Home DIY

But there isn’t a right or wrong answer - neither with the wood or the metal, you will improvise and improve it until you’re happy!

[my photos came out the wrong way round, the battered looking one is lacquer-removed-and-aged, I think I polished the natural looking contact points a bit more after that photo though]

Once you've killed /treated for woodworm (just get the Screwfix stuff) I'd fill the holes with furniture repair wax sticks

Image says it's no.472

Reminds me of my grandparents sofas. Long since gone to landfill I imagine

I've always wanted to use those wax fillers, I think they can be dye tinted possibly making them better (in small areas) than a (hip) resin approach,

This is super, am I a long way out to think your last one was a ply end pattern?

nice job

These pre cut flat pack cabinet places - the cabinet shop / fittingly etc. Any recs for best one?

Looking for two alcove fitted wardrobes approx 93cm wide, 70cm deep, 230cm tall. Two doors, hanging rail, 3 drawers in bottom. Can be painted or we can paint.

I don't suppose anyone has figured out the 'hack' of just buying all the individual components rather than getting a set from one place? Struggling to believe that 2 cabinets should cost 5-6 grand plus vat which is what a few similar sites are quoting.

Thanks. Not mine maybe @Soul

Yeah, me and @TW have both made end ‘grain’ plywood desks.

Mine is now in France:

1 Attachment

@Soul

Hey Tim, what was the solar film you used on your windows to reduce heat? And is it still the best for both reflecting and visibility through it? I’m trying to sort out out overheating flat sooner rather than later but don’t want to lose them being glass windows to see through

This is the stuff we have on the windows. Genuinely can't see any difference in light through the windows but I can notice a significant reduction in heat transferred into the room.

I think @Velocio installed some on my recommendation too. Maybe he has a POV?

Did you fit it yourself? I was thinking about that for us as our house faces south and the 42c weather last year made it like a furnace

Yes. As long as you take your time and use plenty of water / soap solution, it's straight forward to fit. It's definitely easier with a second person though.

Its just a giant sticker, easy enough to apply. Lidl sold rolls of reflective film last year.

Quick word of caution on the privacy / heat reflection film - apparently not all windows are compatible with it, ye olde glass windows are fine but my mother recently moved into a new build & the windows are some new energy efficient laminate construction & can apparently be damaged by laying extra film onto them... messes thermal conductivity or summat causing them to warp - she had someone out to fit privacy film & they advised against it.

Uh oh :D

I'm in a new build (2019). Had mine installed since 2020 without issue though...

Probably be fine - the guy said that she could do it herself & it would most likely be ok but he'd heard of a couple of cases where they delaminated on south facing windows so he didn't want to take the chance... her place was just built last year so maybe the windows are a different spec, might be worth keeping an eye on or checking the spec of the units - it would certainly never have occurred to me

Cheers buddy!

How do people do it? I’m about 12 weeks into a very small project with some other freelance work in between but my back is killing me after working kneeling/squatting on the floor all day, hands hurt from old cycling injuries plus other aches and pains. I guess it’s old age and renovation is a young man’s game.
Plasterer is here tomorrow and he’s in his 60’s !?
Be glad when it’s all done, enjoyed doing some of it but everything takes far longer than anticipated.

You may not be used to physical labour, plus you’re probably working at home-owner pace rather than builder pace. There’s a reason they finish early, it’s tough doing 8-10 hour days of manual labour five+ days a week.

Done plenty of hard graft when I was younger but I’m early 50’s now. Sometimes I plod and do things as precisely as possible but today I was up against it but after 10 hrs I made a mistake and broke a board I had spent 25 min shaping/cutting so called it a day.
In my real job I don’t fuck about and rarely make the wrong decision but that’s where the experience and knowledge counts, same for trades I guess.
I follow a cabinet/furniture maker on Instagram who’s 18 but the work he turns out suggests years at it?!

He probs been doing it for years as his father or someone does it so he's been dragged during the summer holidays and that. Then he has figured out a way to monetise it without doing shite to make money.

Being a young man helps, but also being used to the work counts for a lot too. Even after a decade on the tools, when I retrained as an electrician my hands took way more of a battering than they previously had. And even my physically active and strong mates get absolutely wiped out by doing DIY. Same goes for gardening too. It’s just a very different kind of physical strain. Also, working low down - kneeling or squatting is the absolute pits!
And literally everyone fucks up like that at the end of a hard day. It’s just inevitable.

As for the instagram cabinet maker, just remember that you’re only seeing their highlight reel and not their scrap bin :)

That just like your electrical highlight reel, I can imagine every jobs a highlight reel just like every gas job ;)

“As for the instagram cabinet maker, just remember that you’re only seeing their highlight reel and not their scrap bin :)”
Yeah, my photography is like that sometimes.

There's also the mental exhaustion of having to do everything else. DIY/construction work is not your job, so you end up having to fit it in around everything else and often do it when others would be relaxing or taking time off. There are many days when I finish a 10 hour day of work (woe is me grafting away, on a chair, typing), then realise "ah, fuck, I need to sand the stairs."

Any jobs I've done when I've taken a weekday off work to do it, are 10 times easier.

Squatting and keeling at odd angles can also fuck off. ms_com's office in the eaves room takes 3 times as long and generates 5 times the cursing that any other job does.