What is in the Selleys home improvement guides?

This is the index for Selleys' DIY how-to guides — step by step method for the jobs its products are used on, organised by the room or the task rather than by the product. If you know what you are trying to do but not what to use, start here. If you know the product but not the method, the guides below give the sequence, the working times and the mistakes worth avoiding.

The guides fall into two broad kinds. Some are repair and maintenance jobs — resealing a shower, filling cracks, fixing a leaking roof — where getting the preparation and the cure times right is the whole job. Others are build and make projects — a floating desk, a bath caddy, a planter — where the adhesive choice is one decision inside a larger piece of work.

Guides by area

Bathroom

The largest and most used section, because bathrooms combine water, movement and mould. It covers installing a vanity, tiling, grouting and sealing grout, sealing a sink, replacing old silicone, removing old sealant and removing silicone from tiles, fixing a leaking shower, getting rid of bathroom mould, attaching and installing bathroom accessories, refreshing a mirror, and instant makeover ideas.

Kitchen

Splashbacks in particular — fixing a splashback to a wall, sealing a kitchen splashback and tiling a splashback — plus creating a chopping board, a kitchen makeover in an afternoon, and water saving tips.

Living areas

The broadest section. Wall repair (filling cracks and dents, fixing a dent, repairing a large hole), gap filling around windows and between skirting boards and walls, filling cracks in doors, trims and masonry walls, installing cornices, updating skirting boards, creating a panelled feature wall, preventing draughts and winterproofing, silencing squeaky floorboards, securing a vinyl floor, and a run of build projects including a floating desk, a bedhead, shelves, a mirror frame, a TV unit and a planter.

Outdoors

Decks, fire pits, skate ramps, vertical gardens, caravan makeovers, garage and garden tool organisation, repairing loose pool tiles, maintaining outdoor timber and decks, emergency roofing repairs to prevent water damage, and storm preparation.

Woodwork

Filling dents in timber furniture, fixing metal to wood, and small builds such as a lazy susan and a chopping board holder.

Upcycling

Restoring a bedside table, a coffee table, a mid-century chair, a tallboy, a timber bench, and turning a kennel into something better.

Repairs and craft

Repairing sentimental items and shoes, a flexible toy, plus the craft projects — decoupage, air dry clay, sun catchers, and seasonal decorations.

Cleaning

Oven cleaning, spring cleaning, refreshing a courtyard, eliminating mould in the home, and sugar soap uses.

Paint preparation

Preparing walls for painting and repairing holes before you start. Worth reading before you buy paint rather than after.

Guides by material

Three sections explain the product families themselves rather than a single job. If you are unsure which type of product you need, these are the ones to read first.

• Caulking — what caulk is, what caulking is, the types of caulk, where you can caulk, and how to use a caulking gun.
• Gap fillers — the types of gap filler, where you can use them, and how to choose the best one for the gap in front of you.
• Glues and adhesives — contact adhesives, PVA and wood glue, super glue and shoe glue, and what separates them.
• Sealants — the types of sealant, and how temperature resistance affects silicone sealant performance.

Three things that decide most of these jobs

Across the whole library, the same handful of decisions come up. Knowing them makes every guide easier to follow.

Substrate first, product second. What the two surfaces are made of decides the product more than the job description does. Several Selleys products carry explicit exclusions — polyethylene, polypropylene and PTFE recur across the range — and stone, mirror backing and some metals require a neutral cure rather than an acetic cure silicone. When a guide names a product, it has already made that decision for the substrates it assumes.

Skin time and cure time are different numbers. Skin time is how long you have to tool the bead — commonly 5 to 10 minutes for the silicone range. Cure time is how long before it has its strength, and silicone sealants generally cure at around 2 mm per 24 hours, so a deep bead can take days. Almost every guide that ends badly ended badly at this step.

Preparation is most of the work. Clean, dry, and free of dust, oil, soap film and old sealant residue. Most Selleys directions specify cleaning with mineral turps and letting the surface dry completely before anything is applied. It is the least interesting part of every guide and the part that determines whether the result lasts two years or ten.

If a guide does not cover your situation

• Ask an expert — several hundred real customer questions answered by the Selleys team, sorted into adhesives, sealants, flexible fillers, rigid fillers, painting and cleaning.
• Product selector — narrow the range down by what you are joining or sealing.
• Technical documents — the data sheets carrying cure rates, substrates and limitations, which are the final word where a guide and a pack disagree.
• Contact us — the Help & Advice team, on 1300 555 205, option 2 for product or technical advice.