tetris

Monitor facebook marketplace for a bunch of tools that looks like it's coming from somebody who wanted to get into DIY, splashed his cash on high end stuff, got disillusioned and decided to offload his tools. I saw a £1k+box of mint blue Bosch tools going for £300 recently, but it was gone pretty quickly. From my monitoring of used power tool market, most trade-grade tools are being sold by workie "entrepreneurs" who use up 3/4 of the resource then sell it on at a high price as "fully operational" to some DIYer. You get similar trends with touring and commuter bikes. Most other things on used market tend to be OK. With quality hand tools, most folks don't have a clue how to use them these days, never mind how to properly maintain them, so it's often easier to buy new unless you fancy getting into tool restoration hobby.

Hi All. I'd appreciate your thoughts for a portable bench for major home renovation (anything from decorating to fitting new windows and replacing small flat roofs). I've got an old aldi workmate but that's quite flimsy and not suitable for working on anything large. While I still have access to my woodworking workshop for a few weeks, I was thinking of making a couple sawhorses with the top surface drilled for dogs + figure out some way of attaching a woodworking vice to it. Maybe a way to join two horses with a board so the whole thing is heavier & more stable while being used, then knock it down into 3 separate parts. Any cheap, smart & easy solutions to this problem? I've searched the forum, but just saw a thread about workmates. Thank you.

I don't rate such low-end table saw - shaped objects very highly. Apart from the obvious H&S concerns: lack of guard, the pile of dust that's a slipping and inhalation hazard and the spaghetti bowl of cables (you don't want to trip and fall on the non-guarded blade ), your support tables look out of true, which probably causes the blade to stick, kick & bind. "Old smoky blade" sounds like a problem in itself. If I had a saw like this, I'd put it in the back of a van and take it to the tip. Never compromise on your safety. I found that sliding mitre saws, light handheld circular saws and plunge track saws are the way to go. Sadly, good table saws (cabinetmaker grade) start from about £2.5k used - anything else is not really worth having unless they are bought and used with jigs for very specialist jobs.

Thank you. External wall insulation would ruin the old cottage look & feel, so that's out of the question unless we're talking single skin extension upgrade, but I haven't even thought about that. On this note, is it worth investing ~£200 into a thermal camera? Probably on of those phone clip-on jobbies. From what I read online, it's the go-to tool for finding drafts, insulation gaps, tracing roof and pipe leaks and can help check hot electrics. Which seems to cover all of my phase 1. Toll budget is very tight, but if it saves time and improves result quality, it's worth having. Also any tips on living in the house that's being renovated are very welcome. Kitchen, one bathroom and one bedroom (will have to be the kids' one for now) are in decent condition to move in, everything else needs to have the interior ripped out.

Hi All, Excited to join the forum – I hope you don’t mind renovation projects as opposed to a proper self-build. Mrs and I are in the final stages of buying our dream home (1950s bungalow) & just waiting for the paperwork to be finalised by the solicitors – they seem to be taking 5 weeks to do what AI can do in 5 minutes. Good news, the house was so run down, it was within our budget. Even better news – the home report is mainly “2”s, so there’s several years of fun work for me to do to get it into top condition. Bad news – while I have extensive fine woodworking skills, and can do some basic electrics & plumbing, I’m pretty much a newcomer to major home repairs. We’re still in a bit of “what have we done” phase. As a matter of priority for phase 1, I’ll be looking to fix the pitched roofs and repair & replace a couple small flat roofs (porch and bay windows). Trace any leaks & moisture spots. Then consider insulation & window replacement and radiators replacement – so I’m prepared for winter. Any internal decoration works will have to wait for phase 2 I guess, but there’s a major re-wiring on the cards, with a view of getting a modern consumer unit installed within a couple years of moving in. There’s also a (likely) single skin extension that the Mrs wants to eventually turn into a bedroom and there's a garden to overhaul. Phase 3 would include a garden room (I’ve built one from a kit before but will likely do a scratch build this time) and maybe even a garage roof terrace if things are going well. Apologies in advance for daft questions.