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  • I need to buy a tool to use as a prop suggesting 'don't pull something out'. So some kind of pliers/grippy thing.

  • Neji saurus!

  • Knipex, although Neji saurus is a good shout as well.

  • Thanks both, I prefer the sounds of these to the thing I presume is a relative of the humble speculum above.

    That neji saurus screw plier thing is a nice idea so will get one of those just for being useful, but for this have ordered a knipex plier wrench.

  • vpsr20off £20 off order over £99 at VictoriaPlum if anyone wants it

  • Radiators. We have a panel thing currently in a bedroom we're in the process of redecorating. I don't trust the floors for cast iron. I'm guessing a column we can choose an appropriate colour for. Is there any practical reason to have a vertical one other than you don't have much horizontal space?

  • Good. Thanks. Trying to dissuade my wife from having a tall thin thing on a big empty wall.

    I'm thinking more like this:
    https://www.bestheating.com/milano-windsor-anthracite-traditional-horizontal-triple-column-radiator-choice-of-size-and-feet-88634

    No idea on brands to look for. 700 quid seems like a chunk plus plumbing costs to move the current rad. But equally I bet there are similar looking ones for 5 times that price.

  • the thing I presume is a relative of the humble speculum above.

    Close, they are delivery forceps.

  • Which would probably have been funnier given the vaguely similar context of the work.

  • What should I use to seal this wood, ideally such that it doesn't get stained by coffee or cup rings and is food safe? Danish oil? The top is pine plywood

    Osmo Polyx seems to be recommended on here for worktops? I guess this trolley has the same use case albeit pine


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  • similar wood question - i want to get a piece of wood to use as a bath side panel - is this what something like marine ply is for, or will everything just get mouldy and rot?

  • @frankenbike depending on whether you want to keep a very light pine look you can use Osmo Polyx or Osmo Polyx with a tint of white (that will keep it light)

  • Has anyone ever shaped a sheet of brass? I have acquired a lovely bullnose step cover which is made of brass but my step isn't bull nose (its square edge slate) so I need to reshape it. Can I just heat it up and whack it with a hammer around a square edge and hope for the best!?

  • I once did this with a mate who used it for an internal step up between rooms, we had a sheet of copper we'd cut out of a skip diving score. The step it was going on was wooden, so we just lined it up, fixed the top edge and spent ages tapping it into submission. Looked awesome at the end tbh, I'll see if I can find a picture.

    With slate I guess that technique wouldn't go so well, but if you can replicate the step with a lump of wood, just keep hitting it with a hammer?

  • In our boiler room, we have 5 pairs of red and blue pipes going into the wall. 3 seem to be going to the top floor, 2 to the ground floor. All of them are just taped over the end or open. Our house was built in 2002 and currently relies on electric rads and a wood burner for heating. What do you think are the chances that the builders put in all the piping for UFH but never connected it up? They don’t follow the same route as the normal water supply lines. Anyone got any bright ideas of how to find out? I’ve tried putting my 5m endoscope down a couple, but they seemed to just go straight under the house. I also tried sticking my compressor on the end of one, but couldn’t really get a good seal.


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  • Blow some air in and find out if it's feed/return?

    Then you'd have to pressure/leakage test.

    Could be for heat pumps?

  • I'm installing a fire escape ladder in my gable end bathroom. It's effectively a rope ladder that has two loops for carabiners and it will attach to the inside of a wooden cupboard that's been reinforced for the purpose of supporting it. I'm thinking to use climbing carabiners attached to slings that go through some kind of ground anchor fixing. But I don't know what to look for/what spec to aim for for that fixing. Does anyone have any tips?

    From looking at the listings for escape ladders it appears that people use a mix of climbing anchors like Petzl Coeur bolts (if in concrete/stone) and random steel plate fixings (if in wood) but I wouldn't mind over-speccing this to be sure it's safe.

  • That’s what I was trying with the compressor, but with the best part of 6 bar, nothing seems to be flowing. So they must be terminated somewhere. But I have no clue where.

  • Climbing anchors will be way over-built, the weakpoint will almost certainly be what you are fixing into. Will you be screwing it into the wooden cabinet or do you have access to bolt through it? Will the slings then hang straight out of the window?
    I would happily trust my life to 2 x 10mm lag bolts or similar if they were well tightened into solid wood and loaded in shear.

  • Those cable restrictors are effective but well ugly. Hence they are usually only found on hotels where liability trumps aesthetics.

    What type of window are you trying to secure, as there's other options depending on the style of opening
    Tilt and turn
    Outward opening casement

  • No advice but just curious if this is intended to get signed off by building control?

  • Nope. We're installing it because we're in an old Glasgow tenement building with one stairwell, on a street where a couple of other buildings have burned to the ground in the last few years, and the idea is to give us an alternative escape route to be used in an absolute emergency. I'm aware that these are a requirement if you're converting an attic into a bedroom for an HMO in England though.

  • Ah yeah sounds like a good call - was imagining it was just for egress from a new loft conversion or something.

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Home DIY

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