Home DIY

It did say 4-9 years on the box.

I need to replace a load of decking. Specifically, I have ordered 21 lengths will need about 20 cm chopped off the end of each. Handsaw? Hire a power saw? Buy a power saw? Get a man in??

This is the kind of thing that a mitre saw (circular saw blade on an arm that you bring down onto the work-piece) is perfect for.

You get a straight cut every time, it's got enough grunt to go through the decking, and will in general make your life very easy - especially compared to doing it with a handsaw.

I was going to offer to lend you mine, but I'm South East London.

All of the above said, you can do it with a nice sharp handsaw, and they're significantly cheaper- buy a new one, they go blunt fast so don't dig an old one out of the shed.

The misses is off on holiday soon, I cant decide if I want to take the bathroom out or turn a doorway into an archway.... maybe the latter... all my walls are drywall, and crap, pretty easy task? I imagine-

Take door frame off.
Find vertical studs.
Cut dry wall to nearest stud.
Bang in some 2x4 as a surround.
Patch things up with filler and tape.
Profit?

Thanks for the offer Dammit

will go with the handsaw and man up, mine was only bought a few years ago and has been lightly used so I'd imagine it's sharp enough.

^^ Chris it depends what sort of stud wall if it has metal or timber studs? Just because it is a stud wall does not mean it is not structural and the floor above is resting on it.

No kidding, most houses are still stick built here in NA.
ALL the supporting walls are are studded.

Ohhh good call... they prob are supporting in some way as all my walls a drywall... guessing timber as opposed to metal though.
How should I approach this?

Six cans of Stella and a sledgehammer.

I like your thinking...

The stud might be doing something structural, the plaster board won't.

Remove the plaster board, examine the stud- if you think that there is load going through it work out what you need to add in order to maintain the support (i.e. additional stud) before you cut out the now redundant stuff.

The penalty for getting this wrong is not in the "Chinese burn" category, so have a good think before you get busy with the saw.

I've put Velux windows into roofs by having a think about it, reinforcing/maintaining the load paths, then cutting out the hole required for the window, and they've lasted 20 years so far with no sign of any movement.

How should I approach this?

Talk to a structural engineer. I took a wall out in our flat and while I was sure it wasn't structural I still did that first.

I was lucky in that I was able to consult cupcakes on here unofficially, which was good enough for me, but this isn't something you want to get wrong.

Thanks for the offer Dammit

will go with the handsaw and man up, mine was only bought a few years ago and has been lightly used so I'd imagine it's sharp enough.

Wickes do a saw that is £7 or £8 and seems to be held in high regard in the trade.

To be fair, we are talking about widening it a foot... and there are plenty of walls near by...

To be fair, we are talking about widening it a foot... and there are plenty of walls near by...

http://www.gifsforum.com/images/gif/that%20must%20hurt/grand/that-must-hurt-eccbc87e4b5ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf3-2731.gif

If that happens:

http://www.havmore.in/plan%20images/dc509cee1be57b7.gif

This is the kind of thing that a mitre saw (circular saw blade on an arm that you bring down onto the work-piece) is perfect for.

You get a straight cut every time, it's got enough grunt to go through the decking, and will in general make your life very easy - especially compared to doing it with a handsaw.

I was going to offer to lend you mine, but I'm South East London.

All of the above said, you can do it with a nice sharp handsaw, and they're significantly cheaper- buy a new one, they go blunt fast so don't dig an old one out of the shed.

The £90 one from B&Q online is a total bargain http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/power-tools/saws/mitre_saws/Performance-Power-210MM-Single-Bevel-Sliding-Mitre-Saw-10957626

This should probably go in the "owning your own home" thread as it's by definition the opposite of DIY but I don't want to distract from the buyers busy buying in there so: can any recomend a good designer/builder to replace a bathroom? I'm nowehere near experienced or handy enough and just someone to do the whole process for me from start to finish.

It will involve trashing the existing, removing the boxed in systern and pipework, replacing all copper pipe with upvc, new tiled floor, plastering, paintiling, tiling, new suite and units, new shower, two new doors and decoration. Plus fitting a new macho extractor fan/dehumidifier and installing another new one in a storage cupboard off the bathroom.

Considering how small the room is, it's a farly big job and I'm not sure who provides all that as a one stop solution. Any recomendations?

I think Richie has a chap he's happy with, if he doesn't see this maybe PM him?

Out of interest, why replace copper with UPVC?

Dibs copper pipe...

Design it yersen and buy ikea stuff... I know a couple of folks who are good and professional fitters... can share details for copper pipes...

http://www.pinterest.com/eightarmedpet/bathroom-plans/

Fitting plastic pipe is a piece of piss if you have the cutting tool.

Saying that, so is copper pipe but then that involves waving a blow torch about.

Out of interest, why replace copper with UPVC?

not upvc, but:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-linked_polyethylene

It's flexible so you can make it up using fewer joints, which is a massively good thing but if the copper doesn't need replacing, it's pointless.

^ uh yeah, sorry was trying to be too clever with "uPVC" I meant "whatever new plastic pipes are made of". Not poinltless. Reason being is that we have very high water pressure and very cold mains water. Very cold high pressure water in copper pipes boxed-in, in a warm bathroom with no natural ventillation (in flat with bad ventillation and condensation problems anyway) sweat and and drip and have caused a huge problem with damp and mould that has spread all round the bathroom.

I have lagged as much as I can reach without breaking out the boxed in bits but it's still a real issue. I'll be replacing the copper with plastic.

You can get pvc pipes but they are not as good as pex.

I didn't mean your installation would be pointless. I meant if someone is happy with a copper system, that has no issues, then it would be pointless to change for the sake of change.

If I was redoing a bathroom , I would be looking at pex rather than anything else.
It comes in blue for cold and red for hot too.

^ uh yeah, sorry was trying to be too clever with "uPVC" I meant "whatever new plastic pipes are made of". Not poinltless. Reason being is that we have very high water pressure and very cold mains water. Very cold high pressure water in copper pipes boxed-in, in a warm bathroom with no natural ventillation (in flat with bad ventillation and condensation problems anyway) sweat and and drip and have caused a huge problem with damp and mould that has spread all round the bathroom.

I have lagged as much as I can reach without breaking out the boxed in bits but it's still a real issue. I'll be replacing the copper with plastic.

Interesting that you have very high water pressure- ours is very low, and this morning was particularly low (I suspect the burst water main in Camberwell).

Yeah it's weird that you'd think that being near the top of the hill we'd have low pressure but yep it's fire-hose high. I have to keep the little valves on the cold water in pipes turned nearly off to prevent the shower head taking off and smashing tiles. Even so, the pipes shriek in protest and you get a shower curtain-flapping blast of air and spray everywhere unless you're very careful with the controls. Makes filling up the watering can a doddle though.