Home DIY

the ALL CAPS guy quoted me £3870 for lead repairs, or £1870 for the repair with sealing it via the other method.

Let's see what the other quotes look like...

Steaming/bending flat will go some way towards it but there will be spring back unless you bend past where you want it to be. I personally would glue and clamp as much as possible then sand the top flat with a belt sander in the same way you would do a floor.

It looks to me like the top is fixed to the base with no allowance for seasonal movement. Slotted connections should be used to allow cross grain expansion/ contraction. Have you a photo underneath?
No matter what fixing/clamps you use it will still still move

Here's the base.

It's not helped but the fact that it lives outdoors on its side all year*.

Don't have a belt sander, but do have a random orbital one and a plane(sp?). I don't really want to plane it too much. Anyway it just needs to be able to hold a wine glass rather than be perfect.

*not out of choice but because it's home in the shed is currently taken up with our replacement indoor doors.

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yes much as I thought, the top boards are fixed to the bottom cross section not allowing for cross grain movement.
are they tongue and groove boards? I would try and remove them if possible and refit using a method which allows for them to expand/ contract. This could be as simple as oversized holes with washers to allow them to move.

No idea. It's a table and bench set some guys in Whitechapel used to knock up and sell for cheap in the 80s.

I think you're right, but I don't want to go to that level of effort. So going to try and stick with my plan but add more screws.

I'm wondering if I can access the benches which have steel frames if that would be a neat way to clamp them as they're long and stiff.

I get that but from my experience wood movement cannot be prevented by fixings alone, hence why all solid wood furniture has to be designed to allow for it. Its curled up at the edges because the timber has dried out and shrunk causing it to lift at the outside edges. In winter it will be flat again...
Not sure what will happen if you fix it down now and it expands again in winter?

I don't think it would take that long to remove the boards and refit properly?

It wasn't all that flat in winter 😂

Fingers crossed by the end of the summer it will have retaken it's rightful home in the shed. So it will be less of an issue.

But I do share your concerns.

Hang on, I think I completely misread this:

This could be as simple as oversized holes with washers to allow them to move.

You mean so the top is almost floating on the fixings. See exaggerated mock up below.

I guess my concern is how you maintain strength and rigidity. The legs get their strength from the top, so weakening that connection makes the whole thing less stable. An alternative would be to make a subframe, but that would take it from a table a reasonable strong adult can move and put up to something that has to have two people.

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Is Johnson trade paint any good?

Bought a tin and some pinnacle trade brushes....let's see.

exactly that, an internal table would use 'buttons' to allow the movement. It shouldn't the stability of the table because you still tighten the screws down. The table won't be any weaker you are just giving it the ability to expand/contract. Without this it will either cup and pull the screws out or split
I don't think you need to construct a sub-frame

Yes, but that's only part of avoiding brush marks in acrylic paint and it's a big subject with lots of different considerations depending on the surface, paint, humidity, temperature, brushes, painting style.

*thisisfine.jpg*

Our windows are painted in a colour homebase don’t do anymore ‘Bracken’. We’ll probably have to get the painte matched (unless their ‘warm earth’ is the same colour) BUT, just in case, I thought I would ask here if anyone knows where there might be a stash, or any recs for getting a good match

worth a speculative email or two to any contacts at homebase you can find online?

perhaps there’s some with access to an archive of bits and bobs that could get more info?

This is not the colour but some googling might find the hex/rgb values and from there it’s easy to find a similar colour

https://encycolorpedia.com/d5c4ac

I'm going to have 12-14 of these 4m long decking boards left at the end of a project, due to phenomenally bad sums on my part. Happy to sell them at a decent discount on the forum. Currently in Catford.

https://www.envirobuild.com/products/composite-decking-explorer-granite?variant=41092786552943

Any tricks for improving the janky work the previous folk did fitting this flooring around doorways? I'm hanging new doors so the door stops are coming off but I'm very reluctant to remove the lining. I have spare flooring but can't think of a way yo get it in there.

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I’d use dark brown frame sealant. More matte than silicone, should be pretty subtle

Usually you would undercut the jambs and run the flooring underneath. I think some sort of mastic,sealant, filler is your best option here.

Maybe one for the gardening thread, but has anyone built a water feature from a few plant pots and a modest, solar powered pump?

I’m wanting one pot cascading gently into another with minimal chance for water loss through evaporation or wind.

Any tips, links?

Euro containers as drawers on DIY furniture: any inspo / tips? @dbr I have a feeling you did this a few years back, perhaps a bed?

I used to use proper Auer euroboxes but they’re not that easy to come by now. Only tip would be that the bases flex more than plywood so don’t plan on heavy loads or space them out to allow for bulge

Thank you for your help and advice.

Think the problem is the person painting using cheap brushes (5 for a £1) and poor technique.

Using those pinnacle brushes doesn't have an issue. Especially as I'm dipping in the paint and not using a roller tray as the paint source.

So far the Dulux once gloss does need prep, as with no prep the paint doesn't stick to the old paint. The paint looks awful.

But not my problem, I hope.

How would you go about trimming a door bottom.

New carpets and underlay have been fitted and now two cupboard doors drag. How would you go about trimming the doors. With minimal mess, as there are new carpets fitted.

I think I have a jigsaw somewhere. But easiest access is a ¼ inch Bosch router and a loud ½ trend router. No planets, either electric or manual.