Home DIY

Are ikea kitchens shit? (Mainly the cabinets and the shell)

I think they're ok.

Good value.

Not much space behind for utilities... other then that they fine.
Better for flats for that reason

The carcases are as good as any other. You can pimp the doors up with other companies products.

The space behind is solved by pulling them out and putting a deeper worktop on.

Easy to refurb when you decide you want new doors and tops, quite flexible when it comes to changing cabinets to drawers and back again.

Get a decent jigsaw to cut the channels in the back for your utilities or as others have said, don’t go all the way back to the wall so you have a gap behind the units.

The quickest way to do it in terms of the time is a splash of pva (be sensible regarding the electricity supply). Bonding, which is a plasterers undercoat that can be applied thick then multi finish or normal filler. Problem with this is bonding and multi finish usually only come in big sacks and you only need a cup full. If you are feeling brave then ask at a building site for some bonding.

You can do it in 2 or 3 goes with a decent filler like tx110 from toupret, that's a product worth having in a cupboard anyway. Read the instructions fully and mix it according to the packet.

It's also quite popular to remove the light switch from the back box and put a plastic bag over it with tape or a rubber band around. Just make sure you don't accidentally touch any contacts with the trowel or filler knife if you do it that way.

Does this quote seem somewhat excessive? Labour for refurb of en-suite previously destroyed by moi.
I will ask them to talk it through and maybe take off tiling and painting for comparison but generally pretty shocked - especially as it’s just a shower and sink in there.

Strip out shower and timber work
Re-stud Floor for shower tray and build stud wall for shower area
Fit new tray, shower valve and door etc
Fit aqua panels around shower cubicle with boxing for shelf
Concrete board floor ready to tile
Tile floor
Take of sink. Re-tile boxing. Re-fit sink
Re-paint room to your specific colour
(Paint not supplied)
Remove rubbish from site
Total £5580

@7ven I have a large bag of gyproc easi fill that you are welcome to if you don't fancy the giant bag. Quite good at doing deep fills.

If it's any help, I've had two bathrooms done in the past few years. Both were completely demolished and new everything put in excluding windows. Tiling, floors and repainting in both. Both fairly small (about as small as you can possibly fit a sink, towel rail, toilet and bath into). Both about 8k including all fittings.

Absurdly proud of this weekend’s garden DIY project, the scaffold pole to wall washing line.

4 Attachments

Thanks that’s helpful, this is approx 5.5m2 and we’re looking at about £3.5k of materials/fittings/etc.
My inlaws have just had a new bathroom for £6k all in with everything tiled - I assumed we’d be well under that with panels instead of tiles and no toilet or bath.

The idea is that it has a fixed loop at either end so by rotating it you can raise the line up to second story level where it flaps like a flag on a ship’s mast and gets dry in no time. Loads of them round here. Neighbour sourced me the scaff poles and clamps. A few quid on u-bolts, wall anchors and pulleys, a sledgehammer, some drilling and a lot of fettling later... well chuffed.

Your photos aren't showing up but my washing line just broke so keen to see how I too can make my clothes flap like a flag on a ship's mast...

Huh, I can see them. They're attachments.

Essentially, you take an 8ft scaffolding pole and flatten one end into a blade then bang it into the ground at the end of the garden with a sledgehammer will there's about 18 inches showing. That much I'd done afew weeks back.

Then you clamp a 20ft pole to this having already attached pulleys at the top and bottom plus a cleat or hook to tie off with. I went super fancy and also fashioned a "cork" out of an off-cut of wood and sealed in into the end to stop rain getting in.

Then you attach one pulley on the second floor of the house and the last one directly below it. I bought 40m of waxed rope which goes between them with fixed loops at either end going between the top and bottom pulleys so you can raise or lower the line at each end. Then all you need are a couple of loops or eyelets at the right point so you can tie it off.

Was quite pleased with the whole endeavor to be honest. Of the many pitfalls I could see being a pain (hitting rock when banging in the pole, installing wall-anchors into soft brick by hanging out of a third story window; drilling through the pole; avoiding plumbing etc) it all went better than expected. The only bit I found really tricky was the fettling of the rope, but luckily I had superneighbour Maurice on hand to help set it up.

The drilling bit was quite satisfying too. I bought an old vice off the antique tool stall at my local market for £15. It's the kind to can clamp to any table or bench with a wooden block as a shim, my crappy metal patio table became a very usable workbench. I had a set of nice sharp drill bits and once i'd twigged that slow and steady and keeping the bit lubed was the way to go, I was able to drill through it using my battery drill and gradually increasing size from 3 to 6 to 8mm no bother at all.

Once I'm happy it's all working properly i'll replace the knots with clamps and I need to revisit one of the wall fixings as it doesn't allow the pulley enough space. Oh and I may upgrade the two low level pulleys with the better quality ones I used at the top.

Who knew building a washing line could be such fun?

Good effort - love building things at scale!

Especially:

Essentially, you take an 8ft scaffolding pole and flatten one end into a blade then bang it into the ground at the end of the garden with a sledgehammer will there's about 18 inches showing.

You smashed 6.5ft of scaffold pole into the ground! Not sure you'd be able to do that in my garden given the bricks and slabs that lurk below...

Were pipes not a concern? Or UXBs.

Must have been good graft knocking it in.

I did consider that there might be pipes but thought it unlikely as it was by the alleyway joint the back garden of two rows of Victorian terracing. Figured all the utilities come on from the road and it’s likely nothing had been done in that area since the houses were built. Plus all the neighbors have them done in the same way.

The ground is actually very forgiving here. The pole went in with almost worrying ease (fnar fnar).

What's the best paint stripper for timber that most likely had lead based paint somewhere in the other twenty layers of gloss applied over the last century?

I just got one - came in at about half price of the closest I could find for comparable quality. I also went in on their integrated appliances (5 year warranty is pretty sweet). Being installed as we speak. I'll post here if I notice anything to be aware of.

EDIT: Their planning service is great too. You can load up your room size online and they'll plan the space with you in your account at the tottenham court road branch. You can edit it from home, it's brilliant.

The ground is actually very forgiving here. The pole went in with almost worrying ease (fnar fnar).

Meanwhile the neighbour's dungeon is now ruined

When we were looking at houses here a sweet old retired etymologist was showing me round his house and introduced his basement study full of insect related literature and art by saying “...and this is my glory-hole”. I assume he meant man-cave or bolt-hole, but I was intrigued as to how he came to make such a Freudian slip. Didn’t ahem come across the type.

etymologist

Entomologist

(Sorry, it was bugging me)

Anyone installed underfloor insulation? Wondering about the merits of various materials.

Damn. Shit. Fuck.

Bugging

Nice!