u/Successful-Jelly-772

I am this unemployed disabled guy, that needs to fix the countertops in my kitchen before I can take in a flatmate to help with the mortgage. The countertop is warped from neglect, and there was some sort of insect infestation into the damp fiberboard, that I imagine a countertop replacement will fix.

I am not really someone that is skilled with DIY, and I don't have any tools. I have found a countertop at Byggmakker that is the right depth and thickness, and it is enough material to replace the countertops. It is around 2190NOK, which is just about affordable. 3000 x 600 x 30.

I have been trying to find if there is anyone I know, that has a workbench and a circular saw to slice the countertop essentially into three sections 2000 x 600 x 30, 500 x 600 x 30 and 300 x 600 x 30. I guess the workbench and the circular saw is what I would need for this.

In the 2000 x 600 x 30 piece, I need to drill out a hole for a kitchen sink, which perhaps means a pilot hole being drilled, and then a jigsaw fed through, and the hole cut out.

I think one of my friends can help me drill out the hole, but I guess the main thing for me, is getting the bench cut into three pieces.

If anyone can recommend what I can do here, I would appreciate it.

I would say that every month or so there is a post here or on a related subreddit, about some foreigner that came to work at a fish factory in Norway, and the owners / managers are doing incredibly sketchy shit? They look to hire people in from outside of Norway because they will work for less, but also don’t know about unions or their rights. In addition, the unions at these sites seem to be very weak. I myself as foreigner used to work in the aquaculture industry on a more engineering level, but I got to say that company was so shady, and poorly run. I would say in my whole career I never met more corrupt people. I think considering it is a fishing industry, it is fitting to say it stinks. If I was anyone in the government, or some other labor interest group, I would be watching these companies like a hawk and heavily regulating them in terms of workplace safety and corporate governance, because it seems like a mess. I’m so glad I am not involved anymore.

I am an autistic man, that lives in Trondheim. I bought an apartment around a year and half ago. I had a severe reduction in my capacity to take care of myself, and that includes keeping my house clean. We are not talking horder level here. I don't think I can really put off what is happening anymore.

I have noticed, that there are small ant like insects coming out from around the kitchen sink, and around the countertop surface. I have taken some pictures of them, and given them to ChatGPT, and it tells me they are grain lice from a bag of flour or something. It is true that I opened a bag of flour in the shelf to the right of the countertop and it was teeming with them. However, the description and photos I see, are more yellow, and these are identical but look black, almost like an ant, but not an ant. I am told (by ChatGPT) that they burrow into the damp warped chipboard of the countertop, hide there, and lay eggs, and come out to feed on mold and things on the counter. The counter has been badly warped since I moved in, because it was this poor quality board, just kind of painted, not proper countertop material at all, and I have left standing water around the sink and on the countertop for long periods. Anyways, long story short, I feel that it is for my general health and well-being that I should perhaps replace the countertop at least. However, it seems that it would require the removal of the tiling on the wall around it, the removal of the kitchen sink, the detachment of the sink from the water supply, and I would need to find an alternative surface, and cut a hole in it myself (for the sink), and install it on top of the old cabinets (that might have lice in them also). However, I have no tools, and no idea how to disconnect a sink from the water supply etc etc. I contemplated getting someone in, just to do that countertop, but I figure that would be too expensive. Can anyone give me any information on how one would get the tools for such a job? Where one would get the materials? If I should contact some pest control to make sure that these things haven't gone farther than the old countertop? Anyone can tell me where to hire someone that perhaps could do the entire job for me?

This is related to Norway as in, what kind of pest could they be? What stores should I go to for materials (Obs bygg)? Are there any places (in Trondheim) I can borrow tools? Can anyone tell me if there is a way of find people that could potentially do the work for me, so I could get a quote from them? I really don't know where to look for any of this stuff or people in Norway.

Thank you.