Hey friends,

Taking my lesson from last week's newsletter, this week I focussed on the important but technically non urgent nursery renovation and made some decent progress. It's been a while so let's recap first.

Before going on our hols I'd stripped back all the wall and ceiling paper and removed the window board, skirting, carpet, in-built wardrobe and radiator.

The room has two external walls that are letting a large amount of heat escape. The left wall in the pic above is external but as the long term plan is to extend over the garage it will eventually become internal (pic below) and therefore I'm only insulating the front wall with the window.

Before going away the half used insta-stik foam I had wouldn't flow so I bought a couple of new cans...yet still no luck. My Everbuild foam gun must also be blocked - my second gun since getting into DIY, having gunked up the first. So I stripped it down and found what was the likely culprit, some hardened foam near the end of the piston.

I then had the bright idea of going a step further by removing the hex-nut, where the can of foam attaches, to see if there was any blockage there and this happened:

🤦‍♂️ Another false start. So I'm now on my third gun and have gone back to the all metal and cheaper Screwfix No Nonsense brand one.

Despite the setbacks, the job went well and we now have a nicely insulated wall. If you've not seen it I've made a video of this exact job before with details such as the U-value achieved and comparing internal vs external insulation etc. The only thing I can add to that video from doing it a second time is to wear a mask and open a window because it's thought the insta-stik foam might be carcinogenic.

I plan to do the same with the downstairs front walls but may try dot and dab to compare methods. If you've got cold solid walls in your house, I'd certainly recommend giving it a go. Our bedroom feels really warm now and any imperfections in your work can be smoothed out by the plasterer.

As for the gun, it's recommended to leave the can attached if it's not finished but there may be a number of months before I use it again so I detached, sprayed gun cleaner on the nozzle of the can to clear it then sprayed the hex-nut and the end of the gun. Next I screwed the gun cleaner on and pulled the trigger until no more foam came out and left it for a couple of minutes to dissolve any remaining foam inside before detaching the can of cleaner and finally discharging what was left inside. Here's hoping it and the can will be useable next time 🤞.

The next job is to pull up the floorboards and ask Steve to help with (do for me) the down-lighters in the kitchen directly below. He's given me a list of the items to buy:

In our completed bedroom I only attached the window board once the plasterer had been and then caulked the gaps which worked out fine but the plasterer said it was unusual so this time I might try attaching the window board before the plastering. Probably doesn't make much of a difference. I usually buy from Skirting4U.

So hopefully that job will be done before the new year.

🎄 👋 🎁

To those who celebrate it I want to wish you a very merry Christmas. It's going to be a close call as to whether we spend ours with family or do another one on our own but however you're spending yours, have a fabulous one. Hopefully Father Christmas has a tool or two for you in his sleigh 😉

Hit "reply" if you've got any comments on this week's newsletter – otherwise I'll see you next time.

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P.p.s. You can find all previous newsletters here.