What "man jobs" have you done today?

Bought a small cement mixer from ebay (new £115), was delivered yesterday and put it all together today.
HSS Hire were asking £180 to deliver and collect one for 11 days.

Got 46m² of patio to lay so this should make it easier and will flog it on Gumtree once I'm finished with it.
 
Mark A said:
Painted the gate I made 5-6 years back. I originally used Sikkens in a very light oak and despite me using preservative that claimed to stop blue staining fungus, I ended up getting a fair bit show up after a few years. The light stain didn't help as it was very noticeable so looked a mess. So lightly sanded it and applied 2 coats of Zinser 1-2-3 primer and then 3 coats of Colron garden shades paint. Also spray painted the hinges and handles with Simoniz tough black which seems to hold up well to the elements.
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Great job :)
 
Thanks, I'm kinda glad it had the blue staining mould now as I do prefer the painted look. I was surprised how easily this paint went on and covered, it seems like good stuff. Just hope it lasts.
 
Moved into a new place a few weeks ago and the garage was a dusty mess with a concrete floor, and looked like it hadn't had a decent clean in months. As well as making it more homely and using it for general storage, I planned to turn it into a mini-gym. Finished the flooring last week:

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For the grand total of £25. £15 roll of underlay, and £10 for 84 repurposed office floor tiles from a local selling site. They spruced up great after hoovering and a bit of shave n' vac. The above image is about half the floor space. Picked up an as-new £185 exercise bike for £20 from the 'bay, and awaiting a multigym to finish it all off. Walls need a repaint, that will be next.
 
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I have two garden hoses joined together with bit of 15mm copper pipe and four Chinese knicker elastic jubilee clips - - Replaced clips today with real Jubilee clips - ya can-a beet the real thing. :p
 
Did a spot of plumbing today.

I'm in the midst of fitting a kitchen for my mum so lots of man work being performed, but plumbing always stresses me for some reason. Took the plunge today and fitted a Surestop Remote stopcock so she can shut the water off at the flick of a switch. Much better than contorting yourself in the back of a corner cupboard when you're over 70! Hot & Cold feed for the new sink mixer tap, appliance outlets for washing machine and dishwasher, plus waste for them all.

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Not so much a man job as a Old man job- Most of the plugs on all the electrical appliances including tools are these old people ones with the loop on so you can put your fingers through and pull plugs out.
Just bought 6 more so did kettle first then went in for toaster - got in garage and turned on the air compressor ready for when I finished the plug - sitting there when Pppsssssssssssssssstttttttt - I thought the safety had blown but no such luck - Bloody pin hole in bottom of tank - Shame really as it looks new but has to be 25 or more years old - I just didn't use it enough to think of opening drain valve and as it was not a lot of water came out - probably half a cup.
So another expense - I don't think I can live without a compressor of some sort or other - I have a converted propane tank as extra air storage so might just see if I can connect motor/pump up to it.
There is always something isn't there.
 
Had some man toys given me yesterday so today I have just wiped them over and the Record pair of grips are virtually new - the other pair are well worn.

Also had a piece of aluminum as well - Just turned that into a small work table that clamps in vise.

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I may have made a bomb !!!

My compressor has sprung a pin hole leak - I drilled it out to M12 and threaded it for a bolt and wrapped it in PTFE tape and sealer -left it over night and this morning it leaked - So solution number two - got a piece of steel and cut to size and used mastic glue and rivets to fix over the hole !! - This is a typical bodge it and run like hell job.
Being as I have no use for a compressor anymore other than pump car tyres up I am going to turn the cut off down to about 3 or 4 bar and see if it holds or leaks - if it does hold then will turn down so there is just enough air to pump tyres up. :rolleyes:

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DXP55 said:
I may have made a bomb !!!

My compressor has sprung a pin hole leak - I drilled it out to M12 and threaded it for a bolt and wrapped it in PTFE tape and sealer -left it over night and this morning it leaked - So solution number two - got a piece of steel and cut to size and used mastic glue and rivets to fix over the hole !! - This is a typical bodge it and run like hell job.
Being as I have no use for a compressor anymore other than pump car tyres up I am going to turn the cut off down to about 3 or 4 bar and see if it holds or leaks - if it does hold then will turn down so there is just enough air to pump tyres up. :rolleyes:

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Sorted - Had a leak on third rivet from top going to the right -was coming past bit of the pin that squeezes rivet up - drilled it out and replaced it - Adjusted pressure release so it now cuts out at 4 bar and restarts at 2 bar. Just enough to pump car tyres up. Saved me buying a new one.

It's now back in it's den with a blast blanket over it. :D:D
 
Patio base layer of concrete now poured. Was going to do it tomorrow but then saw the expected temperatures (28°).
Need to order another couple of tons of sand and cement now.
Sigh.
 
Past 3 days we've been relaying our block paving driveway...

Yup, relaying... Chaps who did it initially were ******* useless. Herringbone pattern not followed, so random brick parts in the edges, not enough sand underneath, and the discovery that they cemented an inspection drain cover closed... Oh and it wasn't tamped down afterwards. :rolleyes:

So been pulling all the bricks, laying more sand, replacing damaged or just wrong bricks. Cutting new ones as we've also changed the layout a little. Bought a new drain cover so it's usable again, it's also one of the type that we can put some of the bricks in so we don't have a horrible looking grey plastic drain cover.

The Evo Rage sliding mitre saw with the stone and brick cutting blade has been wonderful, so much better than the block splitter we rented! Overall, it's not been a pleasant couple of days.

Still have another couple of days to go... Tomorrow is probably only going to be a 8am-midday day. Apparently will be 36-38° tomorrow. Not going out too long in that. Might go hide in the cinema for a couple of hours. ;)
 
Fitted an outdoor double socket yesterday. I went for the DIY kit that has 3m of flex and an RCD protected plug. It's not quite as neat as a proper installation, but it was £21.50 instead of £100+ so I can live with seeing a little bit of flex under the socket. On the inside the cable is hidden behind kitchen units.

I don't know why Rossendale stone is so hard, but I ended up burning the tips off of 3 small SDS drill bits and ended up giving up and going through the joint instead. I had to buy a 600mm x 10mm drill bit as the walls are 500mm, so didn't want to end up with that burning out as well. Just means you see an inch or so of flex under the socket, but looks neat enough for me.

So much better than having to mess about with leads through windows, wish I'd have done it years ago.
 
That is an amazing change it looks lovely
Mark A said:
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Painted the gate I made 5-6 years back. I originally used Sikkens in a very light oak and despite me using preservative that claimed to stop blue staining fungus, I ended up getting a fair bit show up after a few years. The light stain didn't help as it was very noticeable so looked a mess. So lightly sanded it and applied 2 coats of Zinser 1-2-3 primer and then 3 coats of Colron garden shades paint. Also spray painted the hinges and handles with Simoniz tough black which seems to hold up well to the elements.
Click to expand...
 
After putting up a new self build conservatory last year, I recently boarded the roof so its far cooler and more like a normal room. Thanks for the suggestions in various other threads about this, it didn't cost much at all and was quite straight forward.

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Well the brick paving is almost done. Shame that yesterday it was raining on and off so had to keep covering and uncovering the saw and heading inside and waiting for the rain to go away. Today isn't any better, it's just wet. Tomorrow is looking like the same. So the last edge and the drain cover are still to be done. The thumper needs to go back on monday, I don't think I'm going to get a chance to run it again.

Need to put some concrete down to finish a couple of areas that were damaged by the **** wits, then hopefully, it'll be 99% done.

If anyone is looking at doing some block paving, definitely get a stone saw. Makes everything so much easier than a brick splitter. We got a Rage Evolution 255mm Sliding Mitre and the proper stone cutting blade, not cheap but it made quick work of the bricks. Remember to use ear plugs/defenders/IEM's and a mask.
 
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