What "man jobs" have you done today?

Associate
Joined
25 Dec 2008
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Norwich
So did what some might call an easy job today i literally just tightened the nut of the kitchen taps as the taps where lose and very wobbly, only it wasnt that simple. firstly we have a belfast sink like this one which obviously sits way below the level of the countertops and the taps themselves, given the very limited space between the bottom of the sink and the kitchen unit I couldnt fit inside the cupboard to get my adjustable basin wrench up there to try to do up the bolt so i had to unscrew the counter top the enitre length of the work top then with two pieces of 2x4 i wedged these under the solid wood worktop to lift it either side of the sink. I unscrewed the waste pipes and removed the connector to give myself a few more cm's to play with and slowly but surely lifted the sink out it must have weighed 40kg easily and was such an awkward shape to lift by myself. I can then freely access the nut to tighten it which took mere seconds then I was faced with lifting the sink back in. Got two chairs to rest the sink on so i wasnt trying to lift it from the floor straight into place and also meant if i dropped it it would fall a very short distance instead of onto a tiled kitchen floor. Slid in back into place and then siliconed around the edges to enure its water proof. on a normal sink this job may of taken minutes but thanks to the Belfast sink it took me over an hour.
 
Associate
Joined
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Norwich
Thanks for is, I'm planning to put in a belfast sink on when we refurb the kitchen, I'll make sure I thread lock the tap nuts!!

yep that would be a very wise decision unfortunately i didnt have any so i just cranked the nut as tight as i could get it, within the next year we are going to be knocking down walls and redoing the kitchen so the belfast will be going. We actually find it more a pain to use compared to a normal 1.5 sink maybe consider a ceramic 1.5, had one in our old house that we put in and it is loads better than a Belfast sink
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
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14,213
yep that would be a very wise decision unfortunately i didnt have any so i just cranked the nut as tight as i could get it, within the next year we are going to be knocking down walls and redoing the kitchen so the belfast will be going. We actually find it more a pain to use compared to a normal 1.5 sink maybe consider a ceramic 1.5, had one in our old house that we put in and it is loads better than a Belfast sink

Thanks, to be honest the belfast will very much be there for the look and we'll have a 'proper sink' in the utility where the washing up will actually happen. :D
 
Soldato
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Location: Location:
And even more painting :o

Gave the shower room (above) a second coat and then then started on the new en-suite

Schoolboy error running out of masking tape almost immediately so have ploughed on without and will mask / finish the edges tomorrow and then give the while room a second coat
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I need a beer or five ....
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Nov 2009
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4,387
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Baa
I woke up in the night so checked outside to make sure everything was ok. Good job I did. The drain is blocked, the back yard was flooded and the water would have soon been in the house.

Unfortunately I lent my rods to someone last week but fortunately I have a submersible pump and enough hose to run around to the front of the house (I slightly modded the float-switch by bungeeing it closer to the unit and attaching polystyrene to the float for extra buoyancy to enable it to work properly in such a small sump).

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The step-ladder is there just for safety.

Shower and back to bed for me.
 
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Soldato
Joined
19 Nov 2009
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Baa
Nice save!

I’m totally stealing your float switch enhancement for my small submersible pump.

Thanks. It was a close one!

If you do something similar, make sure you watch it for a while to make sure the float switch engages and disengages appropriately before leaving it. The height of the bungee sometimes needs to be adjusted (only when initially setting it up. Once working it's fine).

That's the second time that pump has, ahem, "bailed me out". It's paid for itself many times over (about £100 from Toolstation all-in for the pump and the hoses).
 
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Soldato
Joined
19 Nov 2009
Posts
4,387
Location
Baa
They look really nice, @Maccapacca

I woke up in the night so checked outside to make sure everything was ok. Good job I did. The drain is blocked, the back yard was flooded and the water would have soon been in the house.

Unfortunately I lent my rods to someone last week but fortunately I have a submersible pump and enough hose to run around to the front of the house (I slightly modded the float-switch by bungeeing it closer to the unit and attaching polystyrene to the float for extra buoyancy to enable it to work properly in such a small sump).

*Snip*

The step-ladder is there just for safety.

Shower and back to bed for me.

All sorted now. Drain unblocked and all the kit rinsed through and drying outside. It took all but 2 of the rod sections I own to reach the blockage, too. About 16+ metres. Phew.
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Dec 2017
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Beds
Put up the fence panel which blew down last Monday, as I've not had any daylight hours to do it all week. Our fence is almost patchwork at this stage, I've replaced more than half the panels since moving in 8 years ago. If we owned it, I'd replace with concrete posts...

Then I planed the doorway as our front door has gone from "sticks a lot" to "danger of being locked in" this week.

Be glad when winter's passed properly. Or when we move out :o
 
Soldato
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13 Apr 2013
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12,399
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La France
This weekend’s project appeared after Herself accidentally cut the wire to an outside light when cutting back the vines hanging from the frame that the light was mounted.

Fortunately, it wasn’t live and her garden loppers have nylon handled anyway.

There was some swearing on my part, but not as much as when I opened up the bulkhead style light fitting that the wire was fed from...

6OW filament bulb in a hosing rated for 40W and the wire that got cut was tapped into a plastic 3A terminal block. Of course, this was good and crispy as it was right next to the 60W filament bulb...

The clincher was that the wire to the bulkhead fitting was both too short to connect to a new fitting and plastered in.

There is a special Hell for people that do this and it features pineapple insertions using chilli oil as lubricant.
 
Soldato
Joined
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21,312
Location
Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Turned this

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Into this

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The tiles came off surprisingly easily so doesn't look like the plumber will need to reboard the walls thankfully which saves us some cash. Tonight i'd planned to get all the adhesive off (any tips other than lots of scraping?)

Although this morning there were some damp patches in there around the edges and i'm wondering if there's a leak behind the walls which would be typical in a house where everything goes wrong!


This started off as a job to re-seal around the shower to stop a leak!
 
Associate
Joined
26 Oct 2007
Posts
1,278
Turned this

0pYUXwB.jpg

Into this

GkYewb6.jpg

ZA2PXHS.jpg


The tiles came off surprisingly easily so doesn't look like the plumber will need to reboard the walls thankfully which saves us some cash. Tonight i'd planned to get all the adhesive off (any tips other than lots of scraping?)

Although this morning there were some damp patches in there around the edges and i'm wondering if there's a leak behind the walls which would be typical in a house where everything goes wrong!


This started off as a job to re-seal around the shower to stop a leak!
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Pro...1rwFaM3t2L2tAs7fME0aAptCEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
This should make light work of the adhesive
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Dec 2017
Posts
8,443
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Beds
Insulated and boarded pretty much all of this loft. Took a week off work to do it and finished today.

I was hoping to get some help plastering it in a week or two, but it seems my brother in law and a friend can come tomorrow so... I guess it's a 7 day week!

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Soldato
Joined
20 May 2007
Posts
10,697
Location
Location: Location:
Got round to sorting a storm / wind felled tree in the back garden

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Thinner stuff broken down and transferred to the kindling store for next year

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Remaining trunk chopped back then into sections to the medium store to dry out for next season too

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