18th Aug Tues: Worksurfaces and wiring

There'll be a big worksurface here that runs over the washer and tumble drier. I'm putting them here because there's a drain outside through the wall on the right that the washer needs to empty into and the tumble dryer will need to exhaust outside or the room will end up like a steam bath, given that it's now essentially moisture tight thanks to the foil. The timber in the roof will be fine with that because there's a breather membrane between it and the DuPont tiles, preventing rot

The worksurface starts life with some 2x1 battens screwed and glued to the wall. It may not look like enough, but there's zero play in them now the glues gone off
The walls in this room are a long, long way off square, you can the surface isn't mating with the sidewall batten. They're so far from square because they're following the line of the party wall outside, and the plot of land the house is built on is strongly tapered. I decided to use 25mm ply for the surface. That's real sturdy stuff. My first reason was that standard kitchen surfaces, despite costing ten or twenty pounds more than the 40 pounds a sheet the ply is, are only 650mm deep. Due to the taper on the wall, I need the surface to extend out 860mm at one end for the front to look square. I also want the extra depth because washing will be sorted on here and the more space the better. Lastly, I thought a laminate worksurface might kind of visually and psychologically confuse the purpose of the room. Even though it's a utility room outside, having bits of interior and then exterior finishing in it will encourage it to get used as both, and I DO NOT want rooms being used for multiple purposes anymore. So I am psychologically manipulating the family into thinking 'this is an outside room' with the use of a none pretty-ified finish

Having checked the angles of the wall, I'm using some 2x1 and clamps to guide a saw run across the edge, but...

The saw is older than I am. I like it's funky dirty green and orange 60's colour scheme, but at 200 - 300w and being a jigsaw, it's not going through long runs of 25mm ply. The first blade was toast within a foot of cutting, and the edge bevelled. Worse yet...

What the hell is that meant to be? Straight? The vibration from the jigsaw had vibrated the guide into a curve. John got annoyed about now, having spent the entire morning measuring up and ordering these sheets, and paying for delivery. They're not expensive, but they're not cheap or easy to handle either

What's in the magic box?

Hell yea! 1700 watts of circular saw solution power. It took me a few hours to quickly choose and find somewhere selling one that I could pick up immediately. I'd usually seek out somewhere I can get rebuilt tools or some other discount price, but paid the extra 20 - 30 pounds to buy it off the shelf because I wasn't wasting a few days waiting, whilst I loose the will to live watching the workrate stall. I've been working 12 - 15 hours a day the last few reports.

1700w is the highest wattage DeWalt do the saws in and the resulting noise level in a small room with brick and concrete surfaces is stupidly intense. I made a few cuts without my muffs on and my ears were warm and ringing inside my head. Not doing that again. Gloves are only really important to avoid splinters and there's no real eye protection issues, but the noise is too much

Measure three times, and you'll still probably make a mistake cutting a parallelogram

I like the colours

The ply stock is 2440mm long, whereas the worksurface needs to be 2700mm. This cretes yet more measuring issues as it means joining to sheets together, cut separately as parallelograms, and expecting a smooth finish. I didn't want the extra few hundred mm's being a weak patch, so used an offcut of the 25mm ply to create a mend-plate on the underside. Ignore the predrilled screw holes down it's centre, they run along the seam, so putting screws in there would force it back apart. It was getting late, is my excuse

Scuffing the breakouts down with some coarse paper before joining to ensure the pieces mate entirely flat. I want this STRONG!

Glue down the seams

And smeared all over the mend-plate

Finished with a lot of 4 x 40mm screws. I'll be surprised if that comes loose short of the nuclear war we've all been promised if the terrorists win. Or, more likely, the US decides to test out some new super weapon like an anti-matter bomb on the general public of 'rag heads' in the name of ending a war more rapidly. Oooooooooo, getting political in a DIY blog, that's what listening to the news all day does to you. Sorry America.... not really :P

As I had to fix it from the back, the top side isn't perfectly level, but good enough for an exterior worksurface

Hiding the tear out and mismatch between the pieces with filler

Whilst that goes off, I get on with wiring up the light more permanently. I'm sick of loose sockets and switches and am using the 'take no prisoners' John attitude you've seen thus far, fixing each switch with four 5x60mm screws rawlplugged into the wall and a blob of glue on the back for good measure

The place is rapidly falling ill to practicality's worst enemy, mess

Enough plugs? Well, most of these tools are such high wattages it's probably a good thing I only have one socket for them at the moment. It's safer to have it do nothing than spin up when I think it's unplugged

I have so many tools now it's hard keeping track of them all and every now and again I need to fight them all back into one place and give 'em a clean up. But, for the love of god, I couldn't find a flathead that'd work for the contacts on the lamps. I eventually found this gem from a 96p multipack special of drivers. It was a wonderful find compared to what I was trying to use before finding it, but that's not to say it's any good. The tip already looks like someone's tried to use it for opening paintcans, and I haven't. As soon as I get some sexy Wera drivers, I'll let the family have use of this one

I'm not ain't going to be modest about this one, those things are on and wired TIGHT! Look, brass grommets on the lead-ins and outs. I'm pro

Filler off, I sanded the problem patches down. The belt sander had run out of belts, so I had to use the random orbit thing. Worked okay

Not as good as it could be, but good enough. After painting and back sanding, it should be on it's way to flat

I'm painting with polyurethane floor paint. This is the kind of stuff they use in car showrooms so they can easily wipe up oil and petrol, both of which it's resistant to. It's real heavy duty, I'm hoping the tasks performed in this room will be no match for it. I have an intense hatred of gloss, with it's 35 year drying time and yellowing

First coat on, it'll be 16 hours before I can do much more with it. And look at the windows, it's night time. I'm going to bed