Tea Light Candle Letter Holders

I made these for my girlfriend as a little table decoration for her birthday.  They have proven to be a big hit and I instantly received orders from each of hers and my family members!

They are made from 150 x 50mm floor joists and hold a regular tea light.

First I used Microsoft Publisher to print out 150mm tall letters.  The font I chose was Rockwell as most letters have a chunky top to contain the tealight.  Some letters (like J) had to be modified slightly to stand up on their own, but most were good as they were.  I then cut them out and traced round them with a pencil onto the wooden joist.

Next I cut the letters out using a jigsaw.  I tried using a scroll saw, but the one I had wasn't powerful enough to cut through 50mm.  The one problem with the jigsaw though was that the blade tended to wander, but if I was careful I could compensate for it.

Once I'd cut as much as possible using the jigsaw, I used a selection of files and wood rasps to smooth the rough edges out that couldn't be reached with a sander.  Once that was done, I used a belt sander https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-cs4-6d-belt-and-disc-sander to smooth the remaining edges and the front and back of the letters.

Next I used a hole saw https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wolfcraft-Holesaw-Blades-Pilot-Drill/dp/B0001P195Y to cut out the holes for the tealights.  I used a chisel to remove the centres of the holes and then a sanding drum http://www.screwfix.com/p/rubber-drum-sanding-kit-25pcs/19906? to increase the size slightly (there wasn't a perfectly sized hole saw).

Here are some more during and after production shots:

Hope I've given some inspiration.  Thanks for reading!

Under Stairs Storage

I did this a number of years ago and I've been meaning to put it online for a while.  It's my solution for the original dark, damp cupboard that existed under the stairs.  It had a single door at the tall end and extended to the very bottom of the stairs.  If I wanted to get anything out from the very end of the cupboard, it was a real mission!

I first ripped out the old MDF cupboard and cleaned out the inside.  The outside wall was bare brick and draughty, so I insulated it with Rockwool and boarded the whole of the inside with plywood.  I then painted the inside white to keep it clean and bright.

I made the fronts of the cupboards/drawers from plywood and 20 x 70mm softwood for the edges.  The tops had to be angled to fit under the stairs and I made them to include a small gap all around, but particularly at the floor level, so they could open without jamming.  I routed a rebate in the back of the softwood, to create a fairly neat joint between the plywood and softwood.

I hung the cupboard door and added an IKEA cupboard handle.

I made the frame for the shoe holder out of 20 x 70mm softwood, which in hindsight was a bit excessive.  I probably could have used smaller section softwood as the whole thing is pretty heavy and there could have been more room for shoes with a smaller and lighter frame!  I would also recommend measuring the width required for 2 pairs of shoes back to back.  I forgot and they overlap!

I wanted to leave the fronts unpainted with no screws showing, so everything is screwed into the fronts from behind.  The castors are fixed 50mm rubber ones from Machine Mart: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/ml140r-50mm-fixed-castor-rubber/  I can't recommend enough, using rubber wheels.  I originally used some small nylon castors and they started to ware grooves in the floor!  Once I replaced them with rubber, the problem was fixed.

The smaller drawer was made from 8mm MDF and 20 x 70mm softwood for the frame.

Next I added some wooden runners to the floor and from the floor to the staircase for the drawers to slide between

Next was some lighting and a door switch: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00353D2EU/ and https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00403YI3I/

I'm really pleased with the setup and it's a far better solution for storing and easily accessing stuff.

Hope this post was useful to anyone thinking of doing the same!

Pre Fab Garage Overhaul

I decided it was about time that I smartened up my prefab garage.  It started out as a dark, dank hovel where puddles formed over the floor every time it rained and worm casts were a permanent feature around the base of the walls.  I'm sure if you're reading this post, you'll know what I mean!  I also wanted to sort out some storage and figure out a way of hanging tools, bikes etc from the walls.  It's very difficult to drill into the walls, so I needed another solution.

Here's a picture of what it looked like before I started in an almost empty state:

I wanted to have a nice level floor that I could keep clean and after weighing up a few options, I opted for a layer of liquid damp proof membrane, followed by self leveling compound and then garage floor paint.  I wouldn't recommend driving a car on it, but this is more than suitable for my needs.  Every now and again, I drop something heavy and it dents the floor, but I can just touch it up with some left over paint if necessary.These are the steps I followed to complete my garage overhaul:I first took the doors off and jet washed the whole floor and left it to dry for a day or two.  I then formed a 1" cement fillet between the walls and floor using a narrow paint scraper.  This was to prevent the water flooding in every time it rained and worms making their way between the walls and floor.  I'd read on a few websites that a cement fillet was the way to go.  It seemed to be a lot easier to create a consistent 1" fillet using the paint scraper than a proper trowel.  I also needed a strip of concrete between the doorway to hold the self leveling compound in, so I screwed 2 x 10mm thick strips of pine to the floor, spaced about 6" apart between the doors to hold and level a cement strip while it set.  Once all the cement had dried, I removed the strips.Next, I masked the walls at about 6" high and painted the whole floor with 3 coats of Wickes liquid damp proof membrane:

I did some research into whether I could just lay self leveling compound straight onto the liquid damp proof course and the only info I could find was from Wickes website where an adviser had said that it wasn't designed to be laid straight on top of the liquid damp proofing.  I figured I would give it a go anyway and it's been down for a year now with no sign of cracking or ill effect.  I laid the self leveling compound on my own, but I'd advise getting a friend to help if you do it yourself.  I put 8 x 20kg bags of Wickes self leveling compound down.  I got everything ready including 8 containers of the correct amount of water, 8 bags cut open and ready to poor, mixing trug, mixing drill attachment and cement trowel ready to screed (when it's poured, it needs a bit of coaxing to get it level!).  I managed to get it all down, but had to work pretty quickly before it started going off!

The picture below shows the (still wet) compound:

Next I used decorators caulk to fill the gaps between the concrete wall sections.  I painted the walls with white masonry paint and the floor with Ronseal garage floor paint (masking again, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist!).

In order to attach hooks and a bike rack etc to the walls I wanted to have a wooden batten fixed to the walls that I could then attach everything to.  I figured I could glue it to the wall, but I'm always a fan of more secure fixes if possible.  In the end I bought a threaded eye bolt for every joint in the prefab walls.  I got these from Screwfix.  I removed the nut and washer from each of the top bolts holding the prefab sections together, threaded over the eye bolt, added a larger washer and re-attached the nut.  I then drilled the battens in the relevant places and used the threaded end of the eye bolts to secure the battens to the wall with the supplied nuts.  These were extremely secure for attaching my tools, bikes etc to.

The following pictures show the final result:

I hope my post has been useful for anyone thinking of doing anything similar.  Thanks for reading!