What 'daft' DIY error have you made (with amusing outcome, rather than disastrous!)

[Fastpedaller]

Here's mine from yesterday. At my Daughters, I'd fitted a new door to the bathroom and set about fitting the door handles and latch. I fitted the strike plate to the doorframe and placed some masking tape on the inside of the door, marking a line 'about central' from the strike plate to the centre of the hole where the spindle is intended to fit. I drilled into the edge of the door and then attacked it with the chisel. Several trial - fittings later I had the latch in place. I checked the alignment of the latch to the striker by closing the door.
Oops! I was trapped. My Wife and Daughter were in the garden, so I opened the window and told them what I'd done. Much hilarity , but how do we get you out?
A ball of string was thrown up to my window with one end held at ground level. Thankfull that I'd marked the centre for the spindle, I asked them to get the 14mm drill bit from just outside my door, along with the cordless drill, and the square spindle for the latch. These were put into a carrier bag attached to the string, and I lifted the escape kit up to my window, drilled the hole in the door and was able to insert the square spindle and turn it to effect an escape. Much easier than Colditz or a jailbreak

 

[wiggydiggy]

Tried to screw a lock onto a hardwood door without drilling a guide hole. Took the head off with too much torque, gave up and called an odd job man to finish it.

Also used none waterproof sealant on water butt to seal the tap, leaks slowly 2 years later and CBA picking off the wrong stuff and resealing lol.

 

[sevenfourate]

I once bought a replacement car number plate. And upon inspection the quality was poor. And the face of it was quite dull. No issues…..I’ll set about it with some car polish - hell: I’ve successfully polished Plastic before.

Much vigour, rubbing and aching arms ensued. And I couldn’t understand it. It was literally not changing ! Certainly not getting any better 🤷‍♂️

Then the polishing cloth slipped and I ran right across and around a corner. And something ‘flicked up’ ?

Yea……like the clear protective film covering the face was what flicked up. The same one I’d been polishing for the last 1/2 hour 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

 

[Drago]

Many moons ago I lost a roof tile in high winds.

I couldn't get an exact match, so as a temporary measure I retrieved the pieces of the old tile and glued it together with Sikaflex (the stuff modern cars are bonded together with) and then bonded the jigsaw tile back up on the ridge.

A week later the new tile arrived, and I climbed up the ladder to fit it only to find the old tile was stuck solid and wouldn't shift. Not wanting to resort to explosives I left it there and 15 years later it was still in place when I sold the house.

 

[presta]

Here's mine from yesterday. At my Daughters, I'd fitted a new door to the bathroom and set about fitting the door handles and latch. I fitted the strike plate to the doorframe and placed some masking tape on the inside of the door, marking a line 'about central' from the strike plate to the centre of the hole where the spindle is intended to fit. I drilled into the edge of the door and then attacked it with the chisel. Several trial - fittings later I had the latch in place. I checked the alignment of the latch to the striker by closing the door.
Oops! I was trapped. My Wife and Daughter were in the garden, so I opened the window and told them what I'd done. Much hilarity , but how do we get you out?
A ball of string was thrown up to my window with one end held at ground level. Thankfull that I'd marked the centre for the spindle, I asked them to get the 14mm drill bit from just outside my door, along with the cordless drill, and the square spindle for the latch. These were put into a carrier bag attached to the string, and I lifted the escape kit up to my window, drilled the hole in the door and was able to insert the square spindle and turn it to effect an escape. Much easier than Colditz or a jailbreak

I did something very similar to that once.

The lock on my French window became jammed and needed replacing, so I had to cut through the bolt with the pad saw to get the door open. Having finished cutting it I turned the door handle and found that the catch wasn't working either, which puzzled me, as it had been fine. Anyhow, I set about cutting through that as well, and then when I'd finished I realised that I'd taken the handle off the inside, and removed the spindle.

I retrieved the pieces of the old tile and glued it together with Sikaflex (the stuff modern cars are bonded together with) and then bonded the jigsaw tile back up on the ridge

When I had my fascia and soffit replaced, the contractor couldn't be bothered putting up staging over the coal place roof, so they just walked all over the tiles and broke them. When I complained, they first accused me of doing it, then glued all the bits together with bath sealer. He summoned his manager for support, but he saw it my way, and made him replace them.

 

[Chris S]

One of my colleagues didn't realize that the adhesive strips on the back of car number plates stick instantly. He thought he would be able to wriggle it about a bit for the first few seconds. He couldn't and had a slightly skewed plate on the back of his car for as long as he owned it.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I was putting up a curtain rail. Assumed the electrical wire ran down to the skirting. It didn't, it ran up. I successfully put 2 screws through it. Electrician came, I said the dog did it

 

[Gillstay]

We do target shooting in the pub. Went on the wrong night. Being the only guy in the pub with a rifle feels a bit bad American and quite uncomfortable. Much better when there are 30 of us.