To avoid bending the hairs of a brush when keeping it in a jar of water or spirit, drill a small hole through the handle near the bristles. This will allow you to hang it on a piece of stiff wire resting across the rim of the jar. This method of storage avoids stiffening.
As an excellent substitute for proprietary plastic wall plugs, dip cotton wool or old bandage in cellulose filler such as Polyfilla and pack it tightly into the hole. Let it dry before inserting the screw.
When drilling plaster, stick a small piece of transparent tape over the spot where you will drill. This will stop the drill slipping, and also keep the plaster from chipping.
Old polished furniture covered with dirt and a thick build-up of wax is best cleaned with an old fashioned brass polish such as Brasso. This is mildly abrasive, and will remove the wax without harming the varnish.
Measuring across the top of an alcove single-handed can be tricky. You can save trouble by cutting the ends of two battens to a point and laying them together so that they overlap with the points outwards. Hold this arrangement across the alcove and slide the battens apart until they touch the sides, then make a pencil mark across both battens. Take them down and rearrange them so that the pencil marks line up again, then measure across the battens from point to point. These ‘pinch sticks’ can also be used for measuring the inside diagonals of frames when checking them for square.
If you have to drill a lot of holes to the same depth, as you would for wall plugs, make a simple depth stop for your drill by cutting a piece of rubber or plastic tube to a suitable length and slipping it over the drill bit. You can also use dowel drilled down the middle.
Old well-stuck or waterproof wallpaper can be removed by scratching the surface thoroughly with coarse sandpaper or a wire brush (either can be mounted on a power drill to speed things up). Then brush on warm water, preferably with a little vinegar or soda (but not both) added. When the paper begins to bubble up, scrape it off in the usual way. Water with washing-up liquid also helps.
Store paint tins upside down. This will stop air entering the tin and forming a crust on the paint.
Before cutting and hanging wallpaper, undo each roll and check for faults and colour matching. Even if the batch number stamped on the back of each roll is the same (which it should be) there may still be discrepancies. When batch numbers differ there can be marked differences.
Paint of any type will cover corners better if the corners have been slightly rounded.
Large plastic washing-up liquid and floor polish containers with moulded-in handles can be cut to make useful paint containers that can be hung up when you are working on a ladder. But check that the type of paint you are using doesn’t dissolve the plastic.
When painting around a window, allow the paint to flow slightly on to the glass; this gives a watertight seal.