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☹️ it's a matte finish, if that makes a difference?

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@tyeness it’s quite unlikely. We have quite a few scratches on ours. I tried a paste of bicarbonate, some meguires car scratch remover and some of this stuff call The Pink Stuff. Nothing made a difference but it ended up really fucking clean.

If you do find anything I’m all ears.

Edit (that looks just like our hob finish)

No idea if this works - just searched YouTube for it. I would imagine there is a way to sort it out as most metals can be refinished to some extent.

https://youtu.be/hzyjEecX1pw

Thanks! Currently in a YouTube wormhole so will get that one on the list.

The scouring sponge in that thumbnail is what the lodger used but maybe with the right technique I can avoid a Father Ted's cortina type situation.

@andos will report back

I didn’t watch the vid. But there should be a way to sort it - likely some elbow grease will be required to resolve it.

Maybe elbow grease is where I went wrong. I was quite hesitate to “go hard” as I didn’t want to make it worse.

Take more advice. Don’t trust mine!

Yeah this was my first instinct, the key things seem to be to identify the grain and only go with it in one direction, not even back and forth, and also that it's hard to do spot corrections, which is a massive downer.

I'd do overlay doors. Get MDF cut to size, buy a cheap concealed hinge jig, some hinges and a couple of drill bits, and off you go.

Instead of all that, have you considered making false backs to slot in there and hide the wiring. Paint the backs the same colour as the wall and it'll basically be invisible.

If you can get that shelf back by say 18 - 20mm then inset hinges would be a good call. That way the doors would sit flush with the front of the unit this also has the added benefit of meaning no fannying about trying to make a face frame.

If you're planning on painting MDF I'd strongly recommend preparation tape. You don't need an edgebander an old iron and a Stanley knife will do.

Also for painting MDF I'd always spend a bit more and go for Medite MR MDF. I refuse to us the cheap stuff as it's not as good, doesn't machine as well, doesn't last and is not as moisture resistant. Medite also paints better as the "grain" doesn't raise as easily (especially an issue with emulsion).

What’s the go-to budget multi tool? My park side one has died. All my other tools are ryobi 18v, but their multi tool doesn’t get good reviews so corded would be fine. I don’t really want to invest in another battery system.

Ianac but I think as long as you have 3 1/2 in of meat at narrowest points, you are fine I think. Just happened to watch a YouTuber make a jig from a right angle triangle bit of wood, with the desired rise and run(which should equal 17.5/18inches apparently) and then nailed/screwed another scrap perpendicular. They marked with a Stanley knife/pen I think.

I got bought the brushed Milwaukee at christmas and although I was gonna buy the brushless one its pretty decent.

Any tips / ideas on how to refinish a laminate(?) desktop - that white shiny finish you get on kitchen cabinets or IKEA furniture ?

Is it something you can buy an iron on?

Cheers

I have the older erbauer /scrwfix own brand job. It's done about 5 years now. Cabled one. I've been given 2 of the battery ones, they all break quite quick.
Get a used fein > new cheapie.
But the erbauer I've been impressed with

Nevermind, probably going with surface lighting.

*Downlights and PIR type insulation. To avoid breaching the vapour layer, can I make a diy cover from offcuts of PIR like this? Can't see how it's any different than making a false ceiling.

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I have a wall of tiles coming off the wall. The tiles are held together by the grout but the adhesive has completely come away from the wall (still very much adhered to the back of the tiles). I want to retile in the cheapest manner possible as we are going to redo the bathroom completely at some point in the hopefully not too distant future. I reckon I can get the tiles off unbroken, can I just use new adhesive and stick tile, old adhesive and old grout all back on, then regrout to fill the gaps?

Apart from, looking shit, my concern is why did the adhessive fail in the first place and will it fail again - it looks to have been tiled over gloss paint.

I guess the alternative would be to fix a board to the wall and tile over that?

EDIT - I reckon that is a terrible approach given I can spend £30 on new tiles and save myself some hassle when I inevitably break a tile or two and realise I can't cover the whole wall. Just need to solve the issue of adhesive failing which I expect is caused by being stuck onto gloss paint. Go at it with some sandpaper and elbow grease and make a load of dust to give it something to key into or board over?

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You can buy sheets of laminate, normally some kind of melamine. This can be applied using contact adhesive which will stick it to pretty much any flat surface. It's a tricky job with 0 room for error but it's still doable especially these days because no one makes the old school contact adhesive that makes you high as a kite.

This is a pretty good guide:

https://youtu.be/hUvTY6bFhSE

Anyone an expert on upvc window?

Finally dig to the depths of good bedroom window damp patch.

Was leaking from above from a c19th inboard gutter that was backing up due to builders lack of understanding of how gravity works.

Just framing out this wall and discovered this patch was still wet (been open for months whilst i did other things).

Bottom edge of window frame was full with water, yet drain to outside clear ish.
Turns out someone had screwed through the framr, the internal gutter in the frame and then into the timber surround /packers underneath = 2 litres of water backed up inside frame. As soon as i pulled the screws, heavens opened internally and externally.
Exactly the place where wall has dark stain on the stone (internal), and previous owner had done a constant patch over job on it.

Timber under window frame half rotten. Window unit itself is blown and hinges a bit worn. Time to just replace entire window unit. Or can some muppets holes in the frame be somehow repaired?

Remote location, getting any trade here is a 3 to 6 month ordeal. Hence prefer to do myself

Le sigh. Was doing well this week until this!

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Rang every window place within a 100 miles. Most have never fitted a window wider than 700mm and have no idea where to get one
... Looks outside and down street, just about every building in town is <1920 and habe apertures in the 1100 x 1800 mm range (ours is 6' x 3'6 exactly).
Not quite sure how this town got all these windows fitted then! Looks like it's going to be an order online and fit job

Cheers. Especially for the steer on search terms.

Now the desk is in place with some computer shit on it, I'm not sure it's needed. But I'll wait for the final judgment from my OH.

Video does make me now want to laminate all the things.

Going to give inset a go, appreciate the tips re MDF. Have you found edge-banding necessary, even with MR MDF?

Do like @bq 's suggestion re false backs which would have been an easy option if I didn't need to hide some other tv gizmos in the cupboard

Have you found edge-banding necessary, even with MR MDF?

Yes, there are two options either use the edge banding prep tape or or paint and sand the edges multiple times to try to get rid of the bristle-y fibres that the paint wil raise every time its applied. From my perspective it's a no brainer because it saves me time and therefore make me money.

Yeah I was thinking about a second hand fein, looks like they go for about the same price as the erbauer.
The erbauer certainly gets good reviews so reckon I’ll keep an eye on eBay. It’s not urgent at the moment

There's a way that these sometimes fail that is repairable. How is your very fine soldering?