Home DIY

Sweet. Talk downy is exactly what I need. I've been renting for 20 years, I'm pretty good at making stuff with my hands but all these DIY basics are things I'm totally ignorant of.

I see people using small nails to 'hold' the shelf to the wall, stop it slipping. What the hell are those things called?

Those shelves look like they've been made to float on something like this bracket. The brackets don't take a huge amount of weight in my experience.

You'll need to drill out the board using a flat bit in a drill to accommodate the bracket. You need to drill that very, very straight or you'll go out the side of the board.

It's not all that difficult but you'll need decent tools and a bit of patience for this.

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Agree. I actually don't particularly like the floating shelf aspect of the kitchen shelves, I'm intending on getting dirty great cast iron brackets for those, the pic was just to show how reclaimed boards can look good as shelves.

Good advice though - will be taking it in the living room where I'll have a few regular floating shelves.

You can get the same sort of thing without the flexible bracket. It's a post that has a massive masonry screw on the end. The advantage is the post is a little offset from the screw so you can make minor height adjustments (as long as the holes in the board permit). I'd say they are strong enough as I've got a big weight hanging off three of them at the moment. Doing it with 3 is not for beginners, you need to be very accurate with the holes or you won't fit it on.

283.32.014 in the Hafele catalogue. I've never used this one but it looks like it provides more flexibility than the ones I've used.

Also the best way to drill the board is an Auger bit with a hand brace, you can pick up old sets on eBay for a few quid (at least you could).

Any recommended glazers in N/E London (Chingford area)?

And what's a sensible price for installing a new patio door and 2 large windows (about 6ft x 3ft), all aluminium-framed? Quotes online seem to vary wildly.

I want to run an ethernet cable from the router on one side of the room, to the TV on the other. Stupidly, I didn't think about this before redecorating.

We have white skirting boards so I was thinking about getting some flat cable and then very neatly gluing it to the skirting board with some of that super strong glu anything No Mor Nails.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/hvm/10m-FLAT-Cat5e-Ethernet-Patch-Cable-Halogen/B0017YXFHI#customerReviews

2 questions,

1. any obvious problems?
   (I'm sure not that long ago all cables/phonelines/etc were nailed above skirting boards with those cable hoop-things.
   
2. Type of cable? Cat6 seems like the best future proof. Is changing the ends the same as with old school ethernet cable? ie fiddly but simple. I'd like to try and make it neat by having the exact length.
   
3. any clever ideas for how to creat a neat right angle down to the skirt/up to the TV?
   
   

Cheers.

If you can handle slightly 'undecorating' you can probably get the cable behind your skirting board (or get skirting board with a cable channel/chase cut into it).

Carpet or wood floors? It might not be very tricky to lift the carpet (if you have it) and run a flat cable under that.

1. Should be fine.
   
2. Cat6 uses the same pinout as cat5e but different design plugs (internally) with much tighter tolerances to try and keep the twist right up to pins. Flat cable might be less fiddly if the pairs are arranged roughly in order.
   
3. Technically you should use a socket at each end with short patch cables completing the link but if you're running the cable externally I'm not sure you have much option other than just not curving it sharper than the max bend radius (which won't be neat).
   

Compression fittings on central heating pipes? Yay or nay? Alternatively, how easy are Yorkshire fittings to solder on for a first-timer? Does anyone fancy lending me a plumber's torch and some flux?

Moving that radiator yourself?

I have Yorkshire/end feed, compression and plastic/pushfit in this place,
all work fine.

If using compression, these are handy,
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p62263?searchstr=spanner

If only you knew someone who could lend you one?
(I've actually got a better/previous model,
which is a real forged spanner rather than this cheaper cutout version
that resembles cheap bike 'spanners').

Moving that radiator yourself?

Very possibly, the pipes need very little moving and I can do it all with 90-degree bends. Yorkshire would be ideal as once they're on they'll be solid. I fear that the movement of the pipes with heating and cooling might compromise compression fittings.

Radiator valves are compression fitted to the pipe tails and they do ok. I use JG push-fit when it's out of sight, solder and pipe bender for visible. If it's possible I'd move the tails under the floor rather than above.

It's all going to be moved under the floor because I want to keep the chromed tails straight once they're up through the floorboards. It's only because the floorboards are already cut and lifted that I'm considering it. I'd prefer to use soldered joints in a fit-and-forget situation like under the floor, but if compression fittings are genuinely ok I'll consider them.

It's fake parquet tiles, so no sneeking under carpets.

I am wondering about carefully chasing a chanel into the skirt as the dimension of some of these cables are only 1.5 mm x 6 mm... There's probably the best part of 4mm of paint on the skirt, so it could be doable with a dremel + wood chisel.

But it is a lot of hassle, and sticking on top is easy.

The total run should be <10m.

My concern is that I've read cat6 is sensitive to corners.

I looked at some female connections, but they all looked quite fat, so I'm not sure if they would end up neater than a flat cable running down to a skirt and then running along.

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(I know it looks like a gap, but honestly there isn't)

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Time to move up, camera-wise.

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Ha. It does look bad doesn't it.

My phone's camera is usually pretty good, but it struggles in low light with the flash off.

I have a few of these little holes in my (badly) newly grouted bathroom. Can I just fill them in with a bit more grout?

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Does £50 sound like a good deal for a boiler gas certificate? A plumber said he's doing them 'cheap', because it's a new line of work for him. Private home, so not strictly needed, but might be a good idea as I've been in here 2years now. They last a year right?

edit, oops, meant to post that in the 'owning your own home' thread.

That's about right for the last few years. It's much less than a letting agent charges but I've being paying £50 for 10 years. They check for leaks with a drop down test and hoover out the inside of the boiler. Visual check and gas check the emissions of the boiler. We do it every few years at home just to keep an eye on the boilers health.

Which is the one you have to do yearly with a certified boilerbeing?

None, unless you're letting the place.

lmao

Which is the one you have to do yearly with a certified boilerman?

Sexist...