tomav84 Posted June 21, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted June 21, 2021 wondering if anyone has any experience here. had offer accepted on a house with no off road parking, but both of the neighbours have turned their front garden areas into driveways with dropped curbs. based on dimensions of the garden we received from the agent, it appears smaller than the council guidelines which doesn't add up as both neighbours obviously got theirs done OK. anyone had a similar situation? how strictly do the council stick to the dimensions of their website? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted June 21, 2021 Moderator Share Posted June 21, 2021 2 hours ago, tomav84 said: both of the neighbours have turned their front garden areas into driveways with dropped curbs. based on dimensions of the garden we received from the agent, it appears smaller than the council guidelines which doesn't add up as both neighbours obviously got theirs done OK. anyone had a similar situation? how strictly do the council stick to the dimensions of their website? Two houses down from me, the owner got a builder to knock down her wall (PFK) and turn her front garden bit into a car parking space and put a ramp bit at the edge of the road to the pavement. The council came, returned the pavement to how it was and billed her for the work She hadn't asked permission to do any of it. Get permission. Stick to the rules laid down would be my advice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysAVFC Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 Bloody house owning! With either renting or living close to the in laws, had little DIY to do which suits my lack off skill and knowledge. A while back we had a leak coming into the kitchen. I put new sealant around the bath and that seemed to stop it. The other day we saw signs of a leak in the room next door. It looks like a lot of the grout was in poor condition. I've been pushing my skills today by taking out the grout to replace. Only issue is now there are a few falling tiles, which I think I can manage to refix but I took a couple more off and found where the water must be getting through as the plaster or whatever it is, is patchy and crumbling. Was hoping to have put the grout in by the end of the day (god knows how that will go) but now wondering whether I have reached my limit. With how crumbly it is not sure if I will be able to re-tile to make do until we can do the bathroom properly or it it is going to have to be sorted first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 On 21/08/2021 at 14:53, AlwaysAVFC said: Bloody house owning! With either renting or living close to the in laws, had little DIY to do which suits my lack off skill and knowledge. A while back we had a leak coming into the kitchen. I put new sealant around the bath and that seemed to stop it. The other day we saw signs of a leak in the room next door. It looks like a lot of the grout was in poor condition. I've been pushing my skills today by taking out the grout to replace. Only issue is now there are a few falling tiles, which I think I can manage to refix but I took a couple more off and found where the water must be getting through as the plaster or whatever it is, is patchy and crumbling. Was hoping to have put the grout in by the end of the day (god knows how that will go) but now wondering whether I have reached my limit. With how crumbly it is not sure if I will be able to re-tile to make do until we can do the bathroom properly or it it is going to have to be sorted first. Sounds like you need to find the source of the leak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post maqroll Posted September 9, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted September 9, 2021 (edited) Finally finished the deck today. Amateur job but functional and sturdy. Edited September 9, 2021 by maqroll 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysAVFC Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 5 hours ago, maqroll said: Sounds like you need to find the source of the leak. Pretty sure it was coming through the tile grouting, there was little signs of water anywhere else and not by the shower plumbing which was my main concern. For now I have put the tiles back on and re-grouted, as a short term fix until we are in a position to do the bathroom properly. Hopefully that has stopped the issue and will hold for a little while. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted September 9, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted September 9, 2021 9 hours ago, maqroll said: Finally finished the deck today. Amateur job but functional and sturdy. Looks good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted September 9, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted September 9, 2021 I've attempted my first bit of carpentry this week, a built in shelving unit and cupboard. It's been a bloody nightmare and revealed I am hilariously unfit and bad at any form of manual work. I expect my dad's ashes to flip the urn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robby b Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 See if you can spot my favourite tile in my new kitchen: https://ibb.co/LdgdMzj. (I made it myself). 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 32 minutes ago, robby b said: See if you can spot my favourite tile in my new kitchen: https://ibb.co/LdgdMzj. (I made it myself). Marmite, uurrrgghhh 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted October 20, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted October 20, 2021 Question for any electricians on here. I was swapping over a plug socket for one with a built-in USB and when I turned the sockets off at the mains, I realised that the light in that room was run off the sockets and not the flights circuit. It's in an old double garage which was split into two and the light in the other side is on the lights circuit. Is this an issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted October 21, 2021 Moderator Share Posted October 21, 2021 21 hours ago, Rds1983 said: Question for any electricians on here. I was swapping over a plug socket for one with a built-in USB and when I turned the sockets off at the mains, I realised that the light in that room was run off the sockets and not the flights circuit. It's in an old double garage which was split into two and the light in the other side is on the lights circuit. Is this an issue? Not so much now you know about it! - The safety aspect would be that someone in future might want to change that light fitting, turn off the light circuit at the mains and then unwittingly work on what would still be a live circuit (obviously a meter/check the light doesn't switch on should be used by them to confirm there's no power there, but still.... To prevent that, it might be an idea to put a note or sticky label at the mains unit to tell future people the [room] light is on the sockets circuit. So it looks like someone previously has run a spur off a socket to add in a (new) light in the room - is it a building extension/garage/shed? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted October 21, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted October 21, 2021 1 hour ago, blandy said: Not so much now you know about it! - The safety aspect would be that someone in future might want to change that light fitting, turn off the light circuit at the mains and then unwittingly work on what would still be a live circuit (obviously a meter/check the light doesn't switch on should be used by them to confirm there's no power there, but still.... To prevent that, it might be an idea to put a note or sticky label at the mains unit to tell future people the [room] light is on the sockets circuit. So it looks like someone previously has run a spur off a socket to add in a (new) light in the room - is it a building extension/garage/shed? It's in the internal double garage which has been split into two to make another room. Weirdly the garage still has the light on the correct circuit. It was on my list of stuff to work on at some point and planning to extend the lights for better coverage. Putting a note on the consumer unit is a decent shout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted October 21, 2021 Moderator Share Posted October 21, 2021 28 minutes ago, Rds1983 said: It's in the internal double garage which has been split into two to make another room. Weirdly the garage still has the light on the correct circuit. It was on my list of stuff to work on at some point and planning to extend the lights for better coverage. Putting a note on the consumer unit is a decent shout. That explains it. If you're extending the lights, maybe you could put them (all - the new ones, plus the rogue one) back on the lighting ring? - if you put further new ones on the same spur as the rogue one, you'd be kind of adding to the problem, though probably one or two would not be a massive thing, but it's not best practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted October 21, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted October 21, 2021 16 minutes ago, blandy said: That explains it. If you're extending the lights, maybe you could put them (all - the new ones, plus the rogue one) back on the lighting ring? - if you put further new ones on the same spur as the rogue one, you'd be kind of adding to the problem, though probably one or two would not be a massive thing, but it's not best practice. Yeah I'll get them all on the proper ring as I want to extend the garage anyway (both rooms are quite dark). I'm not sure why they didn't do that when they split the garage though. Feels like it would have been more work then just extending the original circuit. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 (edited) Measure once, bodge twice. Don't try to understand the rationale of the average "handy" homeowner. Every time I need to touch any peice of plumbing or electrics in my house, I assume the previous owner read a satirical DIY book, and his only tools were a screwdriver and duct tape. I'm not certain about the screwdriver. Edited October 21, 2021 by Davkaus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted January 24, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 24, 2022 Anyone know anything about doors? I need an interior door, but it's not a regular size - it's 1960 x 755 and the norm appears to be 1981 x 762. If I buy a moulded door, will I be able to take 21mm off the height without breaking the outer layer of the door? Is getting a door down to size a painfully difficult job? Does anyone know where I can buy doors that are outside of the usual? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted January 24, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted January 24, 2022 29 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: Anyone know anything about doors? I need an interior door, but it's not a regular size - it's 1960 x 755 and the norm appears to be 1981 x 762. If I buy a moulded door, will I be able to take 21mm off the height without breaking the outer layer of the door? Is getting a door down to size a painfully difficult job? Does anyone know where I can buy doors that are outside of the usual? You can buy doors with more material to remove , there more expensive though and check the sides, top and bottom have the same amount of material to remove, some have different amounts around the same door. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted January 24, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 24, 2022 49 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: Anyone know anything about doors? I need an interior door, but it's not a regular size - it's 1960 x 755 and the norm appears to be 1981 x 762. If I buy a moulded door, will I be able to take 21mm off the height without breaking the outer layer of the door? Is getting a door down to size a painfully difficult job? Does anyone know where I can buy doors that are outside of the usual? I've shortened doors before, and 10 mm off the top and bottom has been OK. I used an angle grinder with a cutting wheel, but a plane could (more slowly) do the job, too. The first one I did I made a slight mess off, so I bought some sticky plastic gubbins from B&Q it all to make it all nice and tidy again - adhesive strip stuff (see pic) I think the trickier bit might be the width, just because it's a longer length to plane/cut away. I also think it depends a bit on how/what the door is made of - mine are cheapo wooden frames with plywood front and backs. I dunno, as well, whether somewhere like a timber merchant, or a Jewsons, or even a local carpenter might not be able to knock one up for you. I got a gate made that way (local bloke from yellow pages, years ago). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted January 24, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 24, 2022 I can see the old door getting patched up and given a bit of love in the immediate future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts