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

[Pat "5mph"]

In one location the central heating pipes were directly below the floor boards.

As a "I rather pay a work-person to do it", 60+ wee woman, even me I know there's a gizmo that sounds if there are pipes or wires behind something.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I have one in a cupboard, just in case a work-person needs it ...

 

[postman]

not an error as such.So today was a slow painting day,woodwork, white undercoat on white satinwood.Four doors, door frames,window sill,spindles skirting boards and stair treads.Well i began at 09-40 a break for lunch forty five mins,finished at 15-45 then up with dust sheets and a quick hoover up.Then a shave and shower.Now i normally drape my towel over the banister and let the sunshine from the window dry it,not today just painted it.So for the first time ever since 2007 when we had the upstairs extension put in bedroom a landing a storage cupboard banister and a shower room with a toilet and sink,i hung my heavy wet towel on the hook on the door,the friggin hook fell off.Friggin hollow door,was i mad you bet,i was tired it had been a long day,so moved the hook up i trifle and screwed it back.The towel is hanging on the painting step ladders.

 

[TheDoctor]

I spent a day getting a set of bath taps off, then spent a few hours realising I can't get the new ones on.
Called a plumber. £140 and 30 minutes of actual work later, all is good.
I hate plumbing!

 

[fossyant]

I spent a day getting a set of bath taps off, then spent a few hours realising I can't get the new ones on.
Called a plumber. £140 and 30 minutes of actual work later, all is good.
I hate plumbing!

Everyone hates plumbing. Taps in baths and kitchen sinks are usually fitted before the bath/sink is in place when a house is built. If you change them after, expect a world of pain - a contortionist I am not.

 

[CXRAndy]

I spent a day getting a set of bath taps off, then spent a few hours realising I can't get the new ones on.
Called a plumber. £140 and 30 minutes of actual work later, all is good.
I hate plumbing!

On the whole, I quite like plumbing. With a few basic tools for difficult to access areas, they work wonders for speed and less frustration

 

[presta]

Everyone hates plumbing. Taps in baths and kitchen sinks are usually fitted before the bath/sink is in place when a house is built. If you change them after, expect a world of pain - a contortionist I am not.

I like plumbing, but the plumbing in my house that was installed by me was done with a mind to how I'll get access for maintenance without pulling the house apart. My bath is set away from the wall at the tap end so that there's some room for access.

The same with wiring, electricians seem to cut cable ends as short as they'll go, but mine all have as much slack as the box will hold, so that I don't have to renew the cable then redecorate just because a broken fitting needed replacing. There was about 8" of surplus cable to work with when I replaced my old shower last April.

 

[fossyant]

I like plumbing, but the plumbing in my house that was installed by me was done with a mind to how I'll get access for maintenance without pulling the house apart. My bath is set away from the wall at the tap end so that there's some room for access.

The same with wiring, electricians seem to cut cable ends as short as they'll go, but mine all have as much slack as the box will hold, so that I don't have to renew the cable then redecorate just because a broken fitting needed replacing. There was about 8" of surplus cable to work with when I replaced my old shower last April.

When needed, I've fitted the stop valves to hot and cold water (e.g. sink/shower) as the house builder didn't bother. Only the toilets have a valve fitting. Down stairs loo revamped, sink changed and tap. Fitted stop valves (after a system drain down) so if the tap needs replacing ever, I won't need to shut water off to the house and drain the hot water tank.

 

[Chief Broom]

A garden 'error' and i was glad no one was around to witness it, as its pure clown material......Whilst working in a garden I stood on the head of a rake which promptly flew up and wacked me hard in the face dazed i staggered back and then forward and did it again!

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Sort of different
but when I was a teenager I went to "work" ona farm in Canada
the farm belonged to my friend's brotehr-in-law - his sister was much older than him
and she married a man that was much older than her

anyway - the second year the two of us were joined by the owner's son

lets just say he was not the brightest spark in the bonfire??


anyway at one point the 4 of us (me, my friend and another friend plus the son) were walking through the farm building on our way to the next job - fixing something or other

The son was carrying a ladder - on his shoulder in the time honoured manner

on of my friend saw somethign and pointed and said " Oh - Look!"


and yes - teh son turned round with the ladder and smacked me on the back of my head

naturally I dropped and said "something"

he was shocked so span round to see what I was talking about

and smacked me on the back of my head again with the ladder


after being hit 3 times I just stayed down


My friend were naff all use as they could hardly stand for laughing - and I was not far behind


the son was just confused and wondering what was so funny


before that I assumed the Laurel and Hardy films were just massive exaggeration

turns out it is sometimes real life!!!

 

[PaulSB]

Along with a friend I was building my garage. We had reached the point of putting the slate roof on. We put the scaffolding up one Friday afternoon.

On the Saturday morning, about 6.00am, I went up to start slating. I placed the ladder against the scaffolding plank roughly in the middle. Up I went, walked to the end of the plank............we had forgotten to fix the plank in place. I landed in the stream running beside the garage, knocked unconscious.

 

[Reynard]

Another gardening mishap here.

Lumberjilling, clearing up a fainted tree that had landed on an elderberry bush and shattered it about 8 inches above ground level. I cut up a whole load of logs, and was rounding them up onto a pile. Concentrating on picking up logs, I mis-stepped and impaled my left shin on the shattered elderberry.

Am mending now, though still not well enough to remove all the stitches. Luckily I've escaped both tendon and nerve damage. I've also escaped infection.

Must be more careful where I put my feet next time.

 

[gbb]

Lots of mishaps, none oarticually disastrous or hilarious but do remember trying to pick up a socket feed cable in the loft so I could spur off for a bathroom extractor, there was a run of flat T+Es up there i obviously didn't know which were which so used a socket below as a reference, measured from a wall, went upstairs, figured which cable it was among the three...turned off all the sockets at the board...got my side cutters, cut ...and BANG. :0
Oh.... wrong cable.
This was before the joys of owning a voltage detector...

 

[Drago]

About a decade ago id been erecting (oo-er Matron!) a fence at the old Drago Towers.

Id finished for the day and was putting my selection of large hammers away in the shed. Now, that part of the garden could flood a bit so the shed had been built on a brick base that was raised about 18" above the surrounding ground level.

I turned to exit the shed and as I stepped over the threshold I caught my toe and tripped. I felt myself starting to go and instinctively went to put my hands out in front of me to break my fall.

Unfortunately it all happened so fast I never had time to fully deploy the Meaty Guns of Sexiness ((TM), Drago Enterprises 1968) and with the extra foot drop I smacked very heavily into the ground, falling with an almighty smack onto my arms that had made it across my chest but not far enough out to break my fall.

I couldn't move due to the pain, could hardly breathe. The only other person at home was my MiL who was wheelchair bound, and thus unable to directly assist me and she had little option but to call an Ambo.

A short while later two lovely (in the sense they were very nice people who did a great job looking after me) but rather petite ambo ladies arrived and determined that I was far to big/heavy for them to move, which necessitated a wait for a second ambo to arrive with a couple of large well built bruisers aboard. In the meantime I got some Entonox(?) to take my mind off things.

Hossy diagnosed a fistful of broken ribs and a damaged sternum. No treatment required beyond painkillers and rest. I was back at work a couple of months later, albeit still quite uncomfortable, and it was about 5 years before I finally stopped getting twinges and nagging pains. That was the second time I'd done my ribs (first time was when the ex Wife shoved me during an argument, I wasn't expecting it so hadn't braced and went over backwards and she fell on top of me) and Id be quite happy if there was never a third time.

DIY is dangerous - do t be tight, pay a professional!

 

[gbb]

Vinyl sheet flooring has always been awkward for me, something I will reluctantly do.
Some years ago I was knelt down, sheet laid out, working out in my mind how to approach it, I marked up some straights to start with...as I grabbed the Stanley knife to make the first, most important cuts, my wife shouted NOOOO, STOP !!!!
I had the sheet upside down (there was a reason, can't remember why right now) ...id have ruined it before I even started...

 

[Electric_Andy]

I was putting up a swinging TV bracket on Saturday, so wanted to find a stud behind the wall. My stud detector was rubbish and kept giving different results. So I cut a hole on the plasterboard so I caould have a look. Last inch of the cut, I nicked the cold water pipe feeding the bathroom. Easy fix with speedfit connector, but very annoying. Now when turning the main stopcock back on, that's leaking as well