Onoff

Soda blasting residue is used in the States by the ton to sprinkle along railroad lines to keep the weeds down. The operators in fact buy it from the soda blaster companies. Out there you can easily hire a man in a van (read big truck with a tank on the back) to come and blast your walls, car, oak beams etc. Over here apparently the rail operators aren't interested in buying the residue!

In the depths of my bathroom thread there's some words of wisdom from the Welsh Wizard. From memory he said a lot of rubber washers on traps are generic. His, the method I used, was to ditch the rubber washer. I then filled up the gap with I think white Sikaflex EBT. When tightening though you MUST ensure you compress the trap without turning it which will tend to smear it too thin. Baby wipe it and walk away until set. Now I'd probably use white BT1. @Nickfromwales feel free to jump in! ?

Could you stuff a bit of scrunched up, dry bog roll above that fitting, then run the shower for a bit. This to prove where it's leaking from? Where the drip it should only be hand tight and a bit. A smear of something in there like silicone grease might help.

?I was going to suggest making one. You must post pictures of the finished article. All I can say is mind what fingers you have left. Those bfo slabs are somewhat unforgiving!

Seems to be out of stock everywhere I've looked though...?

...talking of dead weights! ?

Me and a mate had to lay 120 of those 2'x2'x2" slabs once on x3 21 storey tower blocks in the Old Kent Road (Avondale Estate). 40 on each block. The lifts were so small we could only get me and him in the lift, facing each other, with 3 slabs stood vertical on a sack barrow. The lift stopped at either 19 or 20 depending which lift you got. We then had to handball the slabs one or two floors to the roof. It was a job spec'd by the council and they wanted them laid on "2 layers of waxed building paper" on a "sharp sand / cement bed". The problem was it was an asphalt roof. We were extending the paved area on each roof. The rest of the roof was gravel chips on asphalt that had sunk into the asphalt over the years. First we had to use a flame gun on a gas bottle to loosen/scrape the embedded chippings from where the new slabs were to go. Ended up lifting a lot of the existing slabs to get an invisible "join", old to new. Then there were the lengths of 7"x4" RSJ to go to the roof and we had no crane..... ? No wonder my back is bad!

EazyBarra: https://www.xoli.co.uk/product/eazybarra-multi-purpose-wheel-barrow/ This one looks good, see the video: https://www.lawnandpower.co.uk/product/orit-paving-slab-paver-30-1000cm-caddy/

Maybe look into getting the doors caustic stripped? Look for a place local to you. You have to be careful that the process doesn't affect the glue holding the door together. I stripped all the doors and skirting in my first house circa 1865 with a hot air gun and various scrapers. Lead paint no doubt. Could explain why the intervening years are a blur...

Is it worth at least filling some of those joints where mortar is missing? Thinking to improve the air tightness, maybe stop vermin, insects etc entering from the cavity...

Aka "council slabs"!

I had to look that up, thought maybe it was on the IoW ? (Could never get into the books and the films make me want to smash the telly). A workmate had a fair size long garden. He'd lived there 10 or so years. Next door, a similar size plot with no house was completely overgrown with a number of brick built outbuildings and sheds on it. Sitting in his garden one day and he casually let slip he owned that too but had never ventured there or looked in any of the buildings. You have to wonder what makes people tick.

Brick acid like Disclean? Again be bloody careful and wear non absorbent gloves and GOGGLES if not a full face shield. It's not salts leeching out of the stone is it?

Liked that bit of a change mind for David Duchovny after the X-Files...

You can find that with the drill rotating one way constantly it "smooths" out the wire brush. Pays to reverse the drill rotation now and then. Goggles and gloves, goggles and gloves!

What size//thickness slabs?

Try white vinegar and a plastic scourer?

Best tenant I ever had was a bankrupt builder, had CCJs against him etc. Genuine guy, down on his luck through circumstances. The huge cash advance he waived was a factor... ? Saying that, thereafter paid on the dot and did all repairs needed as his way of saying thanks for giving him a second chance.

I wish!

Now an offence btw...ask me how I know...

Would plastic trouser shims be no good for this? https://www.screwfix.com/p/broadfix-assorted-plastic-shims-medium-200-pcs/80408? Easy to cut, waterproof. You can glue them together with mitre bond to get them thicker. Thickest in that pack is 10mm btw. Thank God for long nose pliers eh?

If you say had a bit of spare glass you could drill two holes in it and have that as the back plate. Just thinking it'd show off the care and attention that went into cutting those tiles...back board...

Sleeveless muscle vest?

If I've a fair few bits to cut, I'll cut with thin slitting discs in a 110 or 230 grinder but de-burr the cut parts with a flap disc in a cordless grinder. I even de-burr off cuts ready for the next time "they'll come in handy".

Both jaws are nominally 610x120mm.