Home DIY

Has anyone bought/ built garage type shelving recently?

@hugo7 I think?

Oh sorry, meant the paving in the garden.

Laminate repair wax. Leyland do it in lots of colours if you want to go look at it.

This is a bleeding mess in my porch.
Plan is rub it back as much as is required to get a reasonable finish and fill with...(what?) Needs to be drillable/screwable. Does the filler need to be something special or just any deep(ish) hole filler?

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Worth looking on somewhere like BigDug for slot together metal racking, comes in the full range of depth, height, width and weight load. They often do special offers which work out really cheap.

I'm impressed with this. Solid and cheap
https://www.screwfix.com/p/5-tier-steel-heavy-duty-shelving-900-x-450-x-1800mm/631pk
Have it in my kitchen, spare bedroom and loft at the moment until I start on the house properly

paving in the garden.

The secret is digging down deep enough (I had a 14 year old to dig 😆) and getting all your aggregates delivered in ton bags.

Type 2 MOT is the sub base
Then sharp sand to level.
These are thin Indian sandstone (surplus from my sister’s enormous patio)so they’re bedded onto a stiff mortar mix but heavier pavers can be set into sharp sand.

A wacker plate makes life easier.

What's the easiest way of joining armoured cable to a standard cable (for outdoors use)? I'm wondering if there's some solution out there that's neater and easier than having a junction box to join them.

One of these kind of things? https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SWJK1.html?source=adwords&ad_position=&ad_id=415703895078&placement=&kw=&network=u&matchtype=&ad_type=&product_id=SWJK1&product_partition_id=934892185560&campaign=shopping_cable_accessories&version=finalurl_v3&gclid=Cj0KCQjwytOEBhD5ARIsANnRjVgZ4pq1vkL7ftujKsnIrbR0qXwIO2HwXA2Ia6ydo5u8Ktx47gkEwa8aAl7aEALw_wcB

Get one with a quick-change head, the Allen key ones are annoying if you need to change blades and seem to come undone quite easily.

I’m also in the market for a multi tool.
I watched a long and exhaustive YouTube review of cordless OMTs (fuck me what’s happened to my life‽ )
To save you the bother; the Fein is the best -along with the Festool which is basically the same tool.
BUT
The reviewer said if you already have dewalt or makita 18v platform you’d need a really good reason not to buy a bare tool to go with your batteries and they do the job fine, both have tool free blade change - I can’t remember if the dewalt uses the cheaper blade mounting standard but the Makita does - the Fein standard is nice but pricey.

I’m going to get the Makita - it’s about £120.

Pleased you answered that. I will be bookmarking that link :)

Funny enough I bought mine on ebay about 12 years ago so it was quite cheap, paid for itself on the first job. Not really used anything else to compare it to but it's not a groundbreaking design.

It's along time since I wrote a little guide to wardrobes in alcoves but you'll want to build the largest 'square' mdf box that fits in that space then put your shelves and rails in and add doors on the front. Otherwise you'll spend much more time coping with unusual parallelogram shapes for shelves.

So your wall condition won't matter.

Start with some 2x2 on the floor and get it all level with wedges or any number of methods. Build your big box and pop it on the 2x2, drive a couple of screws through the carcass into the walls, fill with shelves and rails to taste, add doors.

Fein is undoubtedly the best. They do a damped wired version which is worth it for the lower noise and vibration. It's one of the few tools where battery seems worthwhile. I only have wired and it puts me off using it sometimes. They are indispensible.

Fein originally made them for boat building and their catalogue of bits has loads of interesting solutions including cutting out silicon which they are brilliant at.

you'll want to build the largest 'square' mdf box that fits

This.
Struggling to get a box you’ve built too large into a tapering space is infuriating.
NB. Most alcoves are narrower at the back

Also I recommend melamine faced MDF or if you can spring for it melamine faced ply.
Not painting the inside of wardrobes is worth £££

I’d only bother if I had a bag knocking about.

I'm about to pick up a bag of bonding and some PVA from Toolstation, among other things.

I'll definitely have spare PVA, it's only a 7.5kg bag but I'm fairly sure I'll have spare bonding too.

Also got post for Mrs @chrisbmx116 that was delivered to the wrong street in error!

The reviewer said if you already have dewalt or makita 18v platform you’d need a really good reason not to buy a bare tool to go with your batteries and they do the job fine, both have tool free blade change

Thanks, that's basically what I was thinking. The Fein orange is well nice though.

Like Adidas!

Daddy made jackboots.

I’m going to get the Makita - it’s about £120.

Extra £25 will get you a TStak and all the bits :)
https://www.ffx.co.uk/product/Get/Dewalt-Dcs355Nt-5055945212952-18V-Xr-Bl-Multi-Tool-Bare-Unit-In-Tstak-With-Accs

That's what I'm looking at cos I like to have cases and time is money as much as anything when it comes to accessories (I currently have none).

they do the job fine

Fein does the job Fein

(sorry)

How deep is it?

A bag of Easy-Fill would be my recommendation.

I don’t have any dewalt tools except an ancient router.
Multi tool can share a Makpac with the angle grinder.
🙂

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I'm currently a happy owner of a Bosch PSR 1800 (DIY drill driver) as well as a few other PowerforAll tools. I'm going to need an impact driver as I'm starting a shed build soon but Bosch don't really do a DIY level impact driver anymore. I don't think I need anything much over 100Nm as I'll just be driving small screws into studs etc. Anything bigger would get pre-drilled anyway. I'm thinking of a Bosch Pro / Makita 12V driver, as I have cyclist arms and the thought of wielding an 18V tool with a 5Ah battery over my head is tiring. Will I regret going for the smaller tool? Would be happy to dive into a better 18V platform than Bosch DIY as I suspect I'll be 'needing' a circular saw, grinder and a multitool soon.