Home DIY

Here's the adhesive - two tiles were very firmly stuck on.

The walls are covered in poorly-adhered wallpaper, including some nice brick-effect stuff - so redecorating is a must anyway. For someone else, not for me.

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Unbelievably, this is not actually a chimney stripped back to brick. Uncanny!

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During/After shots.

No before shot because it was rank - it had been carpeted without underlay or without treating the wood. And carpet in bathroom should be a capital offence.

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I've relented and am chucking my uncle some money to come help me next weekend. I'm stuck at a point where there's stuff to do in every direction and my (probable) adhd is just sending me round in circles not really achieving anything. just picking at different tasks here and there.

now I have this next week to do a lot of the outstanding fiddly prep stuff so we can just crack on and overboard most of the rooms and hopefully get a few of the rooms to the point where they just need priming and painting.

if we give notice on mon 31st for our current rental we'll have a month to finish the move so it'll be a real litmus test for if we'll have enough time to get everything done before then.

The plan you had written out sounded great, there wasn't much point commenting especially when not 100% sure if it would make it easier for you, I hope I'm sure it'll suddenly become clear what can wait and what can't - keep it up mate

I still write out daily plans for jobs,, and I still get that feeling of 'this task is almost over' then realise there's a heap load more of the same to do... I briefly worked for a builder who'd take jobs on a couple of months in advance, forget about them then the first thing would be a meeting of 'how the fuck are we going to do this then'

I’m telling you now you do not have enough time to do it all (sorry), and as a fellow previously undiagnosed ADHD not seeing progress despite the effort put in is a challenge plus the hours lost looking for the tool you had in your hand just now but it’s disappeared!?
But when it’s done all that will be forgotten
(We are 5 months into a 3 month project but few weeks away from finishing)

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Bed frame is made with slats which lay over a central "beam" and then screw into a piece of softwood which is itself screwed into the solid beech side rail of the bed.

Repeated lowering and raising of my 100kg hulk is causing the screws which hold the piece of softwood into the side rail to break. See pics below. I've replaced and increased the number of screws previously, but it's happened again.

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Middle picture is my wife's side to show how the construction is. Her side does not suffer from this issue...

And yeah, I really should make good the plaster around that socket.... Can't remember why our bedroom was missed out for making good after we had the place re-wired.

Glue and screw should hold better. That or use a wider baton and double the number of screws. (Or both)

It's possible to get feet for the beam running down the middle of the bed, which will hopefully spread the load enough to save the screws

https://www.thebedslatscompany.co.uk/fully-extendable-universal-centre-support-beam-support-foot-black

You may need to reevaluate your screwing technique.

The centre rail is very strong as it's a hardwood board on its edge.

But maybe I could fix an additional rail near the side and fit a couple of those feet.

I think I'll try glue and screws for now and see how it goes.

Countersunk machine screws and some nuts?

You could also try replacing those screws with wider diameter ones?
So if they're 4x40 at the mo try something like these?

I need a wall knocking down. Assuming I've made sure it's not load bearing etc is there any reason I shouldn't do it myself?

I've put it back on now with gorilla glue and twice the no of screws.

Also found a bed bug colony in the process. Lovely.

Re: the tool chat, I’m a bit OTT when it comes to finding the best deals on stuff. I haven’t bought from ITS in a while as it never comes out the cheapest. FFX can be good but occasionally they’ll say stuff is in stock when it isn’t and they’ll leave you waiting for a couple of weeks. Howe tools and powertoolmate are often good. Manomano occasionally has good deals as well. And using price runner never hurts just to double check the deals.
Categorically do not buy batteries off Amazon or eBay, too many fakes about. Even if buying from a reputable seller, fakes are making their way into the genuine makita stock due to how the system works.

But generally, certain items are very competitively priced at screwfix and toolstation, and the convenience of coming from a brick and mortar local store is worth a couple quid price difference.

i got the karcher k3 home and car from toolstation for the same price as the k3 home kit only everywhere else so definitely doesnt hurt to check these things.

The bed bug thing is grim. OMG this is not what I had in mind for this afternoon's DIY...

Edit: I'm now taking the rest of the slats on and cleaning everything with ethanol. It's a bit like being on safari in here. Size of these bastards.

having had them before, get someone in to napalm the shit out of everything asap.

worst couple of months of my adult life

Ah do think professional is the way to go?

100% they spread everywhere in our old flat and took 2 or 3 treatments but it did get rid of them. you spray at boundaries where they're likely to cross over it and they pick it up and die.

I would be sitting on the sofa and I'd notice they'd be crawling up onto my arm and we found them in crevices in all the doorways and our wardrobes.

the cost of the treatment usually includes the return visits.

ours came from our neighbours opposite forwarding all their belongings 2 months ahead of their return from living in new york so they sat in boxes on the landing and just crawled in at the best spot to get to every single part of the flat.

Oh shit, that sounds horrific. Mrs isn't taking the news very well either.