What "man jobs" have you done today?

[theone8181]

How much of a difference does lagging make? To clarify, I've got a short run of copper pipe, maybe 30cm in the garage. I've put lagging on it, but the garage is currently about 0.5 degrees. It's attached to the side of the house, but is only single story (not integral), the pipe is in the corner of 2 interior walls, but in the garage if that makes sense (might stick a jpeg in). So how cold does it have to get before it will freeze? I'm going to borrow a thermocouple from work and log the temp overnight to see the difference, but I am slightly concerned (although it wasn't lagged last year and didn't burst). Sorry its a bit vague.

So the left wall is a stuff wall from the new extension (so should be a decent amount of insulation), right wall is the original but of the house but it's cavity wall. The lagging is a little bit taller than the pipe, but gives it some scale. The only other thing is that the pipe is so close to the wall that I can't get lagging round that edge <10mm gap.

 

[Chris Wilson]

Yesterday, moved one of the light switches before the plasterer permanently ***** it up.

He cut all the marked ends off for 3 of the lights thankfully they were still long enough to reach to desired location. The black line is about 90cm off the floor which is roughly where the worktop will be. Laser level coming in handy for it's first official job!



Butchered the builders 'table' and prepped it to become our 'temporary island' with a £5 Facebook marketplace find.

 

[Chris Wilson]

Functional and sturdy, if not Chippendale

 

[sigma]

That will be a top hat, a few hundred for one ive got for a few weeks, no ones in a rush for scaff right now anyway.

Less than a grand for a few weeks? Are you friendly with the scaffolding company or did you have to find them yourself?

 

[sigma]

3k for a week having a laugh.

Pay to put up & take down the scaffold and then a small weekly rate on the tubing/boards etc and weekly inspections.

Usually want to agree a hire period upfront 4,6 weeks etc, if you overrun then it will cost you loads extra over if you’d hired those extra weeks upfront. Might end up being left a few weeks longer before they take it down anyway, depends how busy they are!

The industry will be a bit more cowboy for domestic works… usually for domestic and small stuff they can use predetermined designs and calcs so there isn’t even any of that to do which increases costs.

What's the going rate for a week or so?

Edit, just found this: https://www.checkatrade.com/blog/cost-guides/cost-scaffolding/

Still seems like a license to print money!

 

[IvanDobskey]

Finished off laying new insulation in the loft. Not a fun job.

 

[dlockers]

Finished off laying new insulation in the loft. Not a fun job.

I still have 50% of mine to do Fingers crossed I get some space this weekend to get it knocked out.

The draughts downstairs are absolutely killer too. Wish I'd got cracking earlier on the insulation jobs....but that was dependant on the wiring jobs and plumbing finishing, so didn't have a cat in hells chance really.

Bring on next year!

 

[Shaz]sigh[]

Yesterday, moved one of the light switches before the plasterer permanently ***** it up.

He cut all the marked ends off for 3 of the lights thankfully they were still long enough to reach to desired location. The black line is about 90cm off the floor which is roughly where the worktop will be. Laser level coming in handy for it's first official job!

Are you having upstands? Not read through thread so probably already taken in to consideration but if the units are approx 870mm with legs, 30mm for worktop then you might need another 100mm for upstands and if they are say 20mm thick then you might have some cable clashing issues?

 

[Armageus]

The draughts downstairs are absolutely killer too. Wish I'd got cracking earlier on the insulation jobs....

Yep - know that feeling, I'd bought a few tubes of silicone sealant and a new sealant gun a couple of months ago to do around the outside of the downstairs UPVC windows, but been too busy to do them - now I've got time, and it's too cold to use the sealant (as has a 5C minimum operating temperature)

 

[dlockers]

Yep - know that feeling, I'd bought a few tubes of silicone sealant and a new sealant gun a couple of months ago to do around the outside of the downstairs UPVC windows, but been too busy to do them - now I've got time, and it's too cold to use the sealant (as has a 5C minimum operating temperature)

I can hook you up with a good lead on duct tape if you want?

 

[IvanDobskey]

I still have 50% of mine to do Fingers crossed I get some space this weekend to get it knocked out.

The draughts downstairs are absolutely killer too. Wish I'd got cracking earlier on the insulation jobs....but that was dependant on the wiring jobs and plumbing finishing, so didn't have a cat in hells chance really.

Bring on next year!

Been keeping an eye on your renovation thread, you have plenty to keep you busy it seems Coming on well though.

Loft insulation is not something I usually pay too much attention to. But with the energy crisis, thought it was a good job to get done with the cold weather well and truly here

 

[LuckyBenski]

I still have 50% of mine to do Fingers crossed I get some space this weekend to get it knocked out.

The draughts downstairs are absolutely killer too. Wish I'd got cracking earlier on the insulation jobs....but that was dependant on the wiring jobs and plumbing finishing, so didn't have a cat in hells chance really.

Bring on next year!

F off mate, you've literally just listed my jobs since getting keys

- rewire
- plumbing for washing machine etc
- insulate garage ceiling, exterior porch ceiling, ideally garage door

I dragged my feet on the insulation as it made rewiring easier not to, but kicking myself now to the tune of £9/day on an empty house.

 

[jaybee]

^ I gotta get me one of those green level laser thing-a-me-bobbies. Also one of those multi functional oscillating saw things. The amount of times both would have come in handy...

Most of my man jobs I keep talking myself out of and frankly waiting until spring as I'm not manly enough to be cold AF anymore. But one I can't really put off any longer, is my car is over due an oil change now. Literally my most favourite job to do in -2 degrees.

 

[DXP55]

Sitting here at the PC I was getting a real cold draught on my left lug hole - So got a load of plastic strip 40-mm wide and quadrant - gouged all old silicon out from around window as it was cracking (New 12 yrs ago) - filled all gaps with silicon then cut and fitted the plastic strips all round and quadrant on front -sealed it all up and at the moment I can't feel that cold blast. Fingers crossed.

 

[Simon]

As it’s cold my roof can wait whilst I finish a wet room for a mate. Floors rotten so needed a builder to replace (and added more airbricks) Turns out the drain was cracked and running uphill, explains the constant damp and smell! And obviously not the most solid of floors, good job no one went through it







Did all the piping. Yes compression fittings but I like them. All tested under pressure before boarding, hence the radiator valves in the shower fittings, the power cable in there for the wall hung Tv on the other side of wall as a tomorrow job.
New drain and manhole for access in case of blockage and a new drain for the shower enabling wet room

Todays status.

12.5mm wall and 20mm floor marmox(ufh to go down before tiles), wire for heated mirror. All tanked now with Maepai latex. Toilet will be wall hung. Main thing is making sure you have noggins on the stud or dots of adhesive for later fittings like towel rads sinks etc. Walls are really thick and made of quarry stone so 90mm plastic spankers need to go in before tiling for additional fixing (1800s house)

 

[topgun06]

Glad to see you've Marmoxed the window sill. That's the one place I didn't do for whatever reason. And the only place which produces excessive condensation. Regret it now.

 

[BennyC]

Are you having upstands? Not read through thread so probably already taken in to consideration but if the units are approx 870mm with legs, 30mm for worktop then you might need another 100mm for upstands and if they are say 20mm thick then you might have some cable clashing issues?

I don't think so. Possibly/only the back wall but I think cost (marble) will prohibit that.

I did consider up-stands but the O/H's orders were there so there it went!

 

[Berger]

Wondering the best way to fix condensation on window frames.

The frame at the bottom doesn’t appear to have been foamed in. And a poor job done with sealant, so cold air is just getting to the rear of the plastic honeycomb section giving poor/no insulation.

The sides don’t have any condensation as I did foam these myself when the room was plastered (and the gaps were much smaller), but the window board wasn’t removed in this room to do underneath/below the window frame and the installers obviously didn’t do a good job….

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ibb.co

I had thought to cut and rake out the sealant and any mortar which is in place as the windows *should* be on packers and fixed to the brick….

Then use door/window low expanding foam to fill the gap, allow to set trim off and then sealant to face. The window drip holes are above the sill so no risk of blocking them.

 

[Chris Wilson]

Well, it was a Sunday job really. Been busy since.


After having my brand new power take off generator (PTO) arrive smashed after the couriers dropped it off a fork lift truck, I was promised it would be rebuilt as new and the suppliers had all the bits to facilitate that in stock. A few days later the story had changed to "Uneconomic to repair, we will supply a new unit". But they didn't have any new ones until the New Year and probably well beyond.

So, I changed tack and bought a self powered (3.3 litre N/A Perkins diesel) gennie in a silenced enclosure. Of course, I chose a day when the weather changed for the worst and in Warwickshire the snow came down with a vengeance and my poor old Volvo estate cried enough of 1.25 tons on a big trailer, on an icy A road incline. This despite having gone onto the RH side of the road where descending traffic had made some attempt to leave some clear ruts. Fearing the worst I tried the old trick of using the handbrake to effect a crude limited slip differential. The car and trailer moved upwards a BIT. I then took the final step of dropping the rear tyre pressures to about near flat, and the ensemble made it, desperately slowly, steam coming from the back tyres, to the top of the damned hill.

Found a garage, paid an extortionate amount for an asthmatic slot machine to slowly blow the rear tyres back up, and just cleared the M54 back to Whitchurch before it was shut due to impassible snow. Got home and there had been not a flake of snow all day there!

Then my little vintage MF 35 tractor's front loader took one look at the gennie and said "Nah, sod off, you gotta be kidding me", so enrolled the farmer up the road to unload it and get it into the back workshop with a proper bit of serious kit.

The catch is the engine has a blown head gasket, and maybe more... But it was cheapy cheap and otherwise near mint condition. So that's my Christmas holiday sorted, stripping and examing and measuring it, and it's also my excuse to avoid the relatives, (an added bonus ). I REALLY thought I was going to be stuck in Warwickshire for the night...

 

[Simon]

Glad to see you've Marmoxed the window sill. That's the one place I didn't do for whatever reason. And the only place which produces excessive condensation. Regret it now.

Yeah that must be annoying. I had to build it all up anyway but yes definitely useful and one of the benefits of insulated cement board, stopping the tiles being cold. I used a 20mm for the shelf too. All behind there is expanding foam on every gap and full of insulation to keep the heat in the bathroom and stop the pipes getting cold.