The easiest way is to mail me by clicking here…ian@handycrowd.com, and I’ll get right back to you. Alternatively you can find me on some of the most popular social media, just click the buttons below this post.
Third, simply leave a comment anywhere on the site and my tame robot will let me know 🙂
Stay well
Ian Anderson
p.s. If you just want to know more about who I am just head over to my ‘about’ page, ta for the interest 🙂
Comments 14
Hey Ian,
My name is Tim Horton and I’m the advertising partnerships manager at JvPartnersNow.
We would like to advertise some of our Lifestyle & Family related clients on your blog.
Can you please let me know what types of Advertising options you offer ?
Thanks in advance for the Details !
Take care,
Tim Horton
Partnerships-Manager
JvPartnersNow
Author
Hi Tim,
Not running any ads like that right now but thanks for asking!
Cheers
Ian
My Georgetown, CO house was built in 1872 and a portion of an upstairs bedroom ceiling has collapsed; I don’t know if it was caused from a leak. However that must be repaired, I’ll leave to the expert but I have a question about the downstairs living room ceiling: The previous owner had installed a ceiling fan which resulted in a circular fine crack. I would like to put in a faux tin ceiling and want to know if the old ceiling has to be removed or can the ‘tin’ be installed onto to old lath & plaster ceiling? Alice
Author
Hi Alice,
It depends on the weight of the ‘tin’ your’re putting up. Proper tin is too heavy which is why it’s common to overboard ceilings with plywood first. You can read a little more about it here…. https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/how-to-hang-tin-ceiling…. But to be honest I wouldn’t hang anything even remotely heavy as lath and plaster won’t take much weight you see.
If the faux ones you intend to use are really light, and I mean hardly heavier than a heavy weight lining paper, then you might be OK if the ceiling is in good order. Trouble is they are often glued up and that makes changing your mind in the future difficult as removing the glue/tile would probably damage the plaster (lath and plaster doesn’t like being pushed and pulled about either, it damages the ‘nibs’).
Sorry then, I just realised that ‘it depends’ isn’t very decisive or helpful is it!
So, if the plaster is firm and in good order; you’re sure you will like the look and never want change it back; and the ‘tin’ is very lightweight, sure go ahead… Otherwise, I’d ask your regular go-to guy on site for his/her opinion. It’s easier to make a decision when you’re looking at it!
Hope you get the leak sorted out! Let me know if you have any more info,
Regards
Ian
Hi Ian,
Terrific site, thanks for sharing all your knowledge and advice! I read your article re lath and plaster ceilings with great interest, as we are facing a slight dilemma in doing up our lounge/dining room.
The ceiling is lath and plaster but has two different coats of artex on it (not done by us). A builder we have used several times advised us not to plaster over the artex directly, as the combined weight could pull it all down. We also do not fancy getting into the expense of pulling down all the artex and potentially repairing the lath and plaster etc.
Therefore the simplest solution seems to be overboarding the ceiling and plastering it. However, we’d love to fit spotlights which I guess would mean lowering the boards sufficiently, and thus losing some height (which would be a shame as they bay window goes almost right to the ceiling, and I would hate to lose too much height in the room anyway).
Do you feel there’s any way around this… I am worried about the idea of fixing the spotlights directly into the joists as this would mean cutting through the artex (I have read this could contain asbestos) and through the lath and plaster.
Is there a minimum depth we’d need to allow for the spotlights if, to house these, we’re just using the void created by the new plaster board?
Any other thoughts or ideas would be gratefully received!
Thanks again for being so generous with your time and expertise.
All the best,
Helen.
Author
Hi Helen,
Thanks for the kind comments!
Re the asbestos, you’re right about white asbestos being added up to the mid 1980s so that can be a concern if you throw it about willy nilly.
I’d always recommend fixing thin tile laths (19mm x38mm min) up first before over boarding. This then holds up the lath and plaster and gives great fixing points for the new boards etc.
What we normally do is screw up laths underneath the existing joists and then carefully cut out holes in the lath and plaster over each location of the new lamps, then you have lots of space. But that was back in the day when we didn’t worry about asbestos too much….
These days ‘hot’ lamps have largely been superseded by much cooler running LED lamps so have a chat with your sparks about what size they are and how much ‘overhead’ they need, (hopefully less that the GU10 bulbs).
Unfortunately I’ve been out of the UK for a while now and am not fully up to speed on what lamps are in the stores right now. It will always tell you on the instructions and sometimes on the packaging of any lamp you buy what the minimum distance is to any combustible surface. You also need to think about fire regs. Any hole in the ceiling between floors might need a ‘top hat’ over the lamp to prevent fire spreading (depends on where you are and what’s above….).
I’ve got to run now so I’ll stop, let me know if I can help!
Thanks
Ian
Great Web site.
I feel so stupid now not using a tyre for spitting the logs.
Just 23 years of soooo much time being wasted.
Just in time as I have had a delivery of logs and they all need splitting.
Love your set up for chain sawing the logs as well.
Brilliant
David Welch from South Wales in the U.K.
Author
Many thanks for your kind words David! Just goes to show that no matter how experienced, we can all learn something from someone else. I find that life is way too short to even scratch the surface of what others have learnt before us, but at least the net is helping spread some of the good tips that are out there.
Happy choppin’!
Ian
I’ve just come across your site, Ian, and It’s just what I was looking for. Your advice is given in a very informative, but easily understood, manner & I now feel I am prepared to take-down the lathe & plaster ceiling in my late Victorian house…god help me 🙂
Author
Good on you Bob, I hope the job goes well and thanks for the kind words!
I’d love to see any photos you take! I could really do with a decent ‘cross section’ picture of a ceiling, or any close ups really.
I moved to Norway a few years ago and L&P doesn’t exist here so I struggle for pics for the stuff I post.
If you send me any pics I’ll send you a copy of a guide I’m working on (about L&P) when it’s published (not that it will help you next weekend lol!)
Let me know if you get stuck and I’ll help if I can. And make sure you’ve got plenty of hot water afterwards 🙂
Good luck!
Ian
Great site, thanks!!
Author
You’re welcome!
Cheers
Ian
Hey Ian, I spoke to you via email weeks and weeks ago…
I was hoping you could help me…. Me and my partner have just moved from England to Norway (Rogeland) and have been looking for work but with no avail. We have worked here in the past when we left our studies a few years ago but now are looking to permanently move here.
In a nutshell, we are struggling to find work, do you have any tips or suggestions? If I remember correct after reading your site the last time I was on it, I believe it said you moved here from the uk, just like we have and so I thought you could give us your thoughts.
Kind regards,
Ben
Author
Hey Ben,
Hmm, you are facing the ‘Norwegian’ challenge! It’s not easy to get into this ‘club’ I can tell you!
It really depends what you do doesn’t it? But I can say that Norway is very different to the UK regarding the process. The emphasis is very much more on YOU to do the running. Don’t ever expect anyone to follow up your emails etc. It is vital that you log everyone one you email etc and then follow up a little later.
Emails will go unanswered even to the tax office. I think that it is a language thing but maybe not. So email, then phone after a few days to ask ‘did you get my email?’ Try to arrange a meeting face to face. Oh, and mine very single person you know in Norway, as that is how it’s done, never lived anywhere where networking is more vital.
Make sure your linked-in page is up to date and even use it to contact people in your field etc. Facebook is also used to network.
My wife had no problems as she works in an “always in demand” area (specialist eye nurse) as do people connected with the engineering in the oil industry, (esp where you are!).
As for me, I struggled to find employment that I could fit around family, but I have always made my own work anyway and I do the same here. I spread the word around that I was “available” for hire and it is working out ok. The only problem I have is finding my “spot”. For 60% of people I am too expensive (at 300kr inc vat per hour) and for 30% of people I am ‘too cheap’. Norwegians who are prepared to pay Norwegian prices (400-600kr/hr) expect a Norwegian and that’s fair enough. This leaves a few people who usually know me and recognise that they are going to get “Norwegian Quality” (*laughing*) for a price that’s in-between the ‘black Polish’ price and the ‘white Norwegian’ price (150kr to 600kr!).
Norwegians need so much help with their ‘stuff’, from clearing gardens each spring to painting or clearing snow. You can charge 2000kr to clear a roof of snow that takes a couple of hours etc. Bit dangerous though .
Personally I think that Norway has a lot of ‘local’ business but the internet is totally underdeveloped here, buying online is in it’s infancy, people like to pick up what they are buying and many are not so price conscious.
Wintertime is the problem with my kind of work and we moved here from New Zealand and have also lived in East Africa,so we like it warm! Cold weather is lovely, but not to work outside in! Hence me trying to develop the web side of my business for the longer term.
Not sure if that all helps much but it’s good to have a rant!
So let us know what areas you are both interested in and I’ll ask around for advice, but mainly it’s to push it more than you would think, face to face is the way after phone calls. Can’t ignore a ringing phone!
Right, got to go! It’s sunny and cold outside, time to make the most of it!
Cheers for now Ben,
Ian