DIY - disasters & successes

[Ajhutch]

I was replacing all the upstairs electric sockets while some builders were working on kitchen cupboards downstairs. I told them loud and clear that I was switching off the upstairs rings at the consumer unit and they acknowledged. While I was in the middle of removing a socket, my phone rang for work (I was supposed to be off but it was a call I wanted to take). Put the phone on speaker and carried on with my socket. In the meantime, the bloke downstairs needed to charge his electric screwdriver and clearly I'd managed to also turn off the downstairs circuits. The rest is fairly obvious, but the person I was talking to either never even noticed my scream or just disregarded it, we even finished the conversation!

 

[ElvisIsBeer]

I have some form on this topic (as you may have guessed).

I was fitting internal doors, and I got an electric plane. For the bathroom I measured it against the frame and planed it down to size.

To my horror I realised I had measured it against the outside of the frame and it needed to be on the inside. When I fitted it to the frame I realised I could see directly onto the landing via a massive gap where it should not have one.

Unfortunately SWMBO was never going to accept the "that'll do" defence.

Voila - my solution. Mount the hinges on two blocks cut off from a slat I nicked off one of the bairns beds. It's not big, and it's certainly not clever. But it was free.

Tell me you're not impressed. I dare you. Years later, this fix abides.

 

[ElvisIsBeer]

SWMBO tiled the bathroom from floor to ceiling - white above, a black band, then mottled blue below.

She worked like a trojan, with no assistance from me whatsoever (because we both knew I would badly, badly screw up).

All I had to do was buy the tiles.

She was halfway across the 1st wall when it was obvious that I'd bought 2 different size tiles......and they didn't align.

 

[BeerCat]

Not exactly rocket science but i have just swapped my MR16 light fittings for GU10 and have new dimmable LED bulbs courtesy of a friend. After that i feel thirsty.

 

[ElvisIsBeer]

Has anyone ever patched up or replaced a flat garage roof?

 

[geetee]

Has anyone ever patched up or replaced a flat garage roof?

Not personally but I did felt over a lean to conservatory with 4 glass panels (6 ft x 12 ft)
Boarded over the top with ply , fitted an underfelt stuck on with paint on bitumen and then laid nail on rubber tiles on the top for a tiled roof look.

My flat garage roof suffered from decay due to age and the wood inside rotted. I got a roofer to replace and it needed full sheets of OSB (oriented strand board, cheap plywood option) then an underfelt followed by top layer with a full bitumen boiler. Not sure you can do an area that big with just tins of paint on bitumen, probably need a full size bitumen burner!

 

[Fre]

I tried to build a machine similar to the nespresso capsule machine. Somehow my pressure was too high, and the steel that should hold the capsule, just popped. Almost lost a finger, as i was trying to hold the machine together. Wife was so angry that i needed to buy her an actual machine to make up for it.