Home DIY

I hope someone is writing the massive answer to this - I shy away from the resin , fresh it seems to have flex, but when you find it where rot has continued it's unmovable

I would say, with two part filler the 'styrene' is a carcinogen with other known health hazards , styrene free two part is available - more for the everyday user

I have had to integrate it into a previous repair before. Not had to deal with anyone else's repairs though. I always try to leave solid stuff in place anyway. I've been using the epoxy to join repairs filled with new timber pieces. It's quicker than traditional joining methods and seems to last very well.

Does anyone know how to rewire old lights like these? Was gonna buy these from an old brocante in France but before I do....

I was assuming that you intertwine the new wire to the old one, put electric tape on the join, then unscrew the bulb fastening thing and draw the cable through....?

Worried that the new and old cable will separate inside the unit as it is so curly and then it will be impossible to rethread.

Any ideas?

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Seems like that should work. If you had no cable to pull through you could probably vacuum a piece of cotton through the twist and use it to pull through a string then a cable.

Ah yeah good shout with the vacuum, cheers

Whatever you do, I'd be keen to earth the metal body of the light while you're at it.

Deffo, good point

Bottom of the porch pillars were rotting when we moved in. I cleaned them up and used rot killer/wood gardener and a bit of filler. Then I paid some cowboys to paint the front of the house about a year or so ago. They said they'd "sort" the bases, where instead they slapped more filler on them and left them as asymmetric, amorphous blobs that promptly cracked. I've had a go at making them more presentable.

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Nice! Looks really great, that must be very satisfying

Cheers, it certainly is. I think it was only me that was annoyed by how they were, so subsequently it will be only me who is pleased by the outcome. Just the entire rest of the front of the house to do now. I'm going to repair and paint everything I can reach with a step ladder. A) because I'm not a huge fan of working at height and B) I don't trust anyone else to pay attention to the small details / can't be arsed to explain how I want it done. And anything higher I won't notice as much so just going to get someone in to paint the higher bits.

I swear paying someone to do the front of the house badly has set me way back. But clawing my way forward, again.

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I have a sheet of ash (50x117x5cm) I would like planed flat - it's a bit warped. Where would I get that done (preferably South / South West London)

Good luck.

I'm building a router sled to clear up some 3m long elm boards due to a lack of anyone interested in doing this for me.

Your boards being smaller look for joinery firms and ask if they can do it. 50cm might be too wide for a lot as i found.

Try find a kitchen company that makes kitchens they will have a big planner in the workshop, but it depends if they can be arsed doing it

Thanks both. Will call a couple of carpenters I know in the morning

New socket question. There is currently a double socket on one side of our hallway. I am fairly sure it's not already a spur (hope to confirm when I come to replace it). If it is on the ring, I'd like to spur off that to put another double socket on the other side of the hall where the furniture actually is for a lamp and things.

Question is, would it be better to just spur off the existing, or if I'm going under the floor anyway and can see the cable going to it, break into that and extend the ring to incorporate the new socket using wagos and boxes.

Always extend the ring if you can IMO (as an electrician).

Extend the ring but do it in the backbox, don't splice into a cable under the floor or in the wall. If you are going to run a cable for the spur it's almost as easy to run 2, then you attach one cable to one side of the loop and the other to the other side in the original backbox. Only one side of the loop will be connected in the socket, the other will be in wagos in the backbox. This way if you ever have a problem with the loop you don't need to worry about a connection under a floor.

Consensus reached, thanks. Doing it in the back box makes sense, will see how much room there is in there.

Sometimes it's best to use the push in wagos not the spring arm ones. Occasionally you need to put a bigger backbox in.

I'll see how I get on with the double wagos I have. I think I also have some other non wago ones which are a bit smaller.

I really like these Ideal connectors for this exact application.
https://www.toolstation.com/ideal-industries-in-line-push-in-wire-connector/p87609

Push fit and inline, makes fitting it into a back box a lot easier. And a lot easier to do with short cables than trying to wrestle an inline crimp on.

i've been struggling to cut stuff properly because I cant buy a proper workbench until I know what dimensions my workshop will be and I plan to have it sized to fit the space.

I have a couple of toughbuilt sawhorses which have notches at each end to hold a piece of 2x4" to make a frame of sorts between the two horses so I've ordered some 2x4's and a sheet of 18mm ply and I plan to fix the 2x4 to the long edges of the underside of the ply to make a removeable top that is thin enough it wont be a massive pain to store until my workshop is up and running.

thing is I can't decide how long to make it. too short is going to make cutting things like 2.4m insulation boards a pain or ripping stuff with my circular saw if it's not stable at the ends but if it's too long it'll be shit to move around and use inside the house which given the shite weather is where I'll be stuck working most of the time.

i think 1.5m might be the sweet spot but wonder if anyone has tackled this themselves and has some insight for things I might not be considering like sagging or whatever.

Have you seen the Charlie DIY on his portable workbench?

https://youtube.com/@CharlieDIYte

Also if you're renovating, do you have any shit fire doors?

Also given the weather this summer have you considered getting a gazibo