The House Projects Thread

[Rich B]

Had a garden airer receptacle in the garden which we've all hurt our foot on when walked on, with Noah hurting his little toe quite badly last weekend. So I vowed that this weekend it would be gone. Thing is that it was set in concrete, so had to dig around it and break it up it to get it out the ground.

By coincidence on a DIY video on YouTube this week I saw this which I picked up yesterday for £65 from Screwfix, including 22 accessories (in case the price changes by the time you click on it).

Very impressed. I'm certain that there are better SDS drills available, but for the money you can't get close from the big brands. It was able to break up the block of concrete in 20 minutes, which included stopping to do further digging around and whatnot. Seriously impressed. Well worth it if you need an SDS drill and don't want to spend big money.

We buy those to use as breakers. They wear out and break so often that this is one of the few times that buying a cheaper tool makes financial sense

I was about to post the same - the guys on site use them as they're cheaper than hiring. I have one too, it's great for getting tiles up quick!!!

[jamcg]

It’s not very often but shite buy twice doesn’t apply

[Simon]

Well it's got a 2 year warranty so if it breaks I'll just... get it replaced? I imagine it'll see very light duties with me anyway. It's earned it's keep already by breaking up that concrete in my garden.

[V8Granite]

Mine must be about 8 years old, it’s done a couple of patios, loads of drilling through pebbledash and some core drilling.

Dave!

[Jobbo]

Ooh, we have the end of a wooden post which is stuck in concrete that I'd like to remove. The post went 5 years ago when we bought this house, and the concrete holding another post just came out quite easily but for some reason this one seems to have been put in to withstand a bomb blast. Not sure I'm looking forward to actually using it, but I should probably get one and give it a go.

Before I do, do you have a link to the Youtube video, Simon?

[Simon]

Ooh, we have the end of a wooden post which is stuck in concrete that I'd like to remove. The post went 5 years ago when we bought this house, and the concrete holding another post just came out quite easily but for some reason this one seems to have been put in to withstand a bomb blast. Not sure I'm looking forward to actually using it, but I should probably get one and give it a go.

Before I do, do you have a link to the Youtube video, Simon?

Yes Simon! Here it is. Watch the whole thing or skip to the drill section at around 3m30s.

It's one of the DIY channels I subscribe too.

And ironically he uses it to remove concrete from a fence post in this too.

[Simon]

Mine must be about 8 years old, it’s done a couple of patios, loads of drilling through pebbledash and some core drilling.

Dave!

Big warning sticker with this one that says it's not to be used for core drilling...

[Jobbo]

Ooh, we have the end of a wooden post which is stuck in concrete that I'd like to remove. The post went 5 years ago when we bought this house, and the concrete holding another post just came out quite easily but for some reason this one seems to have been put in to withstand a bomb blast. Not sure I'm looking forward to actually using it, but I should probably get one and give it a go.

Before I do, do you have a link to the Youtube video, Simon?

Yes Simon! Here it is. Watch the whole thing or skip to the drill section at around 3m30s.

It's one of the DIY channels I subscribe too.

And ironically he uses it to remove concrete from a fence post in this too.

I like the bit from about 2:20 where he's clearly blaming whoever is behind the camera for moving his new trowel

[V8Granite]

Mine must be about 8 years old, it’s done a couple of patios, loads of drilling through pebbledash and some core drilling.

Dave!

Big warning sticker with this one that says it's not to be used for core drilling...

Living life on the edge is a mindset

Maybe it kept killing them so they added a warning ?

Dave!

[Swervin_Mervin]

Are you even a man if you don't own a Titan SDS drill?

Had mine 10yrs. Only used it about 4 times Bought it when we moved in, so I could break out the concrete fence posts along the front boundary, to put a hedge in. It was cheaper than hiring so why wouldn't you?

Most recent use was realising the chisel head was the best thing I had lying around to spread the lower shock mount/hub when doing the front springs on the 330. The specific spreader socket I'd bought wasn't wide enough

[mik]

Are you even a man if you don't own a Titan SDS drill?

I have a Parkside SDS drill Ininherited from my dad.

Owned it for around 6 yrs before I realised what it could do! but it’s cool.

[Beany]

Completely aside, there's a drain outside the house that has a small hole in it's surround that might end up leaking into the basement - is there some sort of putty or something that can be used to fill it that'll be weatherproof/waterproof?

Probably need about a golf ball sized chunk, moulded to shape, etc. Just needs to be able to resist running water (the outflow from the kitchen overflows it if it comes out fast enough)

[jamcg]

@Beany Not that size of hole. Possibly get away with some quality duct tape for a bit. Best bet is to get a straight connector of the correct size, slice through the pipe and connect back together

Try something like this if your diy isn’t up to hacking into pipes. Don’t know how long it’ll last though
https://www.screwfix.com/p/self-amalgam ... lsrc=aw.ds

[KiwiDave]

So we've had one builder round to check over the two fucked bathroom floors, another was due but cancelled due to COVID, to return soon fingers crossed. While we were at it, we mentioned that two of the three Valsir in-wall toilets leak so much water they're ruining our water bill despite having the guts replaced and were considering ripping it out, redoing walls and having new, non-in-wall units fitted. Of course this is dangerously close to just re-doing two of the three bathrooms. This plus some leaking aluminium window/doors that have fucked a door jam and the fact we really ought to sort out the damp management of the wall downstairs partially sat against a clay bank is starting to look like a 50k GBP job.

Also seriously considering just going all in and getting them to fix everything that's bugging us about the place.

[Beany]

Ah, sorry, I've not explained myself well. Like everything in this house, it's all the wrong shape

drain.jpg (301.77 KiB) Viewed 808 times

Blue is the kitchen outlet, yellow is what I'd like to patch up. And yeah, I know it's manky...

As you can see the whole things a 'bit wrong' - the 'square' side is 12x12 but the drain downpipe from the guttering isn't central (and it's been changed relatively recently so could have been done properly!) so 90% of drain covers won't fit, and those that would, would block the water flow from the outlet (it's barely sloped) so the last person used mesh.

Plain steel mesh. For something that was going to get covered in wet leaves from the trees next door
so I'm going to hunt down some stainless steel wire mesh and make something custom, but that little hole at the top left ideally wants filling, ideally with something simple and relatively water/weather resistant.

Anyone got any ideas?

[Swervin_Mervin]

drain.jpg

Anyone got any ideas?

Jesus wept

Get yourself a Titan SDS drill, break the whole thing out and start again?

[Mito Man]

Just bung a bit of cement in there...

[Ascender]

Cement or silicon?

[Beany]

I think silicon is more likely to be doable - cement seems like a lot of work?

(I've literally never worked with it)

[Mito Man]

The silicone probably won’t bond well, but if you’re suggesting silicone then I assume you have a gun so I’d say this is more suitable
https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense ... 10ml/361jp