Home DIY

I would like to install an outside tap. I bought a kit that self cuts into a cold feed without the need for turning off supply, apparently. Has anyone used these? will I be taking an inpromptu cold shower and fucking my plumbing?

Not very unfortunately. There's some stuff I can do, I can probably install cupboards and the like, and I'm not such a bad painter - it's how we saved money on the bathroom, I got the professionals to do the skilled work and I did the grunt stuff.

But a kitchen is so much more complicated - it needs a redesign (we have two corners of dead space I'd need to start using, and we need to have an extractor fan fitted) so I think I'd need a fitter who can project manage too. I imagine this is going to be a bit of a beast of a job right?

Sprucing up downstairs loo.
Exposed copper pipework to the towel rail is dull/dirty. If I clean it up and polish with a bit of wire wool, is there a way to keep it's coppery lustre?

I would like to install an outside tap. I bought a kit that self cuts into a cold feed without the need for turning off supply, apparently. Has anyone used these? will I be taking an inpromptu cold shower and fucking my plumbing?

Or would t-ing off the washing machine supply be a better idea? Threaded connection with PTFE tap (20 wraps, obvs) instead of piercing a copper pipe with blind faith.

I'll just need to find the right connector. Can't quite picture the current run, even though I only replaced the kitchen tap a month ago.

Same as us really - I did the demo work and ripped everything out, I did the unit installs (though they came pre-assembled which was a great help), I did simple plumbing but I had a carpenter do the worktop, tiler do the walls and floor, a plasterer render the walls and then electrician and gas safe engineer do the hob/lights/sockets etc. Including all fees and all appliances/units/tiles/paint etc ours was about 10k from memory though I may have rose tinted specs on. Oh - we also had steel inserted after we knocked down a tiny, awkward pantry to make use of the space - that was probably the biggest single cost from that 10k - maybe 2 or so.

Nice kitchen though. Absolute state now, mind, with a baby - but we had a great 3 months before then.

Perhaps someone with leccy knowledge can talk about actually installing the extractor. But as for actually fitting the thing, it's relatively straight forward if you know how to use a tape measure and have something like this:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?dcr=0&source=hp&ei=UO6PWpmIGIX8gAa7rpKYBQ&q=core+drill+brick&oq=core+drill+brick&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0j0i22i30k1l7.820.2298.0.2440.17.15.0.0.0.0.200.1771.5j9j1.15.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..2.15.1766.0..46j35i39k1j0i131k1j0i46k1.0.s_nqYx6vdIU

And we did the design ourselves. Unless you live in an Escher painting I think it'd be OK.
Have a play around on things like the kitchen planning software on Ikea: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/customer-service/planning-tools/kitchen-planner/

This is brilliant, thank you man. I don't have a core drill but the guy upstairs does and he's OK to lend it out.

'll have a play with that designer, maybe I can break it down into coherent steps if I can see the end goal in mind.

How long did yours take if you don't mind me asking?

I've used this sort of thing twice.

First one worked exactly as described.

Encouraged by this, I bought a second kit, and spent several hours getting wet and annoyed. Even after turning the supply off, cleaning everything, checking for distortion and odd imperial size issues, and using jointing compound around the rubber gasket, it still pissed water everywhere.

In the end I used a pipe cutter to remove the holed section and fitted a compression Tee valve, which worked perfectly first time.

tl;dr 50% failure rate?

In a similar situation. My plan is: Get someone like Wickes in to do a plan (free). Spend the money on units and worktop (from wherever, maybe Wickes maybe not). Fit the actual units myself, with help. Tiling or splashback myself. Spend last bit of money on tradesman to move electrics/gas to where it needs to be.

I'm expecting that to come in under four grand.

There is places like http://www.theusedkitchencompany.com/product-category/kitchens-for-sale/ for showroom/second-hand kitchens.

Also in the same situation, loft conversion and decorating quotes have left me feeling poor. Will be heading to John Lewis to see what they say but IKEA is currently looking like the winner on price basis.

Any suggestions on appliances? Not looking for last a lifetime quality but preferably something better than my current Beko ones.

Any bright ideas on maximising space? It's a very small kitchen but all the IKEA small kitchens manage to be small by skipping pretty essential stuff like washing machines and freezers.

we really need to tear everything out and start again, from cupboards to tiling, the lot.

I'm on a very limited budget - I could probably chuck another four grand on my credit card but not much more. Do you guys have any ideas how I can do this?

You don't need much in the way of tools to make your own cabinets out of plywood. Worktop can be 18mm marine ply, sanded and sealed. "Get Hands Dirty" on YouTube has some relevant videos.

You can get an Acrylic splashback from about £35/sq.m inc vat at 3mm thick, add cutouts for sockets about £20-30 depending how many you want (£15 of that would be the setup). Ceramic tiles would cost you about £40/sq.m depending on complexity, tile size, surface condition.

Electrics Help!
Moved into the new place, has no oven.
Before we remodel and update I need to buy and fit an electric cooker.
Looking at the terminal box, it only has a Live and Neutral cable going in (1 red and 1 black)
Obviously these are vintage.
If I buy a new oven and fit it, it will have an earth cable.
Will I die or burn my house down, or constantly trip the fuses, if I fit it?it's only for a few months until I get the house rewired and a new kitchen fitted (I say months, electrics is next on the list, so may only be a few weeks)

Can't beat the thought of microwaved dinners for weeks (or worse, slow cooker...)

Have you ever used Very? If not, they normally have some kind of 1st time customer offer. I managed to get £100 off a 499 laptop about 6 months ago. (And paid it over 3 months with no interest, 'cos why not)

Definitely break it down - it's honestly not as daunting as it may appear, despite the below:

We had some time issues... : ) I did about a week on my own for the first batch of stuff. Then trades sporadically came in over about 5 weeks due to them being flaky and deciding on the morning, "nah I'll go to the pub instead" and bad scheduling. If I'm being fair we had a worktop delivery come at 11pm when it was supposed to come at 8am that morning instead and trade availability had to shuffle - but still 5 weeks was nuts.

In total it took about 7 weeks including some time after the trades had finished to do things like painting. Which was about 4/5 weeks longer than I'd anticipated.

Also on costs, just went back over emails:

1.5k for all appliances (ao.com)
2k for units/worktop (diy kitchens)
4k labour (company now out of business in sussex)
300 Tiles/paint etc. (b&q)
1.8k pantry removal/steel install etc. Also included new front and back doors to the house/locks etc.

you can make copper shiny with brasso and seal it with this
http://rylardpaints.co.uk/product/incralac-lacquer-for-brass-copper/ ok to overpaint when you get tired of it.

Show us a picture of the terminal box, your description sounds risky. It might be possible to rig a temporary by pass. Is there a 32 amp rcb in the fuse box?

As Charlie has already said, it sounds a bit dodgy. I wouldn't recommend going ahead without knowing more about the installation. Pics would be useful.

Thanks, given my experience with plumbing, 50% is too low for my abilities. Threaded stuff I can do all day. I'll take another look at the run (when I can be fucked to drag the washing machine out again - the exterior wall is behind there anyway) and get some extra fittings. I reckon I can still use 90% of the kit, I just need a more foolproof way of getting the water into it.

How big is the kitchen? I took accurate measurements in to wickes after playing around with the online designers from other companies. The salesman was good and gave advice on which bits fit exactly and the correct amount of blank panels I would need (for example knowing I only needed one end piece which I could cut vertically into 2 to go either side of the washing machine. That saved £30 for a panel).

I fit a 3.5m×3m from wickes for £4500. This included inbuilt cooker, dishwasher, gas hob, extractor, all of the floor tiles, wall tiles, adhesive, sink and taps. Think it came to 6k, they had a discount on and I got another few hundred knocked off. One thing to mention is that I was left with no spare major parts at the end, meaning the bloke calculated it perfectly (just a few hinges and shelf supports). Two friends who got kitchens with B&Q and Homebase has £300-500 worth of bits that came but weren't needed. If you paid them to fit it I'm sure those bits would've gone back in the van......

I've just been looking at cost of Wickes doors, as I was planning to buy full kitchen from there, ease of doing it all through one place, high street name etc, but...

I went to a little one-man place on a trading estate oop North, whilst I was visiting lots of showrooms. Guy had about 4 kitchens in his tiny showroom. And a dog. Which was nice.

Anyway... Wickes were coming in about £150-£200 for 'standard' size doors (715mm on 300-500mm units). One of the kitchens in this one-man job were very similar, possibly even exact same manufacturer as a Wickes one I was keen on. Except his price is more £60-70 per door.

So... yeah, I'll get Wickes in to do a design. And buy from him. Should save about £1k just on doors etc.

@Airhead
No idea about the RCB, I'm guessing the whole board is also ancient and shit.
Going to swerve it and change the timeframe for getting the electrics sorted and make it more of a priority.

Any recommendations for a sparky, willing to travel to Essex, full house rewire.

I'm on a very limited budget - I could probably chuck another four grand on my credit card but not much more. Do you guys have any ideas how I can do this?

Ikea kitchen and use their online planner.

This book is excellent. It is a cheat sheet from a kitchen fitter on how they fit Ikea kitchens.

We had one installed very recently. You're welcome to have a look at the work if you'd like.

Cheers, I might take a look if I get stuck. I have everything figured out except how to t off the cold supply but I'm fairly confident I'll work it out as soon as I pull the washing machine out. I just can't be fucked to do that; tight fit, rear feet beyond the edge of laminate flooring - requires a lot of swearing. I'm sure I'll build up the momentum to do so after filling the watering can in the bath 30 times for one watering session.

Something like this on the existing washing machine feed looks like a winner. Unless anyone can think of a reason why not?

Isolating and draining your outside tap in winter?