2 DIY kitchen renovation queries.

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Screwfix do a 6kg sds drill with a set of chisels for about £40-50, it'll be early lifting it with that, then self levelling compound.
 
As others have said, for the hole expanding foam is your friend. As for the adhesive on the floor, I'm afraid there's no easy way. I'm a tiler by trade and come across this often. Depending on how many square meters the floor is the best, cheapest and easiest way is to latex the floor. Also depending on who's tiling the floor, sometimes you can get away with actually going over the top of the old adhesive with a 10mm notch trowel. Sometimes when a sds (hammer drill) is used with a chisel bit you find the adhesive is bonded to the screed so much you end up ripping the screed up in places so you clean end up back to square one. I would save all the dust blood sweat n tears and latex it.
 
Well, not one to shy away from a challenge, I went at it (the tile removal that is) yesterday evening - eye goggles, ear protectors and 3M face masked to the hilt... and looking like something out of Doctor Who.

Tool recommendation of the week award, especially as it was £8, goes to Piff for the Tile lifting chisel which I bought yesterday afternoon. :bannana:

Having done some with the Makita and supplied chisel, it works but this tile lifter does it much quicker and avoids gouging the floor as mentioned. I actually quite enjoy doing it despite it is somewhat hard graft.

I don't want the kitchen floor to be a lot higher than the hall floor and tiles made it too high to start with. I accept it will need to be latex coated as it is still not perfect but it is as near as damn it now but it won't be much higher than the tiled floor, if at all.

The 1010w 3.5kg Titan drill is excellent - very happy with that for £70. More powerful than the Makita I used and seemingly lighter - even though the spark thought it was 3kg.

I already have some expanding foam for the hole which I've had knocking around for a while. I considered using cement but I know how good the foam is. Just need to watch how much or at least cut away any excess!

Thanks again chaps.
 
Once the foam has gone off, it is very easily cut with a carving knife...keep the blade flat to the surface you want the foam to be flush with.
 
Well, I completed the floor in good time.

However, I've noticed oil all over the outside of the chuck - presumably this is not right (I've not owned a drill with this chuck before)?
 
I've never actually used any (as I'm not sure where to put it) but many SDS drills are supplied with grease for the chuck.
Bit of info here

edit - the "oil" you see will be grease
 
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I've never actually used any (as I'm not sure where to put it) but many SDS drills are supplied with grease for the chuck.
Bit of info here

edit - the "oil" you see will be grease

Yes, it is grease actually - keep calling it oil. I don't think my brain is functioning at the moment.

That forum post you put up goes on to where - supposedly the bit before it goes in. You don't really need to on smaller drills but it cuts quicker if you do - according to them.

I will clean it up and see how it goes - I can't really see me using it much again but I will give my old drill to charity probably.

A chisel will take ages... rent a concrete grinder...
Floor Preparation System - Tool Hire, Equipment Hire, Lifting Hire, Plumbing & Pipe Hire - Brandon Tool Hire

Essentially a large grinding disk for concrete... the come in various "grits" (not sure that's the right word, the one I used on the pizza oven base had a grit which would make a 4x4 tyre proud).

M.

Cheers but too late (see #27).

It took me around 6/7 hours to do a 3m x 2.5m floor so not too bad.

The water tip to keep dust down worked well but in the end, I also used a powerful fan to blow air out of the kitchen windows so that it would draw clean air from the rest of the house. Also worked well.

I also discovered an enormous hole round the mains cold water feed and waste pipe - so foamed that up too. Actually quite a lot warmer in the kitchen now even without any heating.

Thanks guys.

Kitchen more or less installed now! :thumb:
 
I also discovered an enormous hole round the mains cold water feed and waste pipe - so foamed that up too. Actually quite a lot warmer in the kitchen now even without any heating.

Which is why houses are supposed to have an air integrity test.

I might get one done, just to see how badly the sieve leaks.
 
Which is why houses are supposed to have an air integrity test.

I might get one done, just to see how badly the sieve leaks.

Taking this slightly off topic............
Our current abode is a 1930's bungalow which I stripped back to bare brick.
Rebuilt with side extension (garage), rear extension (old rear wall removed) and new roof for bedrooms & bathrooms.
Part of the early work to get building regulations approvals, we had SAP calcs done, which would eventually lead to an Energy Performance Certificate. Calcs were quite complex due to varied construction techniques & systems installed.
At the early calculation stage an air leakage test result of 5 was assumed and it was thought that I would easily achieve better (last new house I build achieved 2)
Calcs had never been finalised until last week. I haven't had the air pressure test done, bit of a rush to move in last Jan. Then there has been a bit of shrinkage. I intended to leave things alone through another heating season, then go round sorting out minor defects next spring for the air pressure test.

Then along come the rules for the Renewable Heat Incentive which should pay me a few quid, starting next spring, for the next 7 years. To get the RHI payments I have to have a Green Deal Assessment (what a waste of time & money). To get a GDA I have to have an EPC.
So have I got to have the air pressure test done?
It seems not - it is likely that the RHI payments will be based on the kw/h needed to heat the house. So the worse the EPC is, the better the payments will be:doh:

Back to the Council to finalise the calcs for the EPC - If the air pressure test is not done they have to assume a default result of 15 (like having a door open:eek:)
I now have an EPC of 85 instead of the predicted 92 (with an air leakage of 5) so should get better RHI payments:rolleyes:
 

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