Home DIY

Some before/during pics

Will be painting the risers too

It's just had carpet on it. It was still noisy then.

Ripped a 2.4m length of plywood with a hand saw. Took ages but went better then expected :)

It is hard to beat a good hand saw. Predator is a good one!

It's a long way with a hand saw though!

I was pleased my cut is straighter than either of the edges already there!

Knife through butter! And they do a tenon saw too.

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Thank you, light is on and I’m not dead.

Testing that metal parts are earthed would be useful. If you have something portable with a metal case you can get near the light and measure for

1. Zero voltage between metal part of light fitting and metal part of portable device (if there's a voltage something bad has happened and you should get an electrician in pronto)
   
2. Continuity between the same
   

Any reason why a dimmable GU10 bulb would be noticeably dimmer than a non-dimmable one? Both 345lm and yes the dimmer is on full. TBH I've realised I hate dimmer switches compared to rocker switches so will probably change the switch back to a rocker anyway and just get smart bulbs for the pendants above my dining table, just seems like a weird quirk.

Some dimmer switches have a way of setting the range of brightness that you can have on the switch. For example, from 30-100%. So you could have reset this range from 0-100% inadvertently

Maybe I've not replaced a few of the bulbs yet for dimable ones and they're definitely an order of magnitude brighter than the dimmable ones at max power, so my hunch is it's the bulbs, not the switch.

It looks pretty useful but I'm all about pull saws and have been for 20+ years.

can you acess the underside of the treads?
some kind of self-adhesive rubber stuck in there if so?

I bought a Japanese pull saw recently but haven't used it enough to feel confident and didn't want to damage it cutting plywood as it seems quite a delicate thing. I did wonder whether it would have done the job better though.

Yep. Any specific suggestions for the material?

Not used any myself, but was thinking along the lines of this?
https://industrialsuppliesco.co.uk/products/sound-proofing-and-deadening-rubber-sheet-linear-meter?variant=42370839806186&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpcOTBhCZARIsAEAYLuXLwdP9ssugIMqxJusbTs0X6_QEQPcIQdNcsKyXk9ZwOibqEo8p1DAaApfDEALw_wcB

Did something similar with the back of the front door in an old flat, but using acoustic foam and it worked quick well to keep the noise from the stairwell out.

Are they noisy just from your stomping or from squeaks etc?

The teeth will be hardened, but the glue in ply is definitely gonna wear your saw out quicker than timber will.

Yeah it depends on what sort of noise it is.

If it's loud creaks that are happening when you walk up the stairs then you'll need to get in under the stairs.
The treads and risers are wedged into the stringers. Creaks can be caused by loose wedges that are allowing movement. Get under and check if any wedges are blatantly loose or missing.

i think a bit of both - i want it to sound less loud overall but also reduce creaks.

I've ordered some small wooden wedges as a first measure to see if I can reduce creaks. Will see how that goes then consider some dampening material on the underside of the treads and risers, then some acoustic caulk (does this actually work?) for the gaps.

My last DIY effort.
Decided I wanted the chairs Swiss supermarket restaurants had during my childhood.
Found some in a bad state in Berlin.
In the time it took me to get started I first saw perfect ones for sale at a bargain price, and then hay started the distribution.
It's the Rey chair from Dietiker.

Sanding was time consuming. Got better when I switched from Bosch to Festool.
Then I realized some needed gluing, think I found the right glue.
Painted with a water based sauna wax.
Should have done one more sand after 240 and watering, but was fed up with it.

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That’s a neat job. They look great.

I’m putting this wire mesh on our shopfront. I want to paint them but they’re galvanised, which primer should I use?

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Sorry to cut across the unanswered question above, but how feasible is erecting a wall-topper trellis for the DIYer with basic woodworking (well.. boatbuilding) skills? Would be trying to add around 30-50cm of net projection above a very solid and square 1.5m high brick wall, roughly 4 m in length. I like the idea of mounting it on sticks fastened to our side of the wall per the picture below: