What "man jobs" have you done today?

lego · 21 Apr 2022 at 19:56

Made a table top over the weekend, my first real go at something substantial in a woodworking sense, and I have limited tools (saw/plainer/beltsander). I was quite happy with the results (I picked the wood up for £30)

Have some legs being fabricated, should be an upgrade from by current table

IvanDobskey · 21 Apr 2022 at 20:18

Replaced all the downlights in the bathroom. The old ones had halogen bulbs, were well past their best and were totally seized up. Nice new ones with led bulbs fitted now.

Buffman · 21 Apr 2022 at 21:16

lego said:
Made a table top over the weekend, my first real go at something substantial in a woodworking sense, and I have limited tools (saw/plainer/beltsander). I was quite happy with the results (I picked the wood up for £30)

Have some legs being fabricated, should be an upgrade from by current table

Wow looks good that. How are the timbers connected together?
Did you plane the top

Im currently looking at buying a custom table and some shelving for a hefty amount, so you're saving a fair wedge there!

Buffman · 21 Apr 2022 at 21:19

Participant said:
Nearly finished tiling the downstairs loo. Really can't wait for this job to be over.

Wow tiling looks good there. You tiled much before?

lego · 21 Apr 2022 at 21:37

Buffman said:
Wow looks good that. How are the timbers connected together?
Did you plane the top

Im currently looking at buying a custom table and some shelving for a hefty amount, so you're saving a fair wedge there!

Yes I planed the top, If I were to do it again I would make one of two changes

1. I would not of bothered to plane each individual board down before gluing together (There was a good amount of this done once it was one piece)
2. I would have found a local joinery / timer merchants to level / plane the wood for me

To connect the boards I just used dowels and glue, I found a cheap jig on Amazon which to worked fine. I also alternated the grain patter in the boards to help with any future warping / twisting

theone8181 · 22 Apr 2022 at 12:23

lego said:
Yes I planed the top, If I were to do it again I would make one of two changes

1. I would not of bothered to plane each individual board down before gluing together (There was a good amount of this done once it was one piece)
2. I would have found a local joinery / timer merchants to level / plane the wood for me

To connect the boards I just used dowels and glue, I found a cheap jig on Amazon which to worked fine. I also alternated the grain patter in the boards to help with any future warping / twisting

If you did that it should reduce the "cupping" effect apparently.

Participant · 22 Apr 2022 at 17:51

Buffman said:
Wow tiling looks good there. You tiled much before?

Thanks. It's done now apart from the silicone.

Only other tiling I've ever done is a kitchen backsplash.

There are some small mistakes, but you'd only notice if you happened to look directly in certain places.

R-evans · 23 Apr 2022 at 11:26

lego said:
Made a table top over the weekend, my first real go at something substantial in a woodworking sense, and I have limited tools (saw/plainer/beltsander). I was quite happy with the results (I picked the wood up for £30)

Have some legs being fabricated, should be an upgrade from by current table

Same electric planer I bought from Amazon for a similar project, hopefully you didn't make my mistake and under estimate just how much it can shave off

Very nice work!

{SAS}TB · 23 Apr 2022 at 11:53

Nice work indeed!

Put up some trellis

Before

After

dlockers · 23 Apr 2022 at 12:58

Participant said:
Thanks. It's done now apart from the silicone.

Only other tiling I've ever done is a kitchen backsplash.

There are some small mistakes, but you'd only notice if you happened to look directly in certain places.

Looks good! I assume you are familiar with Fugi's for the silicone?

Richie · 23 Apr 2022 at 13:02

Richie said:
Sorted my back lawn out today:

Cut short
Scarified
Top Dress
Overseeding.

Also used this as a chance to bring up the level of the ground where it had sunken due to settling (newish build) but, as it was next to slabs which hadn't moved, it left a 1 inch or so drop. Also, the soil around the exterior wall had kind of shrunk back and left a gap of a ½ inch and 1 inch deep so I filled that in

This part of my garden gets little sun and is always damp/wet so going to use this area as a small wildflower garden so not fussed that the tatty looking grass in that area is now buried... I'll be sowing wildflowers in the Autumn suited to damp conditions.

Looks a little rough now but I know it'll come back.

Front lawn done today with cutting, scarifying, overseed and top dressed.

Unbelievable how much Moss and thatch came up on the front. About ⅓ the size of the back yet had just as much crap as the back. North facing front vs South facing back so I guess that has a big factor.

Overseeded with some shade tolerant seed which should help this time.

Participant · 23 Apr 2022 at 14:27

dLockers said:
Looks good! I assume you are familiar with Fugi's for the silicone?

Yeah thanks I am. I've used those for years, brilliant things.

{SAS}TB · 23 Apr 2022 at 16:27

Loosely pegged out the edging strip for two new paths. Once I get the boss' approval I'll dig them out ready for the barrier matting and gravel

peterattheboro · 23 Apr 2022 at 20:02

Smashed out an old brick flowerbed ready to flatten in and lay a patio over it.

dlockers · 24 Apr 2022 at 18:51

Sorted the shed. But step 1 involved building a pot store from some old gravel boards (super quick and dirty). This meant the annoying to store pots could live outside and my floor space in the shed was improved.

Step 2 involved a trip to the tip and using my new black boxes (still a proper sort out required):

Fin:

Uhtred · 24 Apr 2022 at 19:45

I finished cleaning and repointing our path. The toughest bit was getting the rest of the old jointing out. It's still not great, there's lots of lippage and the joints vary in width considerably but it will do for now.

Before

After

theone8181 · 24 Apr 2022 at 20:03

Uhtred said:
I finished cleaning and repointing our path. The toughest bit was getting the rest of the old jointing out. It's still not great, there's lots of lippage and the joints vary in width considerably but it will do for now.

Before

After

It's amazing hiw much comes off when you think they're only a bit dirty isn't it :cry:

.

Uhtred · 24 Apr 2022 at 20:28

theone8181 said:
It's amazing hiw much comes off when you think they're only a bit dirty isn't it.

I mean I only washed it a year ago :cry:

Participant · 24 Apr 2022 at 22:22

Replaced the 'cloakroom' as my mum calls it (containing no cloaks).

Before:

After:

So glad it's over. It took way longer than I thought it would. I did 100% of it myself.

IvanDobskey · 25 Apr 2022 at 10:04

Really nice job @Participant