Home DIY

We've got a space in the garden which would be the perfect place for our 6x4 plastic shed, the only issue is that it would be close up against a wall of the house on one side. Would I inviting damp by putting the shed there?

Question; how long will it take me, on my own to dig a trench?

Stop trying to get us to do your maths homework by pretending to do DIY

Is it double skinned? I have mine surrounded by walls on 3 sides and it's not suffered from damp. My understanding is the airgap in the double skinned type sorts that.

When our neighbours got rid of a shed up against one wall of our house, the damp in that room dropped considerably (about 15% in theory but I don’t know how accurate those little meters are)

Festool's new jewelry line is a bit niche 😉.

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I hope that's a freebie because they are stupidly expensive.

bit of a rant today… as we reach the 6 month mark in our 3 month rennovation, the plasterers have just thrown a spanner in the works.

told me tuesday they’d be there friday/saturday and that i really need to book the tiler.
so i booked then tiler for the 23rd/24th.
friday comes and no-one shows, get a text back in the afternoon that they’ve been pulled on to another job and also one of them is away all next week.

my last messages of ‘how do we sort this’ and a polite ‘do i need to get someone else in for these two smaller areas so the tiler can still come’ are unanswered since friday evening :/

now trying to weigh up do I perhaps try to do any of it myself - in the bathroom, two brick walls to dot-and-dab (one with window), ceiling to board onto joists (fairly sure this bit i can do); and some skimming on a previously plastered (but bery rough looking) wall in the kitchen

Unfortunately not, I'm currently doing a lot of edge-banding at work also the idea of a card scraper that doesn't need burnishing appeals. So it kind of (if you squint and use tool buying logic) makes sense, the jewelry box was a surprise though.

trying to weigh up do I perhaps try to do any of it myself - in the bathroom, two brick walls to dot-and-dab (one with window), ceiling to board onto joists (fairly sure this bit i can do); and some skimming on a previously plastered (but bery rough looking) wall in the kitchen

Dot and dab isn't too difficult as long as you have a good level at least 1800mm in length to be used both as a straight edge and a level. Take your time with the first board, make sure the edges are plumb and that the board itself is plumb on the wall as everything else references off this. The rest goes up fairly easily but you need to keep using the level as a straight edge across the board you're putting up and the last one to ensure everything is nice and flat. There's loads of how too videos on YouTube.

Ceilings can be harder than they appear especially if you're working by yourself. If you are working by yourself you'll need a deadman to support the board and these board mate clip things help too help too. I'd also strongly suggest you hire a collated screwgun to tack the boards as getting those first few tacks in quickly is essential and it really does help.

Personally I'd not skim a surface myself but there are plenty of how too guides out there.

P.S sorry to hear if your troubles it's hard at the moment to find trades who won't sacrifice small jobs to take on big ones as everyone is so busy. Still a dick move.

Much appreciated!

Might just order all the gear in, and ask one of the other plasterers we had quote who seems keen on evenings and weekends to see if he wouldn’t mind jumping in, else we’ll end up losing another month (tiler starts a 3 week job after ours)

Yes, I've done a few of those squints :). I got a USB cable in a nice tiny systainer as a gift because Festool messed me about repairing my Kapex.

I've got the bit set in that box and I think it's one of the best value things I've bought. Another good Festool tool is the stickfix. I have 2 I use them that much and they've probably cost me much less than a penny per hour I've spent using them.

I wouldnt mention that the other guy let you down in that case. If someone told me that and I was 2nd choice Id body swerve the job

He's here now, so hopefully not too offended..! :)

I did explain at the time that I was going with the other guys purely due to time-constraints as he was tied up on other jobs (until now, essentially) and I needed a load of other work doing in advance of these bits to get rads on walls etc.

If all goes to plan, might actually be able to get moved in in a few weeks.

tiny systainer

One of the business card holder ones?

stickfix

I had no idea that this existed looks to be bloody useful, may have to buy one. I've recently started using the Festool sanding sponges and am really impressed, which I probably shouldn't be given that they started out as a company that made sanding tools and then made their name by introducing dust extraction.

I have a lamp with an inline switch on the cord.
Can I wire an additional lamp into the same switch?
(without triggering a fiery death to either lamps, my home or its occupants)

(It is these, multiple small LED bulbs each)

Edit: what I want is 1 plug socket, one cord, switch, then the 2 lamps, on different levels of a book case.

Probably. Most modern lamps draw very little current so the switch is probably over-rated but you should really add up what you will be drawing and check it against the switch rating which is hopefully moulded/stamped/written on it somewhere.

If the switch doesn't say you could always replace it with something that you do have the specs for, maybe https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-elec/200/in-line-switch-2a-white/dp/PL10018

Hadn't considered replacing the switch too, good shout.

Thanks.

Thanks for this, I'm doing the research and will test/have it tested if necessary.

Just wanted to ask, is it ok/a good idea to use a IP66 20AX DP Switch at the house end in order to be able to isolate the socket I put in the shed when not in use? From my understanding I don't need to isolate it at all, but I want to be able to and the above makes more sense than a fused spur in a waterproof housing.

I think that would work for you. I used a fused spur on the inside of the wall because it's handy to be able to disconnect all the exterior wiring from the circuit if it starts tripping the rcd in the middle of winter.

Just moved into a new flat in an old building and need a bit of advice.
I want to put up some shelving, specifically Ikea Boaxel if that makes any difference, but I don't know what the walls are made of and I don't know what type of fixings I should be using.

The wall in question should be a solid brick wall as its a dividing wall between two houses but when I tap it it sounds hollow in places but solid in others. Some googling tells me this could be because the brick has been plastered over but the plaster has some away in places? I tried drilling a hole in the wall and the dust that came out was red/brown so can I assume that means theres brick in there somewhere?

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Sounds like brick and possibly 'blown' plaster in some places. This is a good brand.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/fischer-duopower-wall-plugs-8-x-40mm-100-pack/1820p#_=p

Could be plasterboard dot and dab over brick. If that's the case you need a mixture of solutions!

Thanks very much, will give those a try

6mm is enough for a lot of jobs but it's useful to have 8mm if you are hanging weight or don't trust the walls. Use a masonry bit .5mm down from the plug size.

I used exactly the plugs @Airhead linked to to hang the twinslot rails in my living room. Some blown plaster over brick. I followed another bit of advice I saw online which was to drill the holes a little deeper than required and fill them with adhesive (No More Nails type stuff), smush the plugs in, clean off the adhesive that squeezed out and let set overnight before hanging.

Hasn't fallen down yet. Also, god love the person who has to deal with removing the plugs in future (probably me, in which case "fuck you, past stevo_com!").