What "man jobs" have you done today?

I've ripped down the side gate on my house, which looked more like a zombie barricade than a gate as it was just a collection of crappy fence panels etc nailed together.

I then lashed together a very temporary gate type thing which can be moved so we can actually use the side access for things like the next man job I did of...

Moving a load of rubble, which used to be a concrete garden path, from the back of the house to the front ready to be taken to the tip tomorrow!
 
I was thinking about waxing it but decided the neighbours already thought I was strange enough :eek:. I might try some wax on one of the downstairs windows tomorrow and see if it works :D.
 
Lots done this week. Been clearing the garden for the past two weeks, after two 5 ton skips, digging out 20 concreted in posts due to decking, a fence full of metposts and tons of gravel and soil, I ended up with something like this at the bottom of the garden (but without the posts).

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We had two fences up due to the previous owner so after taking it down I was left with a comedy fence. That was quickly fixed this week.

Spent yesterday night barrowing a bulk bag of soil to the back garden (only route is through the garage) and levelling out so I could install a decked area to house the bbq and a couple of seats. The actual entertainment/eating area will be to the left of this.

This morning I sheeted the area with weed membrane and laid and levelled some cheap flags on sharp sand. Timber arrived around lunchtime and got quickly on to assembly..

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Shiny fence..

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And all finshed bar a tidy up.

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Next weekend I'll be getting a few tons of subbase and a whacker ready to work on the next instalment.

One thing I learnt after this little project is that I'm not quite sure how I lived without an impact driver. Picked up Makita's variant during the week and I was driving in 100mm timber-tite screws in to 6x2 like it was an ikea cabinet.
 
Also, top tip, after grabbing some prices for timber from one timber place and the builder's merchant, I checked their 'thickest' decking had a smooth reverse as I didn't want grooves.

Decided to get the timber from my normal timber place and this time asked if it was 'reversible'. Got told it was so ordered.

It arrived and it was reversible... but it had grooves on both sides!

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Really annoying but needed to finish it today so laid it anyway with the 'least' grooved side. Lesson learnt.
 
Looking good! I need to do a bit of decking myself soon. Did you find your timber merchant to be cheaper than Wickes etc?

Regarding the impact driver, I find my normal driver to be faster for putting big bolts into softwood. But they are great for putting concrete bolts into hard bricks. Normal drivers tend to violently jerk when the bolt tightens up.


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Think these were 150mm and my driver sunk them with ease. Really good screws for decking and fencing etc and a cheaper but just as good alternative to Timber-tite, called Timber-fix.
 
Just checked Wickes and it's £200 more even with a 3 for 2 and the boards are thinner (11 3m joists, 28 3.3m boards).

I got treated 6x2 for £1.91/m and 38x125mm boards for £1.65/m. And it's free delivery which is always good.

The timber-tites were eye wateringly expensive but I wanted something guaranteed to drive in without piloting and they seemed to get good reviews! Those timberfix look a lot like timberlok but a lot cheaper - don't know how I missed them!
 
Not exactly the hardest of man jobs but I put up made to measure blind for my 173x200 window and a smaller one in my new house... Next to tackle coming weekend, curtains!
 
Bit of luck having those concrete posts and footer boards in. Just means you have to slide new panels in whenever they get wrecked as the posts etc will last forever.... 2 mins will see a new panel in :cool:
 
Completely stripped two gates this morning & starting to repaint with a couple of coats of hammerite.

EDIT: Not having a good day, had pain in right arm for a few hours since striping gates, so I thought take it a bit easier, & have a quiet afternoon repairing my metal detector, simply soldering job, tested it & worked ok, & funny thing it bleep when near my painful arm.
Just had a look & found a piece wire from my grinder has gone through my shirt,overalls & embedded it self in my arm, no chance in hell getting it out myself, too far in, casualty dept after tea I think.:mad:

My first accident at home needing a hospital visit.:(
 
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Replaced a door last week that had a pretty new, heavy duty mortice lock in it. Asked the customer if I could have it and they gave me the keys. so replaced the crappy 3 level lock that came with my shed.

I also took the door as it is a fire door and will be perfect to make a workbench out of. That will be the job for tomorrow along with putting another door on the back to make it a pair of doors.
 
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