The Morecambe DIY Project

[accykeef]

I will have a look at that Peter, thanks.

Cleaning doors with a steam cleaner - mmm, I wonder what logic was being applied there?
Most doors these days seem to be either chipboard or plastic. I considered MDF but that is prone to warping.

I did comment to Mrs Keef that for a lot less than £80 per door, I could make them out of big chunky work top. The downside there, of course, would be the industrial strength hinges required to hang them on.

She has already rejected my idea of making them out of decking

[mpprh]

There is a Brico Depot in Calais.

If you knew a man with a van (or even a coach) and stocked up with wine for the return ...

[trevnhil]

Apr 2, 2012 14:11:02 GMT mpprh said:

There is a Brico Depot in Calais.

If you knew a man with a van (or even a coach) and stocked up with wine for the return ...

If you decide on this very tempting offer, please choose and collect the doors before the wine.

I have only looked at one online company and they seemed very good...... www.kitchendoorworkshop.co.uk/

By the way having done numerous kitchens in my time as a joiner I have not had problems with MDF doors warping at all.

Here is the last kitchen that I did in the uK and they were MDF doors and drawer fronts.



Trev..

[accykeef]

Once did a day trip to Dieppe from newhaven - that was a hoot but would not like to be responsible for a load of kitchen panels.

I have made all kinds of things out of MDF but the 'sperts tell me that steam and heat in a kitchen is not a good atmosphere for it.
Did you route the features yourself?

[trevnhil]

Apr 2, 2012 17:20:04 GMT accykeef said:

Once did a day trip to Dieppe from newhaven - that was a hoot but would not like to be responsible for a load of kitchen panels.

I have made all kinds of things out of MDF but the 'sperts tell me that steam and heat in a kitchen is not a good atmosphere for it.
Did you route the features yourself?

Hi Keith, no they were already routered out to the pattern you can see. They are manufactured sealed front, back and edges.

We got ours from MFI on the trading estate where Wickes are now. But I believe that they went bankrupt. But I still think the quality was OK.

EDIT.... It does mention steam etc, here... www.kitchendoorworkshop.co.uk/care.html

Trev..

[accykeef]

There was me thinking that you had made them from big sheets of MDF.
We don't really want a pattern on them but would like the edges to be rounded off. Getting the panels cut to size and rounding the edges is the easy bit. The hard part is getting a professional paint finish on them.
We have seen some we like but of course they are the expensive ones. I require non standard sizes and there are a number of suppliers on t'interweb who will manufacture and deliver them. I might send for some samples as the online pictures are not very accurate really.

Perhaps I should be looking for a local company who need a website creating in exchange for some kitchen bits.

[mpprh]

Apr 2, 2012 18:11:51 GMT trevnhil said:

Hi Keith, no they were already routered out to the pattern you can see. They are manufactured sealed front, back and edges.



Trev..

That design is called chapeau de gendarmes (policemans hat) here and is very popular. I have it in my kitchen at home.

They can be modernish



or traditional




or just nice





Peter

[accykeef]

The planning stage is continuing, we will have to see what we can find.

[accykeef]

Today was an ideal opportunity to install the water butt which we have had around for a couple of years.
Not a big job but being round the back of the garage it was a case of out of site out of mind. I am still a couple of bits short one of them being a clip to support the lower part of the down spout. That is why the lower part of the pipe isn't vertical, it is resting on the flag which supports the butt. I am not sure if I need to make a concrete plinth for it. At the moment, it is sort of wedged up on bricks - time will tell.


The back gutter was already in place and has cured the dampness in the garage but it needed a downspout outlet and a stop end piece fitting as the water had just poured off the end before.


I was a bit sceptical about the valve thingy which came with it. I have tested it and it appears to work. The idea is that water flows into the butt and when it is full it continues down the lower pipe. I gave Mrs Keef her orders to stand there and check it, the next time it rains hard - I now cannot quite reach my shoe laces due to a spare piece of down spout.


I made sure to check that the tap was in the 'off' position, otherwise tests would be a little disappointing.


And finally Esther (what happened to That's Life?) the rather messy corner which simply needes a corner piece and then all will be well with the world.


If the drought continues, this may be our only supply of water.

[trevnhil]

It is looking good Keith. Waste not want not,
That is the sort of setup we need but on a much bigger scale, say a 1,000 ltr tank as a minimum. The problem here is that the tank of water would soon be used in Summer and then there is just no rain at all to top up the tank.
If I could only get a big free tank.....

Trev..

[mpprh]

We have 6 X 500l tubs fed from the garage roof. This is because it makes us feel better and it is 50m from the irrigation water tap.

We use it to water vegetables.

However the rain water is soon used up and we then top up the tubs with irrigation water.

Peter

[trevnhil]

The 500lt tubs must be a fair size. But you are right that the water soon gets used up for vegetables fruit and flowers.
Unfortunately we would then have to revert to mains water, which is on a meter.

Trev..

[accykeef]

After 1 night of rain, the butt is almost full!

It must have fairly poured down last night.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Water butt is a touchy subject round these parts. We have two huge plastic barrels which Coachman drilled holes into to fit taps, but the taps never got fitted and the barrrels have remained empty for years. A few weeks ago he stacked one on top of the other round the back of the shed but during the night we had terrrific winds and the top one blew off, crashed into some plantpots and smashed the pot containing my olive tree. Amazingly the little olive tree seems to have survived although it is looking a bit worse for wear.

We have those style of doors in our kitchen - never knew what they were called though. Ours are solid wood but they don't seem to have required any dramatic hinges, just the normal average kitchen door hinges and they've been Ok for a few years now.

[accykeef]

I know it is not an olive tree but you should get an exterior version of the indestructable plant we have at the top of the stairs. Mrs Keef chopped a big lump off the top, a few weeks ago and it has started to fight back.


The sunshine spurred us into a bit of action with herb garden #1. I say number 1 as there is to be another one down the side of the drive eventually but we need herbs now!!!! The bath has been turned round and the level adjusted to allow water out od the drain hole. That was a bigger job than I thought it would be as one of the adjusters was rustier than a rusty thing. WD40, determination and brute strength won the day and he bath is now self draining.


I used the plank to get the wheelbarrow into the bath although it was made more difficult by the close proximity to the washing line. Mrs Keef said I had to be careful not to hang myself, until the job was done.


This is a bit of a work in progress, I think we may be getting some rectangular tubs to sit in here but only time will tell. One problem is knowing how much of each herb we will need, once again time will tell.


Let us see if the mint likes it in here