Home DIY

So who is the forum plumber, near E1. I don't want to get involved so would like to get someone in. It is no me....

Cheers

Part of the reason that space is there is for circulation of air.

Air will still circulate - I'm not blocking the air bricks or filling the void completely.

Air won't circulate into the house afterwards, but vapour will still be able to pass. I'll be keeping a close eye on temp & humidity down there to make sure everything's OK.

And to make sure the bodies are decomposing properly.

The neighborhood cats have crapped in our garden for the last time!

Question.

My new gaff has these snide old tv's hard wired halfway up the wall.

I want to remove them.

Am I ok to take them out and reconnect with a 30amp junction box. Push the box into the cavity and fill?

Anything daft about that?

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leaving aside the electrical considerations, pushing the boxes into the wall brickwork cavity could lead to a bridge for outside moisture to permeate the inner wall.

electrically, are they spurs off the ring? if so, better to pull them back to the ring break-in junction and remove completely. or, replace fuse spur faceplate with a blank faceplate and leave well alone (hang a picture in front)

What are you using? We have done the same with Celotex which I think is just wedged between the joists.

If it's part of the ring, best practice since you want to plaster/fill over it would be soldered/crimped inside a choc box/insulated (i.e. remove the back box altogether). If it's cavity then you can pop a batten in and screw a piece of plasterboard to it. If it's a back box in brick then you could keep the back box and pop a bit of plasterboard in it to plaster over, you should solder crimp the earth to the back box if it's metal.

These days these alterations like this should require part p sign off so strictly speaking need to be done by an electrician. Screwed connectors can work loose due to AC pulses or having been loosely screwed in, leading to arcing which heats them up and melts them/catches fire. I've seen them melted a few times from arcing in lighting circuits, usually a fuse/transformer blows before they catch fire but it is a consideration.

All of this is best practice and can be safely ignored for the most part. Put the ends of the wires through a connector from both sides, long enough to be connected to both screws, it minimises the chance of them loosening or you forgetting to tighten a screw. When they are twisted together sometimes you think they are tight but a twist of the wire will loosen it.

best practice

I take issue with that. Best practice is to use an electrically competent person to modify the fixed wiring installation and re-certify to BS7671.

Most of what you're suggesting belongs with a pair of spurs... yeehah!

Thermafleece Cosywool which I'm hoping will hold in place using a breather membrane trailed between the joists.

Just wedging insulation between the joists sounds a bit risky to me - couldn't it fall out if the floor flexes due to temperature/humidity changes? Also, your joists will be cold spots and depending on whether the insulation is foil-faced you may end up with either issues with condensation or breathability.

Condensation and breathability are my biggest worries with this - I'm going to be putting a wireless hygrometer beneath the floor so that I can see if it looks bad. If it does and it looks like the moisture's coming from the house, I guess I'll have to relift all the boards (they're going to be screwed down so shouldn't be too bad) and fit a vapour barrier.

Day 2 and all the boards are up. One hearth reduced to rubble. Tomorrow is going to be preparing for the insulation:

• rubble clearance
  
• additional joist pieces
  
• securing loose joists (some have nails which barely make contact)
  
• bricking up the fireplaces where the concrete once was
  
• fixing timber battens around the room so there's something to tape the breather membrane to
  
• Checking airbricks are clear
  
• Checking cable routing under the floor
  
  

Then during the week I'm hoping we can actually lay the insulation in the evenings. The only noise should be the staple gun, which is a manual model so not too loud and lots of swearing. Stainless steel staples, so they won't rust (god they were a bitch to find).

I re-read it and you're not wrong it comes across that way. But there's nothing that can't be certified about a soldered or crimped connection behind plasterboard in that situation is there? Would certification require complete removal of the wiring and the consequent rewiring of the ring?

Perhaps "better practice" would have been a more fitting expression. I do respect the regulations exist to make the world safer but if people are going to attempt these jobs themselves it's best to share information about the risks rather than quote BS numbers no?

BS7671 - Requirements for Electrical Installations - IET Wiring Regulations, the Code of Practice that underpins The Electricity at Work Regulation: 1989, and The Building Regulations Approved Document P:2013 - Electrical Safety - Dwellings. If there were an incident or accident and the elctrical installation was found to be the cause, and it was not installed and maintained to BS7671 CoP, then the dutyholder may be much more liable to prosecution than if the installation were installed and maintained to the CoP; tragic example > http://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/43/unlawful-killing.cfm?type=pdf

As regards offering electrical solutions remotely via written suggestions, it's a potentially risky business that could leave the author liable as above in the event of an incident.

On technical point,> http://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/42/junction-boxes.cfm?type=pdf offers approved guidance on materials for jointing cables that are not accessible.

Turns out the hearth was quite easily removed

Another flooring related question from me...

Some time ago I sanded the floor boards back in my kitchen and during this process I noticed loads of the boards were munched by wood boring insects or whatever. I removed these and replaced and made sure everything else was sound, but the floor has always looked shitty as I did a little bit of a rush job so we could use the kitchen. My thinking was that I would eventually replace all the floorboards and make 'good'.

I just managed to get hold of loads of lovely sanded and waxed floorboards that would easily cover my kitchen floor and allow me to rebuild two steps that lead up to the hallway (made of MDF) meaning everything matches. My question is, do I rip up all the old floorboards and replace or do I overlay the new floorboards at a 90° angle, possibly with a fibre board underneath to allow for any minor unevenness, however it should be fine as they were all sanded?

The reason I'm even considering the second option is that it's a) quicker, b) possibly help reducing impact sound c) floorboard and newly rebuilt steps will be laying the same way so will look nice nice.

I don't need to worry about door heights as I have no doors in the kitchen. Its a first floor flat and there are wires, pipe etc under floorboards (thinking about access). Any opinions or thoughts appreciated.

option 2 could be an absolute nightmare if you have pipes and shit underneath, and need access.

Yeah thats my biggest concern really. Am aware that I might just be being lazy and will cause myself more problems in the future.

Lifting the boards is easy, especially if you don't want to preserve their integrity

I bought this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roughneck-64640-Demolition-And-Lifting/dp/B003CT4D1S

and it proved quite handy.

Just make sure you cop a feel before poking it where you can't see

Yeah, I think I'm going to do it properly and replace the boards. I'll be happier knowing that access won't be tricky in the long run.

That lifting bar looks perfect as well. Just need to find something to cut the boards as they lead into another room which is under carpet...thinking either a multitool or floorboard saw. Cheers

Cutting the boards is a right pain in the arse.

What you probably want is a tenon saw and a good supply of swear words.

A multitool will help as well, although don't get cheap blades and you probably want to do most of the cutting with the saw.

If you don't like the sound of that, don't cut the boards on top of the joist - instead, cut along the side of the joist (many times faster and less of a faff) and fix a second piece of timber along the joist to fix the replacement boards to. Not sure how in line with good building practise that is or whether it meets regs, but it's what I'm going to have to do in some cases. A few chunky coach bolts through the joist done up nice and tight should do the trick I reckon.

Awesomes. Thanks for that @rhowe I'm going to tackle this pretty soon. That's really helpful.

A sharp wood chisel helps for neatening up the ends of the boards which remain.
Also, as well as that floorboard lifter it's handy to have either a small crowbar or flat utility bar (like a flat crowbar) for additional prying abilities. You can get that into more places and at more angles than you can the lifter. With a friend you can even apply pressure in multiple points at once which helps.

If the old boards are nailed down, you'll want a way of getting the nails out of either the joists or the boards (some pull up, some stay where they are). The most effective tools I found were a crowbar with a claw on the U-shaped end and a nail puller like this:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/irwin-vise-grip-8-nail-puller-pliers

Interesting pdf regarding inaccessible junction boxes, thanks for linking to that. It does back up what I was saying about crimped/soldered inside a choc box being a possible option. It makes it clear that screwed connections should be avoided, which was the reason I chipped in to let the op know that screwed connections are not as reliable as most diy'ers think.

My reading of the current regs is that alteration of an existing circuit does not require certification. Of course if you were to create a problem that compromised the circuit, for example didn't connect the earths together properly, an electrician would pick up on that if he needed to work on that circuit in the future and it would cost money to fix.

I accept the continuous development of regulations are designed to protect the innocent householders from electrocution, but there are still plenty of small jobs which are allowable and in my opinion it's better to share information about risks and encourage people to research the work they are considering. Wiring a new build and failing to test it properly is not the same as blanking off a tv circuit. Of course the professional electrician is held to a much higher standard than homeowner.

If I were doing it my choice to cut the boards in order of preference would range from :-
Track saw with depth stop ( or circular saw)
Multitool with depth stop (Fein Multimaster, other brands are available)
Jigsaw (It's doable but a bit erratic)
Hand Saw (japanese pull saw, use the correct blade type for sawing across the grain)

For pulling the nails out you can use a pair of London pliers, you can pull the nail through the bottom of the board or take the out of the joist fairly easily with those.

Anyone want free tickets to the home and renovation show at excel?