Home DIY

Using Neutral as a Earth!?!?

Same

come over after work and have a look yo

BBQ incoming #soon

Fair enough.

Ours will be more expensive but we're in it for the long run so it's worth it.
Doubt we'll do anything until Feb / Mar next year though.

I really like our current decking but it's basically reclaimed scaffolding boards which aren't pressure treated and rot really easily.

Can't tonight but yes, sounds like a plan Stan!

If your decking is on a decent frame then changing the boards in the future is a piece of piss.

That was the issue previously .. it was SO so bad .. too much distance between joists, a fucking membrane between joists and boards for no reason as its on concrete which helped water stay and rot the joists.

New 25sq m decking (including stairs and banisters), new 6x4 shed, a sail cloth 'roof' thingy that needs poles cemented in the ground £3.3k all in.

Toilets:

In the past week ours has started having trouble flushing. Takes a good vigorous back and forth (euph) for it to drain. I opened it up and saw the lever arm looked a bit fractured so replaced that but it still doesn't work so am I right in thinking it's likely the diaphragm inside the siphon? If so how do I replace that? I need to drain the cistern right? But it's an old toilet with these as the only points of entry/exit for water:

Can't see any valves unless it's the latter one but that doesn't seem right :/

Presumably the cold water is coming from a tank in the attic so I'd need to get up there and turn it off?

This looks like a complete ball ache.

http://www.jock-of-all-trades.com/2012/09/replace-diaphragm-siphon--in-toilet-cisterm-syphon.html

Desperate for a new bathroom :/ It's the last great obstacle in the steeplechase of 'getting rid of all the previous owners dirty old shit'.

Personally I'd get a pipe freezing kit. Freeze the incoming water pipe, cut it and put a quarter turn isolation valve on it first. Then you can faff around with the toilet as much as you want without draining down the loft tank or worrying about the flooding when you run out of freeze spray.

That's the thinking I like. I'd presumably need a pipe cutter too to do it nicely rather than hacksaw but that's OK. Having seen the plumber whip through pipes in our kitchen with one I think they're worth it.

Another more general plumbing question: Why is there a supply and an outlet pipe? Surely the only outgoing water goes down the waste stack?

The other one is the overflow pipe. It'll go to the outside wall.

Aha, thanks.

Is the cistern filling up with water ok after flushing? Is it that you're just not getting enough water through the flush?

Cistern fills up nicely. Just not flushing when handle gets activated. Have to shake it a few times until it builds up momentum and then it goes.

Talk to me about Drills.
I'm going to make up a Tool Drawer, and on the list first is a drill. I'd like it to be not super expensive- have a decent range of attachments, and not be shit.
Then we can talk tool sets please.

that assumes the pipework is 15mm and will play nicely - it isn't and it won't

up into the loft you go.. @CYOA

in fact, turn the water off at the main in case fiddling with the loft tank stop cock ends up with tank overflow/fail hilarity

I have Bosch (green consumer) and Makita drills.

For general household stuff, I thin the Bosch kit is great for the money, and most is well constructed (often made in Hungary).

This socket had the two mains loops incoming. These were twisted together with piece s of blue and brown wire that connected to the socket. Earth was shrouded in blue instead of green/yellow.

So, a bad start. In addition to this, there's a cable wired in as a spur running down to the floor. This is also twisted in with the other wires and then wrapped in electrical tape. Again, they've shrouded the earth for the spur cable in blue.......

The other kitchen socket which had issues was even worse. I opened the cover off to reveal that two cables were dangling inside, almost brushing the metal box and metal cover plate. A third cable (another spur, FFS) was present, and still attached to the plate terminals, except neutral and earth were swapped!

If the either loose live cables had touched the metal plate or box, then it would have been a death trap.

Whoever left these sockets like this for the new owner is a cnut.

Christ alive.

It's actually pretty scary the level of fuckery you can uncover.

You doing some major work at your place then @rodabod ?

If you take the lid of the cistern, can you create a normal flush by using your hand rather than the flush handle?

Replacement flush mechanisms are so cheap. Just bin the old one. 99 times out of 100 that solves the isssue.

Arf

Ugh :( I'm not even sure I can fit through the loft hatch.