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With the complete anonymity of the intraweb I feel safe to ask this question.
How do you make a level patch of soil? When I do raised beds with sleepers one or two pennies here and a headset spanner there makes it all line up.
I want to make some borders with sleepers with the wide side down.
They are 2.4 m long and I am using 3 of them. How do I do a proper job for once , so that they lay perfectly level with each other?
I know string is involved and all the shed base laying videos that I’ve looked at just say “ make sure you have level ground” .
How exactly do you get that level ground?
I have obviously hacked this account to ask the question.
String gets you a straight line, but it sags so won't help with getting a level.
Use a stake / bit of rebar to set the level you want to achieve (hammer it in until the top is at the height you want) then use a spirit level (the longer the better, you really don't want a 12" level for this!) and set a second stake level with the first, then a third level with the second, and so on. This will enable you to see how much drop is on the land and will act as your guide to set the height of your sleepers.
Put the sleepers on a bed of grano, spirit level on top, tap it down.
Good website for ground work etc...
https://www.pavingexpert.com/grano_01
Attaching stuff to the wall. Can make it, but comes to making that something solid to a wall(mirrors,pictures etc, im a complete duffer. Just cant ever get rawl plugs to work right, and I've all the proper kit, but they just keep spinning and never want to tighten up.
The guys who built me a wall brought a 10m clear hosepipe with them, that's nice I thought they 'll be cleaning up with that.
So they filled it with water to say 80%, pinned one end to the start and the other to a vertical pole they set up at the end of the wall. Look at water level in hosepipe at both ends you have a dead level wall. Pretty clever I thought. And it worked.
Just cant ever get rawl plugs to work right, and I’ve all the proper kit, but they just keep spinning and never want to tighten up.
Posted 31 minutes ago
Put screw in Rawl plug one turn , then hammer Rawl plug into hole. Remove screw and carry on.
I'm actually in the middle of doing the same sleeper border job.
Spirit levels, builders level string stuff, hardcore and plenty of trial and error.
Sleepers aren't wholly straight/level so the spirit level might give different readings depending on where it's placed.
The clear garden hose sounds a good idea.
I wouldn't get too hung up on exact precision as things will subside and you can plant accordingly to distract the eye etc.
Good luck!
I can only do very basic stuff like change a light fitting, decorating, putting up shelves, changing door handles. Beyond that I haven’t got a clue.
I don’t know what it is that they train ground workers, but my experienced cousin can get by eye in half an hour as flat as I would with all kinds of tools and days of messing about.
Plumbing pisses me off in a way that's difficult to explain rationally. I can do it, but the fact that even with the water turned off, and drained, there's still going to be water in the system that will inevitably find it's way to whatever it is I'm doing, and before long, everything is wet...This one is wet, this one is wet...did you dry these in a rain-forest?
Electricity...Turn off at the mains. it's off, completely off, not lingering about making everything soggy...
Hello, my name is Houns and I can’t hammer nail in straight or without it bending. Annoying as I’ve got about 50 m of fencing to do over the next week
Those sleepers; do you want them level level, or just level?
If the ground isn't perfectly level, then I would just be happy to match the slope. Plonk them on the ground, get the middle one looking right and then dig out or add soil to the others until you're happy. Then do it again next week when it's all settled and you've trodden on one.
And wall plugs - Just use Fischer Duopower. A bit pricey but I use loads and they save endless frustration and worry that things are going to fall off the wall.
I hate DIY. There I've said it and I'm just going to mini-flounce.
It's the uncertainty that it'll either be a) acceptable or b) total crap.
I'm also tight so am unkeen to pay someone else. It's a catch 22.
Hello, my name is Houns and I can’t hammer nail in straight or without it bending. Annoying as I’ve got about 50 m of fencing to do over the next week
That's what the electric drill/driver was invented for. Prevents every other nail being bent and ripped out with a claw for another go or all those extra dints in the plasterboard where the hammer missed the (extra large) head of the clout nails. Saved me so much DIY embarrassment. I'm told that impact drivers are even better but have not yet advanced to embracing that particular future. 50 m of fencing might make me rethink that!
My kitchen mixer tap has started dripping and whistling. I can't see any way to get into it, and will sadly have to resort to calling a plumber.
There's nothing there that a spanner can get onto, and nothing for a screw or hex driver to get in to.
Flummoxed and beaten.
Can fit a kitchen no probs, plumbing is ok but I just hate it. Wont touch electrics other than changing light fittings and bulbs etc. Havent attempted tiling for years but did a lot as a kid helping my dad decorating bathrooms.
The crux, cant saw in a straight line. No matter how hard I try, no matter how small the wood. It's always at an angle. Even with a electric saw.
The crux, cant saw in a straight line. No matter how hard I try, no matter how small the wood. It’s always at an angle. Even with a electric saw.
I can saw wood and it's 25 mm at each end but still not straight.
My kitchen mixer tap has started dripping and whistling. I can’t see any way to get into it,
You might find that the very end of it - where the water comes out - unscrews and there will be a little filter in there. If it's got stuff in it that might be the cause of your whistling.
You may not even be able to see the join where the screwed on bit meets the rest of the tap...
Just cant ever get rawl plugs to work right, and I’ve all the proper kit, but they just keep spinning and never want to tighten up.
This is likely:
1) Cheap crap plugs rather than Rawl / [other good brands]. There are a few things in life which simply aren't worth the hassle and aggravation resulting from trying to save a few pence. See also, micro SD cards and anything to do with camping. (There's probably a thread to be had in this...)
2) An inability to hold the drill steady resulting in a sloppy, oversized hole.
3) Using the wrong size drill bit, plug or screw. They all need to match.
... in about that order.
Hello, my name is Houns and I can’t hammer nail in straight or without it bending. Annoying as I’ve got about 50 m of fencing to do over the next week
Is your hammer head chewed to shit. I've borrowed a hammer before and i couldn't do anything with it. Everything was squint or i'd slip off and hit my thumb. I couldn't understand it until went and got a different hammer and it was night and day.
Oh, I've got one.
My toilet seat is (now very) loose. Thing is, it's a daft square shape (who has a square arse? I'm not playing Minecraft!) and the gap between the pedestal and the wall is so small that even my limp girly wrists can't get round the back of it.
Am I really going have to call out a plumber to remove the entire sealanted-in crapper just to tighten up two bolts? What happens when it comes loose again a week later? There must be something I'm missing, the design can't really be that stupid. Can it? I'll be fixing it with a new one if that's the case.
Is your hammer head chewed to shit. I’ve borrowed a hammer before and i couldn’t do anything with it. Everything was squint or i’d slip off and hit my thumb. I couldn’t understand it until went and got a different hammer and it was night and day.
You might have hit the nail on the head there.
This is likely:
1) Cheap crap plugs rather than Rawl / [other good brands]. There are a few things in life which simply aren’t worth the hassle and aggravation resulting from trying to save a few pence. See also, micro SD cards and anything to do with camping. (There’s probably a thread to be had in this…)
2) An inability to hold the drill steady resulting in a sloppy, oversized hole.
3) Using the wrong size drill bit, plug or screw. They all need to match.
… in about that order.
Cougar have you seen what dyna-ti does for a living? The guy clearly knows how to hold a drill.
In my experience and probably hus too its the shitty masonry in tenements rockhard outer crumbly inner all two inches away beneath shot plaster . I just undersize the the drill.
Cougar have you seen what dyna-ti does for a living?
Probably at some point, but not sufficiently to commit that information to memory. I barely know what I do for a living let alone anyone else on the forum. Apologies for any offence inadvertently caused.
Soldering. I'm sure if I did enough of it I'd get the hang. However it's very seldom I get the iron out. Occasionally for shortening guitar leads or rewiring an output jack etc
Very little DIY jobs' that I don't have an idea of how to do thanks to the likes of YouTube etc, thankfully I'm pretty good with hands-on stuff. The issue is I don't own my own place so only get to do the odd job at my parent's house, when they let me anyway. Have hung doors, replaced double glazing units (not the frame itself), laid carpet, fitted cupboards, shelves, wall-mounted a TV, changed light and plug fittings and all the other stuff. Haven't yet had a go at tiling or fitting a bathroom suite, plastering neither. The only job I've so far come across that stumped me was fitting a new lock to a door, a mortice sashlock. Partly due to not having the right tools but for some odd reason I couldn't get my head round it! A locksmith fitted it for me in about 20 mins and I felt so bad at the bodge I'd done that I apologised for the mess, he was kind to me and said it's nowhere near the worse butchering he'd seen and it was all hidden by then lock when fitted anyway.
Most DIY jobs fail due to poor quality materials (the Rawlplug example is a classic for that) or lack of preparation.
@Cougar I recognise the toilet seat knightmare and only solved it when we bought one of those fancy new clip on seats that you press a button to lift off.
Either you need a special spanner to reach the out of the way nuts that are sometimes wingnuts and sometimes just nuts, usually the one that you didn't buy the special spanner that cost more than the new bog seat for.
Or
They use a fancy hidden screw so you have to prize the chrome plated cover (usually round and about 3 cm across) off to reveal the screw underneath. I'm the process the cover will probably get bent or you think it is that type and bend it anywayso it'll never go flat again.
It took ages to fit the bog seat right! Probably take a plumber 10 minutes and 50 quid.
Hinge is like this one but not this one:
https://www.wolseley.co.uk/product/ideal-standard-seat-hinges/
PS: in the process you will find lots of grim smelly welded on piss stains in unexplored and unexplained places of a otherwise spotless toilet and remember why a plumber was well worth 50 quid.
Doesn’t matter the size or quality of hammer, from pin hammers to chuffin big mallets I fudge it up. Sadly a driver can’t get staples in, yes I even mess up hammering staples
Toilet seat will more than likely have a top tightening screw as mentioned. On the back of the seat might be a button to release a catch so seat will lift away from the fixing brackets.
Never had a problem myself with cheap rawl plugs myself. Just remember 5.5 or 6mm hole for red plug, 7mm hole for brown plug. Always drill deeper than the length of the screw you will use, and make sure the plug is flush or behind the face of the wall.
As a plumber it always amazes me how many people will attempt plumbing themselves with little knowledge/experience. Understand people want to save a few quid but more often than not it creates more problems and costs more in the long run.
Sadly a driver can’t get staples in, yes I even mess up hammering staples
To be fair staples are harder. Theres only so much tapping them straight before you give the a good old whack and take your eye out.
I thought i was undefeated at DIY until we moved a lamp which highlighted a wall i skimmed. Lamp was moved back.
In my defence one wall out of twelve i've done and i knew i was pushing my luck with the plaster date.
Not that i've not had disasters... Depositing a plug of ice from a failed pipe freezing excercise down my sleeve to nestle in my armpit while holding my thumb over the pipe end and frantically scrabbling with my feet to get the toolbox closer.
It’s funny cuz it’s true 😂
As with everything it is practice, and with practice comes experience, not just with a single task but with many.
Houns cant hit a nail in straight, probably cos everything is screws, and likely only nails something once or twice a year.
Cougar has problems with his bog seat, because most likely he'd fit one every three years, and who remembers 3 years back.
James has a drippy tap, because he isn't fitting three a day or repairing 5 this week. And zippy cant cut a straight line because nobody can, including myself usually 😆
I can't fit things involving rawl plugs basically because of a guy called Billy the Fitter. We make, transport to the site and Billy fits it while we return to the workshop. Always Billy's fault 😆
I suppose I should get political here and shout about the lack of apprentices, who would go out with the tradesman and watch everything he did, spurred on by a clip round the ear'ol, and the prospect of a real job and a real trade, where now we have little better than vote winning job creation schemes where the lad is little better than a strong back and paid a pittance so theres no incentive, nor any prospect of a permanent job at the end of his 2 year government training stint.
Can do pretty much all of the above.
Plastering aside, but can render to an acceptable standard. Plumbing yeah easy for me, electrics is mostly figuring out how its been wired before and copying that.
Changed bricks in footings, built planters, demolished concrete stuff, built rebar, poured 36t of pumped concrete into a pad, done kitchen and bathroom. Removed big windows for sofa extraction and replaced. Built stud walls. Might have a crack at cavity wall tie replacement next
Alot of it is access to decent tools, time, space and by that i mean working area, access, no kids and no wife moaning that there isnt a toilet sest tonight. Interweb has all the knowledge, so again its time to research stuff and knowing what you can achieve safely in an acceptable time frame without it costing more for a tradesmen to come in and fix all your mistakes before tackling the job you thought you could do.
Actually edit thst
I was totally defeated by a pair of drawstring curtains. Wanted to shorten the string or change the pull side, but could i figure out how the shuttles ran in and out simultaneously..... Could i hell
I now dont have drawstring curtains
On the back of the seat might be a button to release a catch so seat will lift away from the fixing brackets.
Oh you absolute ****ing legend. That's exactly it. Now fixed.
I love this place sometimes.
As with everything it is practice, and with practice comes experience,
...
Cougar has problems with his bog seat, because most likely he’d fit one every three years, and who remembers 3 years back.
Experience exactly. I've nipped up many a traditional bog seat - I'm the sort of person who'd do it at a friends or in a hotel even - but I've never come across that top-down design before. Cheers all.
Rawlplugs are always best tackled with a 1mm smaller bit than specified. Easy to take a bit more out on the offchance it does'nt wander about and go oversize.
Plastering is my achillies heel. Bloody awful, I think it's a head thing as much as anything else now. Or patience.
Put me down as another that can't hand saw straight to save his life. Bosch make some stiffer jigsaw blades that make that easier and circular saws aren't a problem either.
Is there a good dummies guide to upvc windows somewhere? Mine are a mix of misaligned, seals perishing, draughty, double glazing blown, creaky or reluctant to open - really need to go around and sort them all out. Happy doing most other stuff but really don’t know where to start with these.
Can’t see them linked above (apologies if I missed it) but these are great for setting a level with twine/string
Plastering is my achillies heel. Bloody awful, I think it’s a head thing as much as anything else now. Or patience.
Plastering is a dark art, it's totally a skill in its own right.
Roca toilet seats are like the link, its cheaper to buy a new seat as you get the fixings included, as opposed to just the hinges.
I can not for the life of me cut in properly when painting. It always somehow ends up on the surface I don't want it to. I have resigned myself to a life of hours sticking up masking tape just to pull it all off soon after and reapply for the second coat.
Another DIY numpty here but I did come up with a handy way to (hand) saw straight by nailing a piece of baten wood along the line as a guide - keeps the cut perpendicular and straight. Best if you can put the baten on the offcut side but panel pin holes are not too much of an issue in what I make.
I have managed to make some long straight cuts with a tenon saw by keeping the saw blade angle low once the cut is started nicely.
I can not for the life of me cut in properly when painting.
I learned the hard way not to leave masking tape on for 2 days, while you get both coats applied. NEarly cried.
Much more satisfying doing it by hand anyway. Get an angled 1 1/2" brush and a pointed one.
Two jobs I distinctly remember my dad doing at home - changing a tap washer. Wouldn't even have a clue where to start with that one.
And changing a leaf spring on a landrover. Not interested in doing that one!
Rawl Plugs
These are awesome
Rawl linky
In simple jobs you can't do, I can't handle any bathroom sealant or caulking. Horrible, horrible stuff. I just end up getting it everywhere and it always looks crap. Even when using the little guide tools. Hate the stuff, especially bathroom sealant.
I have no idea how to change a tap washer or valve..... which is why we have drippy taps as I keep putting it off.
I can not for the life of me cut in properly when painting.
Use a sash brush.
Round brushes splay much more predictably than square ones and make accurate cutting in much easier for the unskilled.
I can’t handle any bathroom sealant or caulking.
Get a spray bottle filled with soapy water. Spray a little of that on before smoothing with a wet finger or smoothing tool and it'll be much smoother and less messy
Wait - you wet the walls before applying it?
Every day's a school day.
No, apply from the tube to dry substrate, then a light mist over the top with the soapy water, then smooth it off with a wet finger. the soapy water stops it sticking to the finger.
Ah, right. I haven't been doing it wrong for years then, cool.
(Not like it's something I do often, but anyway.)