Recent content by Derek M

Oh I see. I'll give that a go then.

Thanks, I'll give them a shout.

My multitool is the Einhell Varrito cordless, which has a quick release mechanism which isn't compatible with blades for other tools. This picture shows the accessories that come with it, and the circle of holes on them where they attach to the tool...

I don't think that's going to work here, as the nails are too flush with (or even buried in) the wood. I guess I could try to chisel the wood away around them so that I can get the cats paw behind them.

Thanks. I'll buy a japanese saw blade, which will be useful for cutting battens in future even if I don't use it for this job. The nails should be fairly straight into the wall though, so as long as I don't cut too close to the heads it should be fine. There might be some some nails where the...

I probably could if I had a suitable one. The only hand saw I own was an impulse purchase in a closing down sale (I didn't really have a reason for buying it, I just thought I should own one), and it's a 14in/350mm fine cut 10tpi / 12 point hardpoint. I tried it when removing the fourth batten...

At the moment, the non-combi gas boiler in my kitchen pumps hot water into my hall cupboard, from where it gets distributed to the radiators for heating and into an immersion tank for hot water, so I only get about 30 minutes of hot water out of that. There's an electric backup for the immersion...

I've removed a plasterboard false ceiling in my hall which was covering up some ancient decommissioned hot air heating vents. It was attached to some wooden battens nailed to the walls, and now I'm trying to work out how to remove the battens. With the fourth batten I cut through it with my...

I'm thinking of doing a more permanent job rather than a quick fix now. This page says that "cold roof" system, where the insulation is on the inside, is rarely used nowadays, and the preferred method is the "warm roof" system, where the insulation is on the outside, above the structural...

Should I use the multitool just to cut a hole where I can insert the tin snips, and then use those to cut the rest, or will the multitool be better/quicker/easier than using tin snips?

I was able to remove most of the old hot air ducting in my hall without cutting it, as it was just push-fit to the other parts, but the last part, shown in the first photo, which passes through the airing cupboard to the bathroom (where the old vent has been plastered and tiled over) is firmly...

They're not in brilliant condition (I'll take some photos later) but I think most of them would scrub up OK, and if I'm using them for cladding I don't necessarily need complete lengths so could cut off any badly damaged ends. Yeah, I'd treat any wood before using it as cladding, maybe with...

I can't really use 22mm, even if 22mm chipboard is better than 18mm ply. In the hall I'll be using 18mm ply or chipboard screwed to the "joists" to match the thickness of the existing floorboards and keep the height the same. In the other rooms, where I'm completely replacing the subfloor to...

Probably a soundproofing underlay and then laminate flooring on top, or maybe cork.

Although that article is specifically about flats, it may be that there's a good reason to use ply for houses and they didn't consider whether it's essential for flats and just recommended ply for everything. I'll have to ask some soundproofing experts whether ply works better than chipboard. I...