Home DIY

Cheers. They’re all dead straight now... let’s see what a week in my dry workshop does.

😍

Lovely.
We’re gonna need some outdoor furniture had been looking at the palisade stuff but would prefer this. Could it be made as benches/table/chairs?

nice. stainless?

Like dining style? Sure, I can design that.

Clients weren’t into stainless unfortunately. It’ll be powdercoated steel in this case.

What's the best solution for fixing a Fire Door (front door to my flat) that rattles when a draught passes through the flat?

Getting a custom made fire door built from scratch is hideously expensive...

Has it got intumescent strip on it? The brush versions get flattened over time and use.

You can replace with new stuff which will make the door fit more snuggly in the frame.

Looks like this 50/60’s reception chair that I’ll reupholster when my cats die.

1 Attachment

That room looks amazing, what/where is it? Do you live in a warehouse or is it a big utility room?

Looks like those warehouses Hackney Wick way? Remember being in awe of the Scott's.

This is the back of our kitchen island. We deliberately got the middle unit narrower than the others to put in some shelves for cookbooks in between.

We are going to use some worktop offcuts for the shelves themselves, but I didn't want to use battens attached to the kitchen panels because I get the impression they won't be strong enough - they're just decor panels.

I have bought some twin slot shelving so that can hopefully spread the weight a bit.

Is there a way to attach the uprights from the twin slot shelving to the floor or to a piece of wood on the floor, so there's even less weight on the cabinets? Or will making sure they're standing on the floor do that for me?

It's this kind of shelving:

https://www.tradesystems.co.uk/DU430B-Sapphire-Twin-Slot-Wall-Mounted-Shelving-Upright-430mm-Black-DU430BL.html#SID=151

I hope that makes sense.

1 Attachment

Looks like this 50/60’s reception chair that I’ll reupholster when my cats die.

Make sure you have enough, I hate running out of cats when halfway through a job.

Lol, would rep.

If the twin-slot uprights are definitely resting on the floor, and you can maybe somehow support them from above (by attaching something... into the bottom of the worktop - it'll be pretty strong) then the rear 'decor' panel of the unit shouldn't be taking too much strain, more just making sure the uprights don't fall forwards.

Edit: thought about it some more. Maybe you're already planning to do this, but if you mount the twin slot uprights on the two sides, not the back, and have the horizontals pointing towards each other, it should be stronger than just mounting on the back and having the front unsupported.

I think.

Thanks for that!

I've bought four uprights and was going to have two on the sides with 220mm brackets and two on the back with 120mm brackets for each shelf.

Because the bottom shelf is going to be sitting on wood, I might rest the uprights on the bottom shelf and attach the top of it to the worktop with angle brackets.

Sounds bombproof. Photos when you're done!

The only thing I'm not sure about is what kind of wood to rest the bottom shelf on. The plinth that's there at the moment is 8cm tall and I'm not sure whether you can get 8cm timber in a small amount like that.

I could always cut the plinth and then put the bottom shelf at any height I want but it might not look as tidy.

Make a miniature table (with legs of less than 8cm tall) which matches the height of the plinth and sits within it and level with it, and then rest the bottom shelf on that/make it as one unit?

I get the feeling that the plans are now getting way beyond my skill level!

Can you adjust the keeper plate on the frame, so the door latches a bit tighter?
Is the lock worn, so the latch /Deadbolt has play in it?

Yes, warehouse but I’m close to Finsbury Park rather than over Hackney Wick way. I’ve been running the space for around 3.5 years. Was a shit tip when I took over the lease but slowly getting there:

1 Attachment

Is fitting your own kitchen from scratch an insane thing to try and do?

It feels like it would allow way more flexibility in design, and allow things like cabinets all the way to the ceiling, avoiding to many voids, not having service gaps where they're not needed etc...

I was thinking MDF / ply carcasses & doors, using a cutting service to keep things nice and square & straight.

Have you designed or fitted kitchens before?

Personally I wouldn't as there is always going to be things that go differently than expected. The fact that you've got no one else to blame adds another layer of stress to what can be a stressful process. Instead of doing the whole thing why not focus on designing say floor to ceiling cabs that complement an otp kitchen that you've specced.

Have you seen our kitchen?

Having lived with my kitchen which someone DIY installed... I would say that cabinets are not the worry or concern.

The concern is whether you've got your electrics right, whether your plumbing is done right, whether your boiler is accessible and serviceable (including filters, taps, plumbing around them), whether it all makes sense as a total thing, i.e. I have sockets beneath a sink, and individually I'm sure this is fine to reason about but when the sink waste trap failed and leaked it shorted all of the electrics, and as those weren't isolated properly it took out a couple of things with it.

The cabinets seem to be the smallest problem, and I feel up to buying and fitting either ready-mades or carcasses... the thing I wish whomever had done my kitchen had done, is simply to engage decent trades to strip the kitchen down, put in a decent and clean plumbing and electrics, and then make good the empty kitchen before cabinets had gone in.

So yes... you can do it, but don't scrimp on the trades to get a solid foundation from which you work from. Designing the layout and cutting a cabinet shell to accommodate the layout of the plumbing and electrics is far better than trying to fit the plumbing and electrics to your cabinet layout.