DIY Collateral Damage

JollyGreen · 29 Dec 2006 at 11:56

Painting a room, nothing could be simpler right?
WRONG!
Stripping the wallpaper with a wallpaper steamer (lovely tools, makes it SO much faster), wallpaper coming off like a dream, wait.. what's this, this bit of wallpaper's sort of bulging out...
Oh crap... the plaster's falling off!
Cue the entire wall of plaster falling off and me having to book a plasterer to reskim the while thing.

No problem, minor setback, only £120 and I get a really good surface on my wall.

So I set off stripping the rest of the wallpaper ready for the plasterer tommorow.
Doing the bit above the window, steam for a little, then put my steam head on the window sill while I scrape off some soggy wallpaper.
Nearly finished scraping the wallpaper off, then
*CRACK*
The window shatters.
Turns out that the heat from the steamer was intense enough to shatter the window, even though I'd left it there for 30-45 seconds at most.

Oh well, there's another £100 down the pan...

Lesson learnt eh? Painting can be expensive!

Anyone else have great stories of DIY projects costing more than initially intended for annoying reasons?

basmic · 29 Dec 2006 at 12:01

JollyGreen said:
Anyone else have great stories of DIY projects costing more than initially intended for annoying reasons?

Nope, I tend to use common sense or logical guess work.

FeFiDoh · 29 Dec 2006 at 12:02

Dont use a steamer duuuuh

Warm water and a sponge would do, i use to strip a lot of wallpaper and a m8 is a painter/decorater and has said the same it causes havoc as you know lol

Only thing i can think of from the top of my head at mo is when i started out working for dad i was mixing up some concrete and i stuck the shovel in the mixer (to get the stuff sticking at back). I wasnt quick enough getting it back out and the shovel does a full 360 queue me standing there not moving in time and it knocking me over the sand bag to my side and my falling on my arse :mad:

Jimmeh · 29 Dec 2006 at 12:06

I once put a shelf up which was to accommodate a small(ish) tank of fish. Transpires that the screws used were not long enough and I came home to a very wet living room with a few dead (and subsequently not so tropical!) fish.

trojan698 · 29 Dec 2006 at 12:26

Thats unlucky, but at least let's others have a chuckle at your expense

basmic · 29 Dec 2006 at 12:27

TTIUWP TBH.

phykell · 29 Dec 2006 at 13:33

If you're having one wall done, take the opportunity and have the whole of the room done and then, and this is the important bit, don't use wallpaper, just paint the plaster

basmic, will you please do something about your sig, it's horrendous

gumbald · 29 Dec 2006 at 13:35

phykell said:
If you're having one wall done, take the opportunity and have the whole of the room done and then, and this is the important bit, don't use wallpaper, just paint the plaster

Then when you feel the need to redecorate, simply repaint

And so on.

JollyGreen · 29 Dec 2006 at 13:48

Oh lordy yes, I'd never put wallpaper up, it drives me up the wall *budump tisch*

JollyGreen · 29 Dec 2006 at 14:08

alexakasloth · 29 Dec 2006 at 14:21

That sucks

Is that a concrete floor or floorboards? If so paint or varnish them

Puzzled · 29 Dec 2006 at 14:30

Why is plaster so weak?

It only takes a bit of damp to ruin it, why can't it be made to be more water resistant?

I'm going to try and put my LCD tv on the wall later, so I hope I don't follow in Jolly's footsteps.

Beren · 29 Dec 2006 at 14:37

Oww! Had a similar thing happen to me... though thankfully dad knows how to plaster so it was just irritating not expensive!

Single worst DIY error made by me was probably changing the oil in my sisters car... normally a really easy job, new filetr new oil... only she had a horrible japanese car and couldnt find the sump plug under the engine... eventually found a plug and drained out some really foul smelling oil.

Changed the filter and wondered why the engine didn't take a lot of oil to refill but sent my sister on her wsy... she got about 10 miles before the gear box I had just drained completely ceased! :mad:

Didn't live that one down for a fair while!!! Not to mention the several hundred quid it cost to get a recondidtioned gear box and someone to fit it!

wassap · 29 Dec 2006 at 15:15

MonkeyMan said:
Why is plaster so weak?

It only takes a bit of damp to ruin it, why can't it be made to be more water resistant?

I'm going to try and put my LCD tv on the wall later, so I hope I don't follow in Jolly's footsteps.

Its not weak, just hasnt been done properly, basically with plaster you have a coat of nice thick browning stuff, and then a thin coat of finishing to give it the smooth finish, you have to give it loads of time to dry, otherwise it doesnt bond together properly.

wassap · 29 Dec 2006 at 15:32

Beren said:
Oww! Had a similar thing happen to me... though thankfully dad knows how to plaster so it was just irritating not expensive!

Single worst DIY error made by me was probably changing the oil in my sisters car... normally a really easy job, new filetr new oil... only she had a horrible japanese car and couldnt find the sump plug under the engine... eventually found a plug and drained out some really foul smelling oil.

Changed the filter and wondered why the engine didn't take a lot of oil to refill but sent my sister on her wsy... she got about 10 miles before the gear box I had just drained completely ceased!

Didn't live that one down for a fair while!!! Not to mention the several hundred quid it cost to get a recondidtioned gear box and someone to fit it!

Have you been let near a family motor since?