Home DIY

Does water run out of the base of your walls like a mountain stream?

Ring (the doorbell people owned by amazon) do a battery wifi outdoor surveillance camera and sell a solar pack to keep it charged. You’d need to subscribe to get recordings, it’s £2.50 a month per camera or £8 per house.

For power tools, just go cordless. It’s a shed not an artisanal workshop.

Been working on this the last few weekends. Gutting the insides and doors of a shoddily done built in wardrobe and making some drawers, shelves and new doors. All MDF construction. Lots of fun with a circular saw.

Some things I learnt along the way:

• Never trust the sheet cutting people in Selco, they screwed everything up and I had to recut everything myself.

• Nothing is square in this world.

• Dont make the drawers the same width as the wardrobe because when you put the doors on you wont be able to slide them out anymore without hitting the hinges. Dismantling and slimming down 3 drawers by 50mm is not fun

• Hinge cutting template is your friend

• After I nailed and glued on the strips to make the borders of the doors, I left them supported at the ends with nothing in the middle. When glue dried, the doors took on a permanently sagged shape. Bending them straight wasn't fun.

• Water based gloss and satinwood is so much nicer to work with than solvent.

• Lost-tite screws - Holy smokes what a fastener. No drilling, no countersinking and tiny profile head makes filling afterwards a dream. Torx head is also most pleasant to work with than philips.

Overall I'm happy with the result. Need to sort the existing shelves on the right next and then do another one for the other side of the room, then two more for the other bedroom, and I'll be done! 2018 sorted.

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Almost.

A bit of neglect here, a bit of inappropriate materials use there, and water makes a mess of most things.

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This is what I could see when I lifted the floor - dwarf wall against the exterior wall, with rubble and sand allowing damp across.

When they hadn't outright just cemented over the damp course, that is.

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I took out the rotten sill place, trimmed the rotted joist ends, and removed the dwarf wall.

Then cleared the rubble, rebuilt the dwarf wall a bit further away from the exterior wall, and put in a new wall sill plate.

You can see where the original slate DPC is in the wall, and how nothing gets above it. You can also see the holes where some mug has drilled to inject a snakeoil chemical DPC that has done fuck all.

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On the outside, I've lowered the ground level, and made sure that water can soak away. And uncovered the airbrick, which someone in their wisdom decided wasn't necessary.

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Top work! Once I've sorted the damp walls, I'll start to build in a few cupboards & shelves. I'll be back for tips & suggestions.

Interesting solution. I like this.

My only major issue is I hate the idea of being tied into a monthly subscription forever because you have some hardware.

I still have my 4 camera security thing to set up, so maybe ill run the cable out to the shed then. Or is that also a Reg issue again?

Nicely done! Are you going to put some kind of cover over the space between the drawers and the cupboard verticals?

Trench digging does sound fun though.

That's really nice.
Want to build mine?

Top work! Once I've sorted the damp walls, I'll start to build in a few cupboards & shelves. I'll be back for tips & suggestions.

I'll probably have made the rest of all the possible mistakes by then so could be of some use to you.

Nicely done! Are you going to put some kind of cover over the space between the drawers and the cupboard verticals?

I really should. I told myself I would but then I got lazy and just wanted to finish. I probably will eventually, maybe, after a few generations of spider have had a chance to have a home.

That's really nice.
Want to build mine?

Not sure if serious. Maybe? Once I have a life again.

Anyone got a recco for someone to sort out my back garden?

It is yentzing season afterall

Not when you find it should be 600mm deep (possibly 1m as the regs might have been updated).

You can wind up future owners of your home by going to town with the caution tape (buried a few inches below the surface): https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/FMPT103.html

AFAIK, there's no regulation depth, but 600mm is recommended.

It's also recommended to have the warning tape 100mm below the surface.

@ChainBreaker: Enjoy laying a trench through tree roots. Buy a mattock. And an axe. And a ground clearance chainsaw.

Or just hire one of these bad boys:

While I'm at it, gives me the chance to install my moat. I was thinking of one infront of my front door.

That may expose my bunker...

bathroom towel rail / upcycled wooden ladder finished. just went with Danish oil in the end

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Does anyone have any experience with frog tape, either yellow or green ? Worth it over regular masking tape?

the trench machine is not cheap!

I have a spade. You can just buy or even hire a mattock.

Your a mattock. Etc etc

I used to get paid to use one, semi accurately.

You can make a fairly large dent in the ground with a mattock and paddy spoon.

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