Home DIY

Fitting the door and balancing if it's built in.

It's only a 3 these days with the fixings and door map thing. I've done 2 integrated recently and the toughest part was levelling them.

To be fair I have 30 years experience and can build a kitchen from raw materials so I'm going to say an 8 would be different on my scale 🙂

Haha!
I’m judging it by the last one I did. For a mate. Secondhand washer in old ikea kitchen without plumbing. Maybe the door was just the last straw :D

If you don't have the door map and fixings it's a lot harder.

Semi integrated.

Pulling out an old one and putting in a new one.

The big bit of chip board it sits on is fucked.

The more I think about it the more I think this is a job for someone else to do.

Still a bit sad that fixing our old one is is 40% of the cost of the new one we're looking at.

Given that the old one was on a big bit of chip board, I'm guessing the new one will have to be on something. Is there a better material?

I did one integrated dishwasher replacement, and also replaced my oven (small enough to be on a 13A plug).

Happy to pay John Lewis 50UKP for the fitting of the most recent dishwasher (and similar for washing machine) as they do a far better job and don't leave any doubt as to whether it was done correctly or not.

Given that the old one was on a big bit of chip board, I'm guessing the new one will have to be on something. Is there a better material?

Marine grade ply would be my preferred option.

Happy to pay John Lewis 50UKP for the fitting of the most recent dishwasher (and similar for washing machine) as they do a far better job and don't leave any doubt as to whether it was done correctly or not.

I paid AO to install my current washing machine/dryer. They connected the machine's cold water supply to the hot water feed, and blanked off the cold water feed. I ended up having to uninstall it and reinstall it myself. Maybe John Lewis installers aren't blue/red colour blind.

Thanks

Use band clamps/hose clamps on the waste to stop it from falling out and causing a big leak. Not sure if its a requirement but see it too often.

Read instructions on how to level it, often feet at teh front are by hand or with a spanner, but at the back is via a socket/wrench/allen key in a hole kind of a situation. Had some fitter break ours when they moved machine out of way for another purpose and just ripped the leg adjustment mechanism out of it.

^on a similar note - try to avoid moving it once it's been leveled and the legs are sticking out, they can have a tendency to bend/break - bring it back down to floor level each time.

https://verygoodandproper.co.uk/shop/products/rail-system-1200mm

I’m trying to fit one of these to a wall - it has the hidden screws at the rear which should line up and slide on tight. I’ve lined everything up with a laser but it doesn’t fit right/flush and leans forward when stuff is hung on it. I think this is because the wall isn’t dead flat but I’m not sure what the answer is.

Hah! hook friends. Needs a flat wall and screws only protruding the barest minimum amount. 100% movement free on two of mine so it is possible, but the third in our bullshit porch is against some awful lumpy paint render finish thing and just slumps sadly. It was improved after relentless fettling but not as good as the others.

Ok will try again, seems so simple but it’s taking an in-natural amount of work

bit of a moan even though i’m not that bothered as long as the job gets done…

painting render and probs should have checked the paint in shop before i started… crown paint mixed at a crown shop to a crown colour, but seems a fair way off - way more blue (obvs the white balance of the photos is a bit off (internal wall for ref is standard brill white), but not by much) :/

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we'll be going round in circles with screen colours Vs colour chart Vs test pots, the second and further coats get a hell of a lot quicker and easier to apply than the first (and use less paint), tinting machines do need daily set up and shut down along with the colourants needing topping up - not being happy is totally valid, bet they'll put it right quick - even if the tin sticker is what was asked for

A bag of glazing shims/packers and a Stanley knife.
Likely 1 and 2 mm ones meticulously cut in half so they sit along the bottom edge of the shelf to even out any bumps in wall and maybe sit too high but sag level when shelf is loaded

Ah that good be a good little tip

Benjamin Moore paint, anyone used it?
we are off to get sample pots of little greene and paint and paper library in an hour or so but didn’t want to get anything from them if they are shite.
had a bad experience with Mylands and have been told paint and paper library is made by little greene so no issues there.

Mylands dead flat emulsion was really hard to use as it literally dried on the brush and I did not want to pay another £30 for drying retardant just to use it.

Never realised they were a thing until my bathroom guy turned up with a bag, “what are all these different coloured things for?”
Used them myself for a stud wall section joining an older wall that wasn’t straight and getting the plasterboard to mate up level boxing in pipes, makes you wonder what old timers did before plastic, probably whittled them out of wood one at a time...

Let the sales people do their stuff, Benjamin Moore's 'king' paint is scruff-x but they do many more, wet the brush in before use shake out excess possibly even let down/ thin emulsion with water no more than 10%

I’m having a bit of a diy nightmare today though. This is the fibreglass roof above my kitchen. Three corners around the rooflight are cracked and I suspect this is the reason for the damp in the picture. What would you do to rectify if you were me?

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Flexacryl should work well for those cracks.

Clean the surface so it's ready for adhesion, lay some down using gloves (as it's super sticky) then some scrim tape to bridge the gaps across the cracks, and another layer of Flexacryl on top of the tape.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/bostik-roof-repair-compound-grey-1kg/10990

https://www.screwfix.com/p/diall-fibreglass-mesh-tape-white-90m-x-50mm/626cf

CT1 - it’s what a roofer would suggest

From what my dad says he used to buy wooden shims