Home DIY

Yes.

The weak point will be how the decor panels are attached to the carcasses, because this is where the combined weight of the shelves and books will be held. I usually use 6 4 X 25mm screws. Bear in mind it's not just the screws holding the weight though as the screws are pulling the panels into the side of the cabinet and create a fair amount of friction.

As far as the pins go chipboard handles compression forces very well, it's basically chips of wood glue together under a lot of pressure. This means there is no grain to split 5mm shelf pins have a stated maximum load of 12.5 kg per pin so if you put 6 pins per shelf in then the shelf+ load can be 75kgs. Would strongly recommend you make a jig for the holes from a bit of 2x1" or an offcut. This guarantees that all the pins will be at the same height.

Bear in mind there are "bespoke" kitchen manufacturers and bespoke kitchen manufacturers one is significantly more expensive than the other. The more expensive of the two falls under the "if sir has to ask the price then I'm afraid he can't afford it." business model.

It's the attachment closest to the rear of the car and it wobbles in and out rather than up and down. It'll be fine for now - noticed it had stopped working for a week or so before the incident earlier. I'll take it to a garage before my luck runs out - happy to have survived this far.

Much quicker project this weekend.

Using some of the plywood left over from the last project, a quick sofa table to hold cans / pint glasses.

The cat is super needy when we’re on the sofa and we were always having to keep an eye on drinks as he brushed them with his tail.

This thing physically won’t let even tall pint glasses full of liquid tip beyond a degree or two.

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Love it, sort of upmarket beer gauntlet from men behaving badly...

When I used to buy coffee for office mates I made something similar for six Innate cups though the legs were made of threaded rod with rubber cane tips for feet.

I'll take 2 please!

Trouble shooting advice please. the hearth in our space room is sunken on at one end about 25-30mm below the finished floor level. The other end is almost flush with the floor. It's very sturdy and hasn't gone anywhere in the past 18months. Tried standing and jumping on it and it wont shift.

I'd like to fill it in to end up with it being level with the floor boards. My plan is for self levelling screed polished and painted as best as possible. Alternatively, levelling screed to build it up slightly at the deeper end then tiles over the top , though this would result in it being raised above the floor at the higher.

Before I go pour a load of self levelling screed and attempt to create a presentable finished surface does anyone have any words of warning or advice?

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Self levelling isn't really designed to be a finished surface, it is designed to have tiles or flooring laid on top. Also you'll lose half of it down the gaps at the side. Unlike other cement based products it goes from hard to set pretty quickly.

You have the desired finish height you'd be better off screening it. Mix up a 1 part cement to 3 parts sharp sand, you want the mix to be dry. The best way to do it is to put the sand and cement in a flexitub and thoroughly mix it together with a bucket trowel (the set I've linked to here doesn't have a bucket trowel but you can use the guageing trowel for the same purpose plus it has everything you need and costs less than one decent bucket trowel) once it is well mixed together you need to add a little bit of water at a time until you reach the desired consistency. You want to be able to pick up a handful and form it into a ball in your hand with light pressure and not have any liquid showing on the surface of the ball, if you go over just add a little bit more sand and cement.

Put the mix on the hearth and roughly smooth it out with the trowel. When you're nearly there get the float (plastering trowel) and holding that at a very slight angle drag the surface level adding a bit more mix if needed.

Once it is at the right level leave it for 5 -10 minutes and polish with the float, using the whole flat back of it to apply moderate pressure and really smooth everything out and bring up a nice finish.

Is the wooden floor level?

Cheers, that sounds like a much more suitable solution. Got a bag of sand already so just need to source some cement.

Has anyone any pointers about alcove shelving of the floating kind? I was going to order some custom made one from Etsy and install them myself, but the distance between the wall is not uniform (old house). How much of a tolerance can I get away with?

Or are there any other options? Getting someone to do would be nice but I have been quoted for £1 k for three shelves on either side!

Thanks for your help

You can get the effect of floating shelves by putting in standard shelves on battens and adding a very thin board (6mm MDF) underneath the batten and a bit of tirm on the front to cover the gap. Be prepared for lots of scribing and recutting if your alcoves aren't regular though.

Be aware that generally floating shelves have to be slotted into/onto the frame, so if your alcove is wider at the back than at the front you will have to get the shelves cut to the narrowest point just to be able to fit them in

If I were doing this I’d make a box mould out of ply and pour the screed into that, allow it to set, then glue in place. That way, if something goes wrong, the consequences won’t be as dire, plus the fix isn’t quite as permanent.

Lift the board to the left.
Use crowbar/prybar to raise hearth.
Insert suitably sized wedges along depth of hearth.

If the water is replaced by PVA you might be able to avoid shrinkage cracking as the sand/cement mix goes off.

@will101 - I would second the suggested from mespilus. However, could you lift the left most board that meets the widest edge of the hearth i.e not the one that goes under the floorboard? That might be easier to lift and you don't risk damaging the skirting. Then do what mespilus said above.

Do you mean using PVA as a bonding agent? If that is the case then SBR is a better option however in this instance given the area is so small then partially bonded should be ok.

I've laid a fair few screeds in both domestic and commercial environments and never heard of mixing a screed with PVA.

I mean to avoid the inevitable shrinkage cracking from a simple sand/cement mix.
The Fosroc screed and grouts you mentioned upthread typically had additives to ensure dual phase shrinkage compensation.

No need to add anything to a bag/sack of a branded screed or grout,
but for this application replacement of some/all of the water with PVA,
(commercially available cans will be dilutions of PVA in water),
will improve the workability and should will the risk of shrinkage cracking.

What's the best vacuum I can buy? I don't do robots. I feel an upright appeals more than a cylinder. I've had a shit cylinder Dyson for the past 5 years - the plug just fell apart. I could replace the plug obviously but figure the time has come - it did a crap job at the best of times, was ugly, heavy/awkward, difficult to clean/empty, didn't have much sucking power etc.

There must exist a vacuum that works as well after a year / five years as it does on day 1 - hard floors and rugs.

Miele.

Seconded

Thirded.

Shark.
Got one, had it for 6 m, been impressed so far and not expensive. I went for the wired version rather than battery