Home DIY

I have serious cast iron jealously.

I think you are right regarding the chipping sizes and lungs, but I did notice in the DC some fine dust in there too, so I put a respirator on just in case anyway.

I really want a thickness planer combo machine.

makes sense, I blame my failing eyesight...

I have the small Jet planer/thicknesser machine and its great (wish I'd bought the 310 though) it was approx. £600 when I bought it, its now nearly £2k! Axminster trade one looks better value and very similar.

I love machining timber up, I never get over how it changes from rough sawn to planed and the fantastic grain appears - particularly American black walnut

I'll look out for the finished table

I went to axminster a few weeks ago to eye up their machines. Their unit's table flips up in two pieces and is generally a faff. I got the feeling they would fall out of alignment with one another with time. The jet seemed better in every way. They are "on sale" at 1.7k now. If one pops up second hand I'll bite. Speaking of, want to make your money back and sell me yours!?

If one pops up second hand

I have an older Axminster table saw going spare - Yours for free if you can pick it up from Newbury.

I'm there tomorrow, so can post some photos & more details.

That's very kind of you, I'd be indulging if I said yes though as I already have a table saw. How come you don't want it? I'm curious though and my dad might want it so yeah some photos/details would be good.

If Hovis and his Dad don't want it I know a newly qualified carpenter who is currently despairing at how much money he is having to fork out to get himself kitted out who would be very greatfull

you just had me looking at second hand Sedgewick planer/thicknessers on eBay but its not realistic anytime some unfortunately.

How come you don't want it?

It's way more table saw than I need. Father-in-law used to make fancy furniture from fancy woods. I'm only ever going to cut up sheets of ply and chipboard.

Anyone on here ever had a go at fitting their own kitchen?

I'd consider myself pretty competent with diy, and not planning to change locations of major appliances (washing machine, electric oven, electric hob and fridge) or sink.

Reckon it's doable?

Did installing units etc with brother in law, didn’t fit the work top as it was done by the stone supplier. Don’t recall any major issues but it was a fairly simple design on a new flat floor with nice new flat walls and proper corners rather than a bodgy odd shaped room.

Any recommendations for a bathroom fitter in Central/North London (NW1)? Cheers

On a similar note, anyone any experience of Wickes bathrooms?

Fitting kitchen units is well within the capabilities of a competent diyer.

Fitting a worktop is more tricky and requires some specialist(ish) kit; router with guide bush, worktop jig, biscuit cutter. There is no reason why a diyer couldn't do it but mistakes are costly and these days cut outs for sinks are generally becoming more complex with much lower margins for error.

If you are looking to save money my advice would be to fit the units yourself and get a pro in to fit the worktops.

Sounds good, and to be honest we were thinking of keeping the existing worktops as they're not too bad. It was more just a case of updating the units and doors below the worktop.

We were going to replace the high level units with open shelves.

If it's a question of updating the existing kitchen (assuming the kitchen units are not shot) you could try just replacing the doors. Take them off, along with any trim pieces (plinths, pilasters, infil panels and show end panels) and measure them accurately. You can then go to a cutting service like cutwrights who can provide you with cut and edgebanded boards made from a variety of different materials all of a very high standard. They can even make shaker style doors. You can also get matching shelving units made up with the materials they supply.

You got a short memory..... my kitchen nightmare.

As the others have said.

@Bobbo when have tried to that in the past, found that hinges on the doors didn't line up with the cut out on the units.

Replace doors? Its really not hard. When you buy custom made ones from a supplier or order un drilled doors then you can put the hinge recess wherever you like (but it is a good idea to line them up with the existing hinge plates). Alternatively you can turn an old door into a jig to drill new hinges.

A few weeks back I noticed that the gap between the skirting board and the floorboards in one corner of our living room has suddenly increased by about a cm or so. Crawling down underneath the floor I can see that one of the joists has rotted, probably from rain water running down from one of the air bricks. The joist that sits on top and is holding that part of the floor up has dropped slightly as the rotted one has compressed below.

I’m thinking some of the floorboards will need to come up and then the rotten joist replaced but it will be awkward given its under a supporting wall. So definitely beyond my DIY skill level.

Can anyone recommend a suitable builder around SE London?

A joist under a supporting wall doesn't sound right.

Water coming though an air brick doesn't sound right either - And if it did, it should still be nowhere near the joist.

Whereabouts is the air brick in relation to your DPC / floor level?

(Sorry - no builder recommendations there, I'm afraid)

And @motman

A joist under a supporting wall doesn't sound right.

Most likely (depending on age of the house) a bearer that has been fixed to a load bearing wall.

Water coming though an air brick doesn't sound right either

Its a fairly common problem. When houses are built air bricks tend to sit a decent way above ground level which means water cannot run into them. Over time the ground level is built up and people either don't realise or don't care that water can now enter the house through the air bricks.

The worst example I've ever seen of this was when I had to put right a floor structure that had rotten because the client had decided to lay a new patio himself on top of his old patio. Somehow he mistook an airbrick for a drain and the fall on his new patio directed ALL of the rainwater that fell onto said patio into the airbrick. Its fair to say his wife was a little upset with him.

Anyone on here ever had a go at fitting their own kitchen?

Husband custom built ours out of ply and salvage retro teak and glass doors. We planned it to be simple, eg a freestanding cooker and straight runs without corners so no joining worktops. We had the worktops cut to shape including the undermount sink cutout which he fitted with me as unskilled labour. He did the plumbing but not the gas. We also bought a 60s drawer unit (teak retro, matches the doors) rather than build a drawer unit, 'cos that's hard.

It's not the design level of some of the stuff shared on here but we like it.

This sounds cool, do you have any pics of the finished kitchen?

2 ticks...

Ours was even lower on the design scale but tastes, budget and minimal hassle requirements conspired to make something we both could not only live with but actually enjoy working and spending time in.

Reality shots from tonight...in all its scruffy glory. Husband hasn't got round to putting trim above the high cupboards yet

The worktops are different heights because I'm 5 foot 1 and galley kitchens can feel like being in a trench, also stuff like mixing cakes where you have to reach over a big bowl is easier at table heigh than worktop height.

We used to have a shallow washing machine behind a white cupboard which was a bit slicker but it died. Next round of refurb will create a separate utility so we didn't worry about getting a slimline this time.

How much toast ;)