Home DIY

Seems sensible to me. I'd put a blank panel on so the joint it is accessible in the future.

Finally finished gluing!

Next up, after drying overnight

• drill the cutouts
  
• rough trim the edges
  
• plane the top
  
• flush trim and rout the edges
  
• sanding
  
• varnishing
  
  

I may put a brace across the bottom too, to give a little extra stability for when my desk is at full height.

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I always find you get little holes in ply edges. Are you planning to spot fill before sanding?

Wow!

Started removing paint in the cellar as a lot of it's flaking off and lower down the walls either seems a little damp, of there's a lot of mineral build up.

Photo is first go yesterday. A fair bit has come off with a scraper today. But the upper sections are a bit more stubborn sections and there's some sort of cement skim(??) in places. It's all going to get painted, but I want to remove as much of the old paint and will repaint it all with some sort of 'breathable' paint as the cellar does get a little damp from time to time.

I've got a small angle grinder, would a wire brush cup work or is that asking for trouble? (and no, I don't know why the fluro yellow paint is there).

Seems sensible to me. I'd put a blank panel on so the joint it is accessible in the future.

Thanks - I bit the bullet and it worked fine. Took it slow and steady with the chisel and voila:

I've done a lot of filling already, using various thickness (down to well below<1mm) strips of ply that i ripped.

Once I've planed it, I'll be filling with glue & sawdust.

Perhaps investigate the fluro paint - it may be there to indicate something of note.

I've got a small angle grinder, would a wire brush cup work or is that asking for trouble? (and no, I don't know why the fluro yellow paint is there).

Wire brush cup would strip the mortar between the bricks faster than you can say "oh shit".

If you don't mind the time some Paint Panther and a stiff bristle brush might net you some results.

Fair play mate.

Careful with tearout on the trimming.

It’s going to look fantastic.

Lunatic

I see. How one with nylon bristles? Or those 'poly abrasive' discs?

I will spend the time down there if I have to, but have a long list of stuff that also needs work (like pulling down that ceiling and finishing insulating under the floor).

I see. How one with nylon bristles? Or those 'poly abrasive' discs?

I will spend the time down there if I have to, but have a long list of stuff that also needs work (like pulling down that ceiling and finishing insulating under the floor).

Best I can offer you is try everything available - grab some cheap rotary brushes and test test test!

You could also try a brass brush and a heat gun, might blister it enough to make it easier to remove.

Thanks. I'll give the neighbours another half hour of peace and quiet then see what happens...

how do i fit this new light fitting, which wires go where?

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You would usually be taking that white fitting off the ceiling to attach the new fitting (presumably with a metal bracket that the pink fixture screws to)

I would expect the brown to be live and blue to be neutral. It looks like they are connected to the red/black live and neutral behind the white plate but not visible in that picture.

Shouldn't really connect a metal fixture that isn't double insulated without an earth. I can't see one, but is there an earth to the brass connector on the original fitting?

You don't.

For a start, the original fitting has 3 live termials - Loop, Live and neutral, and an earthing point, but your new accessory only has terminals for live, neutral and earth (the loop is used so that you can take a cable with mains power to the light without powering the light itself, and then take that power to a switch and back, and then to the light itself).

As has been pointed out, the old wiring is 2 core cable that is just live and neutral without an earth (CPC) so it would be dangerous to use a metal fitting as it may became live in fault condition (live or neutral conductor touching the case). I've literally just spent the last week updating a property so that their lighting wiring has an earth, as they wanted to use metal faceplate light switches and metal light fittings.

Pictured below is an example of the bodge that we found. There is no earth at the switch, but for some reason they've put an earth link between back box and faceplate - which is worth fuck all if there isn't an actual earth connection there.

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thanks, so the answer is, get an electrician? i was worried itd be too small a job for anyone to bother

thanks, so the answer is, get an electrician?

Yes

i was worried itd be too small a job for anyone to bother

Rewiring your lighting circuits with earthed cable may be a much bigger job than you expect. Doing a small 3 bedroom house took me and another guy 2 and a half days to do it, and we were lucky that we were able to pull most of the new cables in place when we pulled the old cables out and only had to chase one wall out.

Depending on the layout of the house, generally floorboards will need to come up and chases put in the walls to get new cables in. If your house is finished (ie not currently being renovated) it can be quite an involved process that requires an amount of redecorating afterwards.

this is very confusing because we bought the house having been told it had (last 4 years) had a new CU and lower two floors have all new lighting fitted.

this light is on the top floor, there are two rooms on that floor that appear to have old light fittings, so i guesss.. they got lazy at the top?

Do you have a loft/loft access? If so, it might not be as tricky to get new cables in for upstairs.

It is alright/common to not have earthing on your lighting circuits that are older, and is generally fine if you only use plastic accessories.

The house we were working on had loads of stuff that had been "sorted" by the builder that did their kitchen, who had installed a load of new light fittings. They hadn't updated any of the actual wiring though!

They may have replaced the fittings and not the cables.
Check elsewhere in the house on the lights to see if there's an earth (CPC) present.

flat roof with no loft, very unconventional house all in all

So many great projects on here, inspirational

It's actually even worse than if the cable weren't there I guess as without that link if the back box were to become live there's a chance it might not make it to the faceplate.
Then again, a live back box going unnoticed for years is also pretty bad.