Home DIY

If you can move the lower part its not tight enough hence the leak. You probably tightened it a little when you moved it but it should be tightened properly.

Thanks, righty tighty yeah?

Thinking of putting a strip-shelving system (Ikea Algot, for example) up in our utility room. Throughout the rest of the newly-refurbed flat, the landlord has clearly laid new plasterboard directly over old.
I bought this Studfinder and got to work mapping the wall.
In 'Stud' mode (scanning depth 19mm) it detected barely anything.
In DeepScan mode (38mm), it revealed a rough layout that could proved a good framework for the shelving strips.

How long a fixing should I use, and what type?
Should I consider any particular types of plasterboard anchors?

If you are going into the studs themselves exclusively then I'd just use decent screws, of a good length for the load you are likely to apply to the shelves.

Heat gun and remove the paint. There will probably a couple of coats of gloss and under coat.

I am having good results with this method but there are still traces of paint left so I am planning to sand it once I've got most of it off with the heat gun. Am I mad to consider doing this by hand? Sanders look expensive. If I do go the hand sand paper route what type of sandpaper would people recommend?

Morning DIYers. I'm looking at installing some security lighting (and a load of other security measures) after my garage was broken into last week. We've an existing bulkhead style light at about 5' off the ground, I'd like to extend the cabling to fix a security light about 9' up.

To do this I'm thinking about extending the cables with armoured outdoor cable within some galvanised steel conduit - I'm keen to avoid anyone being able to easily cut through the cables.

Just wanted to know if anyone has other ideas?

The reason I'm not looking to add a new cable flush to the new lights, is that the existing bulkhead cable runs through a neighbour's flat which I don't have access to.

I am having good results with this method but there are still traces of paint left so I am planning to sand it once I've got most of it off with the heat gun. Am I mad to consider doing this by hand? Sanders look expensive. If I do go the hand sand paper route what type of sandpaper would people recommend?

Depends how intricate the frames are, if they are all ornate and with articulations etc this might not work and a hand job might be best, but if they are plain enough in shape I have one of these you are welcome to borrow for a weekend.

I would do a first sand with P60 then go over it again with a P120 to get it real nice.

a hand job might be best

Went past my local Travis Perkins to look for planks I could use for a simple book shelf set up. The widest planks they had was 225 mm.

What is the easiest, most hassle free way of getting a few metres worth of pine planks at 250 mm width? I don't have a car, and I reckon my order would be too small to justify delivery by lorry from a builder's merchant.

Free cutting service at B&Q?

Catford Timber do yellow pine in 300mm width, sapele and iroko in 250mm. I've found them very helpful with cutting stuff.

Or you could take a hand saw with you (or buy there) and cut to length in the yard.
For longer bits you are welcom to borrow my trailer. I know it is a little wacky but it works well for me

I just called B&Q, Buttles and MP Moran. Nada.

Weird how elusive that exact width seems to be.

225mm will be the sawn size, so the planks will be more like 220 after planing. It is nigh on impossible to get planed timber off the shelf at exactly the width you need (regardless of size), but I reckon if you went direct to a local saw mill they'd sort you out. Might not be worth the cost though.

Generally builders merchants won't stock more than 9" boards, as you have found. Again going direct to the saw mill might help but again might not be worth the cost.

Alternatively you could construct your shelves out of two or more smaller boards (this is what I'd do), or just accept that your shelves will only be 225mm deep (before they were planed, this I wouldn't be so happy with).

Do you have a circular saw and a plane? If you do then it's pretty easy to rip the boards down to the width you need and get a good straight edge on them. I'd still put this edge at the back of the shelf because the "factory" edge should be perfect and you'll notice that yours isn't if you're a perfectionist.

Without a circular saw it's still not too hard but the ripping cuts will take a lot longer than cross cutting.

You could gain a bit of width by adding a fancy moulding on the front of the shelves. What exactly are they designed for, where are they going?

On this note, what table saw and biscuit jointer should I get for home/DIY use?

Excellent Arducius. This is the answer I needed.
(although not the one I wanted).

Glad to be of some help. It is quite frustrating when you buy 50x50mm timber assuming it's the size it says on the pack, only to find it's 45x46mm. It does make sense though, they never know exactly how much they'll need to plane off to get a good edge so giving the sawn sizes instead of measuring and grading each piece is more efficient.

You just have to remember that when you're designing stuff and make sure you measure the timber you're working with. Otherwise it can be very frustrating!

Also, you might have already thought of this, but you could use ply for the shelves. It might be a little more expensive depending on thickness but would allow you to have a single piece of timber, and if you're after a certain finish then you can get ply faced in pretty much any timber.

my trailer

Haha, fuck me.. I've seen quite a lot of crazy shit here in Berlin people build to get their stuff from a to b, but this is something!
: ]

Does anyone know anything about it?

We live on the top floor of a 1920s 3-story block of flats. Currently all flats have no underlay and just thin carpet on top of original floorboards.The guy below us can hear everything we do (and vice-versa) and his neighbours can hear him.

We want to put in wooden floors.

Does anyone have experience of the various acoustic underlays out there? Acoustilay, Regupol etc?

Any information or pointers v gratefully received.

You want to lay engineered wood flooring?
So, original floor board/acoustic damping/new wood floor covering?

Something like this?

http://www.acoustic-supplies.com/floor-soundproofing

I suspect an underlay which provides enough insulation will be too soft for engineered wood, and the strips will creak against each other as you apply and release pressure.

Something like this?

http://www.acoustic-supplies.com/floor-soundproofing

I suspect an underlay which provides enough insulation will be too soft for engineered wood, and the strips will creak against each other as you apply and release pressure.

To be fair, this happens quite a lot with floating wooden floors anyway.

Can you pull up the floor boards and insulate between the floor bearers using rockwool or similar? Would mean you don't benefit as much as when the downstairs neighbours have the heating on, but also give you some sound proofing and be pretty cheap.

^This gets my vote.

On this note, what table saw and biscuit jointer should I get for home/DIY use?

Ahem