Home DIY

I couldn't really comment on that setup as I can't really get my head around the details!

It seems like you're just getting some power to your shed in a temporary way and considering safety issues so it should be fine. It's not like you won't remove it if you sell the place.

One of the smart plugs I have has a feature where you can set it to turn off after a selected power draw is exceeded which is going to be interesting for future set ups like this

If its your own house you can get away with a lot of stuff, if your just running stuff in the garage and dont mind winding it up every time your in and it suits you, just do it.

Interesting on the guttering. Will check it out once the shed arrives. It's not a bike shed, but one of their garden sheds - something secure for the back garden for all my tools, bikes that I don't use everyday, house junk... Don't want to drill holes in it really. They design them to be secure and anything drilled through and attached could be a point to wrench a corner open. That's probably not a real problem but I'd rather not drill through it if I can figure out another way.

into conduit along wall>wall mounted switched spur box>out back of this into back of mains Double socket.

It's the end bit that I'm struggling to visualise. Maybe a pic or drawing?

As for running the lead in the virgin media conduit - surely if we know its there - damage is very unlikely - i appreciate its against regs.

I mean this is it isn't it?

I guess with any diy electrical work there's an insurance risk, but ultimately if it's safe I don't really think you need to get hung up on regs. You could always use armoured cable just in case.

We've got an external armoured cable running under our patio. Ultimately it'll have an out door socket on one end and the other end next to the shed will connect into some sort of plug to be plugged into a socket. No idea of the regs associated with that, but it'll only be plugged in occasionally running led Xmas lights and maybe some led evening nights (possibly combined with a phone charger or baby monitor) when we're out there - so where's the risk?

After seeing that laying an armoured cable just consists of laying an armored cable I'm a bit annoyed I didn't diy when we were having our drive done. The total electrician cost meant it was vetoed, but in hindsight I could have just layed a cable myself and at least it would be there. Plus I could have sorted out a trickle charging setup for ky motorcycle. #grumble

Thanks for the reminder re trickle charging - just moved and am trying to figure out the moto parking situation 🙂

Main risk with electrics outside the house is electrocution due to differences in earth impedance preventing the breaker operating. Largely that's what you're paying an electrician to do, properly specify and test the installation.

It seems like you're on the right track with your installation but there would be a lot of dangerous attempts if the regs allowed anyone to have a crack at it and a lot of reasons for that are cost saving.

Never actually seen anyone install an AFDD though, a full RCBO/AFDD board is like £1800 lol.
And AFDDs don’t work on rings either!

What are these two parts called? Can’t find anywhere. Connectors are knackered so would rather replace.

The right one has directional flow
The left is a 90 degree connection with an outlet connection as well

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They both look odd. I thought the left one was a trap then I read your description.

Right hand - 'directional T joint waste' throws up some operationally similar items.

Lot's of fun to be had with AFDDs. At least they are optional for the moment. I like RCBO's, very handy for problem solving on some of the older installations I come across. I don't do any board replacements but you see a lot of smaller boards in London properties. 8 or 10 way is quite common. That would be a lot less money of course.

started a thread for my stream of consciousness outpourings of ideas for my summerhouse conversion so I can spam this thread with more specific questions rather than a firehose of constant updates.

would appreciate if people could pop in and have a look if they get bored. most of it is using the most basic understanding of things so i'm sure there's plenty of stuff people will be able to flag as impossible and save me some wasted time down the wrong paths.

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/386976/newest/

I'm poking around the front of our (rented, I may add) house trying to work out why the gutter downpipe drain doesn't drain.

It's a plain gully with no outlets on the walls. All I can feel is a series of four or five 'ribbed' small holes on one of the bottom edges of the pot. These are absolutely tiny – they can't be more than 5mm tall. I can't imagine how or why these would be a baffle?

What on earth is going on here? The house is victorian and the gully looks original.

The gulley sits inside a large filled retaining wall of sorts (we live on a steep street, being Bristol).

Unwilling to spend effort truly working out what is wrong, but would like to be able to tell our (amenable) landlord what's wrong so it can get sorted.

Incidentally, I've been telling him about the damp at the front of the house for years now. It's not a massive deal for us but it's clearly fucking his house. I suspect this is what is causing this.

Couldn't find anything so just replaced the whole lot. Was tricky due to the waste pipe exiting the wall quite high up, couldn't fit a p trap with a connection for washing machine for example as it was too tall so had to swap it out.

Not sure the washing machine should drain where it does but its where it was before. If anyone has any suggestions..

At least everything slopes now

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I think that connection is usually for a sink overflow. Should work but I guess it will be a little bit noisier than the usual place on the p trap.

It might do what ours does and splash up through the plug hole in the sink but other than that nbd

Yeah - its not ideal. I initially took it all apart as the washing machine was filling the sink. Turns out someone tipped the contents of the toaster down the sink causing a block in the section before the trap and the washer emptied quicker than it could drain.

I guess thats why previous fitter had that weird elbow with overflow connected to it as they had used up the sink overflow point for the washer.

@Sheppz my temporary shed electrical supply is an RCD protected extension lead that is fed into the shed (I removed the plug, fed through and popped back on) - provides me with 4 sockets for lamp, laptop, monitor and phone charger.

It’s plugged into an exterior socket in a little lean-to on the side of the house. We unplug it when not in use.

It’s been there for 3 years and never had an issue.

I do keep thinking about getting a proper supply down there but I don’t think we’ll stay in the house long enough to make it worth it.

I need to fasten down a couple of Millboard decking planks that are lifting. They are fastened to wooden batons, does anyone know what screws are required? The Millboard own brand ones are so expensive, will something from Screwfix do?

Hi all. I want to build a base to lay some encaustic cement tiles in my garden. However, I can't find consistent advice regarding the best way to do it. Can someone confirm my process?

1. Build a Wooden frame to encase the space (3m X 4.5m)
   
2. Dig down 150mm
   
3. Fill with hardcore (40mm to dust) up to 75mm.
   
4. Compact
   
5. Fill the remaining space(75mm deep) with concrete**
   
6. Use a tile adhesive to lay encaustic tiles
   
7. Grout tiles
   
8. Enjoy a beer and a BBQ on my nice new patio
   
   

How many 20kgs ready-mix concrete bags will I roughly need? I don't have exterior access to my back garden and I have no front garden so I can't have bulk bags left out front.

I just worked it out but then realised that cement and sand and aggregate probably weigh different amounts so you can’t convert from volume to mass reliably.

I think you need slightly more than 1m3 of concrete (3*4.5*0.075=1.0125m3). Google tells me typically, 1m3 of concrete is made up of 350Kg of cement, 700Kg of sand, 1,200Kg of chippings and 150 Litres of water. (Which is about a 1:2:3.7 ratio)

So 1m3 would be 14 x 25kg bags of cement, you might need 15.

One 20 kg bag of Blue Circle multi-purpose concrete will typically produce around 0.01 m3 of fresh concrete (0.33m x 0.33m x 0.1m).

(According to the datasheet, https://tarmac-bluecircle.co.uk/multi-purpose-concrete/)

You need 3x4x0.075 which I make 1.01m3 or 101 bags.

I need to run electricity to a shed that isn't built yet, at some point in the future. Some of the cable will run under a concrete path that will eventually be dug up, some of it under a path I want to finish now.

What's the tactic here? Conduit under the new path and pull cable through later? Is there a special kind of conduit I should use to make life easy, and how do I stop the end filling with dirt?

Oh yeah, and I'll need to run Ethernet too, is there issue with those running in close proximity to each other? Might potentially be able to use fiber if I upgrade my router but not sure if that requires £££ crimping tools.

Splicing fibre requires an expensive machine and some training. You can get pre-terminated fibre in a specific length with a protective end so you can pull it through duct without damaging it. It's quite expensive compared to copper.

I'd put a pair of parallel plastic ducts under the concrete. BT specify 54mm solid duct and solid bends. Cable companies use Flexi duct like https://www.drainagepipe.co.uk/flexi-duct-50mm-i-d-x-50mtr-black-coil-p-D50B/

You can get fancy duct sealing products like https://www.millsltd.com/default/cable-management/duct-sealing/filoseal-duct-sealing-kit-75-125mm.html but I'd probably use some packaging foam or something depending on where the ends are.