Home DIY

undo the bolt in the middle of rad for some wiggle room?

Cheers Seems I hadn't quite undone one of the nuts all the way so it was just catching when I tried to remove it. Now off

My hallway is getting carpeted in a month, but some of the boards are very short/warped/knackered from historical rot. What's the best method of getting a good solid sub-floor? T&G chipboard, ply, or replacement boards It's more or less the whole upper landing, about 3m²

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T&G chipboard

As long as the joists are level, this seems like the best plan, if you're taking the boards up.

Glued too.

Ply seems like a very expensive way to do the same, and without the advantage of T&G.

Replacing the boards like for like, if you're a masochist, and want it pErIOd CoRrECt.

Fairly normal to staple 3mm hardboard over the lot or 5mm ply if you like. Underlay and carpet usually soak up the rest so you shouldn't notice anything through it all.

Is it really so bad that you want to replace it all?

Huh, no that's probably sensible. Maybe one or two of the worst that have been chopped in to several sections by plumbers deserve to be replaced.

@TW I'm going to guess the joists aren't level, if the ones in the loft and everything else in the fabric of the building is anything to go by. I think the over-boarding is probably sensible. Does mean a slight level change going in to the bedroom but we're using a slightly thicker pile there anyway so hopefully it'll even out

Sometimes tricky to find the same thickness of board in the local yard. I try and get some out of skips locally if I see any decent lengths.

I'm glad I waited for the weekend to tackle the cooker hood. It was a bit of a horror show in every aspect!

As recommended I dropped the cooker hood a little to get the required space to remove the shroud. As I was working alone and had no idea of the weight (guessed heavy) I cut up a lovely thick cardboard tube that recently delivered some curtain poles and used them as props. At this point I found the original installation was pretty poor. Only three wall mounts used rather than 4 as one of the wall plugs installed was just a mess and had zero hold in the wall. The bottom 2 fixing points didn't use washers at all leaving the large screws with very little contact with the now deformed metal backing. The only top fixing did have a washer, but it was completely inadequate and was deformed to the point of being useless - I doubt it was far from failing.

Anyway, the props stopped any disasters and I was able to remove the shroud. The outlet to the hose had a couple of reducers on top and the first one stopped the outlet trapdoors from opening when the fan was on. I'm not sure of the reason for the trapdoors, I guess to stop shit falling into the fan from above? Anyway, I removed the doors for now as I didn't have any other solution if I wanted it connected and with an air flow.

There was a disconnected pipe leading up into the ceiling which was encouraging, but a quick investigation points to it just exiting into the roof void! There's no external sign of a vent and sticking my hand up there, it sounds like the pipe is just laying on the ceiling floor. Annoying, because what the fuck? Why would anyone do that?

I connected it all up anyway because I was too far invested to just leave it as it was. Drilled three holes and used machine screws to firmly connect the reducers together as they just pushed apart when the air flow was on, and used zip ties to give a solid connection between the pipe and the final reducer. With the fan on it now all holds together so I can fill my roof void with kitchen smells and humidity. Yay.

Putting it all back together I had to sort out the fixings as best I could. I put 2 new top fixings in which are probably a little undersize, but at least they feel solid and I found much more suitable washers with metal plates to spread the load. I added the right size washers to the lower fixings too.

Was a shit job with ultimately no reward! Will have to put thought into what to do with it now. I can't leave it venting into the void.

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Sure you want to destroy the original floor boards? They don’t look that bad? Surely a thick underlay and then the carpet would sort it? Worst case you could sand them level first?

They pretty warped on the profile, you can't see it from this photo but you can definitely feel it under foot. Your idea about a sander will probably sort that out a bit, in addition to the over-boarding.

Might be worth considering that the boards previously raised by electricians and plumbers serve as a handy indicator to where the pipes and cables are under the floor. I’d mark out the layout of services on the new floor, or better yet make accommodations for accessing the pipes and cables in the future, as otherwise getting to them may prove to be rather destructive!

Full disclosure, I am an electrician so I may be slightly biased on the issue!

Yeah it's a good reminder, I mustn't forget to do that. I think the plumber actually 'forgot' to fix back a couple of the boards judging from the noises they're making so it should be pretty simple to see what's what. I need to have a proper look and make a little plan of it all.

Different tradies have different levels of care when it comes to pulling and replacing floorboards, but they’re always going to move more once they’ve had the tongues cut off the boards and they no longer interlock.

Nothing like trying so sort out someone else’s horror show, especially one that looks like it was supposed to be professional.

Annoying, because what the fuck? Why would anyone do that?

Most of these don’t vent outside because that requires all sorts of forward planning and actual competency :(

Usually they just fit a shitty recirculating extractor.

Does the roof void have any ventilation? It’s not an excuse but maybe that’s why they thought it would be OK, or at least not potentially damaging.

Found 2 in a property recently where the vent to outside was in the void but the installer chose not to connect it. 🤪

It would appear not! In fact, now it's all connected it really doesn't extract anything at all! Sitting here in smoke after frying a breakfast pork patty!

The hob instructions say a 150mm exhaust is required, but you can go down to 120mm. I didn't measure at the time, but I can't imagine the pvc duct hose is more than 100mm. The ceiling also has a glass lantern in it and I imagine the construction of the flat roof means it's only venting into a very small void - the flow must be awful now!

I think my immediate plan has to be to get a 150mm aluminium flexible duct and route it to a small side window when in use.

Longer term I need to decide how best to fit a proper 150mm duct and whether I try to fit it myself or get someone in. Looks like I have three options as it's a flat roof - go straight up and out through the top, go through the roof void to the back of the house, or install an exposed duct inside the kitchen (recently saw something like that in the kitchen thread).

Going through the roof void looks more complicated as there will be two or three joists to go through and the external pvc fascia. Going through the roof seems more diy friendly, but I don't want to create any leaks in the roof. Internal routing seems doable, but I'd need a core drill for the wall and to cut a 150mm hole in the side of the stainless shroud - also not sure if the wife would like the look!

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Victorian house: no tongues on the boards. Edit, to be clear one of the sections of boards near the wall wasn't fixed back at all, just placed, loose, in position.

If there's no way for air in the void to get out, you'd need a pretty strong pump in the hood to push the air in to it. So yeah, it's just not going to work, unless you vent the roof void externally somehow.

Flat roofs are bastards to keep working so I'd avoid putting a hole in that.

Best bet might be just to replace the whole lot with a recirculating hood type.

Go over the top of the cabinet out of the back wall and box it in. 150mm might be optimal but 100mm would be easier to manage and a lot better than what you have now.

What’s on the other side of the wall that the cooker hood is mounted on?

You can get rectangular ducting which might help keep things tidy.

220mm x 90mm rectangular ducting is equivalent to 150mm and is air brick vent sized.

Also if you decided to replace the cooker hood, you could get a matching cooker hood cabinet and run the ducting above that.

The other side of the wall is the adjoining neighbour's extension. The houses are on a slope and our kitchen extension is a little higher than theirs, so it is another potential option. Not great access on that side though.

Not sure what to do yet. A top vent straight through the roof is my preferred option if I do it myself - seems the easiest route to cut and the neighbour across the road is a roofer who is generally quite helpful.

Found a pic of the flat roof construction. The far end is where the cooker hood is now installed.

If it stayed like this and no additional framework was installed it looks like I may have a clear run to the fascia?

I've no knowledge on roof construction, will it simply be the plastic external fascia board and then access into the void?

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Anyone used Thorndown paint before?

Do you have venting for air to come into the kitchen? I get better flow when I crack open a window.

Screw them down (check for wires, old gas pipes (I've 'found' several!) and heating pipes etc with tung tite or similar board screws. Knock in any nails then plain off any super high spots, most pine boards cup eventually, powerplaner makes light work of it. 3-5mm ply is enough to reduce the cupping effect that you'll see in the carpet. Hardboard is barely much different from cardboard, stops carpet going down any of the cracks but you'll still see and feel the cups/warped boards through.
Rip whole lot up and 25mm T+G chipboards if you want to achieve perfect level but its always more work than you think.