Home DIY

Thanks, those look like more appropriate terms, I just took a lazy guess. I expected the worst, with the non-straight angles and all, so I'm actually pretty happy with the result. And with a house like ours it blends right in anyway. Gonna be a nice room I think.

PS. any idea what the strips of wood are for between the bricks?

pre Rawl plugs this was how to screw / nail stuff into brick walls. see it a lot when removing old skirting etc.

After you said you'd ordered, I did have a look at buying a new one as I had new tool bag envy but decided against it and spent £250 on a flight instead.

You're really being too kind. Yes what I did was complicated but all of the mitres were to match a factory made 90 degree angle so all of those cuts were bang on 45 degrees - as straightforward as it gets as long as your chopsaw is set up properly. I know that Airhead disagrees with me on this but when an internal mitre is required I will always cope the joint rather than trying to get an internal mitre looking good as it's much more straightforward with more wiggle room.

In reality the most difficult task I had with that was safely cutting the small pieces of wood. Especially as my small portable chopsaw's blade was about as sharp as a butter knife so I only had my 12" beast available to me which is so powerful that it tends to grab hold of small workpieces and fire them out the back with enough speed to reduce the workpiece to splinters and mangle your hand in a nasty way.

For cutting stair treads and risers, am I best off with a jigsaw or a chopsaw? Only right angles needed. Many thanks hive mind.

Also would anyone be able to loan me one for 2 days?

Chop saw but you could make do with a jigsaw and a quick square

Depends on how deep and thick the boards are.

what I did was complicated

But you didn't grain match tho...

trololol

So not DIY... but can anyone recommend a drain unblocking company that serves North London?

I don't do a lot of skirting these days but I used to cope with a jigsaw when I was doing entire houses. Now I use the starett 505-p7 to find the angles and they come out bang on.

It's so quick and the pieces fit together so well there's not much making good which speeds up the process and improves the finish. It does need the big mitre saw on site though.

Last room I did all the skirting for was just before christmas, it took about 1 1/2 hours to cut it. Probably 5x4m, big bay window. Easy room though as the floor was level.

I usually use Rentokill, they usually charge a flat fee and get the job done. Only because there are so many cowboys in the drain clearing business.

It's worth carrying out a bit of investigation yourself if you can. Maybe even poke around a bit. What are the symptoms?

Cheers Tim

No worries mate. I'd be happy to lend you either but I'm up near Cambridge now so a bit hard to get something to you. I'm in London a few days a week so could offer either a jigsaw or a circular saw and a speed square if you're in need.

Let me know.

An overflowing drain that takes water from the roof gutters.
The grate is not moveable but there is a drain access metal cover about a metre from it.
I don't have the poles to poke about in there though.

Amazing. I don't have the stair parts yet, so if I could hit you up when I get them, that would be fab.

Definitely sounds worth giving it a poke, get the cover off to see whether there's something stuck before or after. A set of drain rods and/or the little bendy wire thing for u-bends don't set you back much.

That's exact;y the type of drain I unblocked last week. Had been blocked nearly solid with sediment and crap from years of neglect and probably from when we got our roof redone. I was able to get the cover off and used an attachment for my pressure washer (about £20 off ebay). Typical drain rods might not be flexible enough to get around a tight corner (the first set I bought were too stout). To be honest, even a fairly stiff garden hose would have worked for me given enough patience. The attachement I got I used to poke at the blockage to break it up and the pressurised water helped to flush it out of the way.

If you really don't fancy buying a set of rods or poking about Dynorod usually get it done for around £100.

I've seen more complicated jobs (especially internal blocked pipes) cost £3-400 and people have paid upwards of £150 just to witness someone unblock an exterior drain in seconds with a rod.

Sure thing mate. Drop me a PM when you’re ready.

Anyone handy with wood and tools fancy building me an airing cupboard and fitting a loft ladder before I say yes to someone doing it in September?

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But you didn't grain match tho...

I tried to but........

so powerful that it tends to grab hold of small workpieces and fire them out the back with enough speed to reduce the workpiece to splinters

Luckily no fingers were involved this time so I didn't have to revisit that awkward time when I had to force myself to look at my hand to check I still had a full compliment.

@OneLessCardigan
I have a handheld mini circular saw (cutting depth circa 2in) and chop saw with limited range though, which was rather annoying for cutting and mitre cut for 7in skirting boards.

Both available from London Eastside if you want to borrow.
Chopsaw is bulky, handheld will fit in a bag

The grate is not moveable but there is a drain access metal cover about a metre from it.

Can you get a hose in it? Sometimes a little more pressure is all that's required to shift it.

Thanks for the help and advice all.
Will try the aforementioned tips.

@almac68 thanks Al, that's generous. When I have the stair parts, I'll work out what's easiest.

@TheButchersDog - as other have said you can get attachments for pressure washers which I’ve used with some success so I would try that first.

That said, I’ve have just paid £1k to have inspections and then a section of pipe replaced half way down my garden after a tree root had decided to make its way into a clay pipe for bants and then caused a blockage that couldn’t be cleared. I got a full CCTV survey for the whole of our drains and the footage shows so many other points that tree roots ingress. Not looking forward to the next time a blockage happens 😅