Home DIY

I'm just about to rewire the plug on my Dyson as the flex have been pulled slightly out of the moulded plug it came with and I can see the live/neutral wires (no copper visible obviously).

I also just took an old toaster to the tip recycling centre and that, handily, had a nice plug with 13A fuse on it that I snipped off for this exact purpose.

My first word was "wire" apparently as I grew up watching my dad assemble hi-fi equipment (mostly speakers) and I've been rewiring plugs since the age of 4.

Love this. Must set an alert for a butler's annunciator. Never knew what they were called, but it's a great idea.

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.

Knipex are a nice but pricy option

Cheers, that matches my thinking.

Next question on floorboards: mine are approximately 115mm wide by 26.5mm thick. I assume this is 4 inches wide and 1/8 inches thick as a sawn size, with the thickness planed down or sanded in situ.

I can't find anything available to match other than 115*19. Should I buy these and make custom shims under the supports, or have something made custom at a woodshop, or some other clever trick?

We just had 15 machined at ecg joinery. We supplied the materials and it was 80£. Theyre really friendly and helpful

I can't thank you enough for having done all the research on, it seems, every task I undertake in my flat :)

Did you give them a sample board to base the dimensions on or just a set of measurements?

We had bought 6.5 inch tongue and groove boards and asked for them to be taken down to 6 inch which basically meant removing the tongue and recutting it with the same dimensions. It's 40£ an hour so if you did the measurements for them it might shave off a few minutes!

Anybody got much experience with underfloor heating?

I’d like to not have to waste wall space on rads and I can just afford it if I do the bulk of the work myself. Plus it’s cheaper to heat the house and gives a more even heat.

The big question is whether I put the metal tray system between the joists or lay a biscuit screed over the pipes.

Screeding obviously has the potential for a huge amount of mess but the house will be empty when I do it anyway.

Is there much else to consider? It looks reasonably straightforward

We're about to embark on something similar, but can't afford the floor built up of screed on top joists and frankly don't think 130yr old joists deserve it - so are going down the less optimal (heat sink wise) aluminium plate route. using routed chipboard with pipes and plates sat in grooves. Buuuut, i've read lots of opposing views on efficiency of the aluminium system vs radiators etc which suggest it may not be as efficient.

if you can, go screed - or even some of the products which are castellated trays and you pop SLC on it. if we had the option, i'd do that.

the other stuff to think about is is about how you loop it into your plumbing and what controls it

Is there much else to consider?

Floor covering and the potential requirement for another source of heat. Wooden floor boards mean you'll never get that warm cosy feeling in winter without an additional source

Our joists are of a similar age but I’ve spoken to an engineer who says they’ll be absolutely fine.

SLC sounds as much of a mess as screeding to be honest.

Sigh - at least you know where you are with radiators.

We’ll have two multi fuel stoves in the house when it’s done so we won’t want for coziness.

However, I thought wood was a great conductor? Are you saying it doesn’t blast out heat in the same way as a radiator?

It's a poor conductor, so a great insulator.

Yes, wood over underfloor won't blast out heat as well as a rad. Over a period of time it will give you a nice even controlled heat. As you've got wood burners it won't be an issue. But for people with minimalist places it's best to go for carpet or another material.

I thought carpet was bad for UFH? When we had ours installed, we were told roughly the order for best results was Tiles>Vinyl>Wood>Carpet, although there are some specialist carpets designed for UFH, and apparently the thinner the wood the better.

We have UFH but only on the ground floor, and buried under 6 inches of screed, so probably not an option, it is great though and would never go back, added bonus is that the cats and dogs love it, will spend the whole of winter lying on the floor rather than in their beds.

You could be right on the carpet. I might be getting confused with purpose made carpet. Also I assume you need a specific underlay too.

Yes, in effect you want the carpet and underlay to do the opposite of what they normally do. I'm sure I read an article at some point about all this when we were installing ours. Anecdotally our plumber told us to be really careful what we choose, he had recently installed a system under thick reclaimed wood, and it was apparently costing them the earth to get heat into the house. We went with LVT for this reason.

Cheers.

I thought I'd found one for £50 on ebay, but can't seem to find it. At that price it seems like a good idea as it'd probably cost at least half that in materials and petrol. But many are coming in at £150,which seems like a lot.

Do you have any thoughts on mdf thicknesses for a guide? Or any tips on what you'd do differently?

Cheers.

Anecdotally our plumber told us to be really careful what we choose

Yeah, that's the main thing I was getting at.

A mate used to do top end jobs in the most expensive parts of London. Post-work all outs to "fix" the underfloor heating were common, because no matter what was said flooring material was always a fashion choice and advice never headed.

We’re going to end up with a strange hybrid. Under the new part of the house, the UFH will be in the slab. In most of the existing part, it’ll be in a suspended floor.

And then we’ll probably need a rad in the kitchen because I suspect there’s a thin sub floor and then bare earth.

The plot our house was built on slopes significantly. I’m find out that it means everyone costs twice as much.

maybe 3/4" for the base and 9mm for the fence? when i used thick MDF (was actually chipboard from an old desk) for the fence, my saw's motor prevented the saw from getting low to cut thicker materials.

where are you seeing these £150 ones? it's literally 2 bits of MDF

As an eg
https://www.ebay.com/itm/143523184102

need a rad in the kitchen

Also don't forget about boring things like damp tea towels.

My folks went for a towel rail - their kitchen isn't big so any people and cooking warms it up quickly.

In terms of floor surfaces when mini-H was learning to walk we had those foam floor tiles in the kitchen - it was bliss. Albeit not a practical long term solution. Looking fwd to them coming back out for our next one.

ah, right. yeah i think people are capitalising on the lack of these in the UK right now. maybe a covid thing? i paid about 50 i think

i thought you meant people were selling the home-made wooden ones for £150!

there's a million guides on YT for the home-made ones, but the principle is that you're using the factory edge of a board as your fence.

OK. I'll keep an eye out / do some searching during my afternoon procrastinating.

It's also annoying that someone doesn't just make a longer version of the stock Makita one. It's not exactly complicated engineering.

EDIT: found this one for £50 - that's the one right?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kreg-KMA2685-INT-Rip-Cut-Metric/233508155864?epid=20021623683&hash=item365e2bb1d8:g:prwAAOSwXy5eV-Nk

interesting - our's are 200mm deep and i've just added two rows of noggins but there is still a decent amount of 'spring' in the floor so feel like screed or SLC wouldn't hold up very well...i could be over thinking it though.