all of the gaps in the roof and against the house (I assume gap filler expanding foam), instal the membrane on the roof, batons and tiles, instal the glass and adjust the doors and windows to open/close smoothly.

They reckon it'll be done by Weds.

Electrician is in Monday to do the first fix.. hopefully plastering can be done either end of next week or the week after. Then I can paint, do the flooring, window boards and skirting... 2nd fix electrics (just installing 3 sockets and a light fitting... and we're done.

Estimating furniture can go in early to mid July if all goes well. Got a 2 seater sofa we can put in there, a TV stand and a TV once my mum buys a new one for her lounge.

#DIYDay part two... I finished.

It's a South facing garden, and it was hot... and I was in direct sunlight at all times... Zero shade.

So I'd do a piece and take a break... let the adhesive start to set.

But it's done, all of the cavities are now closed and there should be no draughts or cold spots on the window sills of the conservatory.

I ordered 7 cavity closers, because I'm apparently an idiot... who for some daft reason thought I had to do 4 walls and got enough to cover 17 meters of the 16 meter walls.

But there's only 3 walls and 12 meters... 🤔 🤦 😆

#DIYDay ... in this heat. But jobs need doing, and I'm taking regular breaks.

Job 1, remove the cavity wall insulation and reseat it properly, using gap filler expanding foam as a glue to hold it in place and seal any gaps. I've also pushed it down about an extra 1cm so that there's room for the cavity closers on the top.

Once the cavity wall insulation is done, it's time to clean out the foam gun... and that's when the can of expanding foam exploded as I was unscrewing it from the gun.

It went everywhere... across the slab, across the box containing the rest of the new cans, up the inside of the dwarf wall... and all over my hands.

Then the seal on the cleaner broke, so I couldn't screw it onto the gun to clean inside it properly.

Will likely have to replace the gun if I can't get it clean... But thankfully... the job is finished... so it's not needed again on this project.

Next up, start fitting the cavity closers. The adhesive is taking a lot longer to dry in this heat... so I'll be doing a section, weighing it down with spare bricks and leaving it alone... Time for a break and a coffee.

I figure it's going to take 2 days to fit all of the closers at this rate. Maybe it'll be easier this evening, rather than doing it during the hottest part of the day. Hopefully finished tomorrow... there's only 7 of them to cut and fit. It's the lack of enough bricks to hold them down that's the main problem... the rest are currently holding the insulation in place whilst the foam sets.

#DIYDay again... Time to do the rear brakes on the car.

I watched this video first, a few changes regards the 2008 model I have. For example a 13mm bolt instead of a 12mm bolt. I don't have the shim plates, but my pads have spring clips built into them.

I did indeed have a seized slider pin. The lower drivers side pin had to be forced to rotate with a 15mm spanner... and once loose, I just kept turning it and turning it as I pulled on it, until I came out.

That one was quite badly corroded, and had very little grease residue.

So cleaned them out with brake cleaner and some paper towel rolled so I could insert it into the slider pin hole.

Used new grease and new slider pins, making sure I used the correct calliper grease which is silicone based and heat won't degrade it. Grease up the slider pins and hole, put the new rubber boots on and locked everything into place.

Then wind the calliper piston back, again requiring a different tool to the one shown in the video. But I bought a kit, so could easily find the right one that fits.

A little smudge of grease on the back of the new pads as they go in, to help stop squealing.

Took me an hour to do the drivers side, but about 25 mins to do the other side once, I'd figured it all out properly.

As for the old pads... one side was worn down to metal at the bottom due to the stuck slider pin, which explains the metal grinding sound I was getting. The disc were good though, so there was enough material on the pads to stop any gouging of the disc on that side.

Once everything is back together and properly tightened up, wheels on and nuts tightened... thank feck for impact wrenches.... gently press the brake pedal until you feel the brakes firm up... then pull the handbrake on and off until that self adjusts properly too.

After that... a quick spin up and down the road, hitting the brakes firmly as if doing an emergency stop.

No grinding, stops nice and smoothly.

Will take a few miles to bed the new pads in properly. But that's another service job done.

Was going to fit new discs and pads on the front... But my back is protesting profusely... So coffee and some painkillers... front brakes work just fine... They're just getting a little low and I've not replaced the front discs in the 7yrs I've owned it.

I also need to replace all 4 tyres soon... Not a job I can do myself.

But it's nice to know I can still do some basics on the car. Spent £120 pads, slider pin kit, grease, cleaners as well as a new trolley jack and calliper winding tool. That's less than it would have cost at a garage because they'd have found the problem, needed to order the new slider pins... or bodged it to save themselves time and money whilst saying they fixed it. So a garage could have charged me £150-200 inc labour.

But it means the front will only cost me the parts and I bought those 6 months ago.

Every little saving helps, and working on and repairing your own stuff is very satisfying.

Didn't involve any crawling around on the floor either, sat on my tool box, and occasionally used a kneeling cushion to reach under and place the jack stands to support the car... had those 13yrs and this is the first I've used them. Not done anything except minor work and fixes since I sold my old sports car and sold the owners club site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MUcYlmXMhs

#DIYDay It's the simplest jobs that cause the most pain.

Had to rejoint the paving in the garden after jet washing it last week.

But even though it was only about 20sq/m and all I had to do was literally brush this 'dansand' Nogrow into the joins to lock them together again. It that constant stooping whilst brushing that triggers spasms in my lower back.

So after an hour... I was done with the main part, I've left some on the surface as I'll need to go over it again as it settles.

The product is a mix of granite dust and particles that reduce the ability for moss and seeds to take hold. It's only about £5 a bag more than kiln dried sand. Hopefully it mean I don't need to redo it again for a few years.

It also means I've got another 15sq/m or so to clean and rejoint at the rear of the house... and about 50sq/m of block paving to jet wash and rejoint at the front of the house.

#DIYDay well... afternoon. The paving in the garden is both hideous and hideously dirty.

3yrs since I last pressure washed it, all of the joins filled with moss and dirt, and everything looked dirty grey after the building work.

The pavers are red with grey block edging.

Now at least 75% of it has been pressure washed and cleaned off. Still need to do around the back of the new conservatory foundations and sheds.

I cannot wait until I can rip all of this shit up... It's the cheapest crap you can buy... and this plus the shittiest conservatory previous owners built... you know that pride and competence wasn't their concern.

Plans for next year are to build raised beds in a U shape around the old decking to create and semi hidden seating area. Later on, getting rid of the decking entirely and replacing with a nice paved patio using some kind of sandstone that has loads of colours in it.

Then just a basic path over from the doors to the seating area and around the corner to the sheds.

But for now... it's being cleaned.