Home DIY

For slight adjustments you can force sandpaper into the tight spot and repeatedly open/close.

Rub a little chalk on the frame, then close the door over. The chalk should get transferred onto the door at any contact points. Then gently go at them with sandpaper on a wooden block.

Thanks, I'd only found pictures with holes when I searched! I'll have another look behind the oven but it looks as if the whole back panel will need to come off, which will be tricky as it's between two worktops. Didn't see any sort of service hatch before either.
Manufacturer is defunct and obscure even when in production, so haven't managed to find any sort of service manual either.

I've just finished my kitchen install and have been hoofing a Rangemaster 90 in and out. Easiest if you drop the grill door / oven door open, and pull up from inside edge.

Moving it is ok, it's just that its attached to the wall via the gas pipe. I could probably squeeze into the gap (once cleaned, it's gross) but it's not obvious how the back comes off, unless it really is undoing a shit load of screws!

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Incidentally it was the heat exchange that had corroded. Had a quote for 3k and 2.5k when I explicitly asked for cheapest boiler in the world (as we're likely moving house soon) from plumbers I'd not dealt with before. Then a quote for 1600+VAT (which I can reclaim) for a like for like new Worcester from the guy we usually use. Still. Anyone want to give me 2 grand as a thank you for my forum contributions?

Turns out even Makita have different battery ranges... Who knew?
Not me and my currently useless circular saw.

Hey guys,
I want to build a cupboard around the area that my boiler is in. How do I find out what ventilation if any I need?
The boiler is a combi and it's wall mounted in the corner of our utility room. I'm hoping to build a stud wall to the side of it with a full size door on the front, I'm guessing the cupboard will be 800 x 800mm-ish and floor to ceiling.

Do you have the boiler paperwork? On ours there's a diagram showing the amount of space required. Failing that google the model and look for the owners manual (not installation manual) online and see if there's reference to it.

The unqualified are not supposed to disconnect those quick release pipes. Not my rules, just sayin'.

Chains are usually required for a certificate but a lot of testers let it slide. Supposed to be 20mm either side of the hob too but try getting that past most homeowners.

What qualification do you need to disconnect a cooker bayonet?

But will I die?
There is a chain, I'm not sure if it's the correct length or going to be very effective though, as it's screwed into a cabinet rather than the wall.

I found a cooker repair guy who charges £25 callout and £15 an hour (not london, obvs) so I'll just go with that!

Correct me if I'm wrong as I know you're in the trade but I've been told several times by my oh so correct gas engineer that I'm not supposed to mess with that connection. As I rely on my commercial insurance to cover me for any disaster I try to avoid any gas work.

I guess it's like changing a down light fitting, technically not difficult, next to no one fills out a minor works form, almost any householder could do it with a screwdriver, difficult to properly ir test with the transformer fitted. Yet you see a lot of burnt out connections from arcing on down light connectors that must be a fire risk.

It's not you dying you need to worry about, it's someone else dying and you doing 10 years for manslaughter! I'm dramatising but your safety should be secondary to everyone else's.

Thanks. I've had a look and it shows how much clearance is needed for servicing but doesn't mention ventilation.

I've booked the guy, he reckons £65 all in, which is probably worth not killing Mrs Hammer.

Yeah it's a tough call, £65 buys a few decent albums these days. Have a think about it before you commit :)

Ho ho ho.

OK. Have tried and failed to find a local (SE24) builder to do this, so now turning to the forum for recs.

I'm looking for some work done out front of our place. Basically levelling off and tiling on top of three concrete slabs, then putting in a concrete plinth for a bike box at the far end.

Anyone here got any SE recommendations, or any of the on here tradespeople care to quote? PM me.

When having our boiler serviced the engineer was unimpressed with our combi boiler in a cupboard. He even stuck a sticker on the boiler warning us about the fact the boiler was in a cupboard...

I can see the point, lack of air flow = CO death.

That is what I've discovered from my research. I built the cupboard today so no going back.

In other news. I need to cut some stainless steel worktop to length to go in my utility room. It's got an MDF core. What's the best way to cut it? Will a circular saw be the thing?
I've actually got quite a bit too much so I could give it a trail run and just cut a bit off the end first.

Probably jig saw with a decent wide blade, use tape on the stainless steel to avoid scratching and use a guide to keep it in line. You'll need a stiff blade though if you want it to stay at 90 degrees through the depth of the worktop, in some cases it won't be all that important that the core is exactly 90 degrees along the length of the cut.

Thanks for that. I'll give it a try. Would it be stainless side up when cutting or does that not matter?

just jumped about 15 pages so apologies if something similar has come up recently:

1. Two small windows either side of the outer front door. It's just an enclosed porch, the external wall and proper door are to the inside. Both bottom frames are rotten on the outside - seem to be a size and profile that looks like "door stop" - can't find hardwood beading in the right size, or bigger bits to shape down (the windows are only a few inches wide). So thinking to get the softwood moulding, and apply wood hardener on all sides after cutting to size - I'd bought it when I thought I could patch the frames... then paint. Is that likely to bring any benefit? It just needs to be good enough, they're not wonderful windows but I'd like them to not totally disintegrate. I'd plane the top a bit so it slopes too.

2. What is the protocol with skips? Neighbours who we don't know, across the road and along a bit, have a skip - they're redoing the rendered front. It doesn't look like they're going to fill it. I want to ask if it's ok to put some of our garden rubble in it. But the garden rubble is partly stony soil. Does that make a difference? Is skip general rubbly waste treated differently if it has soil/organic material in it? Is it a small favour to ask?