Rolling DIY thread

We have helpful threads on computers, parenting, all that stuff. Can we have a rolling thread advising those of us who are less useful with home improvement and repair? Anyone on ILX particularly good with their hands?

So I'll start. I have a very small (about one foot square) section of a large wood floor where the varnish/finish has come away and left a bare patch with an area of separated varnish around it. I do not know what kind of varnish was originally applied to the floor. Is there a somewhat easy/not dangerous way to strip this area and re-varnish with something close (if it can't be identical) without refinishing the whole floor?

I totally told my girlfriend I could fix the broken latch on her bedroom door.

Such lies, such terrible lies.

is the whole door broken now?

admrl - you could sand down the area to remove the old varnish, keeping a shopvac there to catch the dust and being careful to follow a natural border (edges/ends of planks, obvious demarcation in the grain), then possibly staining to match the existing wood (you will want it lighter by a few shades, the varnish will darken it somewhat - if you are only doing a portion of a board, feather the stain as you approach the border of the sanded wood vs. the existing finish), then very carefully applying the thinnest possible coats of varnish, again feathered toward the existing finish section of single boards. If you can slide paper/thin plastic between the edge of stripped boards where they abut boards with existing finish, that can be easier to deal with than trying to mask off with tape. You should find an unobtrusive spot and test what happens when your new varnish meets the old varnish - if it attacks the old finish, it's probably not worth trying to do a small section. Sanding, staining (possibly, might not be needed), and waxing might be a good alternative.

The hinges that kept my maildoor attached broke cause the mailman stuffed too much into it. My super never gets around to fixing anything, so I took a hanger, twisted it until I had separated the long, bottom piece from the rest of the hanger, then I fed it through the long tube on the door, shortened it so that it just fit the holes that the hinges went into, and reattached the maildoor. it has worked for the last 2 years like this. i was very proud of myself for doing this.

Thank you SO much!! You made my day
xp

part of the drywall in my apartment, due to the humidity, is rotting away. it flakes off and looks all puffy and you can see the bare wall underneath. it was like this when I moved in. it kind of bothers me - is there a way I can easily strip the rotten drywall off (and make sure it doesn't spread to the rest of the drywall) and then replaster/paint it?

great thread idea, btw!

Bought a ladder today! Replaced a halogen light that's been hanging several inches out of its hole since March and replaced a smoke detector that fell off the ceiling a year ago. Also bought two (2) double adaptors. Dab hand, me.

replaced broken letterbox last weekend, am about to tackle replacement of flush valve in a constantly flushing toilet. Should be lols

Luck?

didn't bother, tbh. next week. maybe.

you know the think you screw into the end of a tap/faucent, which has like a filter for the crud and a rubber washer, and maybe a grid thing to disperse the water as it comes out? what is that called?

also: any idiot could fit one of these if the bare wires are already hanging out of the ceiling, right? http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00067854

adam, what happened to your floor?

you know the think you screw into the end of a tap/faucent, which has like a filter for the crud and a rubber washer, and maybe a grid thing to disperse the water as it comes out? what is that called?

Aerators or jet breakers, depending on whether you've got a high- or low-pressure system.

mine looks like an aerator, thanks!

ensuite ceiling was flaked, peeling and getting mouldy due to the extractor fan packing in, so took that on yesterday. Scraped it to the plasterboard, washed with fungicide, two coats of moisture resistant paint. We await results.

i just installed a washing machine *polishes nails*

admittedly i forgot to remove the screws that hold the drum in place and connected it to the hot tap, but otherwise it went very well.

minor issues imo

Have to take on creeping damp in a downstairs toilet, but from reading up this sounds like it might be beyond diy tbh.

painting interior this week, and am getting loan of a POWER WASHER for the weekend. Replacing broken extractor fan in shower and cleaning fascia/guttering to if i get time.

Think that's it for a while, hopefully.

POWERWASHING

filthy job, but very satisfying

2am. Final room in the house gets the first coat. I'm exhausted ffs.

Any ideas on a guesstimate for putting wooden flooring in a room? (UK)

And any reason not to?

I'm hoping to run some new sealant around a bath. However, the bath hasn't been fit particularly snug to the wall and there's a large gap. Last time we did this job we put some wooden beading between the bath and the wall and ran sealant over this - it didn't look particularly neat. Any ideas on how to do the job properly?

Thanks.

do WC press panels have a standard type of fitting?

i.e. if I bought this concealed cistern (minus panel)
https://www.ergonomicdesigns.co.uk/product/TR9005~roper-rhodes-0.82m-wall-hung-concealed-toilet-cisterns-with-fixing-frame.html

could I fit this press panel
https://www.ergonomicdesigns.co.uk/product/740-0611~vitra-loop-r-dual-flush-plate-in-matt-black.html

i need to get a rusty screw out of a lamp to change the bulb

i) it's one of those rocksalt lamps which a friend gave to me bcz they live on a boat and the salt was dissolving lol
ii) the screws firmly attach the base to the rocksalt dome
iii) any DIY has to be pretty light-handed or the salt will shatter -- there's already a big crack in it
iv) the head of the screw is rusted enough so that a screwdriver doesn't engage with the slots crisply and it feels like it merely damages the edge further when you turn it

i need to remove more of the rust (DW40 removed some) to deepen the slots and if possible also create a new and better medium that will hold a screwdriver in ther slot -- it don't think it's very tightly screwed in (its fellow screw was easily unscrewed but it was also much less rusted)

Good question!

have you got any pliers/long nosed pliers? Sometimes if you can get a hard grip on the head of the screw, to the point it bends the edges a little, you can manage to unscrew a rusted stuck screw.

but I don't know the size of this screw. I've done this before but with inch + a half 8" screws and they are in walls rather than a lamp.

is it a posi threaded screw or a slotted one?

sometimes a stubborn posi screw might be difficult because you need the perfect fit driver to get it moving, or sometimes they won't budge because the thread is damaged.

I've got a threading tool that is a useful bit of kit for when switch screws become cross threaded or damaged to the point they won't screw back tight. Absolutely off-topic in relation to this problem. But just saying I meant the posi-thread on the head of the screw not the body of it. Having a threadmare here!

• nothing sticking out that pliers could grip, sadly -- it's screwed right into the wood until it's recessed
• size of screw = 1.5" long, head = 1/4", phillips head, not sure i know the diff between slotted and posi-threaded (i tried googling but overwhelmed by a blizzard of info)
• don't think the thread is damaged (it's fine on the sister screw which i got out and i *think* it's only going into wood)
• basically the rust has got into the phillips cross and yes, i don't think i have a screwdriver with an exact enough fit and the non-exact fitting ones slip and further damage and erode and shear the crispness of the phillips cross, so there's even less to grip

however since oiling it yesterday the phillips cross actually looks a lot better defined! the main tricksiness now is that it's hard to exert pressure with a screwdriver because the top of rock salt has to take the brunt of it and it's very crumbly

(i don't have a vise and i suspect to a vise would actually damage the wooden base if i did, bcz it wd need to be so tight?)

also it's not that tight, since removing the sister screw i can wiggle and work the base a little -- it's just that the stubborn screw is recessed and my screwdrivers (which are probably pretty craply) refuse to grip it

wikihow suggests various things that aren't helpful in this context (hitting it all with a hammer lol) but one plausible-sounding step is this:

• Create a gripping paste with water and cleanser for stuck screws. The gripping paste will help you keep your screwdriver in place without damaging the screw. First, place 1 teaspoon, or .17 oz (4.8 g), of a powdered cleanser in a mixing bowl. Add about 3 drops of room temperature water, then stir the mixture into a paste. Spread the paste over the screw head with a rag.[6]
• You can use a regular kitchen or bathroom cleanser. You may already have some on hand.
• If you don't want to mix your own paste, you can apply automotive valve grinding compound to the screw head instead.

but what is the "cleanser" referred to here?

https://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/hand-tools/screw-extractor-sets/6-piece-screw-extractor-set/p/KEN0751160K?gclid=CjwKCAjwyIKJBhBPEiwAu7zll30UiDeeZNNA6TohWWWfV0U8YydJQhrrBBH6i-D4c_v9A6IDXL_g0hoCFDsQAvD_BwE

yeah I can't remember what the slight difference is between a Philips and a Posi and I think in less stuck screws you can use either in either! I have never actually used one of what I've linked above, but maybe useful?

I have drilled out broken screws before, but just with a metal bit in a pistol drill, and not on anything fragile like a lamp.

lamp showing base and also incipient crack:
https://i.imgur.com/mqdcdk9.jpg

base showing removed screw (left) and rusty screw which i can't shift (right)
https://i.imgur.com/2uKvfLm.jpg

it looks more damaged in the photo than i think it actually is, however this may be a distinction w/o a difference

so yes, maybe some screw-extractor drilling is what's required -- will the rock salt this assault? see next exciting episode (in a week or three's time)

Can you take the lamp to a hardware store with various screwdrivers to test how they seat in the screw? It may be as simple as just getting a screwdriver/bit with an exact match for the depth/shape of the screw to give you the right torque.

For rusted bolts, you would usually use something like Liquid Wrench (similar to WD40 I believe) but the screw is not exposed at all and I am not sure what that would do to the salt.

If you have a good local hardware store, they may let you borrow an impact driver, but would consult with them due to the delicate nature of the lamp.

i found another tray of (newer and less crappy) screwdriver bits that i forgot about and found one that's a better fit -- so now i have got it to loosen enough to stick out a little so i think it will come all the way with patience

introducing byron the fkn bulb:

https://i.imgur.com/zJKBqsO.jpg

Thomas Edison wants it back

the housing for the bulb is meant to be held in by sprung metal flanges -- you can see the remains of some of them belong the salt encrustation

the metal flanges are meant compress as you pull at the the central bit to extract it through the wooden ring (presumably as they did when it was first inserted)-- but they're rusted away so instead of being sprung, they're just points and the points catch on the ring and make it impossible to extract the central bit

(changed the bulb and it works! but if i'm going to resuscitate it in its full lovely-horrible form i need a new housing as well, and a new mechanism to keep it in place)

so far the rock-salt dome is still in one piece tho!

My rocksalt lamp takes a smaller pygmy lamp, which I've had to change once when the first one went and then a 2nd time as I managed to smash the new one with the sprung metal flanges somehow twanging them into it before I'd put it back together again.

my plan is to keep a new plastic housing in place with a couple of blobs of blu-tak (the only good tool-stroke-material)

gaffer tape and electrical insulation tape are also both very useful things to have in the game of short term fixes and general bodgery.

My boyfriend is gutting his kitchen next month and put me in charge of the design & materials choices (and then fought me all the way, which is a different story) and I have to admit I'm kinda going full instagram aesthetic. Is that horrible? Will I be really sorry in 5 years?

This vibe is basically this kind of thing:

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/7f/f5/52/7ff5521101c90696e767b8767c19dde3.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/3d/b9/f4/3db9f4a495acb394d75ccd32fe2ebf8c.jpg

Nah thats nice

yeah I can't remember what the slight difference is between a Philips and a Posi and I think in less stuck screws you can use either in either!

Pretty sure I have stripped screw heads in the past by mixing them up, Philips in a pozi screw won't grip tight enough and will damage it by spinning, pozi in a Philips screw will be even worse because of the extra ribs on the driver that there is no corresponding slot for in the screw.

yeah it is probably bad practise, but for the first month of my glittering apprentice electrician career all I had was a shitty little phillips driver and lol was using it to mount bathroom fans and outside lights, probably knackering the thread on every screw and struggling about 10 times more than I needed to!

they don't really have these Posi screws in the US! I was very confused! Last weekend I was trying to disassemble furniture in order to ease in disposal, and several pieces (these were homemade) were built with annoying headed screws, but they were hex-head and not what the Posi screws look like. I didn't want to hunt for a hex-bit at the place I was helping, so I just cut the stuff up with a sawzall

oh, and I forgot to post that with the "funny" display name I thought up earlier, that I thought, "I should post to the DIY thread with this DN"

time to make my fortune as a how-to youtuber lads

https://i.imgur.com/ZNWp1x6.jpg

(glittering apprentice electrician calzino plz to avert eyes from that very overloaded plugboard)

it'll be reet. I've had two of them overloaded plugboards connected in series before. RCBOs are the real heroes!

well done

Top tip I discovered when putting up some shelves a few months ago: vaguely remembering some ideas on efficiency I thought it would be best to do all the repeatable steps for all the shelves at once - that is, drill all the holes, then fix all the brackets, then put up the shelves. I was wrong, that led to errors carried forward (e.g. when putting in the brackets, 'oh I should have done this when drilling the holes!') - much better to install each shelf fully one by one, figuring things out as you go that can be applied to the next one. Applicable to more than just shelves I'm sure.

I find *deliberately* putting my kitchen shelves and pot hanging racks all ever so slightly on the piss gives it a pleasing ship's galley effect.

a laser level can be very useful if you are a bit more fussy.