Home DIY

About to change this ‘lovely’ lamp which requires a couple plasterboard fixings for a wider base. Ideally I would like to avoid hitting an electric cable do I need an stud finder (probably won’t use it again for years) or would a stud finder phone app or a powerful magnet do the trick? Could someone that knows about electrical installation tell me the most probable routing of these lights? The switch is down the wall that will come from the top left of the image, almost centred between the top right and top middle lights

1 Attachment

One of those things where you have to live a little dangerously! Just how wide are you going though?

I've just replaced 4 this afternoon and every one of them went well. I should probably buy a lottery ticket.

When you think about it you know there are wires there, you can have a little feel of them when you take the old lamp off, see if they have a little slack (probably will) and just wiggle them about a bit to see if you can feel which way they are hanging.

Also remember that a wire that's loose will likely deflect from a drill bit (especially hammer) or screw tip. Once you've got the plug in there just use a sensible size screw, you should be alright. There's is very little way of knowing the routing of a wire or pipe, sometimes it's worse to make assumptions.

Always worth remembering the number of these jobs that go on every day. If hitting a wire was a regular thing we would be hearing a lot more about it.

It all makes a lot of sense, I guess I just need to wait until my better half is not in the room to live dangerously 😉

You're going to switch all the lighting circuits off first anyway right? So the worst that should happen is you go to switch the circuits back on and one of them won't stay on.

Yep, not planning on playing Russian roulette that far up a ladder 😇 I will use my bluntest mansonry bit

This is the stevo_com approved method of safety and testing. Best one is when the light and circuit stays on, with the wall switch off. Fun times.

Yes, probably should have made that clearer. Switch all the lighting circuits off at the consumer unit.

That way you won't have a live wiring loop to deal with if you happen to be dealing with a switch line setup.

Just switching off at the light switch will not stop a lighting loop from having power.

Thanks to all who gave me advice on trellises (trelii?) a few weeks ago. Spent a few hours over lunch doing a test panel - it's not too late to change how I'm doing things so any pointers welcome. I might put in another wall anchor higher up on the right hand side of this picture

The concrete screws seem to be doing a nice job in the wall. The hardest bit of the whole operation seems to be getting a tool into the diagonal lattice to attach the trellis bit to the post.

1 Attachment

Well pb swiss and knipex both make some top tier tools used by normal people who understand the value on them, but a grand fit that collection must relate to the box or is aesthetic.

Tools in there maybe amount to 400 at retail?

Nice looking curtain rails, as with many home fixtures, seem impossible to find.

So I bent a bit of plumbing pipe and drilled holes into some old broomhandle then Osmo’ed it.

Cheap & cheerful. Might verdigris the copper at some point.

3 Attachments

That looks brilliant. Nice job

Creative. And agree re OTP rails looking pretty naff.

Looks great! You could probably flog this to the next inhabitant of 10 Downing Street for £3k / window

nice, I have just orderd something quite similar, but with Ash poles

And they’re so cute.

1 Attachment

Which spray tool did you use?

I have rank, thick pebbledash porridge on the front of my house that I’ve been fantasising about painting for ages, but reluctant to take on due to the aforementioned dab brush/roller slog.

Just had some rendering repairs to our house (quite rough to match) and asked the plastered about spraying as I had read this thread , he seemed to think that some big deep pile roller from a pro shop (didn't name) would be better.

Still tempted with spraying it!

Socket behind washing machine has gone again, I think it gets hit by the back of the machine vibrating.
It’s a shonky job where they have snipped the old wire (white) and punched the new wire (grey) through the plasterboard and into a socket that is held in by prayers and gravity.
Am I a bad person if put a socket on the floor under the sink so at least I can deal with a blown fuse and not have to remove the built in machine every time?
The Wren fitters did this with fridge and freezer. There is a bank of fused isolation switches in a cupboard so it’s just about compliant if still lazyarsed

2 Attachments

We've got an old stone wall between our neighbours side return and ours. Some valerian bushes have grown in the cracks and started to dislodge some of the stones and bricks (which line the top of it). How can I get rid of the roots and repair it. I'd rather not use chemicals. Some kind of metal bolt to anchor it all? I want to do it with the aim of installing about 3 ft high of fencing for a bit of extra privacy / cat protection.

Stashed Products make quite a nice looking hanging storage system for bikes:

I think the one I'd need would be the 8 hook version, which requires two sections of rail - which would be ~£570, which isn't horrific but is still a chunk of money.

I have a bunch of hooks that I've used to hang bikes from the ceiling, I'm wondering if they could be persuaded to work with a sliding door track/trolley system such as this Saheco:

Because it seems, if that could be done, to be a couple of hundred quid rather than almost £600.

Has anyone seem this type of door system in a shop in or around London that I could go and examine the trolleys to see if this might work?

Could you roll (ha) your own? https://www.runners-uk.com/multirail-manual/?product_cats%5B0%5D=multirail-track-bends

I thought that rail was one of these:
Hanging rail

^^That’s appealingly modular, but also more expensive than the OTP system would be that is designed for bicycles.

Although you could make a complex track with switching, which does appeal in some ways.

I specced 3m with stops/brackets and 8 hooks and it looked like ~£250. Then I went down a bit of a rabbit hole as to whether I could mount my entire garage on an overhead rail system…

The hooks are ~£72.36+VAT each, which gives ~£700 for 8, I’m guessing I’ve missed a much cheaper hook option?