DIY Discoveries?

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Globalti

Legendary Member
gbb said:
Amen !!!
Did mine 10 years ago, completely gutted the kitchen diner, decorated, moved cooker, carpets, tiles, etc etc etc...4 days, 14 hours a day of sheer hard bloody work and fustration...i was sick to death of every last screw, brush stroke, hinge...everything.

So much so, i wrote on a wall behind a cupboard...'NEVER AGAIN'

Yep... I've done 2 bathrooms and the downstairs loo and I will also NEVER do a project like those again.

I'm only doing my solar panels for the challenge; the job's half done anyway.
 

upsidedown

Waiting for the great leap forward
Location
The middle bit
I've been trying to summon up the enthusiasm to fit a handle to the bathroom door that i hung 4 years ago (for 'hung', read 'screwed to the doorframe to cover most of the gaps around it'. I still haven't quite figured out how to do it.
Mrs UD is getting decidedly tetchy about it.
 
OP
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XmisterIS

XmisterIS

Purveyor of fine nonsense
gbb said:
Amen !!!
Did mine 10 years ago, completely gutted the kitchen diner, decorated, moved cooker, carpets, tiles, etc etc etc...4 days, 14 hours a day of sheer hard bloody work and fustration...i was sick to death of every last screw, brush stroke, hinge...everything.

So much so, i wrote on a wall behind a cupboard...'NEVER AGAIN'

Lol! I actually enjoy big jobs!

I've almost finished rebuilding my conservatory; the penultimate coat of floor varnish is drying as I type, then I've just got to put the skirts on and clean the place up. All in all, I think it's taken me two months, although that's been on and off since November when I've had the time. I built the floor up from the sub-base and screeded it myself, all by hand, with no assistance! ;)

Total build cost = £3,500 ... I was quoted an average of £10,000 for a builder to do it all! (And yes, it does meet building regs!)
 

Spinney

Bimbleur extraordinaire
Location
Back up north
upsidedown said:
I've been trying to summon up the enthusiasm to fit a handle to the bathroom door that i hung 4 years ago (for 'hung', read 'screwed to the doorframe to cover most of the gaps around it'. I still haven't quite figured out how to do it.
Mrs UD is getting decidedly tetchy about it.

Well, you could suggest that Mrs UD do it herself...

(speaking as a female, I think it rather pathetic that so many women still seem to have to wait for their man to do jobs like that)
 

brokenbetty

Über Member
Location
London
My top DIY discovery is that with a spot of wood-dye, a dash of yacht varnish, a splash of white spirit and a hell of a lot of elbow-grease, you can make WBP plywood look like figured walnut.
 

zacklaws

Guru
Location
Beverley
Don't do DIY on a weekend, when you have that accident and have to visit casualty at the local hospital, there will be long queues full of other DIY'ers and wannabee David Beckhams and other sporty types playing for their local teams.
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
Also from years of bodging bikes and Land Rovers: if you're going to remove a vital part that seems to be stuck (sump drain plug, tiny piece off fuel system, headset bearing, anything that can disable the vehicle) consider buying a replacement BEFORE you start the job. The job is bound to take longer than you anticipated and you will almost certainly damage the vital part in removing it (see Robert M Pirsig on mechanical stuckness) and find yourself on Saturday night with a non-functioning car/bike/whatever with a family outing booked for Sunday morning.
 

Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
If it's a job where you are responsible for the entire concept as opposed to something where you have no choice e.g. giving my balcony a wooden floor as opposed to repairing a leak, then think about the job for ages until you have finally settled on what you want. Then buy exactly the right tools you need for the job.

Of course none of this will apply if you have a nagging other half who wants it done quickly, in which case just do a botch job. This will keep her happy as it will give her something to nag about afterwards.
 
OP
OP
XmisterIS

XmisterIS

Purveyor of fine nonsense
Globalti said:
Also from years of bodging bikes and Land Rovers: if you're going to remove a vital part that seems to be stuck (sump drain plug, tiny piece off fuel system, headset bearing, anything that can disable the vehicle) consider buying a replacement BEFORE you start the job. The job is bound to take longer than you anticipated and you will almost certainly damage the vital part in removing it (see Robert M Pirsig on mechanical stuckness) and find yourself on Saturday night with a non-functioning car/bike/whatever with a family outing booked for Sunday morning.

I always get a little worried when I take my car in for a service ever since I took a previous car in for a while-u-wait MOT and tracking job. They popped the car up on a hydraulic lift and got underneath to loosen a nut on the front suspension. The car was about 13 years old at the time and the nut was jammed absolutely solid. They ended up with a huge spanner on the nut, a length of scaffolding on the end of the spanner to give more leverage, one of them holding the scaffolding pole and spanner, another one blow-torching the nut to get it to expand and a third one beating the hell out of the end of the scaffolding with a sledge hammer to try to turn the nut ... the front of the car looked like it was about to snap off! :tongue:
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
1) When you're drilling a hole for a rawlplug, don't use the recommended drill, use the next one down and when you've got the depth, wiggle it a bit to shave a bit off the sides and make the hole just a wee bit bigger. Then put your rawlplug in, and if you've got it right, a couple of taps with a hammer should see it fit in nice 'n snug, ready for the screw. (If you use the recommended drill bit, the screw will get half way in then the rawlplug will start to revolve in the hole...then you can neither screw it in nor out. Then, when you're good and mad, you'll rip the damn thing out of the hole, bringing with it a lump of plaster about the size of a wine cork. Good luck filling that hole soundly enough so it'll take a screw...)

2) Fitting tv aerials is a piece of piss. Don't pay some wide boy 200 squids. Just don't fall off the roof.
 
I cannot stand builders. They mess you about, charge too much and in the time spent hanging around waiting for them to turn up you could do the job yourself.

I am a bit of a DIY nut and do almost everything. I built a kitchen utility extension on the house and did every single bit of it from the first plans to the last coat of paint.

The rule must be: if you like it then do it, but if you prefer going to work then go to work to earn the cash to pay someone.

I fiished the whole job with it all fitted and working before I knocked through to the old part of the house so we were not without a kitchen. Builders rip everything out of your house and then bugger off on another job.
 

Watt-O

Watt-o posing in Athens
Location
Beckenham
When drilling holes in walls catch the dust in a cardboard hooper fashioned from an old glossy magazine taped up and stuck to the wall with masking tape. Saves loads of time clearing up the brick/paster dust.
 
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