What "man jobs" have you done today?

Spent my evenings this week tidying up a few unfinished cables so I can get the floorboards back down, reconnecting the socket rings on one floor, and tidying up ahead of moving most of our stuff in.

Also cleared the garage and laid a damp proof membrane down ahead of filling it with boxes tomorrow.



Ready for a murder!
Dexter was the first thing I thought of when seeing that too :p .
 
Had a problem with the shower where the flow seemed to be getting really crap. I realised that the on/off didn't seem to turn much (½ a turn to fully on). It's one of those things you don't notice over a long period as the changes are very subtle.

I posted about it here - Post

Anyways, I decided to remove the on/off valve (it's a bar mixer fed from mains/combi boiler). I didn't notice much wrong but I worked the valve around with spanner and mole grips, pulled it apart, put it back together and it seems to have sorted it.

The knob now turns about 5-6 full turns and the water pressure has vastly improved :)


TLDR - shower pressure was crap, removed and refitted on/off valve, now huge increase in flow/pressure, mucho happy.
 
Started laying down rubber tiles in the garage.

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One very full Luton van load:

And another mostly full Luton van load makes one full garage:

I can now say 90+% of our possessions are under one roof albeit a bit hard to actually find stuff! Just need to crack on with DIY so rooms are finished and we can start emptying the garage into them.

Would not have been possible without about 5 mates helping between the two locations, which all came together beautifully at the last minute. Moving is hard, I've got some good friends :)
 
Sole parent this weekend so lost yesterday to a mega trip around London (not sure how either of us made it, 40k steps and she is only 3/no buggy); so today was meant to be a lounging day. My brain couldn't switch off and she regains energy at an alarming rate, so we started the log store. 3x 100m leftover 2.7m posts and I had 6x 75mm 2.4m posts. I also had a bunch of ~1.2m gravel board off cuts which I ripped in half for 7.5cm battens. Need to grab a nail gun as I really CBA screwing the rest of it.

I will do a living roof as this is the view from the kitchen window essentially.

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The downside of my ultra low cost approach is that the current structure weighs about 200 kilos :cry: :rolleyes: :(
 
Sole parent this weekend so lost yesterday to a mega trip around London (not sure how either of us made it, 40k steps and she is only 3/no buggy); so today was meant to be a lounging day. My brain couldn't switch off and she regains energy at an alarming rate, so we started the log store. 3x 100m leftover 2.7m posts and I had 6x 75mm 2.4m posts. I also had a bunch of ~1.2m gravel board off cuts which I ripped in half for 7.5cm battens. Need to grab a nail gun as I really CBA screwing the rest of it.

I will do a living roof as this is the view from the kitchen window essentially.

k84le4t.jpeg


quqc66u.jpeg


r5NrG4h.jpeg


The downside of my ultra low cost approach is that the current structure weighs about 200 kilos :cry: :rolleyes: :(
I assume the hammer was the most dangerous tool out at the time, when my kids were that age that was the way of things, ooh a power tool I'll go play with that :cry: .
 
I drilled two holes into tile to hang two macrame plant hangers. I'd never drilled into tile before but it was a piece of cake with a diamond drill bit. I then manly re-potted the plants to go into the hangers :D

Next job was to fit a back-to-back socket in the dining room. The dining room is an extension which has been attached to, what would have been, the external wall of the kitchen. I used my new sds and a 460mm drill bit which wasn't quite long enough, but it did get me through to the void between the wall and the plaster board (timber frame).

I could have measured from the other side and cut out but, to save time I shoved a metal coat hanger through the hole and found the end with my stud finder. It took me ages to wire the side with the 3 connections as it was very cramped, but I got there in the end. I used those MK screwless sockets on the dining room side, seriously what a doodle they are to work with.
 
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Sole parent this weekend so lost yesterday to a mega trip around London (not sure how either of us made it, 40k steps and she is only 3/no buggy); so today was meant to be a lounging day. My brain couldn't switch off and she regains energy at an alarming rate, so we started the log store. 3x 100m leftover 2.7m posts and I had 6x 75mm 2.4m posts. I also had a bunch of ~1.2m gravel board off cuts which I ripped in half for 7.5cm battens. Need to grab a nail gun as I really CBA screwing the rest of it.

I will do a living roof as this is the view from the kitchen window essentially.

k84le4t.jpeg


quqc66u.jpeg


r5NrG4h.jpeg


The downside of my ultra low cost approach is that the current structure weighs about 200 kilos :cry: :rolleyes: :(
H&S breach, need some steel toe capped crocs!
 
I'm looking for some advice. I'm aiming to build the attached storage area out of wood. Wicked do some 500mm timber board so I was thinking of getting that for the depth instead of something like mdf or ply. Not really thought much about brackets and stuff. The bits at the bottom represent doors as I'm thinking of going colouring perspex, however I might have to make the doors smaller due to flex (which I need to decide before I start). Happy to take any abuse (of my design :cry: ). The dark grey around the edges is the wall its getting built upto, and I've stuck some dimensions on too.


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MDF is more stable than timber board and will paint better with the correct preparation. It will also probably work out cheaper. Joining it along the edge is a pain, but you can rout out a groove and slot it in then pin and glue. You probably also want to be putting on edge bits beneath the shelves over that span to keep them flat.
 
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MDF is more stable than timber board and will paint better with the correct preparation. It will also probably work out cheaper. Joining it along the edge is a pain, but you can rout out a groove and slot it in then pin and glue. You probably also want to be putting on edge bits beneath the shelves over that span to keep them flat.
My main concern with mdf was it's tendancy to droop over a long expanse, also there will be a few kilos of weight on there (large lego models) and didn't want the screws pulling out
 
Finally found time to move the generator I bought with a blown engine from one workshop to the other one here at home where it will live. Bought as seen, none runner, then given a full monte engine rebuild by me, to race standards, with a rebore, new pistons, bearings, valves, 3 angle valve job, oil ways ported, new oil pump, water pump, all seals blah blah. Makes power and auto starts after sorting the wiring. Now awaiting power cuts that will probably, due to the famous "Sod's law", never happen :) Just got to decide whether to vent the exhaust through the tiled roof, or through the wall, probably the wall I think....

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My main concern with mdf was it's tendancy to droop over a long expanse, also there will be a few kilos of weight on there (large lego models) and didn't want the screws pulling out
Corrugate it with buttons, e.g. 8 or 11mm MDF sandwiching some batons for rigidity. All wood will droop if unsupported laterally.
 
*snigger*

<LOL> Bought when a friend seemed remarkably generous with the rounds on a night out and I didn't, (unusually for me, given he's a tight barsteward), smell a rat. I think it was £150 Guineas . He's the guy with the flamingoes in the back garden, he still likes working in Guineas :)

I did have plans of selling it to The Sun so long as I could vet the winner of any suitable competition, then got close to selling it to a very voluptuous barmaid until her mother told me how young she was, but then quite justifiably seemed interested herself ;)

But now I accept in these PC times it is a bit too risqué to advertise imaginatively :) Strangely enough, despite `er indoors warnings, I have only once had someone shout "******* ***" out of their car window at me when driving. Had more abuse with anonymous plates, disappointing!

And before anyone says the spacing is illegal, I know, the legitimately spaced one is on the trailer, note the Velcro strips on the car's number plate. Too tight to buy two legal rear plates once i realised the spacing was critical in the eyes of the down on one knee people, I just attach the legal one to the back of the car when not towing :)
 
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