[SA Chris]

Wear old school diving boots

[James Malloch]

I’m making some outhouse and back yard doors. Everything is cut to size and now fully treated.

Main panels are going to be tongue and groove with a frame support on the back.

The current gates are all just glued together with the only screws being for hinges. I guess there’s no real reason not to add some screws to hold it together?

Any tips or wisdom before I start sticking it all together tomorrow….

[Duma]

Anyone got some glue knowledge? I want to save a body board that the skin is starting to peel off. The middle is polystyrene foam, the rail and upper are some sort of closed cell foam, and the bottom is some sort of shiny plastic. So the glue needs to be waterproof, flexible, and not dissolve the plastics. Any tips?

[Fultonius]

I've had good success with West System G-Flex for ski repairs (I used the thickened version, with black pigment to match the base) but I don't see why the non-thickened version wouldn't be perfect.

According to this:  https://www.boardcave.com/the-surfers-corner/pu-or-epoxy-which-one-is-best  Epoxy Resin is the only thing you can use with expanded polystyrene.

[Fultonius]

Anyone ever had a floor levelled? It's a single room in a first floor flat, big bow (4-5" in middle) and a slope one end to other (very historic movement).

Not sure if we're best getting it done with packers, getting the floor pulled up and joists repaired / lifted?

[wintermute]

I levelled on of our first floor rooms a few months ago that had a similar amount of bowing / slope. Sistered the joists using 6x2s screwed and carriage bolted to the originals. Took me a couple of days and a couple of hundred quids worth of wood.

[Fultonius]

I levelled on of our first floor rooms a few months ago that had a similar amount of bowing / slope. Sistered the joists using 6x2s screwed and carriage bolted to the originals. Took me a couple of days and a couple of hundred quids worth of wood.

I had wondered if that would be the best method. Did you lift and re-use the original floorboards, or make a new ply floor?

[SA Chris]

Are you still in the same flat in the old building from 15 or so years ago?

[wintermute]

I had wondered if that would be the best method. Did you lift and re-use the original floorboards, or make a new ply floor?
[/quote]

Nah they were pretty knackered and had been cut in loads of places for services so we put P5 down, which seemed a shame but it's carpetted anyway. If you're reusing the boards, bear in mind that if they've been cut for pipes etc., the cuts won't line up with the new joists.

[Fultonius]

Are you still in the same flat in the old building from 15 or so years ago?

Nope, been in this place around 5 years now.

[SA Chris]

OK.

[Will Hunt]

I recently replaced one of the bulbs in our fridge as it was no longer working. Today I noticed a burning smell in the kitchen and discovered that the other bulb was stuck on, even with the fridge door closed, resulting in some melted and scorched plastic around the fitting (and melted chocolate  ).

I replaced the bulb (I'd bought two spares but only replaced the broken one) and now it turns off ok when the door is closed.

I had a quick look online and couldn't find an answer. How can a bulb be stuck on even when the switch that turns it off is working? Although it seems to be working fine now I'd like to know what's going on as I'm concerned at how hot the bulb managed to get. I'd rather not have a house fire because of a dodgy fridge.

[mrjonathanr]

Maybe you should do what Joe P did when I lived with him. De-ice the freezer compartment by spearing through the whole thing with a large kitchen knife, replace it with the cheapest model- preferably Czech- available from Curry’s, then accept that phone conversations will be barely audible in the adjacent room once the motor starts up due to the noise it produces when circulating coolant.

[Coops_13]

resulting in some melted and scorched plastic around the fitting (and melted chocolate  ).

Nothing helpful to add, but what are you doing keeping chocolate in the fridge?!?

[Will Hunt]

resulting in some melted and scorched plastic around the fitting (and melted chocolate  ).

Nothing helpful to add, but what are you doing keeping chocolate in the fridge?!?

What kind of maniac doesn't keep chocolate in the fridge?!?

[Coops_13]

resulting in some melted and scorched plastic around the fitting (and melted chocolate  ).

Nothing helpful to add, but what are you doing keeping chocolate in the fridge?!?

What kind of maniac doesn't keep chocolate in the fridge?!?

Unless you live in the tropics, I disagree you MaDMAn

[moose]

I recently replaced one of the bulbs in our fridge as it was no longer working. Today I noticed a burning smell in the kitchen and discovered that the other bulb was stuck on, even with the fridge door closed, resulting in some melted and scorched plastic around the fitting (and melted chocolate  ).

I replaced the bulb (I'd bought two spares but only replaced the broken one) and now it turns off ok when the door is closed.

I had a quick look online and couldn't find an answer. How can a bulb be stuck on even when the switch that turns it off is working? Although it seems to be working fine now I'd like to know what's going on as I'm concerned at how hot the bulb managed to get. I'd rather not have a house fire because of a dodgy fridge.

That's a bit weird. I'd be surprised (and dismayed) if the damage was directly from the bulb. Surely a fridge would be designed to cope with the possibility of constant bulb operation (especially in a chilled, well ventilated environment)?

I've seen similar seeming, not from heating by the surface of a light bulb, but from nearby control switches - where the contact pads have welded together, so it remains closed ("on"), even if the switch has been put into the "off" position. But if that had happened, it probably would not be "working fine now" - unless there was a resistive heating fault at the contacts that had temporarily welded closed and parted later?!  Bizarre. Impossible to say anything meaningful without taking it apart.

[James Malloch]

Is there any way to tell if this is Asbestos? There are a few bits on our allotment which we don't want to touch until we’re sure.


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[spidermonkey09]

Probably is based on a look but I don't know how you'd confirm. There's no/very low risk unless you start snapping it up. It's certainly not a problem to touch it, or to stack it in a corner somewhere. Just wear gloves and a mask if you want to be sure.

[nic mullin]

You can get testing kits off the internet for about 10-20 quid, they have sample bags, disposable gloves, overalls, mask and pre-paid Jiffy bags in them. You suit up, break off a bit and bag it up, then send it off. The lab will send you the results in a few days.

[nic mullin]

Actually a quick google suggests it’s now more like £30-50 for a single sample kit - either my memory is poor or they’ve gone up in the last few years.

[petejh]

As per others I'd assume it's asbestos. Looks like it but you can't be sure without sampling. Depending how many panels you have it could be worth paying for a sample - if you have lots of them and the sample came back as not asbestos you then have piece of mind and could re-use the panels for something else on the allotment or dispose as standard building waste at your local recycling centre. If it came back as asbestos, handle accordingly and take to your local council recycling centre after booking it in as asbestos waste - there'll likely be a payment to be made for them to accept it.

If you only have a few panels it's probably not worth getting a sample. Just assume they're asbestos and handle accordingly.

When handling the panels you'd be sensible to first damp them down with water by hose/spray bottle, wear a hooded paper suit, gloves, a disposable P3 mask, and non-laced boots or wellies if you have them. Double wrap the panels in polythene.  Put the used paper suit/gloves/mask in with the panels for disposal as asbestos waste, and wash the boots.

Try not to break any of the panels while handling as that's how the asbestos fibres would be released, but don't worry about it if you do as it can be hard not to end up breaking anything. The amount of fibres released would be v.small and damping the panels, working outdoors and wearing suit/mask/gloves would v.likely prevent you being exposed to anything.

https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/public-health/asbestos-home-removal#:~:text=Ensure%20that%20any%20asbestos%20cement,Beighton%20Road%20HWRC


Alternatively stack in a corner for someone else to have to deal with in future, who'll contemplate the same things you're contemplating.

[James Malloch]

Thanks for the responses. There isn’t much that we can see (one area which we need to go through could be hiding more) but its only the panel shown and one other smaller piece.

It’s reassuring to know that it’s likely to be fine if just left for now as long as we don’t break it. We want to have a big clear out this summer so we will take care around it.

Our local council wast recycling place does allow small amounts to be taken for free (didn’t even think of that, thanks Pete)

Alternatively the council allotments does have money for some onsite work so i might ask if they could do anything to remove it.

[thunderbeest]

Not sure what the rules are in the UK. But if you get a company to so it the have to take a lot of measures for safety, but if you do it yourself it isn't too much of a hassle. Don't wait to long before removing it as it will only decompose even more and make it harder to remove.

Doas described above, wear mask and suit and throw them. Don't break stuff. And being exposed once won't give you cancer either. It's the working day in day out with it that has been problematic.

[nic mullin]

Anyone got any experience of retrofitting a dry ridge system to replace a mortared-on one?

From the instructions available online for various kits it looks pretty straightforward, but I will only have the scaffolding for a limited time and have a few other jobs to do on the roof, so if anyone has any tips, recommendations for good brands etc that’ll save me time and unnecessary screw ups I’d really appreciate it.

It’s an artificial slate roof in generally good shape (apart from the ridge, which has lost a tile at one end and the mortar is falling out for most of the rest) re-covered about 10 years ago. It’s just a straight ridge with no hips etc. and concrete tiles. I’ll have scaffolding from one side.

Thanks in advance.