Home DIY

That's great work.

It's almost certainly beyond my DIY skills, particularly as our needs are different, but we have two loft rooms (I think they're original rather than conversions) but they don't have radiators or proper roof insulation, so the temperature fluctuates massively with the seasons.

Would insulated plasterboard fixed to battens be the solution to this as well, or are they only really for wall insulation?

We have relatively low headroom even in the centre of the rooms without the roof pitch, and so that seems like a better solution than proper roof insulation rolls.

Are you talking about the spaces better the wood?

As @konastab01 says, you'd want acoustic plasterboard. And it's normally used in two layers.

Even then, I wouldn't overestimate how much noise that will block. To have some reasonably effective noise insulation you need two layers of acoustic plasterboard plus decent insulation but then noise will find its way around any weak spots via flanking, under your non-acoustic door etc.

Great work @Hovis - very inspirational for me as I'm planning to build a new room within our new place so will need to build some walls.

Cover it up with a big brick fireplace?

Surely if I put another one here then I'd need to consider the change in the centre of mass for the Borough of Croydon?

For a loft, I'd look at getting insulation between the rafters first before insulated boards. You could then use insulated boards affixed to the underside of the raftersto counter the cold bridging from the rafters themselves if you wanted to go full belt and braces.

I'm no expert on the matter though, please do your own research and check the rules. Ventilation, Roof details (ventilation, vapour barriers) are easy to get wrong and lead to expensive damage.

Leaking join in a gutter; is there a sealant / seal / incantation that I should get before going up a ladder to take a look?

Also, until I find a ladder tall enough, what can put on the roof outside our bedroom window that will silence the incessant drip? Bucket of sand? Angled board?

Anyone installed something like these recently - https://www.sebson.de/en/einbauleuchten/mounting-frame-type-5_572_1457 ?

The ones I have are the same model as linked but don't have the reassuring class 2 symbol on the sticker as pictured on the website. I will probably send them back but thought I would ask.

On my shed gutters I used black sealent from screwfix. Can't really see that you'd need anything special.

For the drip sand sounds good. If you don't have any what about a pair of tights over the top.

can sympathise - there's one right outside my window too, onto a plastic roof so it really resonates! I use a sponge sat on an old tea towel.

The gutter outside our bedroom window just started glug glug glugging at night too. I'm too scared to investigate, just cant face anymore things to fix.

Track/Plunge saw users, what do you use for portable dust extraction? I've been using an old bosch cylinder vacuum (we've gone dyson handheld for domestic vacuuming duties) but its annoying as its cumbersome and the hose is short/stiff.

I don't have a workshop or garage/shed so can't have anything too big or permanent and don't wanna store a henry like shop vac. It will be used around the flat/garden for diy.

Any recommendations? I am thinking the Scheppach hd2p or splurging on the small Makita LXT dvc750 (ive got a couple of LXT batts). Even thou the track saw isn't cordless, I guess one less wire would be good.

I've used the Dewalt DCV582. Hose a little on the short side, but otherwise it did the job ok. I've been tempted by the Makita too, as it fits all my other Makita stuff.

I use the cheapest smallest Titan wet & dry from Screwfix. It’s great (for not only dust extraction but also for hoovering, unblocking drains, etc)

In my new house I’ve bought the biggest version, which comes with a power take off.

I have a Henry

Inexplicably looking at worktop express and getting a custom desk surface done because I can't for the life of me find an attractive 2 person desk.

Wood would likely be fine - prob 27mm thick rather than 40mm.

Looking for approx 2m x 1m

But just need to be told that 12mm thick solid laminate wouldn't support any weight and is a stupid idea that I wouldn't be able to work with (going to fit cable management underneath etc / legs etc)

You’ll have trouble screwing any cable management or legs into something so thin, unless you go with bolts all the way through.

ML Panels are cheap for edge glued boards.

https://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator/

More for shelves but you can abuse it for desks if you squint at the results.

Just 5kg in the middle of a 2m x 1m span of 12mm thick particleboard (LD-2 particleboard was the one that gave the least deflection) gave a sag of 73.97mm in the middle. That's huge.

The same numbers with 25mm LD-2 particleboard gives 8.18mm sag, still "excessive" according to the site.

25mm thick black walnut gives 3.55mm deflection for the same dimensions and is "acceptable".

^ That's a great tool.

Cheers both.

Sold. Beech it is.

Current dimensions roughly: 2200mm x 750mm x 27mm which with a 20kg load (far higher than likely) in the centre gives 'acceptable'.

Should be easy enough to fix support underneath the desktop and eliminate any issues with sag.

Or a beam underneath.

Bosch Gas 35 m afc.
It is an absolute unit and it sucks - sucks up all the sawdust that is!

Yeehaw.

A supporting beam even.

Wickes do 20.5 x 69mm which I reckon would do the job, oriented vertically. Don't think that would interfere with your legs assuming regular chair and desk height.

Should add if I go with wood I'm adding tap holes for round cable tidy x 2, plus a wireless charger, pencil edges, pre oiled, radius edges etc - roughly 300 for the surface. Then finding legs.

The 'zenith' equivalent in a kind of concrete style is about 700 plus legs and can't fit in-built qi charger. I think I'd be OK the cost of the wood top all prepped and delivered for convenience even though the wood is just their bog standard staved oak, but I'd much rather just find a nice 2 person desk. Maybe some kind of textured resin but nice / solid / weighty etc. Maybe ply? Ugh. I'm not sleeping enough for this shit.

tbh I'm quite into this though I think mrs cyoa would be less so: https://www.equip4work.co.uk/sealey-premier-industrial-steel-workbenches.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiA0fr_BRDaARIsAABw4EtE624w98_KV9c-oSFg0P5H9OVuqv9fDizcmexMClczPea5K7xL5bQaAtsMEALw_wcB

That work table would be right up my alley for sure. I would just get it, but then again we've been married over 30 years and both of us pretty much buy whatever the fuck we want : )