Home DIY

Posted on
Page
of 1,885
First Prev
/ 1,885
Last Next
  • Makes sense, although a bit of further investigation suggests that this is a spur. I guess maybe I should check the thickness of the wire

  • Tanking a cellar, how hard is this for a DIYer? Looking at buying a house with a very damp cellar (because it's just a hole in the ground with bricks on the sides).

    Even if it’s that basic they don’t have to be damp; that the sub floor is getting fucked by it suggests something else is wrong. Investigate.

  • There is the rear guttering that drains into a water butt that obviously overflows in heavy rain right by the rear wall of the house, and cellar. That's the worst affected area so hopefully an easy fix - dig a soak away further down the garden or route runoff into existing drain that kitchen waste goes into.

    It's an old house, maybe 150 years, what else should we be looking at as the culprit if not just "underground"? We have a copy of a survey which highlights the damp but doesn't identify any causes.

  • The survey should give an indication of soil type. Additional soakaways could divert groundwater - but then there's the potential issue of settling / subsidence, if there's a lot of drying out.

    Cracked drains elsewhere may be an issue - might be worth a video survey.

  • Probably worth it if you think it might have been added without consideration for the breaker on the circuit. This is why electricians carry out a Zs test and check operation of the breaker when a new circuit is installed.

  • Anyone want this for £10? Unopened, mapei ultracolor plus grout jasmine 5kg. Collect SE15.


    1 Attachment

    • image.jpg
  • Hardwood floor covered in adhesive for carpet tiles, any idea on how to lift the adhesive before sanding?


    1 Attachment

    • 8760FCDF-FD36-46CD-9222-E5797A1497C0.jpeg
  • It's an old house, maybe 150 years

    There is the rear guttering that drains into a water butt that obviously overflows in heavy rain right by the rear wall of the house, and cellar.

    Jesus wept

    What @TW said, I'd be eliminating all potential culprits; cracked drains, shoddy brick / pointing, water getting in via the chimneys (if present), fucked guttering, stupid water butt arrangements, leaking pipework...you need to get to a point where you know everything else just works so that the damp in the cellar is 'just' underground damp.

  • Some horrible chemical (paint stripper?) and a big old scraper.

    Lucky, lucky you.

    Maybe heat will get a similar effect to a chemical agent? Will burn the wood though I guess.

  • Lucky, lucky you.

    Asking for a friend thankfully. Amazing hardwood floor that had been hidden under office carpet tiles!

  • Thanks, the report highlighted some pointing that needs redoing and a chimney that needs rebuilding - though you didn't need a surveyor's eye to see it's leaning - so they might both help too.

    We're in the unusual position of being shown the report before having to instruct our own survey so at least we're going in with our eyes sort-of open to the issues the building has.

  • I would try UV stripping. It might work very well but I've not yet tried with adhesive. The principal is the same as paint lifting off wood when the UV rays heat the wood but travel through the paint/glue.

  • Before getting involved with heat and scraping, you might try scrubbing it with water and washing up liquid. Leyland also do a floor glue remover that could help.

  • 2 Gang 13A socket outlets are still rated at 13A not 26A.

    You can get back boxes that enable you to put two 1 gang sockets next to each other, then you have 26A as each socket is at 13A.

    If it is a spur then this isn't doable as 2.5mm cable is 20A max and more than one socket on a spur means you need to put a 13A FCU on it.

    In other words, plug washer and microwave in but don't use at the same time. 😉

  • Any tips on a floating shelf and what brackets - it's going to be long - c.4m but not really take a huge amount of weight. it'll be on an old victorian stud wall (lathe removed and replaced with plasterboard). Would something like this work?

    https://www.sdslondon.co.uk/floating-shelf-brackets/concealed-floating-shelf-bracket-wall-fixing-length-120-mm-diameter-12-mm.html

  • Yup, we've got those in our floating shelves but measure, measure and measure again. You've got to drill the holes in at the same.angle.or.it would be a total pain to slide on

  • Cheers.

    I've been running the washing machine for the past few days with a powermeter and I've only seen it get above 1.3kw for about 10 seconds and the sustained draw at 1.3kw is pretty short before it drops down to 100w or so.

    Will keep a meter on it for a while and see what the numbers are

  • I'm seeing a lot of stuff that says a 2 gang socket is designed (BS Standard) to handle 20amps, 14A on 1 and 6A on the other simultaneously. That would make sense as most high draw stuff is short term (i.e. diversity allows it). I have also read and would assume that some sockets exceed this BS standard. Again this would make sense as the conductors in a plug socket can be pretty beefy which would allow lots of amps.

  • thanks! Was your wall a brick wall or studwork? Wasn't sure whether that type of fixing could go into studs (so do away with the plugand just drill a pilot hole into the stud)

  • It was a brick wall, probably over engineered with 3 plugs in each shelf which was 75cm.
    If they're spread out might be less of an issue but now it's up it's not sliding off easily. Having a rubber mallet helped.


    1 Attachment

    • 16316046491745661442030959021971.jpg
  • Yet another reason not skimp on your sockets. Blows my mind when you see people buying shitty £1 single pole ones. A decent branded double pole socket is only about £3 - I buy the MK ones as you can grab them from Screwfix so I don’t get caught out mismatching if I run short and need to nip out. I’m sure you’d only pay £2 at the wholesalers for a reasonable DP one.

  • MDF bath panels/skirting around a bath. Am I alone in thinking that these are just doomed to fail sooner or later?

  • Yes, but most of the budget offerings will be MDF (if not vacuum formed plastic - I spent a long time looking at them). We got a panel with doors that open to allow for under bath storage of cleaning products and stuff (and easy inspection for leaks). That is MDF but pretty well painted. So as long as you seal the edges pretty well and clean up any big splashes, it should last some time. But eventually water will find a way.

  • I'd imagine decent sockets could handle more than 13A but the BS 1363 Part 2:1995 gives 13A max.

    If there was an electrical fire and the insurance assessor found you were running a 20A load off that socket...

  • We got a panel with doors that open to allow for under bath storage of cleaning products and stuff (and easy inspection for leaks).

    If only I'd known about those when our bathroom was last done. Next load of work on our bathroom and I'll get them. Existing shelves just get covered in too much stuff.

    Current side is ok to get off although involves a bit of careful movement as the bath is the width of the bathroom and due to the rhomboid bathroom shape and placement of the sink, mirror and tiles it needs to be lifted up vertically to almost head height before it can be moved out of the way.

    Having doors cut out of that with storage on the inside would solve a whole load of problems.

  • Post a reply
    • Bold
    • Italics
    • Link
    • Image
    • List
    • Quote
    • code
    • Preview
About

Home DIY

Posted by Avatar for hippy @hippy

Actions