Home DIY

Gonna put some boards down in the loft to store things (mix of proper loft boards and random scraps of mdf/ply/osb).

The joists are super old and a bit saggy but look fine otherwise. I’ve noticed they’re sistered together in one section that appears to be over a supporting wall between rooms.
Am I fine to just screw a load of board over this and sleep well at night without worry of a blender falling through the ceiling?

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Regardless of the unit floating, the upturn will need to be adhered to the wall.

Is shabby chic still a thing?

I jest, but paint stripping is taking about as long as I worried it would.
Guess it doesn’t matter given it feels like it’ll be 2024 before we find a builder..!

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We had a leak over Christmas and the claims adjuster asked if we would like to use our own trades.

I laughed, then begged him to provide them.

Ok, thanks. So I'd better get sorting 😬

I feel for you. I think with a lot of DIY projects persistence is the often unsung key to success.

I started repairing and painting our communal picket fence at the beginning of December. It quickly became apparent that the only way to make an enduring repair would involve removing every picket and re-paint pickets and rails before re-assembly. The area between pickets and rails hadn’t been painted at all previously, leading to rot in places, which was only going to get worse. Re-painting encompasses wire brushing, wet rot hardening, filling, sanding and painting, as well as replacing rotten pickets with new ones fashioned using saw and rasp from 3x2. There are 160 odd pickets and five gates, all of which are having to be disassembled and re-assembled, with new hinges and spring closers for each. On top of that, some fence posts have rotted from the bottom and have had to be replaced as well. I am about two thirds of the way through, and I stopped enjoying the work as much about a third of the way through.

I have no idea what it would have cost to have a professional repair to the same standard, assuming I could find someone to do it. Replacing the fence would have been north of a couple of grand probably, but The company I approached for a quote had orders through to the summer. Materials cost for me is probably going to hit £300, but time is the killer. There’s also the weather to contend with. Nevertheless, it will be done.

Reminds me of that time I stripped and re-finished our entire deck.

Not sure this is the right thread for this question but I know there some wise ppl on here - I am annoyed with my internet so would like to move my Hyperoptic plug from the utility cupboard to the lounge so that the router can be closer to where we actually use wifi. I want this run through the ceiling behind the plasterboard so that theres no ugly cabling. Who does this? A sparky? Is this a sensible move? I have powerline Adapters (WiFi Range Extenders/Boosters). We struggle with regular drops and Hyperoptic say its not them, its the 3rd party units.

How big's your place? Surely a mesh system would cover it without the need to move it?

It seems drastic compared to trying other methods like a mesh system or better wi-fi access point.

If you've decided that's the only solution I'd probably leave the hyperoptic stuff where it is and run some CAT6 from it to your lounge or whatever and add a wifi access point.

An electrician would probably be a good choice because they deal with this kind of problem but not every electrician would be interested in making the cable ends at junction boxes or putting plugs on the ends of the cable.

Do you have access to the ceiling under carpet/hardboard/floorboards? If you do then it should be a lot easier. Sometimes you need to cut into the plasterboard and then patch it to make good, the making good is generally where electricians will let you down.

Once you have a few ideas about how to 'fish' cables you start to make better choices about technique and it saves on damage.

The powerline adaptors are decent in some installations but they can be very much slower than a direct cable connection.

Just chatting, not arguing about rising damp. It is a favourite topic of mine as there are so many snake oil salesmen.

Will stick a few photos up of a house with issues and see what you think. Then I'll tell you what the insurance assessor said it was.

Have seen reports claiming rising damp in a 1st floor flat!

If there is damp, there is a reason as you say.

@CYOA Hope you are wearing a mask ;) Personally I'd want to see the other side of the wall. What is the wall temperature like compared to the other walls? What is the room temperature like? Can you get a dehumidifier in there?

Can you easily remove the skirting board to see if there is anything visible behind?

Have seen lots of issues as modern plasters have been used over lime as lime breathes while modern plasters dont.

run some CAT6

Very much this. As long as you're not running it longer than 100m, you'll be fine.

[Edit] 55m for Cat 6, 100m for Cat 5

Probably a harled coat of lime. IANALP. (but just spent weekend lime mortaring/plastering/patch repairing.)

Reminds me of that time I stripped and re-finished our entire deck.

Yacht thread >>>

Question for any qualified Sparkys.

Had the washing machine out to repair a leak. Pushing back on and got a buzzing off the metal casing. Fluke.pen was lighting up all over the casing.
Tool the lid off assuming a cable was exposed touching the case but I couldn't find anything.
When I pulled the plug out I noticed there was a blob of paint the end of the live and neutral pins, not totally covering the metal, just the tips. Cleaned that off plugged it back in and now I can't recreate the live casing, wiggling all the cables around .
The only thing I can see touching the case is the earth's, could the paint cause the above??
Thanks

Edit: suspect an earthing problem. Will investigate with a multimeter later.

Cat 6? We have Cat 5 - has the world moved on????

Cat 7 exists, but you don't need it.

Oh magnificent - ta for showing that!

Obviously the electrician we booked and who visited and saw the fuse box a month ago now says he won't touch the kitchen without changing to a new consumer unit. And my car is fucked again. Can someone hurl money at me? Big fat wads of it?

Anyone with strong opinions on a cheap and cheerful pipe and wire detector?

I'd suggest setting up a PPE supply company* and taking your local Conservative MP out for lunch.

*No previous experience necessary

How hard is soldering copper pipe? After wrestling with compression joints all evening yesterday I did, in the end, finally have the dishwasher plumbed in but I feel like learning to solder would have made the job a lot easier.

And we have a sink with a big strainer, are they standard sizes? I ask because it has a food waste macerator attached to it which we don't want and is leaking from within the unit itself so I need to remove it and fit a new trap/waste pipe and maybe a new strainer if the existing one is integrated into the unit below which it looks like it could be.
Ideally I just want to swap it out for a new one with standard BSP thread to fit a new 40mm trap/waste which I can connect up to the existing waste pipe.

Could anyone please recommend someone to do a structutal survey (follow up to a level 3) in North East?

Not strong, but i've got this one and it does what you want it to.

https://www.trade-point.co.uk/departments/bosch-truvo-multi-detector/1518921_TP.prd?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8vSOBhCkARIsAGdp6RRMbWsFVc7ZCPmo2jik5hZVDsnHdLe1peg_kIMUNDEzPHONOZHZEBQaAt82EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds