What "man jobs" have you done today?

[Sin_Chase]

This is shaping up really nicely! I'm jealous as we've had builders slowly ****ing our house up for 9 weeks. Got several things I'll have to fix myself and hope the landlord pays for...

I'm a pretty novice tiler so there's plenty of tell tale signs but most are on the perimeter / in corners you either won't see or will have a silicone bead over.

Happy with the result so far but the proof will be in the pudding.. I.E when I walk on it! Done my best to try get 100% coverage with back buttering and a 10mm trowel.

I've done lots of research to try make a good job of it and lots of horror stories seem to be a result of builders having a bash at other trades... .. Such as tiling. I've got the luxury of time so can slave over each cut whereas a builder will probably try get through it ASAP.

 

[LuckyBenski]

I've done lots of research to try make a good job of it and lots of horror stories seem to be a result of builders having a bash at other trades... .. Such as tiling. I've got the luxury of time so can slave over each cut whereas a builder will probably try get through it ASAP.

Spot on - we had a kitchen renovation plus bathroom refresh. The plasterer said "The boss has got me tiling"...

 

[Mark A]

My Record No3 vice arrived today, so have been de-greasing and cleaning it up. Annoyingly it's the newer version with the finer thread on the lead screw. It's still made in England, so hopefully still a decent vice that should last me years, but i'd have been happier if it was one of the really old ones with the chunky thread. I should have asked for pics to confirm, but it was only £30, so i'm not too fussed.

 

[Maccapacca]

Plasterboarding, half the far room and all of this room ready for the AC man. Split unit with vents and a wall control

Just got to find a laser or string line to finish the fixings

 

[Sin_Chase]

Kicked the tile leveling wedges and clips out and cleaned the grout lines. Grouting will have to wait until Tuesday but wanted to clean before the adhesive went super hard. Working cleaner and removing adhesive from adjacent tile edges to prevent squeeze out really helped here.

Pretty happy with the result, all feels solid, consistent grout line widths for the best part and no lippage... Light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[norm]

Good work there Sin Chase, you'll have a great sense of satisfaction having done it yourself when it's finished.

 

[Martynt74]

Have had 2 jobs i've been putting off for ages which i finally made progress on yesterday.

1 - was to remove a wall which had been used for a raised bed. It was on a bit down the side of the house and being there meant moving the bins was awkward as the path wasn't wide enough for 2 bins to get past each other. I'd dug out all the soil ages ago but yesterday actually removed the wall. Now need to try and not take 3 more months to rebuild it!

2 - I made a post about our porch and wondering what to do with it. I decided to rip out all the old plaster and lathe after all and do a proper job. Turns out this porch has been rendered over render which explains why we may have had some damp issues. I also found wasp nests, lots and lots of wasp nests. Luckily they're all old and dormant.










What has caused some concern though is one of the timbers supporting the roof appears to have some kind of dry rot/insect infestation. I knocked it with my hammer and a section of it just turned to dust. Had meant to get a video but forgot. It feels solid enough so hopefully some treatment will be sufficient.

My eyes and throat are killing today. All the dust just got into every pore, even though i had a mask and goggles on.

 

[Siliconslave]

those are honey bee comb

 

[Martynt74]

Ah, i'd assumed wasps as we found a lot of dead wasps in light fittings etc when we moved in. Assumed they just made a similar type of nest.

 

[MassiveJim]

BURN it with fire!

that would have scared the **** out of me, dormant or not!

 

[Siliconslave]

bee's comb hangs down, is made of wax and tends to be in scoops and fill an empty space like that (nb photo is of inverted comb):



Wasps will build an outside protection out of whats essentially paper:


and fill it with horizontal hate:

 

[Martynt74]

Definately seems like wasps then as this was just paper really and crumbled and fell apart with a whack.

No idea how long any of its been up there for but i would guess at a long, long time.

 

[Mark A]

I have got bees making nests in the screw holes in my new Hozelok hose pipe reel . I keep blasting the crud out of the holes and they keep coming back.

It never ceases to amaze me how wasps and bees make their nests so perfectly without measuring tools lol. Just look at that picture, it's almost a shame to destroy it. Almost...

 

[nutsnut]

Got a bees nest in my garden at the moment, none of us are allergic and they serve a greater good, so we just leave them be. We are moving house in a few weeks though, so their days might be numbered.

 

[Squid Vicious]

Found dead bees and hive material stuffed behind a load of GU10s in the kitchen I was switching them out a year or so ago.

Thankfully no obvious signs of life since then!

 

[Maccapacca]

Can't wait to fire this up

Trunking nicely hidden in a matching gutter

Spoiler: Spoiler

 

[1pudding1]

Which model? Cost? Was it a multi supply unit to several rooms? Really want to get this done to my place this year.

 

[Mark A]

Inb4 the mildest summer since records began...

 

[Sin_Chase]

Had an absolute nightmare installing bog. Vertical and horizontal offset and not enough clearance for a flexi.. Bad times.

Floated some ideas with a plumber mate and ended up using 2 x 40mm offsets and a 110mm link section. Seems pretty water tight but going to need to keep a close eye on it.

Also got mirrored cabinet up... Very small horizontal tolerances in the space I had!

 

[Captain]

What do you think of the D shape toilet seat? I have one and find it gives me cramp so it's horrible