What "man jobs" have you done today?

[Twirlywoos]

Had to paint all the fences and brick work in the garden, so like a true alpha male I got a Wagner spray machine and did it in the fraction of the time. That machine is great, although expensive. Will definitely be using it again, it was able to take masonary and fence paint

I did plan on also fitting a 50Watt SMD security floodlight and doing away with the 500Watt Halogen non eco friendly we've on for years, but the floodlight which arrived was cracked and after contacting the ebay seller they offered £3 compensation. The cheek of them, I want a refund or replacement and they can take the damaged on back.

 

[bledd]

Mum's tumble dryer stopped spinning today. Opened it up and ordered a new Continental belt for under £5 delivered.

/good boy

 

[Merlin5]

Put a first coat of weatherproof emulsion paint on the pillars and tops of walls just now. It says wait 4 to 6 hours before the next coat, but tbh, it feels dry after just an hour. I'll do the next coat tomorrow.




Anyway, I'm a bit annoyed at myself for geting paint on the bricks in 3 out of 4 corners, How can I remove it? Turps? Some other paint remover or perhaps the brick acid I have? edit: just seen a video where brick acid and a stiff brush removes it.

See, here is where there's paint on one of the wall corners,



But I didn't need to paint into the corner, could have avoided it, stupid me. So the next one I did was fine.




Next thing I want is to buy a bag of this cotswold white gravel to go behind the wall. http://i.imgur.com/0VRiYIT.jpg Had gravel before but people kept nicking handfuls so no idea how long it will stay put this time.

I have a load of black plastic material my builders left behind. After putting weed killer down, I'll put the plastic down and then the gravel. I measured my front at about 12 sq meters so apparently I'd need a tonne bag which costs about £85 to £90.

 

[Gilly]

Looking good

 

[Merlin5]

Looking good

Thanks. Just put my gloves on and carefully poured some brick acid (hydrochloric acid it is) into a bucket, brushed it on and scrubbed with a wire brush. Got it off though some bits were stubborn, so using the end of a wide screwdriver as well helped. Some paintwork is ruined near the ends where I scrubbed but the second coat will clean that up. Gonna use masking tape at the corners this time to be safe. Hope the weather's dry tomorrow. so I can do it.

 

[BigBoy]

Today I have mostly been tidying up in the soon to be kitchen. Plaster is due on monday so had to finish off the door frames and fill all the gaps the in the plasterboard and chases that the sparky left behind. A day well spent and learned a few new tricks from the plaster last week (dot and dabing the back walls plasterboard) and from my best mate who is a plumber. All in all a productive day of finalising stuff!

 

[Randell Floyd]

Finally got round to building a wood-store for all the wood we've chopped down, and will do in years to come.

Roughly 7m3 in size.

 

[ahar]

Fitted a new carpet in the conservatory - cheap stuff (£50 from ebay for 4m x 3.5m), but its really a playroom for the kids so no point buying anything expensive as they'll wreck it anyway!

 

[Kreeeee]

Moved house. Lots of heavy lifting!

 

[DogsBody]

Well yesterday as I couldn't park outside my house (on street parking) I was unable to wash my car so with the free time I decided to start adding the 2nd set of spot lights to the kitchen.

Got as far as 2 holes cut into ceiling and spotlight fitted with the cable run from light to where I am going to break into existing circuit. however I finished this bit after 4pm so shops were all shut and I couldn't buy a junction box, so tonight will be buying a couple of junction boxes and some wood to patch the holes up so I can finish the job off.

 

[DogsBody]

Well yesterday as I couldn't park outside my house (on street parking) I was unable to wash my car so with the free time I decided to start adding the 2nd set of spot lights to the kitchen.

Got as far as 2 holes cut into ceiling and spotlight fitted with the cable run from light to where I am going to break into existing circuit. however I finished this bit after 4pm so shops were all shut and I couldn't buy a junction box, so tonight will be buying a couple of junction boxes and some wood to patch the holes up so I can finish the job off.

Well this didn't go to well.
switched the kitchen lights off at the master box, and cut the wire I thought was running the kitchen light circuit I wanted to add to, this reset the RCD.
flicked it back on along with the MCb for the kitchen lights to confirm and correctly the light I want to add to no longer works.

Wire an additional light into this circuit and it is permanently on.

Don't actually know how the electrician has wired the building up, so going to have to ring him tomorrow to get him to sort this really bloody simple job out

 

[MOOGLEYS]

I started sorting out the parts needed to rebuild my 20XE engine. The Engine has been sat for a good 5 years now but is still in very good condition so hopefully I will have this running with minimum outlay.

First time in a while I have got my hands dirty on an engine rebuild and it felt good...

 

[Richie]

Red top or C20XE?

 

[Participant]

Well this didn't go to well.
switched the kitchen lights off at the master box, and cut the wire I thought was running the kitchen light circuit I wanted to add to, this reset the RCD.
flicked it back on along with the MCb for the kitchen lights to confirm and correctly the light I want to add to no longer works.

Wire an additional light into this circuit and it is permanently on.

Don't actually know how the electrician has wired the building up, so going to have to ring him tomorrow to get him to sort this really bloody simple job out

Are you adding another switch for this second circuit? If not, why didn't you just daisy chain off the existing spotlights?

 

[MOOGLEYS]

Red top or C20XE?

It's an original 20XE No cat or lambda sensor and 156bhp over 150bhp of the C20XE.

 

[DogsBody]

Are you adding another switch for this second circuit? If not, why didn't you just daisy chain off the existing spotlights?

2 light circuits in the kitchen.

circuit 1 - single dimmer switch located on wall in front room controls 10 spotlights (the type that are flush fitted into the ceiling)

circuit 2 - currently has a dimming switch in front room and a normal switch by the back door controlling a single ceiling fitting, which at present has one of those bars with 4 spotlights on it, I want to add an additional 4 spotlight bar to this circuit further up the kitchen.

What I did was cut holes in the ceiling to find existing wiring.
I found about 5 or 6 cables running through the joist.
2 of them were the thinner stuff used for lighting, the rest was the more heavy duty stuff used for sockets and the cooker etc.

by process of elimination I worked out that of the 2 thinner wires one was run to the flush fit spotlight so I ignored this and cut through the other wire, when I connected the additional spotlight bar to live and neutral it was permanently on without switching.
I tried wiring in line on the neutral wire instead and it made the additional light very dim and the existing light worked normally.

I tried wiring inline on the live wire and the exisiting light worked fine, but didn't control the additional, what did happen however was when I turned on the outside (PIR controlled) light both the external and additional internal light flashed on and off repeatedly.

SO as the wiring actually makes no sense now I need to contact the spark and see what the hell he has actually done as none of it really makes any sense. Looked at the back of the light switch and that made things even more confusing to be honest.

 

[tigerstyle]

I have a load of black plastic material my builders left behind. After putting weed killer down, I'll put the plastic down and then the gravel. I measured my front at about 12 sq meters so apparently I'd need a tonne bag which costs about £85 to £90.

Search this forum for gravel, I had a thread a few weeks back, cheaper by phone, £50 iirc?

 

[Merlin5]

Search this forum for gravel, I had a thread a few weeks back, cheaper by phone, £50 iirc?

Just checked your thread and then rang buildbase. The gravel I want is cotswold but they're £87 plus VAT for a ton bag delivered. Not sure I really want standard gravel as I want something brighter coloured, more whitish.

 

[HardwareGeek]

2 light circuits in the kitchen.

circuit 1 - single dimmer switch located on wall in front room controls 10 spotlights (the type that are flush fitted into the ceiling)

circuit 2 - currently has a dimming switch in front room and a normal switch by the back door controlling a single ceiling fitting, which at present has one of those bars with 4 spotlights on it, I want to add an additional 4 spotlight bar to this circuit further up the kitchen.

What I did was cut holes in the ceiling to find existing wiring.
I found about 5 or 6 cables running through the joist.
2 of them were the thinner stuff used for lighting, the rest was the more heavy duty stuff used for sockets and the cooker etc.

by process of elimination I worked out that of the 2 thinner wires one was run to the flush fit spotlight so I ignored this and cut through the other wire, when I connected the additional spotlight bar to live and neutral it was permanently on without switching.
I tried wiring in line on the neutral wire instead and it made the additional light very dim and the existing light worked normally.

I tried wiring inline on the live wire and the exisiting light worked fine, but didn't control the additional, what did happen however was when I turned on the outside (PIR controlled) light both the external and additional internal light flashed on and off repeatedly.

SO as the wiring actually makes no sense now I need to contact the spark and see what the hell he has actually done as none of it really makes any sense. Looked at the back of the light switch and that made things even more confusing to be honest.

If you just want the new light and the old one to come on at the same time then all you really need to do is........

turn power off
take old light down
make hole where you want new light
pass 1mm cable between those 2 points (this maybe a pain depending on where you want the new light / joists etc)
connect wire neutral - neutral
switch live to switch live
earth to earth

both now share the same switch - will come on at the same time

 

[DogsBody]

If you just want the new light and the old one to come on at the same time then all you really need to do is........

turn power off
take old light down
make hole where you want new light
pass 1mm cable between those 2 points (this maybe a pain depending on where you want the new light / joists etc)
connect wire neutral - neutral
switch live to switch live
earth to earth

both now share the same switch - will come on at the same time

doing it that way will be more of a PITA because of the distance between the 2 lights and the fact that the wire will need to be run through several joists and would need either a huge piece of plasterboard removing or several smaller ones.

I have spoken to the sparky who installed the electrics and he thinks he can call round tomorrow (he needs to repair a dimmer switch that is broken anyway) so hopefully he can just sort it, the cables are run for him which is the fiddliest bit I guess.