Home DIY

Hi guys.
I want to build a pedal board to accommodate my guitar pedals.
I am thinking something like 60x25. Do you have any ideas where I can find raw materials?
Ideally I would like my pedal board made of wood instead of metal cause it's easier to fix some screws and bring everything together.
I am even thinking bed slats to be fair.
Do you have any suggestions?

Ok cool, advice taken. Not sure, probably a bit of both, the void is fairly significant...

House is 100 years old. Don't want to make the hole any bigger, it's already pretty scrappy, I'm hoping the new fitting will cover up the mess and keep it out of sight... I'm pretty sure there's space to get the stuff up there without too much problem, I just hope the bracket is stable enough to take the new fitting. It should be, the new one is considerably lighter than the one its replacing...

Ha, alive, it worked, thanks for all the advice on here! The fixture of the new one is considerable smaller than the old one, so the ceiling around and about the new fixture isn't particularly pretty. That's the next job I guess...

Any builder recommendations in SE? My front garden is a total mess. 3 flats, share of freehold. There was a mains water leak that was dug out and repaired (bodged) before we bought. We were told when we bought that there was a plan in place to repair everything but it's turned into a long saga with the ground floor flat wanting to move their entrance. Aaanyway, when the garden was dug out the downpipe from the gutter was removed and the drain dug out. This was never replaced and it's got to the point where I want to get it sorted regardless of lower flat's plans, even if it means doing things twice as currently rainwater os just draining into the ground. Lower flat claims no damp or flooding in her cellar but either way it needs sorting.
There is a manhole cover at ground level in a small hard standing near the pavement. I don't mind a bodge in the short term. Can I run some temporary guttering straight into the manhole? Any legal requirements re manhole covers being slightly open?

TLDR who can come sort out some guttering in SE14?

How the hell have I only just found out about this, given that it's a potential fire risk?!

That's really useful data.

Because regulations give an unnaturally frightening slant to the possibility of fire and death, the real world is kinder to people and lets them live despite their ignorance.

A lot of downlighters come with an integrated fire hood now, of course this can be an issue if they are right next to joists.

In other news. The new regulations call for metal distribution boards to be fitted after April 2016, there will be no need to replace existing ones to comply but the regs have changed because of the number of fires in plastic distribution boards/consumer units. So one more thing to worry about.

I acutally dropped the entire ceiling in my bathroom once I'd read the "minimum safe distance" blurb on the inset downlighters I was going to use, due to The Fear that the fibre-board above my new ceiling would combust if I did not, and the first I'd know of it would be smoke pluming out of the jagged hole in the ground where my block used to stand.

We replaced all of our halogen downlighters with LED bulbs, once the light fittings started smoking and leaking current everywhere.

Other than being a little more expensive per equivalent power output, I don't see any reason not to do this.

the real world is kinder to people and lets them live despite their ignorance.

True, I don't think there's any particular fire-risk since these are open-backed fittings with plenty of room for the heat to disperse. The reason I found out this distinction though is that I had to replace the MR16 lamp fitting because there was arcing between the contacts and the pins. Apparently this is sometimes because the contacts (which are essentially springs) are not properly tempered so they lose their springiness with heat. Using dichroic bulbs probably didn't help this!

Also, it's my bathroom and it's not very warm so I quite want the extra 130-watts of heat to go down into the room, rather than up through the roof.

From my recent reading of the regs the main concern with downlighters is the holes allow for passage of fire from one 'compartment' to another. I'm often replacing downlighter "sugar cubes" and the terminal connectors quite often arc out and melt, transformers also go over time. It does make you shudder when you see a melted arced out terminal block and some bare 12v wires above the ceiling.

Nail on head - It's all to do with fire containment time > http://www.labc.co.uk/sites/default/files/labcpd0914_techg_dlight_dwellings.pdf

Secondary effects are a lowering of U value due to air leakage (fire draught) paths and a thinning/removing of insulation where down-lighters are installed

Tertiary effect can be a lowering of sound insulation performance

We replaced all of our halogen downlighters with LED bulbs, once the light fittings started smoking and leaking current everywhere.

Other than being a little more expensive per equivalent power output, I don't see any reason not to do this.

I've replaced most of our GU10s (not yet the ones on dimmer circuits) with LEDs, but the transformers for the MR16s in the bathrooms have a 20W minimum load, so switching to LED would mean changing at least the transformer, and probably the whole fitting.

Frankly, halogen spots are shit. They run really hot, which is risky and they're horribly inefficient (who thought having 4 x 50W spots is a good way to light a kicthen surface?)

and probably the whole fitting.

That has reminded me that we actually changed the entire fitting...

I removed the transformers and added in GU10 lamp holders and they worked with my fittings, what sort of fitting do you have?

IP65 rated Aurora fittings, with this type of lampholder wired to a 12V 20w-50w ENLIGHT transformer.

I'd go 240V GU10 in the bathroom if I could, but I'm really unclear whether you can have mains voltage lighting directly above a bath. Our ceiling is not very high, so it falls into zone 1. Some sources seem to suggest that you can use mains voltage lighting in zone 1 as long as it's IPX5 rated; others suggest that it has to be 12V. Anyone know exactly what the requirements are?

nearly there: http://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/53/section-701/index.cfm

If Z1, then (max) 30mA RCD protection for all electrical equipment required

IPx4 for equipment not subjected to jets of water
IPx5 for equipment subjected to jets of water

Nice, thanks.

Luminaires (light fittings)

Are 230 V light fittings permitted above a shower or bath (zone 1) in a room containing a >bath or shower?

Yes, 230 V fittings may be installed above a shower or bath but they must be at least IPX4, >i.e. enclosed and water protected. If installed more than 0.6 m from the edge of a shower >basin or bath (outside the zones) no special fitting is required but the luminaire must be of >a suitable design for the conditions.

So IP65 240V GU10 light fittings, which seem fairly common and not too expensive, would be absolutely fine. Then just swap out the halogens for 240V LEDs.

Although, since the bulb is held by clips on the faceplate, presumably if I could fit something like this, in place of the (almost identical) MR16 lampholder I could just wire it up with a T&E tail from the junction box.

I think I want to put in a Transom Window above my bathroom door, can't find a supplier though. Could maybe get some second hand piece of Stained glass off ebay or something, but I might want a simple more modern looking one, anyone have a clue where to obtain such a thing?

So… if I get a dual fuel towel rail, for my bathroom, as well as a heat exchanger ventilation unit, can I run them both off the power supply from the existing conventional vent unit, pictured below, or do a need to get an electrician in to fit an entirely new supply from the mains loop?

1 Attachment

The towel rail will require to be on a 30mA RCD protected circuit, the existing extract fan not necessarily so.

If you are adding them to the bathroom you should probably get an electrician to do it. The bathroom is one of the few remaining "Special" locations where electrical work is notifiable. You can replace existing accessories although you are still obliged to make sure the work meets standards set out in BS7671.

If you want to carry out the work yourself you can apply to the local council and pay to have the work inspected by them, it will cost between £150-£300 depending on your borough.

The extractor fan should be on a double pole switch.

You need to know several values unique to your installation to establish the rating of the fuse and size of cable for the towel rail, these values can be determined by testing. For example your earth fault loop impedance and prospective fault current and the Zs value (resistance) at the towel rail. As it is a room where you are likely to be wet and naked the fuse rating is important as well as the RCD protection which rive mentioned.

Decided then! I'll get an electrician in to sort it out. That's mostly well over my head and all above my current skill level.

Frankly, halogen spots are shit. They run really hot, which is risky and they're horribly inefficient (who thought having 4 x 50W spots is a good way to light a kicthen surface?)

So much this. I used to have a rented flat that had a kitchen full of them, I guess there was probably dodgy wiring involved too but I managed about two days ever of having them all working at once, despite using cotton gloves to handle them and following all the other recommendations. Get LEDs.

It's probably for the best based on the kind of question you're asking. You could do it and survive following common sense guidelines but it wouldn't come close to the level of confidence that fully testing the circuit once installed can give you.

When an electrician looks at the whole installation he can establish the course of least resistance to provide a safe connection. If you have spare ways and a short run from the distribution unit then it would be easy enough to provide an rcbo if your distribution unit has no rcd protection already. RCBO's are more expensive than RCD's but they can disconnect the supply without affecting other circuits.

Electricians are obliged to check that there is nothing causing immediate danger in your installation but they do not have to bring any circuits that they are not working on up to current regulations. You should also get some paperwork showing that the work has been tested and the results, if they are self-certifying (which is what you want) they will also pass paperwork to the building inspector.

You can always install the hardware without wiring it up, that saves a bit of time and money. If you like things done to perfection it's probably the best way, I've seen some hideous fixing jobs with towel rails.