What "man jobs" have you done today?

Soldato
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SW3
What does sorting the drive out first mean exactly? Does it mean that you're not allowed to park your car on your lawn? Can you have gravel? Does it have to be some highly engineered 6ft deep solid drive before they will auth a dropped kerb?
This is the PDF file they send you telling you everything, you can see the statement towards the bottom that all work must be carried out before the kerb will be dropped.

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Soldato
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11 Apr 2004
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Painted the back garden fence yesterday/today (with a brush... never again!!)

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And then this afternoon, I dug out a border in the front garden. The plan is to plant some native hedging, hawthorn based to add a bit of privacy and also encourage wildlife.

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Just a bit of finishing off and tidying up tomorrow and then I can think about ordering the hedges. Probably go with 4 plants per meter, so 88 60/90cm potted plants. Should grow out quite nicely over the next few years.
 
Soldato
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haha, I know for next time now.

Must have been in a previously lifetime, haha. The manhole isn't too much of a problem for now as there's a lean-to extension just out of shot to the left and that area of the garden isn't really used. When the lean-to comes down, I'll either build decking over the manhole or get it lowered to ground level. Won't be happening for a few years yet so plenty of time to decide what to do.
 
Soldato
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Beds
Yet more clearing out of the basement after kitchen contents got booklice infestation while stored. Basically throwing out any kitchenware we can't wash in bleach. Tired of this now :o
 
Soldato
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Sheffield, UK
I've had a busy week. I've:
  • Re-fixed the landing radiator to the wall. Used some coach screws. The plumber used brown plugs and 1 1/2" number 10s, but they were barely through the plaster, and hardly touched the brick. No wonder it came loose.
  • Fixed a weird fault on the land line where you could dial out, but anyone dialing in would have the call immediately answered with no ringing.
  • Re-siliconed around by brother's bath. Very satisfying when you get a nice finish.
  • Replaced the door seal on my brother's washing machine.
  • Fitted my brother's door bell. This really only involved marking and drilling two holes in the hardest bricks known to man. But my trusty old 18V SDS made short work of that.
  • Re-positioned one of his cameras since he parks his car off street now.
  • Replaced a broken hinge on my mate's front door.
  • Put the bird table I built in its final position - ie, I fastened it down.
EDIT: I almost forgot. I also replaced the heating element in the freezer.
 
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Soldato
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Due to the very warm nights ahead I've fitted a velcro strip all around the bedroom window so we can fit a thin fabric mesh to it. This way we can leave the window wide open all night without waking up in the morning to find insects and spiders have invaded the bedroom
 
Soldato
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Lancashire
@agw_01 Your neighbours will be thankful you didn't use a sprayer as there won't be paint dripping down their side. I know your pain using a brush though, the wood they use for these fences is super thirsty and it just drinks up the paint as soon as you put the brush on the surface. I watered down the first coat when i did mine, but it didn't help much.

I have been painting my shed over that last few days, but that was a dream to do as it's smooth planed cladding and has already had a few coats of preserver, so it took minutes.
 
Soldato
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Outside your house
Literal poop shoveling from the compost toilet (not as bad as it sounds, it's not a bad smell and pretty much like garden compost at the bottom).

Fixed a wheelbarrow and just been up on the sauna roof putting wire mesh over the chimney to stop any more birds thinking it's an ideal nest location.

Even have to do stuff on holiday :rolleyes::)
 
Soldato
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Shropshire
I remember my granddad emptying the out side bog into a trench in the garden - filling it in and growing celery on it - was supposed to be the best way to grow celery.

agw 01 - try blackthorn rather than hawthorn - you get sloes on blackthorn and can make sloe gin.
 
Soldato
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agw 01 - try blackthorn rather than hawthorn - you get sloes on blackthorn and can make sloe gin.

It's been really hard to choose between the two to be honest but from what I've read hawthorn isn't quite as dense with its flowers as blackthorn... not sure I can be bothered sweeping up lots of tiny little petals every week. I could go with an evergreen hedge I guess, but I wanted something a bit different and the native species really appeals to me, especially when mixing plants.
 
Man of Honour
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29 Jun 2003
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Wiltshire
Should be able to knock out a row of bricks from that man hole cover to drop the height a bit quite easily. Did it to my parents one to lower it years ago :)
 
Soldato
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If only it was brick construction :( It's a preformed concrete cylinder. It doesn't appear to be a major drain so lowering it shouldn't be an issue. It's about 4ft deep with a 4" half round cut out at the bottom.

I check it regularly but it always seems dry so I think it joins to a drain at the back of the house which until very recently wasn't so much a drain but a miniature water butt.

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Caporegime
Joined
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Northern England
So many man jobs today! Finished painting the downstairs toilet. Stain blocked the kitchen walls. Painted the kitchen ceiling. Re-felted the shed roof. Cut new timber trims for it. Cleared the patio of all growth. Trimmed the shrubs. 3 trips to the tip.

And it all begins again tomorrow...
 
Soldato
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21 Jan 2003
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Finally got round to fitting a Magnaclean Pro 2 to the CH system. Pleased with the result, I used solder ring fittings for the bits on show but had to resort to copper push fit fittings in the confined spaces, the only place I could tap into the return to the boiler was behind the kitchen unit. I also had to use something I've not heard of before 'munsen rings' and M10 steel rod to standoff the pipes from the wall behind in the cupboard as it had a flimsy decorative backing.

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Got Magnaclean MC3 cleaning solution going round the system at the moment and the above was collected after about an hour, but not too keen to run the CH at the minute as it's still quite warm outside.
 
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Soldato
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5 Aug 2013
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Shropshire
I have a Magnaclean - had it for quite a few years and clean it out every boiler service - There is usually a thin slick of dark slime on the plastic tube. Neat job that.

Had a bag of logs delivered this morning - split some down and now have full log stores ready for winter.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 May 2005
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18,055
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Lancashire
That's not too bad, it was half an inch thick after an hour the first time I ran the system after fitting one. Then it got less and less until now it's just a tiny amount after 6 months. As sad as it is It was very satisfying to see all the crud being removed from the system and it's a little disappointing now there's nothing left :D. But yeah, they are well worth the £100 or so investment as they do work.
 
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