Home DIY

folding Workbench and manual (hand) saw / electric of your choice I would have thought?

Festool for all the dust extractions

And $$$

Might be worth finding a maker workshop somewhere, or just getting things cut to order if you can

The other installation drill I looked at was the Bosch, which got a good report here upthread. I went for the Milwaukee only because I had another of their m12 tools at the time and no Bosch ones.

I have one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363335083501 It's very compact compared to a full size one and gives decent straight cuts with some cheapo rails (which are also very compact).

Realistically though you still need a workmate or something to clamp your work to and a vac to extract the dust (although I just used my home Miele one for quite a while) and it will still be fairly dusty.

and a vac to extract the dust

Or work on the balcony.

That's pretty cool - looks like an ideal solution. Can also cut on a bit of blue foam / insulation on the floor if there's no space for a work bench.

I have one of these, which is a bit of a toy but has been really handy on a few occasions.

I think the saw would get blocked on long cuts without the dust being extracted. Using my home vac was fine though (although Miele ones are probably a bit more indestructible than your average).

Shirley

Jigsaw guided by an offcut (or spirit level etc.) clamped to the piece of wood you want to cut is a ghetto solution.

I do cutting of small bits of timber in my flat by clamping the workpiece onto a couple of small ikea wooden stools, then cutting with a handsaw (flexible second fix saw, or fine toothed back saw if I'm trying really hard). Mark up two orthogonal faces with the cut line, create a cut guide on one of them by dragging the saw backwards, then flip 90° and cut on the other marked face. Seems to be adequate for general cutting, although I'm obviously not making fine furniture or cabinets. @ChainBreaker

I have a Hychika branded thing which is near identical but slightly cheaper and comes with a soft case, which is a bit more flat-friendly than the hard plastic one.

It cuts lovely straight edges. I never had any luck keeping a jigsaw blade from wandering, even with the base plate firmly against a guide.

Keeping the jigsaw blade in line is easier if it's a Festool jigsaw :)

Obviously blade choice can help but it can still be a problem especially if the material is thick.

Hand saw and finish with a plane worked for 100's of years.

So did slavery and votes for land owning men. Get something that plugs in! Otherwise half-way through cut number one you’ll wish you had.

Make sure the jigsaw has the oscillation set to 0 as well for those clean and straight cuts.

because of the requirement for Centrotec bits

Totally forgot about this, it’s definitely the Milwaukee (if they update it) or nowt then!

Just an FYI if anyone is looking to buy any tools, powertoolmate has 5% off all weekend using code bank5, they tend to be one of the cheapest around, especially for Milwaukee stuff.

Found out why my CH was losing pressure. Some dick head (me) had stuck a nail right through a pipe trying to secure a loose board. I was being so careful too. Funny thing was it was hardly coming through the dining room ceiling below. There were a good few inches of water being held up by the old lathe and plaster ceiling.

I suppose I had to do something stupid at least once.

Saw this same thing in my parents house. Nail went through pipe and effectively sealed the hole as it entered. Over a period of time it rusted and the leak began. My father noticed the ceiling starting to bulge as the leak got worse. He pierced the plaster and got soaked as gallons of water poured down - then the ceiling gave way too. Rather messy is a huge understatement.
I’d guess the time period between the nail and the flood was around 10 years.

My time period is just over a week, thankfully. And the plumber sees the funny side. He needed to come out for something else from the install anyway so will just make sure to pay him extra for fixing my fuck up.

Doing up the box room. It has an air brick on the outside and an old knackered vent cover on the inside which I've removed.

The hole is 250x160mm but all the covers on the market seem to be 229x152. Do I keep hunting for a bigger one, say fuck it and just brick it up, or do I somehow shim it so I can fit a smaller cover?

I guess I could chase out around it, then fix a piece of plasterboard with a smaller hole cut out of it, make good and fit a smaller cover to that? Seems like a bunch of work I'd really rather not do.

It's solid walls on the corner of the house, so could get chilly in winter - maybe keeping some ventilation is a good idea.

Holy pipe replaced. Thankfully I hadn't boarded that room yet as I noticed the (new) plaster had blown so they could easily pull up the offending board. That was one expensive nail.

We all learn by our mistakes!!! 😀
We have a creaky floorboard in our bedroom and I’m itching to screw or down. EVERYONE has said don’t do it - in case the inevitable happens but the temptation is there every day!!

We're still at the stage where it only really hurts the wallet and the ego. No flooring down in that room. And if they had have gone in through the ceiling from below, that wouldn't have made much difference either. They also fitted another valve which should stop the overflow discharging when the HW is running (which was the only outstanding issue from the install that wasn't caused by an oaf with a hammer).

It’s all good!! 😀