"Graham Saunders" wrote in message
...
After a break of about 4 years (moved to a new house, very little DIY to
be done, Hurrah!), I'm back to lurking here (house looking shabby after 4
years, and the missus wants to change everything around :-(

Anyway, I've been using some new DIY gadgets that I dont remember being
around ~4 years ago (does the world change that fast??)

1. Spray on pipe freezer. Stick a collar around a pipe, spray in some
stuff from a can a wait a little bit. An ice plug forms in the pipe which
is good for 5 bar for 45 minutes, so you can cut the pipes and do what you
need to do without any hassle. Fab! I had to replace a tap, and since I
dont have any service valves (cheapskate developers, grr!) and I'm to
scared to go anywhere near the megaflow moster in the airing cupboard, it
just about saved me from loads of hassle. About £10 for a kit in B&Q,
which seems enough for a good few months of DIY plumbing.

ISTR the instructions say not to use it twice, as the manufacturers cannot
guarantee that there is enough freezer in the spray to be certain that any
but the first ice plug will hold. I have used one, many years ago, to change
a main stopcock in a flat, but I prefer to have good working isolating
valves instead.

2. DustBubbles. They are self adhesive dust collectors, which you stick
them on the wall where your about to drill, drill through them, and they
catch *all* the dust. 2 for ~£2 in B&Q, and they come with different
strength adhesives for wallpaper, bare walls, tiles etc. Genius!

A saleable version of the idea of sticking an old envelope to the wall under
the hole..

Colin Bignell