Our Top 5 Tips to DIY your arch!

Hi there 🍋8s!

We got lots of questions regarding our arches we did not too long ago. Here are our top 5 tips we believe will really help if you decide to DIY an arch in your home!

1) Measure accurately! ✨️

If you are planning to order a customised arch like we did, do make sure that you give the seller the most accurate measurent.

They will need the radius of the arch, which you get from measuring the length of the walkway or your nook and divide it by 2. They will make 2 halfs of which forms a half circle.

You will also need to provide the depth of the arch. If it's for the walkway, just measure accordingly. However, if you are making an arch against the wall, you will need to minus 1-2cm off the depth to accommodate uneven walls as well as space for the polyutherene foam to expand.

2) Use PU foam sparingly ✨️

PU foam expands 4 times its size before completely cured. So do remember to use it sparingly when securing the arch with it. Do it in blobs and not too much to the edge.

Keep the arch in place with painter tape and leave it overnight if possible.

If you do use too much and the foam spreads out too much, do not fret... Just use a penknife to shave off the excess once cured. Do it only after it has hardened and cured. It is less messy than cleaning its foam form.

3) Don't skip using joint tape ✨️

Joint tapes are important to cover the joints. You get seamless joints when spreading the joint compound. So, do not skip this step!

The self-adhesive fibreglass joint tape we used was easy and effortless to use!

4) Sand in one direction ✨️

You'd think that's a given... but it gets tedious and tiring when you keep repeating the steps.. and we found patches of criss cross at some parts that look really evident! In the end, we had to sand the patch again... that's an extra step!

5) Patience is the key! ✨️

Give yourself a few days to complete the project! Depending on the weather, you may need to wait longer for the joint compound to dry completely. It is important to wait for the joint compound to dry before sanding and to repeat the steps for at least 3-4 times (for us at least) to achieve a finished look. So do not rush and trust the process!

💕This is a really simple project, though it looks complicated. We hoped we helped answer some questions and take the dive to do it if you were hesitating before! 😆

#diyhack #homedecor #Lemon8SG #hdbrenovation #hdbsg #diy