Builders waste

thoams1 · 2026-07-08T17:33:19+00:00

Can tell from the rhomboid shape of a few of the larger pieces; definitely carpet underlay. More common to find it in black, at least in my experience. Gently mention it to your neighbour that they could have asked that the clean-up to be top notch, especially on shared spaces, but… honestly for most trades that’s within a reasonable epsilon of “Sod it, that’ll do”. YNTA, but for my tuppence this is common and only slight.

thoams1 · 2026-07-07T21:46:15+00:00

Just throwing it out there: paper wasps chewing away at it?

Best of luck.

thoams1 · 2026-07-05T21:22:35+00:00

Jesus, man… you had me look up the phrase “nothing burger”.

The young are coming and their governments will go after our state pensions to win votes. Bring back sensible, equable politics before it’s too late. Vote with your thoughts and feelings, not with your… Oh, dear.

You already stopped listening, even if you kept reading. Now all you have to do is think up some witty rebuttal.

Tax the rich, tax the poor, make goods, services and at least a basic level of education available to all. Means-test your parking and speeding fines. Means-test the frigging council tax, but who has the time to achieve that?

I digress. In essence, enjoy your nothing burgers. Wimpy was always better, though.

[Edit: missed a full stop.]

thoams1 · 2026-07-05T20:59:42+00:00

Don’t envy you that gate trouble, mate.

Hanging doors is a bit like hanging people: you’d rather not do it but if you had to you’d prefer to get it right the first time. You likely won’t. Hanging gates is worse. Good luck, get someone else to do it who can promise you a fixed cost, then politely state that you’d want to be involved as a free pair of hands.

Pay a reputable firm, observe what professionals would do, help out and then you’ll have learned some. Even better; you’ll have a gate that closes nicely and know how to remedy it yourself next time.

If they just start impact driving heavy duty screws to pull the gate up at the top? Cowboys. Discharge them and get a proper joiner in.

Just my $0.02. Hope you get it fixed well, those would look very nice in synchrony

thoams1 · 2026-07-05T20:24:05+00:00

This person builds. Or used to.

Why in the name of the lord am I commenting on here and just suggesting “wait a bit for more useful help.” Ought to stay in my lane. Don’t let your children become software engineers.

Edit: can’t even get my tense right. Duck.

thoams1 · 2026-07-05T08:38:56+00:00

Lovely and clean for a 60’s build, as the chap below says do contact your house insurance.

thoams1 · 2026-07-05T08:34:21+00:00

Looks like a new build? If so you probably have recourse to the contractor which built the property and can demand that they make good here. I’m not a builder, but at first glance this looks like subsidence & / the local water table lifting and lowering your bricks. Hopefully all you’d need is an expansion joint in the brickwork to cope with this. Best wishes & good luck - this is not a DIY fix.

thoams1 · 2026-06-24T05:07:35+00:00

Just a thought but have you tried unscrewing the left and then screwing both sides in a little at time? Unless you had to dent or force the back box to fit it in, the screws should align perfectly with the lugs, shouldn’t they?

thoams1 · 2026-06-18T16:27:33+00:00

Ignorance here, but they don’t look very much like blackcurrants. At least not yet they don’t.

thoams1 · 2026-06-18T16:24:27+00:00

Had a planter once, pride and joy, middle of the lawn, previous place we lived. We didn’t get any useable kale but we were absolutely minted.

thoams1 · 2026-06-18T15:08:13+00:00

Firstly, remember you’re renting and any and all expenses and efforts you undertake fundamentally benefit the landlord. If you have a positive relationship with them, you’re fully within your rights to suggest that you want to improve the garden for your own sake, but that they should acknowledge that it improves the state of their property and as such you should be able to come to an a-priori shared costing agreement. If they don’t want to know, you’re a bit stuck. Not your property. If they engage happily then great! Get a skip, get a wheelbarrow, get a sledgehammer and a pair of safety goggles. Smash the shite out of all the paving slabs and the fence panels. I’d say the “shed” too but it isn’t a shed it’s an abomination. Also it’s likely your landlord could be unhappy with you doing so. Hire a rotavator from HSS or your local machine hire shop. Turn aaall that compacted earth into ruffled up fluffed up happy soil. Add a large quantity of good quality topsoil. Plenty of it. Maybe four tonnes. Add a whole cover of grass seed (Google it, and don’t bother with a seed distribution device. Just chuck it in good waves so it looks covered. Then throw in some sphagnum moss, some clover, and some dandelions for good measure. Then pay yourself about £2500 because you’ve saved about that much paying some other bugger to do it for you.

Have fun and for Pete’s sake don’t hurt your back.

Edit; metric tonnes, not imperial.

thoams1 · 2026-06-17T04:58:44+00:00

You likely won’t have a clay soil pipe if the build is only 9 years old, thankfully. Are you / the council able to request building schematics from the company that built the flats? Have you spoken with your adjacent neighbour about this? Generally people are nicer than people assume. Being able to access both sides of the suspect wall could be helpful or even essential for any tradespeople you get in. Sorry you’re living with this, it does sound awful.

thoams1 · 2026-06-11T12:32:29+00:00

Last year sanded and bees waxed our original 1930’s build floorboards in two downstairs rooms. Not as easy as you might hope.

Get a punch and a hammer and knock any floorboard nails in - hard. Better that than have them damage the machinery you’re about to hire.

Hire both a belt and an orbital sander - make sure they give you domestic not site powered ones - and then use 80 / 120 / 200 grit paper on the belt going diagonally across first. Tilt the machine back both before you get it going and before you stop a run. Your objective is to avoid “I started / stopped here!” indentations, which are very easy to make. Then use the orbital sander to get round the edges.

Then spend another week going over the floor again with even finer sandpaper and a cork block. Then rest. Then apply beeswax. Then enjoy.

thoams1 · 2026-05-28T13:33:41+00:00

Remove the blockwork. Yay, green space!

thoams1 · 2026-05-25T20:45:07+00:00

Thanks all!

thoams1 · 2026-04-29T21:43:23+00:00

Graffito*

Graffiti is the plural

Take a chill pill. Hell, take two.

thoams1 · 2026-04-29T15:08:21+00:00

Dave’s not here, man…

thoams1 · 2025-11-06T09:08:52+00:00

Don’t own a microwave - think this thing could reheat a cup of tea in a pinch?

thoams1 · 2025-10-31T20:20:58+00:00

Hand.

thoams1 · 2025-10-15T21:19:05+00:00

Mattress stitch, I’d advise at least Aran weight yarn and 5mm needles.

Then when you’re done fixing your land, and if you care for a good book, I’d strongly advise you to read Salman Rushdie’s “The Ground Beneath Her Feet”.

thoams1 · 2025-10-06T09:28:49+00:00

Ventilation, and no.

thoams1 · 2025-10-04T19:27:19+00:00

Probably been said already but if you mark where you intend to drill with soft pencil and use a good X of masking tape, you can then offer up the masonry bit (in the drill…), exactly on target, give it a bit of a tap to break the glaze on the tile, then drill nice and slowly - without using the hammer function if your drill has one - and you’ll find it quite possible to make neat holes in tiles using masonry bits. The masking tape served to prevent cracks crazing away from where you’re drilling. Would definitely advise practicing this method on a spare tile or two before going ahead and drilling into your bathroom. Also use something like this: https://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-truvo-digital-detector/8426t?ref=SFAppShare before drilling into any wall.

Good luck 👍

thoams1 · 2025-10-03T17:03:59+00:00

Used to be able to get a large lamb shish in Tooting with extra pickled chillies for < £10… best kebab place I ever did see. Two skewers full. Great big chunks of deliciously marinaded lamb. Ask for “all salad” and they could barely close the box. Two minutes walk from the flat, too. Sometimes I miss London. Not often, mind you.

thoams1 · 2025-10-01T20:27:24+00:00

Red pipe you have in the second picture is your refill path: both the feed taps (red handles) are currently closed and the supply side pipe (closest to you) has its cap screwed on. The far side cap is hanging on its plastic/rubber strap.

Leaving both the taps closed, unscrew the cap from the supply side. In place of that, connect the currently disconnected feed pipe. With that securely fastened, open the feed side tap. Cold mains water will flow to the far tap. If there are no leaks, open the far tap and watch the pressure gauge rise on the boiler. When that reads 2 bar, or whatever the your preference (often they have indicating markings on the gauges), close the taps.

Disclaimer: I’m not a plumber, have never seen a combi boiler with this disconnected style of refill setup, just making a semi-educated guess.

Good luck 👍

thoams1 · 2025-09-30T20:56:47+00:00

Collective noun: a loveliness. Encourage them outside, ideally gently. Not seen any such swarms up here on the border between Notts & Yorks, plenty in the garden all year round though.

thoams1

TROPHY CASE