Home DIY

If it's just moving them then it's not notifiable and you can do it yourself.

When I put mine in I used metal rods (similar to barrier fencing pins) cut down and then drilled the holes out on each sleeper.

They're working absolutely perfect for raised beds and retaining walls. I can get pictures later if you wish.

I used timberdrive screws, 2 per corner. Countersunk with a spade bit.

Cross post from Gardening thread...

I need to build a couple of retaining walls, both a max of about a metre deep, one is 10 metres long, one closer to 30.

Looking into options, I am rubbish at blockwork so that is ruled out, Sleepers are possible, but I suspect would work out to be much £££ and if I use proper reclaimed ones will leach creosote through the summer. Last option I have thought of is to use Gabion baskets, I have about 200 tonnes of flint in a pile in the back garden, so filling them won't be an issue, and they work out a lot cheaper than sleepers and in theory should last longer.

Has anyone else got any bright (cheap!) ideas that don't involve paying someone more skillful than me?

Concrete sandbags?

about 200 tonnes of flint

Your garden. It's not a quarry?

Apologies, this is not helpful in any way.

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I'm redoing the piss poor job the carpenter made of an above door window - have bought bits to make a frame pre cut online, have found plenty of similar sites offering glass cut to size but postage is always about 400% of item price (prob fair does).

TL DR: Anywhere in East London I can buy custom cut glass?

I don't know which part of east London you are in but I can't imagine you're more than 2 miles away from a glass merchants. If you don't go in at lunchtime/home time then a decent place would hopefully cut you a piece while you wait. Unless it's massive and needs to be toughened.

I'm E3, any that you know of and recommend? Not sure I need toughened - it's only absit 700mmx300mm and way out of reach... this is going to be famous last words but I am really looking forward to doing a proper job of it and then sending before/after to the company I paid to do it.

Ha! It’s a load of old barns that fell over...

Sorry, totally unfamiliar with the area, but a quick google brings up http://www.caplinglass.co.uk/
Looks like any other glass suppliers.
A bit of 6mm or something might cost you a tenner on the spot?

Cheers. Will give them a try.

How do you screw plasterboard into metal studwork? The surrounding stuff appears to just be fixed with standard black plasterboard screws, but when I try it on the patch that I'm putting in the screw just skips off and twirls around cutting a big hole in the plasterboard. Are there special screws? Do I need to put a pilot hole in the stud?

They should be self-tapping screws. Better still are drill point. What are the threads like? If you are trying to use wood screws (coarse thread) then you will also struggle. You should have fine threaded screws for metal studs.

These are just standard bugle-head drywall screws. From comparing online images they look fine-threaded. I got a couple in apparently just by pressing really hard, but all the others just seem to skate off the stud and tear up the plasterboard.

Hanging the plastetboard horizontally? That was how I learned to work with sheetrock and metal stud walls. It gives you better leverage. The screws can skip around if there is any flex in the stud. Hanging it horizontally is supposed to help.

Sadly not an option, since I'm screwing in a small patch of plasterboard to fix a ceiling. I think I think I'll just have to drill pilot holes. That shouldn't be too much of an arseache since it's only about 8 screws.

Oh. Ceiling. Ignore that bit tthen. But a ceiling would explain the flex, especially if the run is over 6 feet or so.

There are specific plasterboard screw driving heads available for some drills. They hold the screw and have a depth stop clutch so you can punch them in like an 800lb gorilla without driving them straight through to the neighbours. The auto feed plasterboard drivers work the same way, the screws are normally extra sharp too. You're probably better off piloting them for a small amount though.

Mrs Sparky dropped something on the bathroom floor and some grout has come out. When you tread on those tiles near that corner they now click slightly. Is there some sort of product I can squirt in there to set everything solid? Or is that grout?

I'm less worried about aesthetics than I am about the tiles ultimately cracking, which I imagine is on the cards if I do nothing. Although if the fix involves matching the existing grey colour, mores the better.

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Freecycle:

I cleared out the shed and have about 150 white metro tiles, 10 X 20cm.

Free to anyone who wants them, collect from se24.

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Can anyone tell me (an idiot) what the difference between a Dual RCD and RCBO consumer unit is? I am being quoted £350 for the first and £500 for the second and I want to know what the practical benefits for me of the second will be, from someone without a vested interest in upselling! I currently know nothing about electricity.

Dual RCD will have the board split in two (upstairs/downstairs) with an RCD on several circuits.

RCBO board with have individual RCBO's on certain circuits.

The RCBO board stops nuisance tripping from affecting other circuits but costs more due to having more than just two RCD's.

Thanks! No difference in safety, just convenience, then?

Both as safe as each other. Just the RCBO version won't trip out the downstairs power sockets when the bathroom light blows.