What "man jobs" have you done today?

Installed a FirstAlert Optical smoke alarm at the top of my stairs today. There was no alarm in this location previously so all new holes drilled, wall plugs fitted etc. Very good satisfying job. :)

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We had a surveyor around to look in our wall cavity to see if it was possible to have insulation pumped in (still undecided). While they were there I went around with him and marked down where there was rubble in the cavity. It was pretty clean considering its a random stone wall and a 1930-40 house. Also checked out the condition of the wall ties and they seem fine.


This was the main pile of rubble and there is just one more pile, but it's behind some kitchen cabinets, so i'll have to get to it from outside, which means removing some giant stones :eek:, might leave that as it's only a small amount.

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Even if we dont have the insulation done, it's still good to get rid of big piles of rubble bridging the cavity.
 
Bunged plastic window fitters next door a tenner to tighten up a window handle - had two goes at it and missed problem - Know what to do now - checked a few other handles and tightened a few fixing screws up.

Took sides off shower cubicle base to see if any water was underneath - dry as bone so pleased with that.

It's now recover time for rest of day.

Dave
 
I emptied the shed of junk which was two trips to the tip. I was sure it was just a few boxes from christmas but found all sorts.

I also hacksawed off my Toughened cable bike lock after loosing all three of the keys somewhere. Considering how tough it was meant to be, with a new blade I had it off in under a minute.
 
not really just done, but been on a bit of a DIY rampage getting the house up to as immaculate condition as we can for when we put it on the market including (but not limited to)

  • filling all the little cracks everywhere (was totally re-plastered 6 years ago so settling slightly)
  • Painting four of the ceilings
  • putting together a new picket fence as the old one was totally rotten
  • building a gate for said fence using offcuts (quite pleased with it tbh :))
  • touching up the gloss work
  • replacing several fence panels & posts after the storm, and re-painting them
  • deep cleaning the rubbish cheap carpet on the stairs
  • touching up little bits of paint chips etc around the place

The house is really beginning to look good again, nice and tidy and as close to perfect as its likely to get, now to take about 70% of our stuff out so it looks more spacious or something :confused:
 
Bought a new drill and drill bit set. Now I just have to find some jobs to do. I did drill a hole through a brick in my porch just to test it out. Like a hot knife through butter. Makes my old cordless drill seem like one of those old manual drill's my dad had when I was a kid, the type where your turn a wheel to get the bit spinning.

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ElliorR said:
Bought a new drill and drill bit set. Now I just have to find some jobs to do. I did drill a hole through a brick in my porch just to test it out. Like a hot knife through butter. Makes my old cordless drill seem like one of those old manual drill's my dad had when I was a kid, the type where your turn a wheel to get the bit spinning.

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Click to expand...

There a thread here for tools recommendations.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18577721
 
I've cut a piece of oak skirting to length, cleaned it and prepped it for drilling Friday. It's being turned upside and put against the ceiling over my front door so I can attach a curtain rail to it. Helps keep the cold at bay. And yes, it does seem a little OTT but a) the skirting is sitting there in my garage as left overs from the front room and dining room due to them sending a bad batch and telling me to keep it and b) the rail was attached to the plaster board directly until the wife pulled it down and destroyed some of the plaster.

Then jobs for the weekend include measure the rest of the garden out back so I can start on that design, looking at getting 2 of the 3 cars started/sold and measure the front of the house and the gates to see what I need to make them fit the car port :)
 
Recently I bought a DeWalt DCD 785 cordless drill to replace the pile of crap cheapo Argos special and today I did my first man job with it.

I bought a motorcycle helmet/jacket wall hanging tidy thing and put it up on my wall.

Firstly the masonry drill bits I had, not the ones in the Makita 101 piece set I bought when I got my drill as they were not big enough, were crap and my wall defeated them (never buy cheap tat off ebay ffs), so I popped to Screwfix and picked up DeWalt 7 & 8 mm masonry drill bits for just over £6 and got to work.

This is an old tip but I'll repeat it anyway. I put an envelope on the wall under where I was drilling to catch the debris and it worked a treat.

The drill made holes in the wall as if the wall was made of styrofoam, except when I forgot to put the drill back into hammer mode after screwing a screw in, and I quickly got my new tidy up and running.

A picture speaks a thousand words so they say......

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AHarvey said:
I've cut a piece of oak skirting to length, cleaned it and prepped it for drilling Friday. It's being turned upside and put against the ceiling over my front door so I can attach a curtain rail to it. Helps keep the cold at bay. And yes, it does seem a little OTT but a) the skirting is sitting there in my garage as left overs from the front room and dining room due to them sending a bad batch and telling me to keep it and b) the rail was attached to the plaster board directly until the wife pulled it down and destroyed some of the plaster.

Then jobs for the weekend include measure the rest of the garden out back so I can start on that design, looking at getting 2 of the 3 cars started/sold and measure the front of the house and the gates to see what I need to make them fit the car port :)
Click to expand...

Wooden batten to attach a rail or blind to isn't ever overkill, it's just sensible. Especially if you're going into masonry where it's impossible to get it level otherwise.
 
That's the same way I've fixed curtain rails in my bedroom and living room (no SDS drill), worked well and not very noticeable once painted.

I cut and put together some 25mm MDF (glued and screwed) for a shelving unit in the storage area which has made it a lot tidier with the half filled tins of paint and what not. Didn't have quite enough for a whole backing board so cut 2 lots of 2 inch strips vertically on the back to brace. Not bad for £12.

Bought some wood from the recycling wood depot to get started on a (free standing) bookshelf, I'm not sure how I should join the shelves to the sides though, any ideas? I'm thinking dowel rods and glue but would that be enough? A couple of the shelves will be full with books and will be 80cm wide.
 
Rebate the sides and then glue&screw the shelves. You could hide the screw heads with dowel plugs.

My job for the day was making a door casing for a pair of 30" doors in a 176mm thick wall. Luckily I got the timber yard to rip the 27mm stock down to the right width. I hand cut the rebates which was a nice bit of fun. Fitting it was a bit tight though as I had to work around the existing engineered floor which will eventually be removed.
 
Shattered right now. Been pulling up the floor in the lounge/ dining room and laying laminate. Been going really well so far but it's a big room and we don't have the space to move everything out the room, so it's a lot of moving sofas etc on my own. Pictures tomorrow! When I'm all finished and cleaned up.
 
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