The House Projects Thread

[GG.]

I would do but for the fact that it’s 3 feet in front of the French doors leading into my dining room which basically means that room is unusable because of the smell

Living In London in a terrace we are also very cheek by jowl with the neighbours and they can’t use their garden either until we get rid of it...

[Ascender]

So - we are having the decking in our back garden replaced imminently (scheduled start beginning of September) but sadly not quite soon enough...

As well as doing a good job of rotting through and potentially impaling your bare feet with rusty nails, it turns out that the other thing decking is exceptionally good at is hiding the large decomposing corpse of a fox. My good god in heaven - if it isn't the most repulsive thing I've ever come across.

As it was nicely hidden out of sight (and we have been at my in laws in Oxford the prior week), it has managed to get to the stage of black putrefaction without detection and is covered in a veritable carpet of maggots. I mean I've smelt bad things before but this is bad enough to make you dry heave from 8 feet away and the smell seemingly permeates through windows and walls.

I've booked someone in tomorrow to deal with it as there's no fucking way I'm getting my hands dirty on this one

Nice!

To be fair, their smells absolutely toxic when the dogs roll in it, so I can’t imagine what a rotting fox corpse would smell like.

[DeskJockey]

Just be glad it isn't under the house. We had a mouse (very different scale I know, found the skeletal remains later) die under our house and the smell was appalling. What was worse was the three rounds of disgusting, fat flies that appeared and sat on all the windows.

Only saving grace was that they were slow, so could easily be hoovered up.

[Rich B]

Yeah, there was a rat under our house when we bought it. A month or so later I had to take a load of floorboards up to find the fucker. The smell was ridiculous.

[mik]

Was it in de kitchen, and if so - did you have to ask yourself whot am ah gonna do?

[GG.]

Yeah, there was a rat under our house when we bought it. A month or so later I had to take a load of floorboards up to find the fucker. The smell was ridiculous.

I'll see if I can get a picture later to properly gross you all out. I expect I'm going to have to go out there to pull up more boards to get sufficient access to it anyway.

Last night it stank out the whole of the ground floor of the house until I realised there was an air brick in the wall directly above it so I had fun gaffer taping that up at midnight last night

[Rich B]

Was it in de kitchen, and if so - did you have to ask yourself whot am ah gonna do?

If I had a pound for everyone who made that joke...

I'd probably have about £3-4.

[Ascender]

Has anybody got recommendations for a circular saw at a reasonable price? It will be for occasional use, nothing really heavy duty, just general projects.

Looks like local store has -

DeWalt 1350W 240V 184mm Corded Circular saw DWE560-GB
Mac Allister 1500W 220-240V 190mm Corded Circular saw MSCS1500
Ryobi ONE+ 18V 150mm Cordless Circular saw R18CSP-0 - Bare
Stanley FatMax 18V 165mm Cordless Circular saw FMC660B-XJ - Bare
Bosch Power 4 all 18V 2.5Ah Li-ion Cordless Circular saw PKS 18 Li

[Rich B]

I wouldn't bother with cordless For occasional use unless you've got money for a big battery or two. I had a Ryobi one that was shit when using the standard little One+ battery, then I only had one big battery, so when that ran out I'd just have to wait for it to recharge.

I basically have the same Ryobi one but with a cord and whilst it can be a bit annoying setting up the power, it's worth it for being able to use it for whole days without thinking about the battery.

[Ascender]

Yeah, I did wonder about cordless - seemed like the one tool you could easily burn through batteries with.

[integrale_evo]

I just have a cheap corded one and used it a ridiculous amount with no issues. Would like a cordless one but only in addition to a corded one for lighter jobs.

Also have a nice long piece of scrap extruded aluminium I’ve drilled a couple of holes in and attach to the scrap side of what I’m cutting with a couple of small screws to use as a guide for lovely straight cuts in long sheets.

[Ascender]

I just have a cheap corded one and used it a ridiculous amount with no issues. Would like a cordless one but only in addition to a corded one for lighter jobs.

Also have a nice long piece of scrap extruded aluminium I’ve drilled a couple of holes in and attach to the scrap side of what I’m cutting with a couple of small screws to use as a guide for lovely straight cuts in long sheets.

That’s a good idea about the aluminium, I was wondering how to rig something-up and it was on the list for this weekend.

I also need to get another workbench or something setup as I only have a plastic foldable thing, not even got a set of saw horses.

As for the saw, I suspect anything I buy will do the job - there’s a couple under £100, corded which I’m sure will be fine.

Oh, and a vise for the bench too

[Mito Man]

I think festool charge £100 per metre of aluminium Their prices really do make me laugh.
Once you get used to it though you need nothing but a string line and a steady arm.

[Rich B]

Festool kit is a lot quicker and accurate than a string line and eye!

It's also not really aimed at diy'ers!

[Simon]

[mention]Ascender[/mention] I got this circular saw and track a fortnight ago after the same dilemma. It was on sale for £130 at the time (I think I may be able to 'recommend a friend' for a bit of a discount.

Anyway, don't do cordless if you'll only use it infrequently. I also have Evo's compound mitre saw and it's great at cutting through anything. The dust collection on the circular saw isn't great, but other than that it's brilliant for the odd job (confirmed by numerous YouTube reviews).

There's also a lesser non-plus model (no light) with 1m of track for £100 on sale now I think.

[GG.]

Yeah, there was a rat under our house when we bought it. A month or so later I had to take a load of floorboards up to find the fucker. The smell was ridiculous.

I see your small dead rodent and I raise you this:

Spoiler

Spoiler

And for added context - this is how close it is to the house...

Spoiler

As I'm nice I've hidden the images until you click to save anyone that is currently planning on eating lunch in the next couple of hours.

[Beany]

Yeah, that's appreciated

Nice mess you have there. Ew.

[Ascender]

WTAF is that [mention]GG.[/mention]

All i can see is what looks like the face of a small monkey

[Jobbo]

Not nice. Spade, bin bag, hold your nose!

[mik]

WTAF is that @GG.

All i can see is what looks like the face of a small monkey

It was GG’s pet monkey Bubbles. They all assumed he’d run off back to his home country, but no....