Home DIY

Or attach a utility knife blade to a block of wood the right depth and run it down then pare it off with a chisel.

some of you expressed an interest in the shoe rack. thread here in classifieds. will try and clarify postage. let me know there if you are interested

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/322340/

So I've flattened a section of my front garden, built a shed base out of decking joists, and built a wooden bike shed on top.

Before I secure the shed to the base I'm looking at ground anchors. My original plan was to get a paving slab, attach an Oxford ground anchor, place it under shed, cut hole in floor of shed and pass high rated chain through it.

Problem with that is all bolted down ground anchors need at least 75mm depth. I think most slabs are only 50mm.

Next option is to fill a bucket with 100mm of cement, secure ground anchor to that, and bury it under shed.

Are there any other alternatives? If I'm going down the cement in a bucket route is one of these better: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F153009763059

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Dig a 300mm x 300mm x 600mm hole, stick in a Y-anchor and fill it with 2 bags of postcrete.

A paving slab can be split with a relatively small hammer.

Yeah this is exactly what I had in mind. I was thinking of putting it into a bucket of cement but yeah maybe just setting it straight into the ground is preferable.

I hope I am not insane putting our commuter bikes in a wooden shed in my front garden. I hope the combo of quiet cul de sac, neighbors that are almost always in, shed alarm, ground anchor, and wifi security camera with 2 way mic that pings my phone as soon as someone walks past my house is enough of a deterrent....

Finally got round to repairing the front door last weekend. It wasn't something I had planned doing myself because I knew it would take me ages, but all of the carpenters I had lined up fell through. Tradesmen in London are badly in need of good admin support. @steve_com kindly gave me some wood off-cuts to get me started, though inevitably I had to get some more. The repair process took over a day, with the paint going on coat by coat each evening this week, and the gloss yesterday. Overall, very happy with the result.

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I hope I am not insane [...] wifi security camera with 2 way mic that pings my phone as soon as someone walks past my house

all day long?

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Had my own shed building fun this weekend. Was hoping to the back and sides all cladded up but I'm too slow. Cutting rafters is a pain in the ass if you don't know what you're doing and have OCD tendancies. Looked so easy on youtube.

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Oh and before anyone says anything, those batons on the floor are there temporarily to allow me to slide the thing back to the wall once I've finished.

Lol, it's not that insane, you cut out the quiet cul de sac bit

A shed for midgets?

Looking good!

Cutting rafters is a pain in the ass

I started on rafters today. After the first rafter, I've realised that cutting seat cuts with a miter saw is not going to work. I'll try with a circular saw next week.

(This is after discovering that my plans had the rafters and rear wall cladding trying to share the same space. Using a circular saw on its side 6 feet in the air is fun, I can tell you.)

Just for storage of garden shiz. Lawnmower, bbq, samurai weapons etc

I've realised that cutting seat cuts with a miter saw is not going to work. I'll try with a circular saw next week.

I've gone the opposite way. First tried jigsaw but knots in wood mean the blade goes all over the place. Tried circular saw next, which is how proper framers do it, but I'm not very good with one manually without a guide. Found my big sliding mitre saw the easiest and cleanest way to do it in the end.

sliding mitre

Mine doesn't have enough height and / or reach to do the job properly.

Hey guys, I want to paint the inside of our garage. Concrete block walls and a concrete floor.
Do I need to prime these before painting?
I know there's special floor paint but is regular emulsion fine for the walls?

Use masonry paint on the walls and proper concrete floor paint on the floor (make sure it's clean and dust free first!!).

Water the masonry paint down significantly for the first coat to create a barrier. The second coat will be much easier.

Did my dads double garage in a weekend last year...

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Stripped back a front door at my brother's house. Undercoat x 2 on. Sanded back each time. But for the final coat (or 2) of gloss, is it best to use a foam roller or something, to avoid brush strokes?

Yeah foam rollers work well with gloss. I've experimented with a few now and found the black concave ones from tools station leave the best finish and easiest to use (no streaks). If you don't want those, get high density ones.

These. https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Painting+%26+Decorating/d150/Rollers+%26+Poles/sd3171/Rota+Premier+Concave+Mini+Roller+Refill/p49410

If you decide to go for those and don't want the full pack, I'll take half of them off you if you like. I'm on my last one.

Cool, thanks.
Does the floor paint go straight on without having to prime first?

This stuff did.

All we did was power wash the floor, wait for it to dry and brush it to remove any dust.

If you're using an epoxy paint, i think you need to acid etch it first...

Thanks for the tip - will let you know if there's spares to be had.

Good luck. PS: I updated the link I gave you previously which was just to their generic paint rollers page.