Home DIY

Yes, great work @Howard.

Is this in the new place?

Also interested to know what wax you've used - we've only ever used the IKEA oil on wooden worktops.

All of this kitchen worktop chat has really got under my skin now.

It's a wooden worktop - I'm guessing oak - which was installed badly.

It has an under-hung sink, but has been cut back too far and has no drip groove - meaning that it's got rot all over the shop.

The join to the other sheets is also coming apart, which I'll put down to warping (although I'm not going to take it apart to check).

The question, then, is do I bother to refurb like @Howard and his impressive effort, or do I splash out ~£100 on a new / used worktop and cut it to fit (so another £50 for a jig, which could be sold after), while also taking the opportunity to seal it a bit better than the current one.

We have a 5-year plan for the kitchen though (i.e. we'll do it up when we've done a whole load of other stuff), which makes spending money on it feel a bit profligate, but then if we refurb, we'll have to do it a couple more times, and likely won't fix the problem with the joins.

Likewise. I really liked the old ikea oil which was more milky in appearance, but the new one they sell has been disappointing. Maybe the worktop is just getting more worn so marks/dries out quicker.

Ta! And Yep the new place which we will thoroughly Trigger’s Broom no doubt

Stuff used is Liberon.

I'm thinking of investing in a tado set up, we have a radiator that has a thermostatic valve in the living room but I'm not sure about the bedrooms. It's the bedrooms I want to be able to turn off during the day. Newbie question but how do I tell what the valve is and if compatible? We have these Honeywell valves in 3 of the rooms.

Thanks

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tarp set up

You mean Tado?

Most smart thermostats come with a whole bunch of adapters.

Tado fit m28 x 1.5, which is the standard size of European lockshield valves

Our place didn't have standard ones though, so we used adapters for a while.

Until they turned out to be shit.

So we replaced all of the lockshield valves in the house over summer - this is a pain, but very doable.

To see what you have, you can unscrew the TRV (using the knurled bit there), and measure the threaded bit.

Sounds like you hate it. £150 to last you for up to 5 years is not a big investment. Rip the sucker out.

@youramericanlover

Haha, yup, tado not tarp, have edited.

I thought the rads had to already have TDVs on them for them to be compatible. We're in a relatively newish house so hopefully everything will be standard fittings. Our last place was just a mix up and a total pain.

It's a bit like buying bike parts, iso Vs JSI, left hand threaded/RH threaded etc etc.

Explains why my parts box kept growing

Sounds like you hate it.

So much.

The whole kitchen design is just so wrong - it's a good sized room, but the way it's laid out means that all activity ends up in one corner, which is in the way of anyone else trying to use the kitchen.

Time to get the wrecking bar out.

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I thought the rads had to already have TDVs on them

That's a TRV in the photo.

Tado will attach out of the box to pretty much everything, and if not, will send out adapters for free. When I bought, I sent them measurements before buying, and they sent adapters with the TRVs.

Nice sauna

I tried to convince him it'd be a good idea!

I would just buy a new worktop and turn the old one into shelves or something a la Sparky. Mine is a thick veneer with chipboard in the middle so not very expensive. I have way too much cycling to do to fuck around with sanding shit inside my house

This is probably a bit late however; you will go through considerably fewer sanding sheets if you cut a small slit in the arrangement that connects the sander to your sacrificial Dyson. Dedicated dust extractors have a small "window" that can be opened to prevent the suction from it pulling the sander onto the surface harder than it should be while not effecting the performance of the extractor. This helps to prevent the pad heating up and not only prolonging the life of the sheet but also the backing pad on the sander itself.

so another £50 for a jig

I can lend if you're anywhere near West London (outer reaches).

Edit:

Also worth noting that Howdens are having their annual discontinued lines sale - so you may be able to pick up something cheap from there if you know someone with an account or have an account yourself.

Also DIYkitchens.com may be worth a look.

If you can get the DIY resin countertops it's actually considerably easier than doing a mason mitre on a traditional countertop. The process is however slightly longer. The added bonus is you don't need a jig to do it.

Yep Hovick and I spoke about this too. Would a small cut in my pro Sander to Dyson adapter (32mm pvc waste pipe) be enough?

The "window" on my eye wateringly expensive portable dust extractor (it's definitely NOT a vacuum cleaner that tool makers give a fancy name to so they can charge more for it) is about 10mm². I was sceptical but it does make a big difference.

Probably a dumb question but what would prevent dust exiting through the bleed hole?

I have way too much cycling to do to fuck around with sanding shit inside my house

Damn you and your rational decision making!

Resisting the sirens call to fix something so obviously fucked yet eminently repairable with tooling I’d already invested in + a pvc pipe bodge proved impossible to resist.

Now to fix the decking...

Let's get one thing straight I hugely admire people willing to sort their own house shit out, because I'm cheap and admire other people being (or trying to be until costs spiral as they seem to do) and because of the accompanying sense of satisfaction. Your worktop looks ace, well done!

But I get almost no satisfaction from DIY and I have a fairly new road bike so the decision isn't really a decision.

The suction wants to pull air into the hole, not expel anything out of it. Dust won’t come out of the hole at all.

God, that’s so obvious. Ta :)

Ha, it's easy to say when you've seen it in the flesh that's all.

I think it's possible to find an old hoover tube/handle that has a sliding flap on it and adapt that. The miele ones employ that technique. There are probably ready made pieces available from rutlands or similar. You could also build a system that collects the bulk of the dust before it hits the hoover.

Finally got around to fitting Sputnik chandelier in living room at 11.30pm, not as seductive as I hoped (too amber), gonna change led filament lamps for clear cool white dimmable, split the switch bank in the hallway, which needs chasing in wall. Nothing worse than seeing mini trunking for lighting and BT cable clipped to walls.

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