Home DIY

I'm getting lazy and replying to you as a continuation of the conversation rather than looking for the original post, sorry.

The rating of the socket is unlikely to be the whole story :)

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...

A hairdryer? You were lucky to have a hairdryer!

We had to dry our hair on a towel.

You try and tell the young people today that and they won't believe you.

It’s a preservation technique called Shou Sugi Ban

Here's a shower tray I made earlier.

It's not that hard to get right but it is a pig of job to do properly. Pure tung oil is completely natural (it comes from nuts) but it stinks!

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Thats mint! More details please! Why? How? Learnings?

Cooker isolation switch replaced and the hob now works.

Interesting to note that the existing switch was already 45A (imprinted on socket at top left) and you can see where the overload has burned out the connection at bottom right ie the neutral feed from the cooker

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Probably a loose connection rather than any deficiency with the switch.

What is the DIY approach to welding?

Specifically, I'd like to make a frame from 100x10mm flat steel bar of about 3m x 2m

^ thermite is not an option.

Agreeing with grams here. Some of the cheaper sockets just fall apart when you tighten the screws anyway.

Buy a cheap MIG welder (but not a gasless one, they're shit) , an auto-darkening helmet, some welding gauntlets, and have at it.

I would offer to weld it for you, but I think postage could be an issue given the size.

And given the thickness of the steel bevel both sides of the joints and then fill weld the resulting V sections. At least you won't have to worry too much about heat distortion.

Don't suppose anyone has a bright idea for removing this screw that's holding my broken dishwasher in place without lifting the counter top? It's at the back left of the unit and the exposed end is between the unit side and the sink so again pretty awkward to get at...

It's kind of hard to see what your problem is as you've been able to get such a good picture of the screw!

Is it a case where an angle adaptor would allow you to get on it or maybe the long Flexi head angle ones that go on drills.

I would be cursing whoever put that in.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/timco-spring-toggles-6-x-40mm-10-pack/4787x

Just hung a towel rail on a plasterboard wall with these. Haven’t hung off of it, but feels pretty damn solid. Tool free* too.

*Drill being the exception.

https://www.toolstation.com/roughneck-stubby-screwdriver/p45233?utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gclid=CjwKCAjw0On8BRAgEiwAincsHB2o3oMW14Cqh5dC6dEOyj3nJt3j1w6lLqki2ae4a2Qs9R4Tu3PW_RoCxxUQAvD_BwE

?

I'm about to pay for new 28mm thick timber floorboards. Enough to cover about 30 square metres.

My local timber merchant has 4.5m long 137mm x 28mm boards for £15.22 each. Is this a reasonable price? I kinda assumed that there might be some bulk discount but they don't mention it online. I probably need about 60 boards which comes to around £900 at that price.

The contractor is doing the actual purchase, so I'm just wondering what to expect. They will do the calculation of wastage rates.

Ha, I can see that...

The problem is it's probably 45cm back and the distance between top of the dishwasher and worktop is maybe <10cm? Certainly narrow enough that getting more than finger tip purchase on a screwdriver isn't possible.

Much cursing has been done - this is the only point it's attached to anything.

Mole grips on the expensed threads and unscrew as far as possible

Something like this to persuade the now protruding screw free
https://www.toolstation.com/roughneck-utility-bar/p52281

So this is along the lines of what I was thinking - didn't know the tool to look for, thanks!

If there’s a discount, your chippy will be putting it in his pocket. Plus he’s probably already got a better rate and will be paying cash but charging you the VAT.

That’s life.

Yup fair enough!

I've been quoted £2500 incl materials for replacing 30 m^2 of floorboards. Is that about reasonable? I've not got a feel for this, but if it includes VAT and includes oiling or whatever finishing product, it seems ok. To be fair, most other contractors I've spoken to haven't been willing to quote as they're too busy. It feels a bit rash not having a comparative quote, but I can't wait very long so I've probably painted myself into the corner...

good advice @TW

make sure you buy a bit more steel than you need, or get some scrap, just to practice running a few beads before you start

I'm sure someone on here has laid a lot of new boards @tbc or @Bobbo maybe?

Homebase in Walthamstow is closing. If you need any screws nails etc it’s all 70-80% off wood 60% - got a load of beading I needed. 40% lawnmowers, strimmers, Outdoor paint is 40% off like ronseal for sheds etc. Annoyingly just bought some Ronseal Plus full price but it’s there reduced.

Farrow and ball I think is -20%

Got a pair of Schneider ultimate light switches for £1.30 each

It’s all massively chaotic but worth a look if local.

Cheers, academic answers only please, I have been told it includes VAT and he can start tomorrow morning so I've accepted :)

Why - because our shower tray should have been done like that in the first place (we have larch which has been Shou Sugi Ban'd elsewhere in the flat) but wasn't, so it went a little bit rotten. This was a way of saving it and making it impervious to water for ~ 80 years.

How? Here is my easy 19 step plan!

1. Prep wood by sanding it (not needed for new wood)
   
2. Buy a handheld blow torch and try to do it with that but it keeps going out.
   
3. Borrow a big fuck off pro blow torch from @dbr instead
   
4. Burn it
   
5. Brush the soot off with a wire brush.
   
6. Burn it again.
   
7. Brush the soot off with a wire brush again.
   
8. Rinse with a hosepipe when done.
   
9. Let dry.
   
10. First coat of tung oil (cut with white spirits to make it dry faster as tung oil takes AGES to dry)
    
11. Let it dry.
    
12. Second coat of tung oil (cut with a bit less white spirit)
    
13. Let it dry
    
14. Third coat of tung oil (cut with progressively less white spirit)
    
15. Let it dry
    
16. Fourth coat of tung oil (no white spirit this time)
    
17. Dispose of your rags carefully because they can spontaneously combust, lol.
    
18. Let it dry for a very, very, very long time.
    
19. Admire your handywork!
    
    

Learnings:

• The bigger the blow torch the better.
  
• It's a shit load of work.
  
• Tung oil stinks despite coming from nuts.
  
• Tung oil takes a very, very long time to dry.
  
• Does look good though.