Orlando answers your DIY questions

Hello there! This weekend was Home Day at QVC and, with the focus on all things homely, hopefully you picked up some ideas on things you could do to your own homes.

So while you're still inspired, I think it's the perfect time to answer some of your most common DIY questions.

If you've got any DIY questions for me, you can post them in the comments section below and I'll do my best to answer them.

I'm having problems decorating my bathroom. Do you have any tips?

Decorating your bathroom can be tricky, but you'll make the job much easier if you consider these key points:

1. Be methodical
2. Have the right tools to hand, including a tile cutter, an angle grinder, and a damp sponge to wipe off any excess adhesive.

Here are my steps for doing a professional-looking job on your bathroom.

Remove old tiles and adhesive

• Use a bolster chisel to remove tiles. You can also use a tile-removing trowel to reduce the chance of damaging the walls.

• If you're having difficulty removing the adhesive, use a wallpaper steamer to soften it up. You can take off any really stubborn bits of adhesive with rough sandpaper.

• Fill in any holes.

• Coat the walls with a PVA adhesive mixed with water. This will seal in the dust and provide a perfect surface for the new tiles to stick to. I'd recommend 5 parts water to 1 part PVA.

Put up your new tiles

You're now ready for tiling. Perhaps you're tiling most of the room, or maybe just around the bath. Here's what you've got to do:

1. Mark a horizontal line on the wall just up from the floor - leaving space for about 3/4 of a tile.

2. Take a length of plain, straight timber (1" x 2") as a baton and screw it absolutely level across your mark.

3. Add your adhesive. If you're finding it difficult trowelling the adhesive onto the wall, it's sometimes easier to 'butter' the tile with the adhesive using a notched trowel.

4. Set your first line of tiles against the baton. The baton will hold the tiles absolutely level. Work 2 or 3 tiles off the baton, let the tiles set, then remove the baton.

5. You should have 3/4 of a tile space left over. This space is useful in case your floor drops and you need to cut the tile a bit longer.

6. Set your bottom line against the wall and grout up

Start painting

Once you've tiled and grouted up, you're ready to paint. Sand all your woodwork back to help the paint stick. I use an oil-based paint on the woodwork - either gloss or satin - because though it takes longer to dry, it's far more durable and easier to wipe down afterwards.

As for the walls, go for Dulux kitchen and bathroom paint because it's specifically designed to deal with moisture and you can wipe the walls down.

You might find it useful to print off these steps and follow them while you're on the job. Hope it goes well!

What are the things you can do about hard water?

Hard water will cause limescale to clog up your washing machine, dishwasher, kettle, and water pipes - which can be a real pain.

There are some limescale-reducing products you can add to each of your appliances - Calgon is probably the most well known of these. A limitation of this type of product is that it won't help with your copper pipes, which will be getting a build-up of limescale.

Alternatively, you can have a water softener fitted, which is filled with salt. The only drawback is water that has passed through the system doesn't taste great, so you would need a cold water feed to one of your taps for drinking water, usually the kitchen tap. You also need to remember to top up the device with salt.

There's also the magnetic option. Though this hasn't been 100% scientifically proven to work, my feeling is that it does work and will definitely reduce the build up of limescale in your pipes and machines - plus it's much cheaper.

It's a unit that fits to your home's cold water feed and magnetises the pipe. This unit is connected to your mains and costs about one penny every couple of days to run. This option is perfect for one, two, or three bedroom houses. It will definitely make the water softer, and doesn't require a professional to fit it.

How to get new blades for your Aris wall cutter

I've been inundated with questions from all of you who have bought the fantastic Aris wallpaper cutter and want spare blades for it.

We don't have any spare blades at QVC at the moment, but if you contact John Brook or Paul Landon at Langdon European 02476672744. They will be able to supply you with spare blades for as long as you want.

Happy DIY-ing,

Orlando

Comments

[tim flood]

bring back orlando a true pro

[steve goodhand]

whats happened to orlando?
has jules frightened him off?
has he been abducted by aliens?
is he going to be the new dr who?