Easy-DYI

EOBD scanners: getting more information from your car

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0200

Modern cars are full of sensors monitoring everything from exhaust gas composition to intake air pressure. When something goes wrong, the engine management system logs a fault code and lights the check engine warning. Now, if only cars had screens that could display what exactly is wrong…

No such luck. But it’s easy to get the right tool to read it. That tool is an EOBD scanner.

What EOBD is

EOBD (European On-Board Diagnostics) is the European implementation of the OBD2 standard, mandatory on petrol cars sold in Europe since 2001 and diesel cars since 2004. All cars since then (and some older ones) have a standardised 16-pin diagnostic port, usually under the dashboard on the driver’s side. Every compliant car speaks a common basic protocol. This means one tool can read fault codes from any manufacturer.

The codes themselves are structured: a letter indicating the system (P for powertrain, B for body, C for chassis, U for network communications) followed by four digits. The first digit indicates whether it’s a standard code (0) or a manufacturer-specific code (1 or above). Standard P0xxx codes have the same meaning across all manufacturers - e.g. P0300 means random misfire detected. Manufacturer codes are where it gets less predictable.

The standardised codes cover the basics: emissions systems, engine misfires, sensor faults, fuel system issues. This is what any OBD scanner will read. What standard codes don’t cover: manufacturer-specific features, gearbox details, ABS, airbags, climate control, and other systems outside the emissions-related scope of the EOBD standard.

Self-contained unit vs Bluetooth module

Self-contained scanners are dedicated devices: plug into the OBD port, press read, see the codes on the device’s screen. Some clear codes as well. Basic models cost £20–40 and do exactly this job. They’re easy to use, no need to configure anything on the phone.

Bluetooth modules (or USB, or Wifi) typically using the ELM327 chip or equivalent, pair with a phone or laptop and let an app do the work. They are cheaper, and the app can do much more.

I keep a Bluetooth module in a car all the time. A few times it was useful, once it saved the day. Nice thing is they are powered by the OBD port and have no battery, so they can stay in the car forever.

Budget scanners have varying support for extensions. I got lucky - my very cheap, completely non-brand adapter from a random online seller, just happens to support almost everything I might realistically encounter. But generally, if you want to be sure, check your app’s website for recommended models.

Apps

In pre-smartphone days, I used apps on the laptop (and a USB module instead of Bluetooth). Phone is obviously more convenient and I happily switched to Android apps. I’ve tried a few and my current favourite is Car Scanner. It handles a lot of manufacturer extensions in addition to standard codes, can clear codes, modify settings, and clearly warns which operations are dangerous.

Previously, I used EOBD Facile. I had a paid version (it still costs considerably less than one visit to a mechanic). It’s quite similar, but Car Scanner outperforms it now - it supports many more extensions, and even free version has full features.

Some apps are designed towards engine tuning and focus on performance charts. Torque Pro is a well known example. Not my cup of tea, just mentioning.

For deeper access, manufacturer-specific tools are worth knowing about. I’ve driven several cars over the years and used (or at least researched) a few tools:

Ford: FORScan (free, Windows) with an ELM327 adapter gives very deep access to Ford, Lincoln, and Mazda - these share platforms and FORScan understands all of them. I used it on my Ford Focus many years ago.
Toyota: Toyota Techstream is the official dealer diagnostic software, and it’s available to DIYers via an aftermarket Mini-VCI cable. It reads Toyota-specific codes, performs adaptations (throttle position reset, idle relearn), and covers hybrids including battery health - something generic apps can’t touch. I read about it but I never used it - I had a Toyota, but Car Scanner handled it well enough.
Volvo: VIDA (Vehicle Information and Diagnostics for Aftersales) is the Volvo dealer system. A DiCE interface allows DIY access and is popular in the Volvo enthusiast community. Covers proprietary codes across all systems, not just the powertrain. Worth knowing if you own an older Volvo. I had a Volvo once, but at that time I used EOBD Facile and it worked for my needs.
Kia and Hyundai: these share a platform and generic apps handle them reasonably well for standard codes. Car Scanner has some extended PIDs for Hyundai/Kia that go slightly beyond the standard set.

Getting the code is not getting the answer

A fault code describes what the ECU detected as a symptom, not what caused it. A code saying “misfire on cylinder 2” could be the spark plug, the ignition coil, the high-voltage cable, the fuel injector, a compression problem or a few other things. The code points you at the symptom. The scanner can’t give you diagnosis - it’s giving you a starting point. Sometimes I know what to do next, other times at least I know what to tell the mechanic.

The turbo story

A few years ago, I was driving a Honda Civic with a TDi engine on a mountain road. Suddenly the “check engine” light appeared and the car lost most of its (normally excessive) power. It could barely go uphill, I struggled to get to the nearest safe parking place.

Connected the EOBD module. It showed several error codes - some of them were known to me and expected in an old car. The new ones indicated turbo underboost and overspeed. On a turbo engine, airflow problems could mean several things. The turbine and compressor spin at crazy speeds, are manufactured to incredible precision and can fail in several interesting ways, all of them expensive.

I’m not a mechanic. I opened the bonnet not hoping to achieve much. And immediately discovered an air hose with a cracked connector. I got duct tape. Wrapped it around the hose and the connector to hold it seated. The intention was to get home and at a convenient time replace it properly.

The duct tape held. For 2 years, at which point the car failed for an unrelated reason and was sold for parts. EOBD scanner turned what felt like a serious breakdown into a roadside fix. Without the scanner, the code would have remained unread and the options would have been tow or limp to a garage. With it, the diagnosis took five minutes and the repair took three.

When buying a used car

An EOBD scanner is a useful tool to bring when viewing a used car. Plug it in, read the codes, and see what the car has been logging. Fault codes the seller doesn’t know about - or does know about and hasn’t mentioned - can appear here.

The caveat: the previous owner may also own a scanner. Clearing fault codes before a sale takes thirty seconds. It might leave traces, there might be another more secure location - whether you can find it, depends a lot on your scanner, app and skill. A used car dealer surely has a better scanner and way more experience.

Interestingly, seeing some harmless codes is often more reassuring than seeing none at all. Minor codes - such as a sensor that briefly read out of range - suggest the history hasn’t been cleared. A completely blank fault history on a high-mileage car is slightly suspicious; it’s more likely that codes were cleared than that the car has never logged a single fault. Not a dealbreaker, but worth noting alongside other checks.

What changes with an EV

I’ve never had an EV, but my next car could be electric, so I did a bit of research. EVs still have a standard OBD2, still log fault codes, but the standard PID set that was designed around petrol engines and mostly doesn’t apply. Generic apps will show very little information.

What you actually want to see on an EV - battery state of health, individual cell voltages, pack temperature, capacity remaining, charging system status - is proprietary. For this you need an app that knows the specific extended PIDs for that brand. Since my plans are down to several brands, I researched those.

Kia and Hyundai: Car Scanner has extended PID sets for Hyundai and Kia that cover battery management data. No need to change anything in my current setup.

Nissan: The Leaf has its own dedicated app: Leaf Spy (iOS and Android). It reads the BMS in detail. Works with a standard ELM327 Bluetooth adapter. Leaf Spy is widely used in the Leaf owner community and is effectively the standard tool for assessing used Leaf battery condition. If you’re looking at buying a used Leaf, this is worth knowing about before you go.

Toyota: The Prius has its own dedicated tool: Dr. Prius (free, iOS and Android), which specifically assesses hybrid battery health. For newer Toyota EVs and PHEVs, the Toyota Techstream setup I mentioned above (Mini-VCI cable) covers the full vehicle including the battery management systems. The same cable that works on conventional Toyotas works on hybrid and EV Toyotas.

Locking nut removal, or how to steal your own wheels

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0200

Locking wheel nuts exist to stop opportunists nicking your wheels, and when you lose the key, they do their job a little too well.

A few years ago when I moved to the UK, I bought a very old Honda Civic with the intention of replacing it soon (I expected to get a lot of scratches before getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road), but really liked the car and kept it for long. One day came a time to replace tyres. I brought the car to the tyre service and confidently told them the key is in the glovebox. I saw it just a few days before when I cleaned the interior. Except it wasn’t there now.

The easy checks

I searched the place where I cleaned the car - the locking key wasn’t there.
If you think that half of the cars have the same locking nut, look more closely. They often look similar, but there are subtle differences. I checked some friends’ cars that looked similar, all turned out to be different.
I asked the tyre shop if they have locking nut keys. Sure they do, many of them - none was right.
I asked Honda about the replacement and local mechanic about the removal. Both gave me a quote that I didn’t like.

Time for a DIY approach

Most locking nuts these days have rotating collars - if you try to grip it from the outside, the outer part just spins freely. The solution is to break and remove the collar first.

Tools needed

removal sockets
breaker bar
hammer
cordless drill
drill bits for metal
wire cutters
centre punches

Of those, I only needed to buy removal sockets. These are hardened sockets with an internal profile that looks a bit like a reverse thread. Designed not only for the task I had, but also for removing stripped nuts. You could buy one socket, but I wasn’t sure which size I needed.

Removing the rotating collar

The rotating collar was made of steel, my wheels were aluminium. Breaking one without causing (much) damage to the other made the job both rough and delicate. And the moment you touch the collar with any tool, it rotates away. I had a set of centre punches, so I used one or two to hold the collar in place, and another one to make a small dent.

Then it was time for drilling. Repeated the process several times.

When the collar was damaged enough, I gripped it with the wire cutters (pliers were too big) and removed it.

First wheel took me about an hour and got the most scratches. But I gained experience quickly, the 4th one was done in a few minutes and almost unscathed.

Removing the uncollared nut

That was an easy part. Get the right sized socket, put it on the nut, then give it a few taps with a hammer. Use a long breaker bar (not a ratchet). You need a lot of force, push with your body weight. Even normally, wheel nuts take some force, but now you also have to make your socket bite into steel.

After removal

Of course the nut is useless after a forced removal. Have a new set of nuts prepared before you attempt it. You could use other locking nuts (and this time, don’t lose the key), but I opted for standard nuts. Nobody would be interested in battered wheels from an old Honda Civic anyway, even before I added some more scratches.

Shopping for shop vacuum

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0200

I’m on my third workshop vacuum now. The first one was Parkside, an old model from about 15 years ago. It never cleaned properly, I don’t even remember if it broke or I got rid of it because it was useless. Next one was a small Karcher. It worked great for years, but I only did occasional DIY projects. When I started the large renovation, I killed it in a week. It’s now on a shelf, until I decide if I want to replace the motor unit or bin it.

Which meant I had to buy a replacement quickly, I couldn’t research the best model and look for bargains. In rural Sweden there’s no “next day delivery”, it’s “in three days if you are lucky”. I had to choose from whatever was available in nearby shops.

The immediate requirement was renovation. Wood dust, plaster and cement dust, occasional metal filings and wet mess. Nothing toxic, but a lot of it.

The longer-term use case is lighter: ongoing DIY projects, sawing, sanding, drilling, the usual.

Workshop vacuum vs regular vacuum

A regular domestic vacuum cleaner is a civilised tool for civilised places. It has good filtration, reasonable noise levels, an assortment of finely shaped attachments for different surfaces and spaces. And you would break it in minutes if you tried to use it on a construction site.

A workshop vacuum can handle wood shavings, plaster dust and metal filings. Most can also handle wet stuff, they can even be used to pump out water.

Can you use a workshop vacuum for regular domestic cleaning? Yes. Would you enjoy it? Definitely not. It’s heavy and it’s LOUD. Plus, once you used it for intended purposes, it’s forever dirty.

Features to look for

Tank capacity. My old vacuum had a 15L tank. For occasional use it was good enough, it took months to fill. For the renovation I wanted a 30L model.

Filtration. Some vacuums are rated for hazardous materials such as asbestos. For that use, you also need to line it with a disposable bag, so make sure you stock them. But I didn’t need that, regular filter was good enough for me.

Auto filter cleaning. As fine dust builds up on the filter, suction drops. Some vacuums have an automatic mechanism that taps the filter periodically to knock accumulated dust back into the tank. Very convenient. Mine doesn’t have it though.

Wet/dry capability. Most workshop vacs handle both. Wet pickup requires removing the standard filter and replacing it with a foam sleeve.

Power tool socket with autostart. Some vacuums have a socket on the body - you plug your power tool into it, the vacuum starts automatically when the tool does, stops when the tool does. More important for woodworking than for renovation. Also, you would need to make sure the socket where you plug the vacuum can handle the combined power of both, which is usually above 2kW.

Small differences. Things like: how long the hose and power cord are, how well the castors turn, are there places for storing extra attachments (in my case: 2m, 3m, very well, no but the previous had it). If you’re in a comfortable position of comparing similar models, you can be choosy.

What I got

The DeWalt DXV30SAPTA. Thirty litres, stainless drum, wet/dry. There was a decent deal on it at the time, and the more important factor was DeWalt’s build quality. It should survive the renovation.

It is, as expected, large and loud. But my noise-cancelling headphones do a great job on the constant hum. It cleans very well. It came with several attachments, but I only use two: the wide brush and the narrow nozzle. There’s also blower mode: the hose can be connected to the exhaust. I found this feature useful a few times.

I sometimes connect the vacuum to tools - sanders, planer and plunge saw have dust extraction ports. I had to buy adapters for them, since every manufacturer uses a different diameter.

It doesn’t have auto filter cleaning. It would be really useful, sometimes I need to clean it several times per day. Well, you can’t always get what you want. I keep an old toothbrush and use it when I see it doesn’t suck.

The plunge saw is the best first electric saw. Change my mind.

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Every DIYer eventually has to move from a handsaw to an electric saw. Which type to choose? Handheld circular saws look intimidating (though they’re safer than they seem) and making an accurate cut takes practice. Jigsaws are a common choice (the one I actually made years ago - my saw broke quickly and I never felt a need to replace it). Table saws look dangerous and they really are. Mitre saws are great for some tasks and useless for others.

My opinion: your first electric saw should be a plunge saw (also called a track saw). It’s the only type that will give a beginner accurate results from day one and makes an injury very unlikely.

What is a plunge saw?

A plunge saw looks a bit like a handheld circular saw, but it runs along a guide rail and the blade can drop straight down into the cut, doesn’t need to enter from the edge (though it can). The blade is fully enclosed when not cutting - it only emerges when you press the saw down, and only to a specified depth.

The track is the key bit. You clamp or position it on your workpiece, set the saw onto it, and it physically cannot go anywhere except along that line.

Why it’s great for beginners

Accuracy

A handheld circular saw is the closest kin of a plunge saw. But it’s not that beginner-friendly. The saw can wander if your technique is off. Cutting a board to length is perfectly doable freehand, but long straight cuts are hard. The solution is to improvise some sort of track - for example, clamp a board to guide the base of your tool.

But why improvise when you can have a reliable solution that’s accurate to a millimetre or better? Set the track to your line, run the saw along it - done. It’s almost impossible to do it wrong.

And most other types of electric saws are even worse than handheld circular saws. Jigsaws have a flexible blade that can cut a curved line. And it usually does, whether you intended or not. A sabre saw is great for rough construction and deconstruction jobs, but it’s not a precision instrument. The only tool with similar accuracy is a table saw, but it requires a lot of training.

Safety

I don’t even have to mention table saws here. The tool has probably amputated more fingers than all surgeons in the world.

A handheld circular saw is not as dangerous as it seems. Sure, that toothed disc rotating at 4000RPM would rip flesh into pieces, but modern versions have a blade cover that slides away only revealing a small portion of the blade. The real problem is kickback - when the blade gets stuck, the tool tries to rotate instead (remember conservation of momentum from your physics lessons?) and if you’re unprepared, it might pull the tool out of your hand and send it flying. Let’s hope that your other hand wasn’t near the blade.

A plunge saw has a fully enclosed blade. Kickback is still possible, but then it usually stays on the track. Only if the kickback is very hard will it jump off - it has happened to me a few times. But it’s a plunge saw: it only exposes part of the blade when you press it down, and the moment it jumps off the track, the whole mechanism springs back up instantly.

Of other popular types, jigsaws and sabre saws don’t feel that intimidating because they work like a mechanised handsaw - the blade goes back and forth. They never kick back hard. Yet the blade is fully exposed. If it touches your body, you won’t lose a limb, but you’ll get a cut.

Another thing is dust extraction. A plunge saw connects to a vacuum cleaner, considerably reducing the amount of sawdust in the air. I actually like the smell of wood dust, but it turns out it’s mildly hazardous. Dust from MDF and other chipboards is worse.

One tip I came across online: the plunge saw has a small window in the blade enclosure for replacing the blade, and a lot of dust shoots out through it. Just put a piece of tape over it - you won’t be using the window that often.

Versatility

Anything you can do with a handheld circular saw, table saw or mitre saw can be done with a plunge saw, with the same or better accuracy. The reverse is not always true. There are also some things that only a plunge saw can do.

Where it shines

Cutting sheet goods

Plywood, OSB, MDF, laminate sheets, worktops - this is the plunge saw’s home territory. I’m in the middle of a home renovation and each day I cut floor panels or wall material.

Full sheets are awkward to cut on any other saw; few amateurs have work surfaces large enough. A plunge saw lets you lay the sheet on the floor (a common way of protecting the floor is using a piece of rigid foam (styrofoam) - and of course set the depth so the blade only barely emerges from the bottom), position the track, and cut it cleanly and safely. I used that technique, my workbench, pile of material, whatever was convenient at the moment.

Installing a sink or sawing into floorboards

This is where the plunge part gets important. Unlike most saws, a plunge saw can start a cut in the middle of a surface - you don’t need to enter from an edge. You set the blade depth, position the saw, and plunge straight down into the floor. You can cut the floorboards without damaging the beams underneath.

Granted, it doesn’t happen often for most DIYers. It happened to me though. I bought the tool for the track, not for the plunge function, but I was glad I had it. Both features were perfect for replacing the floorboards. The alternative would be to drill a hole and put a jigsaw blade through it - far slower and imprecise.

Where it works, but is not the best tool for the job

Cutting timber to length

It’s possible, but not very convenient. You have to position the track, clamp it or hold it in place, then run the saw along it for just a few centimetres. It works, and the cut will be accurate and clean, but it takes longer. You can use a plunge saw without a track if you care more about speed than accuracy. It’s then closer to a handheld circular saw, but still less convenient.

A mitre saw (chop saw) is fast and accurate for repetitive length cuts, especially at angles. But it can’t do long cuts. If you’re into serious woodworking, get it in addition, not instead of the plunge saw.

Making grooves

Who says you need to saw all the way through the board? Grooves are a common feature in furniture projects. A router would be better for that purpose, but I don’t have one. Instead, I set the depth to the few mm I need, position a track, run it once, move the track roughly by the width of the blade, run it again, repeat until I get to the end.

It’s not great. It takes time and I need to clean the groove with a file. If I had to do it every day, I would get a router, but for an occasional task it’s fine.

If it’s so great, why do so few people have one?

If you’ve never heard of a plunge saw, I don’t blame you. Until recently, you would have had to spend a lot to get one. It was considered a professional tool for furniture makers, cabinet installers and so on. Plunge saws were invented by Festool, one of the most expensive and reputable brands.

My first experience was actually with a Festool. I had a project that required long, straight cuts and couldn’t do it with a handheld saw. I wanted to rent a table saw, but the rental shop owner convinced me to try a plunge saw instead - and I’m glad he did. Not only did I finish the project quickly and without wasting any material, but I still have all my fingers. And as so often happens when renting tools, a few days later I needed it again. I wanted to own one.

What I have

The Festool would have been more expensive than all of my tools combined. I could never justify buying one if it was going to spend most of the time on a shelf. But a few months after I tried the Festool, I saw a cheap plunge saw in Lidl (PTSS 1200 C2, to be specific). I’ve had mixed experiences with Parkside tools - some work well, some have failed quickly or never performed right. At first glance, the saw looked robust enough. I bought one and never regretted it. For the first few years, I only put it through very light use, but recently when I moved to a house that needed renovation it quickly became my favourite tool.

The Festool had better tracks with multiple clamping options and could probably handle angled cuts better (both saws can swivel on the base, but it looks a bit flimsy on Parkside) - but so far I have only needed 90-degree cuts and they are perfect.

I don’t have experience with anything in between, but I assume mid-range brands should perform at least as well, and Parkside is already good enough for my needs. If you want to get one, be aware that Parkside quality varies. Don’t blame me if your tool can’t cut straight or brakes after a week, everything is possible with Parkside.

Accessories to consider

Blades

The blade that comes with the tool is often poor quality, especially on budget tools. Parkside came with a 24-tooth blade. I intended to use the tool for precise cuts, mostly in soft materials, so I immediately replaced it with another budget blade (Dexter) but with 48 teeth. I used it on everything; it seemed to work fine on wood, plywood and cement-fibre boards (Fibo), but when I tried to cut a bamboo worktop, it burned the material.

In hindsight, it was probably the cement fibre that had dulled the blade.

I changed my plans: instead of using one blade for everything, I ordered a 60-tooth Saxton blade for the worktop and other sheet goods, and used the original Parkside blade for cement-fibre (which can be cut very easily, as it turned out - a dull blade or the wrong blade works fine).

When replacing a blade, check the diameter and the inner hole as there are several standards.

Tracks

My saw came with two pieces of track that can be joined together. I decided to use one for my construction and deconstruction tasks and keep the other away from debris, for precise work. I should probably get more segments. Again, there are several standards; they are partly but not fully compatible, so check what fits your tool.

Clamps

The Festool came with several clamping options. Very convenient. Parkside didn’t - I usually just hold the track with my hand. Just be aware that if the track moves, you’re still going to make an accurate, straight cut, but along the wrong line.

Corded or cordless

My saw is corded. I don’t see much added value in going cordless. For some tools, being free from a cord is a great option. A plunge saw tends to stay in place, connected to a vacuum cleaner - the track is unwieldy anyway. Adding a cord to it doesn’t make any difference.

Drying a house after a burst pipe

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:01:00 +0200

The dishwasher incident I wrote about recently - two litres of water into the mineral wool, a home dehumidifier, sorted in a day - was, in the grand scheme of water-related home disasters, a rounding error. It did remind me of something considerably less manageable. A different house, about fifteen years ago.

The morning

I woke up hearing running water, somewhere downstairs. I walked down, checked kitchen and bathroom first - both were OK. Then I opened the door to the garage. Ankle deep water.

The water had been running for hours. The bill that arrived later confirmed it - the volume was in the thousands of litres. The whole ground-level utility area was flooded.

I thought I was lucky. The garage and boiler room had relatively thin concrete floors with little insulation, meaning the level was about 15 cm below the rest of the house - which looked dry.

Step one: stop the water

Main stopcock was the obvious first step. Once the water stopped flowing, I could look for the source properly. The burst pipe was behind the boiler - a joint that had let go, probably factory defect, as the house was quite new. Better news: there was an isolation valve for that section of pipework. Once I closed it, the rest of the house had working water while the repair was arranged.

Pumping out

The garage and boiler room needed emptying. I used a garden pump - the kind sold for emptying garden ponds or irrigating with rainwater. It took a while but it worked. While it was running and for the rest of the day, I kept the garage door and the boiler room door fully open: it was a sunny day, reasonable airflow, and I thought that would be enough.

The next morning

The walls around the entire ground floor of the house were damp. Not just near the garage - walls in rooms on the opposite side of the building. I lifted a floor panel well away from the flooded area, and found water sitting under the floor.

What had happened was obvious in retrospect. Thousands of litres don’t just sit where they land. Water finds every gap, every void, and it spreads. The concrete and masonry had absorbed it laterally and it had travelled, slowly and invisibly, throughout the ground floor structure. What looked dry on the surface was sitting on saturated subfloor and wicking moisture up into the walls.

Who you gonna call?

This was not a DIY job. The scale of moisture intrusion, spread across an entire ground floor - floors, walls, subfloor void - needed proper equipment and someone who knew how to use it. I filed an insurance claim and found a professional drying service. This is worth knowing: burst pipe flooding is a standard insurance event, and most household policies cover the drying.

The drying process

The technician arrived with a van full of hardware that looked like it belonged on a factory floor. What followed was a systematic, several-week operation.

First deployment: three large industrial dehumidifiers placed at strategic points around the ground floor, plus high-volume fans to create airflow through the space. These are not the units you buy at a supermarket - commercial drying dehumidifiers extract 50-100 litres per day. He also drilled holes in the base of walls and lifted floor panels to allow trapped moisture to have somewhere to exit.

Follow-up visits: he came back every few days with a moisture meter, took readings at marked points throughout the house, moved equipment as the drying front progressed, and adjusted the setup accordingly. Drying a structure isn’t a static operation - as the moisture distribution changes, the equipment placement needs to follow it.

Infrared heaters: at a later stage, directional infrared heaters were aimed at specific areas where moisture was stubbornly high. Infrared heats the surface and the material directly, accelerating evaporation from those spots without heating the whole room.

The long tail: one dehumidifier stayed for several weeks after the main equipment was collected. Drying masonry and concrete is slow work. The last moisture is the hardest to shift.

The ozone treatment

The final step, once moisture readings were satisfactory throughout: an ozone generator, run through the sealed house for a day while we stayed elsewhere.

There was no visible mould anywhere, but moisture over an extended period creates conditions for fungal and bacterial growth even where it’s not visible. Ozone (O₃) is a highly reactive form of oxygen - three atoms instead of the usual two - that kills mould spores and bacteria.

The useful property of ozone for this application is that it’s unstable. At room temperature, O₃ breaks down naturally into regular O₂ within hours - the half-life is roughly 20 to 50 minutes depending on temperature and humidity. Run an ozone generator for a few hours, then leave the house closed for a few more, and by the time you return there’s no ozone left. Unlike chemical fungicides, which are toxic to humans, require ventilation and still leave some residue, ozone simply reverts to oxygen.

The bill

The electricity consumption for the month was close to our usual yearly usage. The drying service itself was a significant professional fee. Combined: a number I would not have wanted to pay out of pocket.

All of it was covered by the insurance. Most of the devices had built-in energy counters, those that hadn’t were connected through power meters. At the end, we got energy usage report to show to the insurer.

Could you hire the equipment yourself?

Yes. Industrial dehumidifiers, high-volume fans, and ozone generators can all be hired from specialist hire shops. Doing it yourself is cheaper per day than a drying service that includes a technician.

I wouldn’t recommend it for a large flooding event. The hardware is only half of the success. The other half is knowing where to put it, how to identify where moisture has travelled that isn’t visible, when to move to the next phase. The technician on my job clearly had experience with dozens of similar situations.

What I did afterwards

While the drying was in progress, I ordered a few leak detectors. Small battery-powered devices with two electrodes on the base - when water bridges the electrodes it triggers a loud alarm. They cost almost nothing and run for a year or two on a battery. I put them on the floor everywhere a leak seemed likely. They wouldn’t prevent a leak, but would turn it into an easily manageable event.

A thing I considered but didn’t implement was an automatic water shutoff - a leak detector that closes the main valve when triggered. Unlike the alarm, it would work even when nobody’s home.

Laying laminate panels: the floor saga continues

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:05:00 +0200

Flooring: part 4 of 4

After removing the old floor and checking the subfloor, next step was to install something we like.

Choosing panels

Apart from the look, the main decision criteria were low emissions and durability, roughly in that order. We ended up with two types, but with similar features.

Emissions mattered because laminate flooring is a product that spends its entire life slowly releasing whatever volatiles are in the resin and backing into the room you’re living in. Our panels have low-emission certification.

Durability: The AC (Abrasion Class) scale goes from AC1 (residential light use) to AC6 (commercial heavy). The panels we chose are rated AC4 - commercial moderate - which means in a house they should last for years.

For the bedrooms and living room, we chose Myfloor Palais and for the kitchen - Classen Visogrande. The main difference was in the look. Room panels are large (1380 x 193mm) and imitate wood, kitchen panels (604 x 280mm) resemble stone. Both are made in Germany, which I think gives a slightly higher chance that their ratings are real.

Before you start

Acclimatisation. The packs need to sit in the room at normal temperature and humidity for at least 48 hours before laying. This lets the planks stabilise dimensionally before they’re locked together. My boards waited much longer than that, while I removed the old floor and did other things.

Subfloor condition. Laminate needs a flat subfloor - within 3mm per 2m is the standard tolerance, though tighter is better. We have chipboard subfloors that are generally flat, but we had to fill a few gaps with wood filler.

In a previous house, we had concrete subfloors. They need a moisture test and possibly drying - especially newly made, but even older concrete can be damp in ground floor installations.

Underlay. Options are foam or cork. Cork gives a bit of extra thermal insulation and sound dampening, foam is cheaper and more resistant to moisture. We used cork for bedrooms and foam elsewhere. Both come in rolls. Put them right before laying panels, they tear easily.

Planning the layout

Decide on direction first. Standard recommendations are to go parallel to the longest wall and to the main light source if possible - in some rooms these were opposite requirements. If in doubt, try both ways without installing them properly, or use visualisation app, or browse through example photos.

Unless you’re very lucky and your room width is an exact multiple of plank width, you’ll have to cut planks for the last row (I was lucky in one room). If you only need a few centimetres, it won’t look good. In that case, make both first and last row narrower. A little arithmetic before starting saves you from rearranging the whole room later.

Remember there will be expansion gap at all walls and other fixed objects (door frames, pipes). 10 to 15mm recommended. The floor isn’t fixed to the subfloor, it needs space to expand or it will crack. Take it into account when planning the layout. It actually makes your life easier - since it doesn’t need to be exactly the same width, there is some wiggle room when planning. The gap gets covered by skirting board or trim, so it’s invisible in the finished floor.

If you use the same panels all over the house, decide whether you want to split in doorways or make a continuous run. Continuous looks great, but are harder to plan and install. If you make a mistake and need to rearrange… well, plan for more installation time and more foul language.

Cutting the panels

Some panels can be easily cut with a Stanley knife - just scratch along the ruler and it breaks cleanly. Not this type, apparently. The panel is thick, layers tend to break in different places.

Manufacturer recommends a hand saw. What is it, 18th century? I tried my favourite plunge saw on the track. Special fine-tooth blade should be used for laminate material, but I thought I might get away with a standard wood-cutting blade (and it wasn’t even a new one). Result: clean and fast cuts. Perfect! I would even accept jagged cuts - they will be at the expansion gaps, it doesn’t matter if the edges are rough or if they’re a few millimetres off.

Laying the panels

Start in one corner of the room and make one full row. Remember about the expansion gap - there are special plastic spacers, if you forgot to buy them (I did), improvise. Planks attach to each other with an angle-click system. Put one board on the floor, hold the next one at around 45° and attach the edges. There should be no gap and the boards should be attached firmly (though on short edges, they often detach easily). At the end of the room, you’ll have to cut the plank to length - be careful to cut on the right side. Keep the off-cut, you’ll need it.

Start the next row with an off-cut plank. That’s because the joints need to be staggered by at least 1/4 - 1/3 of the length (check manufacturer’s recommendation). If the joints line up, the floor is structurally weak, it also looks wrong. The pattern should be random, which is where you can use off-cuts from previous rows. If you plan it carefully, you’ll only have very little waste.

Now check the manufacturer’s instructions (actually, you should have done that first instead of trusting some random guy on the internet). In our case, one type of panels required to make full next row just like the first one, than connecting two rows. Depending on the row length, you’ll need two or more people. You need to lift the second row at an angle and attach it to the first one. First tries are frustrating - the planks will detach, the edges won’t click. You need a few tries. The other type was much easier to work with. For the next row, you slide individual panels, one by one.

Properly connected, the panels should sit with a barely visible edge and almost flat. If that’s not the case, disconnect and reconnect. Use a rubber mallet to make them completely flat. You’ll gain experience quickly, before you cover half of the 1st room you’ll be much faster.

Problem points

As is usual with surface jobs - replacing floors, insulating walls etc. - 90% of the surface takes 10% of efforts. The endings, doorframes, pipes etc. take most of the time and planning.

Irregular shapes for doorways and such are more problematic than straight cuts. I used a saw blade on my oscillating multitool. Be careful, the tool vibrates and can jump on the surface, scratching the plank. Turn it on before it touches the surface, hold it firmly, touch with the corner of the blade first and then press down. If it’s the first time, practice on an off-cut. If your shape is especially complicated, use a contour gauge or cut a cardboard template to transfer the shape.

In our case, Myfloor was again quite straightforward, while Classen blunted the blades at a crazy rate. It only took a few seconds until smoke appeared and saw teeth disappeared. I tried a hacksaw and also grinded down the teeth. I finished the first cutout using a metal cutting disc on a rotary tool, taking care not to set the wood on fire. Then I ordered diamond discs. These worked much better. On the other hand, it probably means the abrasion resistance rating was real.

Result

The floor went down without any structural problems. The clicks are firm and there’s no flex underfoot anywhere. I might turn pro if I’m bored with my IT job. That is, if I forget how annoying it is to connect long rows.

Drying mineral wool, or how I flooded my underfloor insulation with a dishwasher

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:04:00 +0200

Flooring: part 3 of 4

The floor replacement job was going slowly, but surely. With a few boards missing, I had a thought that seemed perfectly reasonable at the time: why not temporarily hook up the dishwasher? Every hour spent washing dishes by hand is an hour not spent on the actual renovation. Solid logic.

The water supply connection was fine. The wastewater connection was supposed to be provisional. Turned out to be a bit too provisional. I did a reasonable thing of being nearby when the dishwasher was on. Dishwashers pump out water at least twice during a standard cycle. The initial rinsing went fine. But when the cycle was nearly finished and the machine began dumping water again, I heard the splashing and made it across the kitchen in time to grab the hose and hold it in place for the rest of the drain.

Quick reaction. Maybe half a litre escaped. Actually, probably closer to two litres. The mineral wool under the open section of floor had a nice wet patch, and I had a new sub-task to deal with.

How bad is it really?

Rockwool (mineral wool) is pretty forgiving when it gets wet. Rockwool holds its structure and can be dried out and reused. But you do have to actually dry it, leaving wet insulation under a floor is a fast track to mould.

How to dry floor insulation

Step 1: pull out the wet batts

Fortunately I already had the floor open, so this part was easy. Rockwool pulls out in sections without much fuss. I took the affected pieces and laid them flat. Not stacked - airflow is what you want. On a sunny day, I would take them outside and they would be dry in an hour. No such luck, they stayed inside.

Step 2: dry the joist bay

Even with the insulation out, the timber underneath was damp. I ran a dehumidifier right next to it and the pile of wet wool. If you don’t have one, they can be hired. Larger versions are used to dry flooded houses. Mine is not an industrial type - just the regular home model that’s useful in rainy autumns of UK and Sweden. Good enough for a small flooding.

Move some air through. I used my shop vacuum - most can work as blowers if you connect the hose to the exhaust port instead of the intake. The air is also warm after going past the 1000W motor, which helps. I used it in short burst, while the dehumidifier was running for hours.

The dehumidifier shows air humidity. I don’t think the meter is accurate, wouldn’t trust the absolute value, but I didn’t need it. Trend is important. For many hours, the number was constant. When it started dropping, I knew I was getting somewhere. A moisture meter would be perfect here - you’re aiming for timber moisture content below around 18–20% before closing up. I don’t have one, so I kept drying until I couldn’t see and feel the moisture and the dehumidifier meter stopped dropping, and then a few hours more.

Step 3: put everything back

Obviously.

What if you can’t reach the insulation?

I got lucky having the floor already open. If the boards are down and you know some water got below them, the best thing would be to get the floor open and remove the mineral wool like I did.

What if it’s not reasonably possible? What goes below is a speculation - haven’t tested it, but that’s what I would do. Get some opening over the affected area - cut a section or at least drill with a hole saw. Blow a lot of air through it for a few days. Check regularly. I would definitely get a moisture meter in that case. It’s cheap. Dealing with the underfloor mould after you installed the floor, cabinets and appliances - isn’t.

Lessons learned

Total time added to the project: about two days of waiting, maybe an hour of actual work. I was lucky I had the dehumidifier.

Rockwool fibres are itchy. Wear gloves. Then wash your hands, because the fibres got through the gloves. Then shower, because somehow they got on your shoulders, legs and perhaps some unmentionable places.

The kitchen is now back to normal - the boards, the panels on top of them and the cabinets. And the dishwasher stands on a droppbricka - a Swedish standard drip tray that channels any leaked water forward where you’ll see it, rather than letting it flow out of sight. Required by the Säker Vatten industry standard and a good idea anyway (there’s one under a fridge too). The wastewater hose is clamped properly.

And the dishes got done during the renovation, which was the whole point - so I’m calling it a qualified success.

Replacing floorboards: necessary, unglamorous, done

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:03:00 +0200

Flooring: part 2 of 4

After removing the vinyl floor, I discovered some floorboards in the kitchen needed replacing. Not many, maybe seven or eight. It seemed so basic - after all, that’s just some measuring, sawing, drilling and screwing - but in combination, it was one of the more tedious renovation tasks I’ve done. Most jobs require either precision or working with large and heavy objects, this one needed both.

Know your floor first

My boards are 180 × 60cm, 22mm thick, laid over joists spaced at 60cm centres. This is a common standard in European construction, but check your house rather than assuming. The joist spacing matches the board width.

Boards can be placed both along and across the joists. Check which direction requires less cutting. Important: board edges should land on a joist, not dangle in the air.

Removing the old boards

This was the most time consuming and tedious part of the job.

Cutting the boards out. A plunge saw set to exactly the board depth - 22mm in my case - cuts the board without touching the joists below. In the beginning I didn’t know where the joists where and some exploratory surgery was necessary. More importantly there may be pipes and cables running beneath the floor. A plunge saw you can set to a precise depth is the right tool here.

Getting the boards up. After getting some access, I tried to remove the boards. They were both glued and screwed to the joists. Most screws were easily removed with a drill/driver, or for more stubborn ones - an impact wrench. 2 or 3 snapped (impact wrench means something WILL be removed). I cut them flush using a rotary tool (I don’t know what they were made of, but multitool blade only got its teeth rounded).

The glue, applied by someone who clearly had an infinite supply, was the main task. The sequence that eventually worked: oscillating multitool with a saw blade along the glue joint to break the bond, then a prybar to lever the board up. Sometimes a sabre saw held horizontally if the board couldn’t be convinced to move. Then, once the board was off, a belt sander on the joist tops to remove the remaining residue.

At one point I counted 8 powertools. I didn’t know I even had that many.

Fitting new boards: dry run first

I made a mistake of glueing and screwing the first board. It then turned out I should have started from the other side to fit to the existing boards properly. I removed it (luckily I haven’t used as much glue as the original creator) and learned to lay all the new boards in position without fixing them. Discover problems before the glue is on, not after.

Fixing sequence: apply wood glue (construction adhesive, something flexible rather than rigid - floors move) to the joist tops, lay the board, drill pilot holes through the board and into the joist, then drive the screws. Countersink the pilot holes so the screw heads sit below the surface. Pilot holes are not optional here. Dry timber splits when you drive a screw without one, especially near the board edge over a joist.

The click edge problem

Modern floorboards typically have a click-lock profile on their edges - a tongue and groove system that snaps the boards together and keeps them aligned. This is fine when you’re laying a whole floor from scratch. It becomes a problem when your new boards meet old ones.

My replacement boards clicked together perfectly among themselves, so did the old ones. Where a new board met an existing old board, the profiles didn’t match - different manufacturer, different era. The solution was to cut the profile off the edge that meets the old floor, leaving a flat butt joint. I used my plunge saw again. A butt joint between floorboards is not as strong as a click joint - there’s nothing mechanical holding the two edges together, just the fixing to the joist below. In practice, if both boards are properly fixed to the joist at that point, the joint is stable enough.

Cutting

New boards in need of cut were clamped to my pallet workbench and treated with my trusty plunge saw on a track rail. This gives clean, accurate cuts. Far better than a freehand cut could achieve. I sometimes made small cuts in place, relying on the depth control again.

For complex cuts, I made cardboard templates. Where a board had to fit around a pipe or into an irregular corner, I cut a piece of cardboard to fit the space first, then transferred the shape to the board. I did these cuts using multitool, the plunge saw is only useful for straight lines. Not millimetre accuracy, but I didn’t need it.

There will be dust

Floorboard work generates an unreasonable amount of dust. The belt sanding of joists alone is enough to coat a room; the saws add more. A PM2.5 meter at times showed 400 μg/m3 (WHO recommends to keep it below 5 on average and not exceed 25). I used all the mitigations I could.

Shop vacuum connected to the tools. The plunge saw and the belt sander have dust extraction ports; the vacuum plugged directly into them caught the majority of cutting dust at source. This is the highest-leverage step - stopping the dust before it becomes airborne is much more effective. What it couldn’t catch was still enough to be a problem.

Dust mask throughout. Not just during cutting and sanding, the dust stays airborne for a long time.

Vacuuming everything. At the end of each session and throughout; whenever I saw some accumulation and especially before putting the new floorboard.

Air purifier running in the room. A HEPA purifier needs time to work, leave it running during work and for a few hours afterwards. And don’t forget to vacuum the filter every day. Home purifier wasn’t designed for these conditions, but it works anyway.

One thing I didn’t do well: sealing the workplace from the rest of the house. There was no door to the kitchen, I hang a few plastic sheets on the doorway without bothering to seal them properly (I wanted to move in and out without resealing). The result was what I should have expected: if I could find the way through the sheets, then dust particles - much smaller than me - also could.

The result

This is one of the bigger renovation jobs I’ve ever done, and one I don’t want to repeat for a while. The removal phase specifically - the glue, the prybar, the belt sanding of joists. The fitting phase was more fun, except for fitting new boards to old boards and making the complex shapes (I had to use the well-known approach: measure twice, cut three times).

Having it done by professionals would be a reasonable choice. A DIY job, unpleasant at times, was deeply satisfying when it ended.

Removing old vinyl flooring: a case for a motorised scraper

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:02:00 +0200

Flooring: part 1 of 4

There’s a special kind of optimism that comes with removing old floor covering. I pulled back a corner of the old vinyl, saw it peel away reasonably cleanly, and thought: I’ll be done in an hour.

Then I found the glue. Old vinyl flooring is often stuck down with adhesive that had decades to cure into something with the structural integrity of a geological formation. You pull the vinyl - nothing happens, you pull harder - it tears.

This is the story of working through three approaches, two of which were insufficient, before finding the one that actually worked.

A safety note before anything else

If your vinyl flooring was laid before some time in the 1980s (depends on the country), stop before you start attacking it aggressively. Vinyl floor tiles from that era may contain asbestos. Asbestos is RELATIVELY (I can’t emphasise it too much) safe when left untouched, but dangerous when you start cutting it.

If in doubt, send the material for testing. My house was built in the 1990s, well after the total ban on asbestos in Sweden.

Attempt one: hand tools

The classic scraper is the obvious starting point. So is a knife, a pry bar, a cold chisel supported by a hammer. I experimented with a few options, after an hour I removed maybe half a square meter. Heating the glue didn’t help.

That definitely won’t do.

Attempt two: oscillating multitool

Oscillating multitool is great for home renovation - I’m going to write more about it soon. It’s excellent for scraping in general, much faster than a hand scraper and requiring less effort.

But for that kind of job, the blade is too narrow and the tool is too weak. You’re working a strip maybe 50–80mm wide at a time. If I only had one small room, it would take a day. But I had a whole house to do. That would take weeks (I have my day job), probably wear out the tool, plus working with it for more than an hour gets really unpleasant.

It was still the right tool for the doorways, the corners, the bits around pipes - all the places a large machine can’t reach. For the open floor area, I needed something bigger.

The actual solution: the floor scraper machine

The electric floor scraper I got - also called a floor stripper - was essentially an oversized version of my oscillating multitool. A blade was wider and longer, the motor had 1500W compared to 300W of my tool. The weight of the machine and the wheeled base make pressing the blade into the floor easier (not super easy).

The difference in speed is not incremental. It’s transformative. What was an hour of back-breaking labour by multitool (not to mention hand tools) takes five minutes. The machine keeps constant pressure on the blade, works a wide path on every pass.

Depending on your floor material, you still might have a hard time pressing the machine into it. The solution is to cut it into more manageable strips. Usually, a few minutes with a boxcutter. But in one room, I had 2 layers of very heavy vinyl with a cured adhesive between them. It was impossible to press the machine for more than a few centimeters, and cutting with a knife would take ages. I had to use my trusty plunge saw, set to the depth of 5mm. Cutting vinyl is messy even with dust extraction, if you ever have to do it, wear a dust mask.

Rent, don’t buy

An electric floor scraper is expensive and you will use it once, maybe twice in a lifetime. Two sensible options are: rent, or buy second hand and possibly resell. I rented for a weekend, that was enough.

Pallet workbench: a 15-minute solution for a problem at hand

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:01:00 +0200

A few months ago I moved into a new place: a house in need of deep renovation. I brought tools, ordered materials, but there was no workbench. I simply needed a reasonably flat surface at a comfortable level for sawing, drilling and sanding.

Fancy workbenches are a common DIY project - moderately complex, practical, with few aesthetic requirements. But I needed something fast. I couldn’t spend a week building a proper bench. Besides, how could I do it without a bench? Classic chicken-and-egg problem.

Enter: wooden pallets.

The plan (if you can call it that)

The idea was simple. I had some building materials delivered on wooden pallets. They were different sizes, but two of them had the same width - 80cm. I used them for sides. I shortened one with a sabre saw, otherwise it wouldn’t fit in a doorway and I needed a movable workbench.

80cm plus the height of the 3rd pallet made it 92cm, which is just the perfect height for me to work standing up. For comparison, a standard office desk (for sitting work) is 75cm, a kitchen worktop is 90cm and I always find kitchen worktops slightly too low for me. Your needs may vary.

I simply joined the pallets with a few wood screws. Then I put two boards on the back and one on the side to make it less wobbly. That was it. There’s enough space underneath for my vacuum cleaner. I attached a small vice and used clamps for larger objects.

Safety note

Don’t bring inside anything stamped MB (methyl bromide treated). Look for HT (heat treated) - that’s the safe one. If you can’t find a stamp, light-coloured wood with no obvious chemical stains should be OK too.

The Good Stuff

it took me about 15 minutes to build and I could move to what I really needed to do
it cost 0, which is a good price
the spaces between the boards can be useful - something to secure a clamp onto, and my saw won’t cut the surface where there isn’t any

The Not-So-Good Stuff

made from rough wood - splinter hazard (sanding would defeat the purpose of a 15-minute build)
no cabinets, no drawers, no nothing
not exactly horizontal and levelling would be hard
small elements and tools fall between boards
longevity is unknown - pallet wood is not the highest quality timber
it won’t win a beauty contest

Verdict

It’s better than having no workbench!

Welcome to Easy DIY - yes, the name is an admission

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0200

This blog is called Easy DIY because I cannot do hard DIY.

I am not a tradesperson. I rarely even have an opportunity to use a screwdriver at my day job, mostly I work with keyboards and screens.

What I am is someone who enjoys tinkering with physical stuff in my free time. I’ve learned a few things by trial and error (the ratio has been improving). I made some furniture for the garage and I’m slowly moving into a territory of shelves that can be shown to guests. I have never built a masonry wall, but I demolished one. I wouldn’t feel comfortable designing a house electrical installation , but I replaced sockets and switches. I fixed a few simple things on my cars and bicycles.

What to expect

Practical guides to tools and techniques, stories about my home renovation and DIY projects. Written by someone who learned by reading, trying, failing, and trying again.

I’ll also occasionally admit when something is beyond what I’d tackle myself and you should call someone. Knowing your limits is what separates a good amateur from an expensive insurance claim.

No unnecessary complexity. No gatekeeping. No making you feel bad for not knowing the difference between different types of drill bits.

I lived in a few countries - all European. I’m in Sweden now. There are some differences in building materials availability, prices, regulations. I’ll try to keep it universal and indicate if needed.

A note on sponsorship

Nobody pays me to write this, and no manufacturer has sent me anything to review. If I ever recommend a brand or you see one on the photos, that is because I’ve bought a tool with my own money and used it myself. Which probably explains why you’ll mostly see budget brands.

If that ever changes - if a brand sends me something for free, or I enter into any kind of commercial arrangement - I’ll say so clearly at the top of the relevant post.

A note on the hard stuff

Do I ever do more complex projects? Sure. Do I succeed? Sometimes. But I don’t write about them, because they’re outside what I know well enough to teach. There are better resources for that written by people who actually know what they’re doing. The name isn’t false modesty. It’s accurate labelling.

See you in the workshop.