Home DIY

That's what I thought but couldn't remember what the cable innards were made from. The sparx I work with most often is very vocally not a fan and will always advocate replacing it with copper, although to be fair the two houses we were working on when it's cropped up in the past had wiring that was so dodgy that in his opinion if there was ever a fire the homeowner would be at risk of being arrested for insurance fraud

Simple thing to not know, seeing yours makes me think im gonna have to go look at water leak on one next week, nightmare.

Really appreciate your taking the time to advise!

Where does one source standard quality internal 4 panel pine doors? Was looking at B&Q and Wickes for ease/speed but reviews seem terrible and other websites seem to be offering the same product

Interesting, hadn't seen those before, will pick some up to add to my collection of plugs. Although on this wall I don't think there's a big enough gap to get them spun round.

Get a multi-tool no matter what your immediate plans are. Had a mates old Fein 1st gen tool and never looked back. Super useful, you'll find it always plugged in near you with a bag of blades sat waiting to be swapped in. Like yesterday was using it to tidy some plaster, cut a hole in a kitchen cabinet, cut some timber to length to reinforce cabinet, shave a bit off a few metal worktop brackets and then trim my waste pipes. With one tool, didn't even have to get up to reach the bag. Buy one*

*Yes using a multi cutter for wastes, I know I know. Did I mention I didn't have to get up though? :P

As for SDS prob overkill for tiles, just get some gloves and goggles and a bolster and go to town. Have an older Bosch blue battery SDS of a decent size, needs a battery again (goes months without use is probably the cause of failure), and if I need something really big a mate has a commercial sized Hilti. If its worth lifting the damn thing, its worth using, honestly even blue cobbles in walls it'll munch up, absolute life saver. Had to open up a few fireplace a few months ago and it turned it from an all day job into a 1.5 hour job.

I have a mulitool. I posted for someone previously who is removing tiles. I agree re the bolster but they want the tiles carefully removed.

AH hadn't seen that. Best things ever though, not sure how humanity managed to achieve certain tasks before they were invented, I guess a jab saw and a lot of swearing? So Fein can be credited with reducing the anger levels in the average DIY person for sure!

Reduction is swearing is very accurate. My last tile removal job resulted in a lot of swearing by my mate who was overseeing me working with a bolster. A flying piece of tile cut his head quite badly! Me, I was fine apart from a bit of laughter!😁 Had he been helping and not overseeing, he’d have been safe. 😁

Finally chose a mitre saw and have just got round to collecting it.

Went for this DeWalt DWS773-GB for two reasons, 1. It was down to £150 - so just in budget and on sale, 2. The rails are meant to extend out to the front rather than poking out the back (if that makes sense?) so it packs down smaller and takes less bench space.

Only sad thing is its got to stay in my mates lockup until I make some room. Just thought I'd grab it when it was on sale at Xmas in case the price went up and I later regretted it.

Will report back once I get a chance to use it.

I used one of these building my shed & many times at work. Has always been brilliant

That's good to hear

A mate of mine has the pre-DeWalt version of that saw (Elu) it's bomb proof and still going strong after 20+ years of almost daily site work. The DeWalt version is not quite as well made but if it's for DIY use it will probably out live everyone onhere

I have one of these. Been fine for most diy stuff, especially any rough work.

Have been meaning to pick up a higher toothcount blade for finer work (skirting, architrave and whatnot), but have got by with sacrificial pieces so far. Couple of times I've been annoyed it doesn't have a depth stop, but that's more from laziness and using my brother's super-fancy massive cordless thing, than anything else.

I have an old football stadium folding chair I'd like to mount onto a piece of wood, to live in a nook in my office. Any ideas for what to use to attach it to said wood? Not quite sure how to source a fat but short woodscrew. Or indeed if that would be strong enough - perhaps some kind of bolting required instead.

Chair below - I have the small offcut its currently standing on, and a bigger bit I'll probably have to use instead.

2 Attachments

I think I'd bolt it to a piece of metal sandwiched between two bits of wood, the top one to look pretty and the bottom one with cut outs for the nuts. Then you just need to get hold of some bolts which can be cut down in length.

Do you actually want to be able to sit on it? I think the base would need to be quite big to be stable.

Hmm, good idea, I had considered two bits of wood, but not the metal sandwich. Yeah, ideally it could be sat on (probably not regularly, but ideally possible!). And yes, I fear the base is going to have to be quite long to make that possible! Fiddly!

Recommendations for a cheap circular saw? I’m bored of cutting by hand.

So we've gone from this:

1 Attachment

To this:

1 Attachment

The top centimetre layer of plaster that has come away basically fell off blown in one piece. It was covered by a large shelf the previous owners left. Of particular concern is an area in the lower right of the excavated part that has gone in further and is basically crumbling powder.

What do I do?

I've got a unit going in the left (800mm) which is basically up to where the white paint ends. That area thankfully seems solid. It's just the bit to the right that is a mess.

Polyfilla and a single coat of dulux.

Take it all off then dot dab some boards.

I speak idiot so can't tell if you're joking or what you're saying.

First part was a joke, second was serious.
Pull it all off and then dot dab plasterboard on, quicker and easier than plastering.

What if I scrape through to next door? Genuine question. Do I need to notify them etc?

If it's damp shouldn't I find the source? If I put plasterboard over it, won't it just get damp again?