"Tim S" wrote in message
news

We did our bathroom about thirty years ago when we had no money. We used
oblong cork tiles in a herringbone pattern. Someone had given us a pile
of
waste from the manufacture of head gaskets, we made a jig and cut our
own!
It's still going strong, unbelievably. The lavatory was done with one
pack
of proper cork tiles, they were even better but we could only afford one
pack and didn't have enough of the others to do even that small space.

Sounds like something my friend "Oily Mike" would do. He made reproduction
exposed ceiling beams (non structural)

Yuk!

from an old industrial-robot
pallet he got from his mate's workplace, carefully hacked down as if with
an adze and coated with black paint thinned with petrol for that
"blackened timber look". Complete with fake woodworm holes. It *was* an
18th century cottage, so it did look kosher.

er - what's kosher about blackened timbers in a C18th cottage?

Timber framed mediaeval houses didn't have dark beams when they were first
built. They darkened because of the smoke inside the house (no chimneys). If
Oily Mike's house didn't have them it wasn't built with them. If it had been
built with them they wouldn't have been black, by that time houses had
chimneys.


Hmm. 3 coats. That *is* a lot of work...

Yes, but worth it. I reckon it will see us out.

I might think about wax or just
use a stain/sealer for the non-polished look.

But it might not wear as well. Restoring it will take as long, just spread
out over more years, possibly.


Good luck to you, it was just the all pervading dust even though we kept
all
doors shut. It's so fine ... it seemed to go on and on ... although masks
were used when actually sanding I'm sure what we breathed the rest of the
time wasn't healthy. There were no children around though.

I'm expecting that. Can't be as bad as when my other mate sanded his walls
with an orbital sander - now that *did* get everywhere. Forever. Plaster
dust too - doesn't do the video heads any favours.

Ah but plaster dust is heavier than wood dust and it settles more quickly so
it doesn't travel as far. We even had the dust in the loft - from the ground
floor.


We have to replace the 30yo vinyl in our kitchen.

....

I copped out with my vinyl - I know I'm cr*p at cutting large sheets of
floppy material so I paid a couple of blokes to do it. Took them about 20
minutes and didn't actually cost that much.

Well, that's another reason for not having vinyl again. The floor's nothing
like big enough to take the full width of a roll, in any direction.

We had vinyl tiles before the continuous stuff, they wee awful. I don't want
to draw attention to the floor.

Paint it is. He likes the idea.

Of course I think the bit in front ot the sink will have to wear through to
the underlay before it happens ...

Mary