Home DIY

Just leave it outside other houses in the dead of night.

Our tip in Newham is amazing, they claim to charge after one can load but I've taken 6 Zipvans full of various materials from our garden - rubbish, old fencing, rubble, two trees - and it's always been fine.

The one for sale in Screwfix which I coincidentally just saw before reading this thread is a Titan - that's what our builders used to destroy our old bathroom floor and theirs had seen a lot of use.

I could buy it and then it could be the Forum Breaker, which I could lend out for use in gardens, taxis etc in exchange for beers.

The warranty is 2 years anyway, I ended up buying the titan SDS drill as it was the same spec as the Wickes one but with some bits and a chuck adaptor. Good so far for the price.

Good idea.

Yep. See the pic above your post - that's the tipping!

Smart thermostats: talk to me. Need two zones of heating plus hot water control. Looking at Tado, Nest, Hive, Inspire, Salus... Honeywell too spendy. What have you got and how do you like it? #notaeuph

We've got a Hive - works just fine. Would have got a Nest, but the installation would have worked out to making it waaay more expensive. The Hive price usually includes fitting I think.

was just about to ask that! have been thinking nest, mostly because aesthetics. looks a bit like HAL

Thanks, @bashthebox. Nest looks the best IMO and the whole motion detection/ learning schedule is cool, but with two heating zones (upstairs and downstairs) it would be £450 for two units plus install. Also, our existing downstairs stat is behind a door in the hall which would be useless, so we'd need to use the mains USB method to power. Would look shit with a cable dangling from the wall, and I can foresee it being turned off or moved by The Bloody Kids.

I like Inspire in that they are British designed and made, but the units look shite (important). Tado and Hive currently front-runners I think...

Edit: Tado would also be £450+ for my set-up. Hive is £350, Inspire £275. Think I will pay a bit more for an established system. Hive wins!

I'm after the same sort of thing. I think 2 zones.
But ours is a completely new heating install, so do you think there's a reason to go for a different option as it doesn't need to integrate with anything existing?
Also our schedule is so random that I'm not sure what the learning side of it would do for us.

Think almost all the systems now offer geofencing, either natively or via a third-party app - probably the best thing for a random schedule. You can set it up to start warming up when you are X miles from home; think some are more advanced, learning how long it will take to get up to your prescribed temperature, taking into account the weather forecast (or even taking a reading from your personal weather station, if you have one). Many also integrate with IFTTT so you can create recipes which account for anomilies in your schedule. Like most tech you can take it to the Nth degree!

I installed our Nest- if you can read a circuit diagram you can do it.

Hive geo fencing is currently arrive home/leave so is a bit weak to rely on for random schedules. The web and app interfaces are good for managing random schedules, mine is randomish but by Friday afternoon I generally know what the following week will be so I can go on t'internet and set it really easily.

Sure, but unless you want it in the same place as the existing stat - or on a stand, plugged into the mains - it could mean a lot of new 12v wiring from the boiler.

Hmm, did not know that, actually. Thought it was a bit more like Tado: https://www.tado.com/gb/blog/using-tado-geolocation-feature

Edit: maybe I will shell out the extra on Tado. God dammit!

Mines on a stand plugged into a socket, sits on the shelf under the tv.

Sanders. I've got some timber that I've cut and planed to size to use as shelves but I'd like to sand it. I'd also like to stand our wooden (open plan - eugh) staircase and obviously this isn't going to be a hand job. So to speak.

I don't want to buy multiple sanders so need something fairly versatile. I've got a sheet sander (an old B&D one) that doesn't seem very powerful. The sheets fall off at every opportunity etc.

I'd like something solid and powerful but versatile. Budget less than 100 ideally but if there's something that will change my life for more then I'd consider it.

Suspect I want a random orbital sander but any brands/ models to look for? Or not random orbit at all? I want it to fit into fiddly spaces so perhaps that's not the one I need unless it comes with detail attachments? I'd also like it to handle smoothing filler on walls etc if poss but not essential.

EDIT: I'm also looking for a drill so if you know of any deals with you get a solid sander a drill for less than 200 that'd be good. Needs to go through hard baked bricks without any trouble so will I presume need some kind of hammer function.

Not fussed if battery or mains powered. Suspect the heft from mains would be nice but if there's an option for both (i.e. battery powered but with a slot for a power cable too) that'd be brilliant.

Not a random orbit but currently looking at this:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-d26430-300w-detail-sander-240v/31810#product_additional_details_container

I like my Bosch, has one of the best dust captures and is quite quiet.
I've only started using it so can't speak to it's durability.

I would avoid the Bosch PEX220. I've bought two now and they are shit.

Hm, that's too bad, I hope mine holds up.
It's this one: https://www.amazon.ca/Bosch-ROS20VSK-120-Volt-Variable-Random/dp/B0018Z8D64

I have their 10.8V multi-tool sander and it's excellent. I also have three drills by Bosch which are great, but that cheapest oribital I bought twice is crap.

Can render be patched up with any success? Mine and the upstairs flat are blowing out around the windows and I suspect causing a damp wall at the back of the house. I know the proper thing would be to strip back and re-render, or repoint, but cheapest quote I've had on that so far is 2.3k. I'm only going to be here another couple of years, so loathed to pile that money into something that won't see any return. I think the suspect is the galvanised edgings rusting, so can these be replaced and sealed back into the existing? I'm replacing my rear window anyway so would need to patch up regardless, or completely re-do.

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I rendered the front of our place last week, the bottom half had crazed from frost cycles, the top half was well stuck so I blended in. The hardest part will be matching the finish, I don't have a clue how the texture on yours was created, maybe that was sprayed on originally.

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you could get the window guys to hack it out, take out the galv, patch up it and cover it upvc?
Provided they don't go too wild taking it out.