Home DIY

I need to repoint some external brickwork prior to painting it.

Shall I just buy one of these kits

1 Attachment

I may actually have....

I've got loads of bits knocking about but in SE27

Came back to thank whomever suggested Engelbert Strauss for work boots but I don't think anyone did, I just found them. Thanks me. Ordered a pair of these steel toe / midsole, hopefully they fit, they look the biz anyway

Just bought a house in cr7 that looks frighteningly similar to yours. Artex, etc etc. I’ve taken note of your recommendations for trades but I hope you don’t mind if I dm you as am scared about costs!!!

🤞

yeaaaah - you're totally right.

Anyone got a link to a decent guide on floorboard replacement?

I need to cut out and replace some damaged bits in my kitchen before I fit new units.

Don't know of a guide but a multi tool would be best imo.

Here are the last DIY projects on my London house.
First off I’ve always hated the wonky consumer unit in my hallway, so I bought an old butlers annunciator from eBay and set about restoring it.

It could be restored to actual functionality if we ended up in Victorian times again, but for now it’s just there to be pretty.

5 Attachments

Excellent idea!

Good effort!

That wonky consumer unit would have down my head in too.

Anyone done anything like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukM0rz0GwBY&feature=emb_title

Came unstuck at the weekend trying to cut down MDF with my circular saw. In the end there was enough of a guide to just get the hand saw out to finish it off. But thought some kind of jig would be a good idea.

After the desk I made, I did some floor to ceiling bookshelves for our home office, and I liked them so much I made some more for the dead space at the top of the stairs.

(I wish this forum image upload would respect the image orientation. You’ll have to tilt your heads. Edit: actually I just wish it would upload the fucking images.)

Try again.

3 Attachments

Probably a stupid question but does anyone wire a plug anymore? I know the regs have changed so most things come pre-plugged nowadays but I bought a new pond pump off t'internet last week and it arrived plugless so i just took the plug off the old one and put it on the new one.

Now I'm old skool and have wired 100's of plugs in my day despite zero electrical qualifications but I just wondered if this is something that others feel comfortable doing or do you call in an electrician?

Good grief. I've been wiring plugs since nothing came with them. It's piece of piss.

oh yeah I agree but wondered if everyone felt this way?

For some reason that 2nd pic has made me feel really queasy.

@MTB-Idle - I wired a double extension cable recently (so 1 plug and 1 or 2? sockets). Then at the weekend had to trim it down to it's ultimate length, so re-wired the plug.

When I first did it my OH was really surprised asking; "you know how to do that?" TBH I thought it was pretty standard. When I was a kid I helped my mum chance all of our UK appliances to French plugs as she'd finally had enough of adapters... but then that was quite a long time ago now.

I'm sure the fact that most electric items are semi-disposable now means it's less common.

I'll admit it took me a lot longer to do than it used to, and I'd forgotten what goes where. Even the earth colours :(

Sometimes I take plugs off and put them back on again just to stay in practice. Pretty sure I learned how to do it from a ladybird book when I was 8.

I'd say pretty much the only time I find myself doing it nowadays is when I want to fit a wire through a small gap.

Speaking of which, any recommendations for decent wire strippers? I also just find myself using a Stanley knife for stripping wires but I'm sure there's something better out there.

$job-something sent me on a 3 days course which included wiring a plug. I've got a credit card sized certificate with a hologram on it to prove it and everything.

Other topics included not falling off ladders and don't drop spanners across massive 48V battery banks.

my mum tells me stories about how back in the 50's during rationing and having lost her father during WWII and therefore not having much money they didn't have plugs on anything and her and her siblings would poke the bare wires of their hairdryer or iron into the plug socket...

Luxury et cetera

i'm sure we did plug wiring at school

to answer your question about circ saw tracks @hugo7, yeah i've done a simpler version in a couple of lengths, but i found it had about a 1mm bow in the middle, which was probably my fault. for ripping on the circular saw, i finally bought the kreg rip guide, which i rate.