What "man jobs" have you done today?

Glad someone else uses creosote love the smell. You made a good job of that.

Don't forget to put a bit of old used engine oil in it - My shed needs another coat. Takes a day or two for engine oil to dry out but it makes sure the rain runs off.
 
DXP55 said:
Glad someone else uses creosote love the smell. You made a good job of that.

Don't forget to put a bit of old used engine oil in it - My shed needs another coat. Takes a day or two for engine oil to dry out but it makes sure the rain runs off.
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Thank you very much - I haven't got any old used engine oil, the MX5 has just been serviced and the Merc is new. Also, I haven't heard anything like mixing in engine oil before?

And yes, I love the smell as well :D
 
The wife has always wanted the TV on the chimney breast rather than in the corner of the room so finally gave in and grabbed some cheap IKEA floating cabinets and hacked 2 of them with a saw to wrap around the chimney breast. She’s happy so a new TV for me at Xmas :D

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Dutch777 said:
The wife has always wanted the TV on the chimney breast rather than in the corner of the room so finally gave in and grabbed some cheap IKEA floating cabinets and hacked 2 of them with a saw to wrap around the chimney breast. She’s happy so a new TV for me at Xmas :D
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Did you fill in and repaint all the holes where the speakers and painting fixings were? What about where the old fireplace was?
 
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sigma said:
Has anyone ever plastered before? I know it's hard... still tempted though...
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I have over the years and a number of homes, but the largest areas I ever did were a 4x3m ceiling (really hard work!) and two of that room's walls. I have done many smaller areas and although I do any house renovation job its the one thing I don't look forward to.

The problem with plastering is it takes ongoing practice to keep the technique and experience of how quickly walls of different base coats/finishes will dry before the second coat, trowelling etc. For me this means it takes much longer than a pro as I do it wall by wall and it can be stressful.

After starting with some smaller areas I've always have good results but these days I keep to the smaller repairs such as recently skimming window reveals after replacement windows and a short wall sections, and I only do these to avoid the hassle of getting/waiting someone for small jobs rather than cost saving.
 
Yeah plastering is one of those things you need to keep doing. I've done tiny bits with multifinish and its not as easy as YouTube makes out, the one coat Knauf stuff is a bit easier for a noob. When I did my extension I spent quite a bit of time looking into diy but ceilings are a whole different ball game so ended up getting someone in to do it. No regrets, he did a good job.

The thing with plastering is you need to work quite fast and I like probably many on here like to take my time.
 
gingergundog said:
The thing with plastering is you need to work quite fast and I like probably many on here like to take my time.
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I think that is the key challenge DIYer's have with plastering by trying to go slow on each coat and get too good a finish at an early stage when the plaster is too soft. With plastering it's about getting each coat on quickly so an area dries at a similar time, and then spending time later on to trowel them several times in slightly different ways to fill dips and remove trowel lines. It's amazing how much you can fix/improve on subsequent passes/coats and that's what the pros do.
 
Simon42 said:
I think that is the key challenge DIYer's have with plastering by trying to go slow on each coat and get too good a finish at an early stage when the plaster is too soft. With plastering it's about getting each coat on quickly so an area dries at a similar time, and then spending time later on to trowel them several times in slightly different ways to fill dips and remove trowel lines. It's amazing how much you can fix/improve on subsequent passes/coats and that's what the pros do.
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Absolutely, from some of the bits I have done its so easy to sucked into trying to make it perfect before its firmed up enough.
 
sigma said:
Has anyone ever plastered before? I know it's hard... still tempted though...
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Yes I've done three rooms now, but no ceilings yet.

I am much much better now than I was for my first wall. There are so many simple tips that make your results look professional relatively quickly.

Plenty of great UK spreads doing god's work on YouTube with excellent tutorials. I now hope to never have to pay someone for it again.
 
Replaced the Yale lock on the front door which our guests broke on Monday (cretins!) when they left.

Also, knocked off some of the cracked stone windowsill and skimmed some concrete over the missing bit. I HATE working up a ladder, but at least it was warm.

Cleaned the guttering while I was up there..
 
Took Thursday and Friday off to get spare bedroom ready for guests... ended up going a bit off plan and doing general finishing up of jobs I'd been putting off. This included pulling about 5 network/RF cables to their final destinations as I'd left the roll of them sticking out the top floor landing. Cutting an access hole in the ceiling and pulling the final light switch cable. Fitting 3x light fittings and 2x switches.

I was really pleased to find when I was last working on this over 6 months ago, I had the foresight to drill holes for the data cable run, so I went in expecting to get the tools out and instead just needed to do the grunt work of reaching under floorboards and tugging on things.

My hands are sore, blistered and scraped but there are SO MANY less cables sticking out of random gaps in floors/walls now :)

Tomorrow I may run one or two extra light fittings depending on my partner's assessment of the rooms. Then it's just tidy up and make good for guests.

Doing it in 28 degrees indoors wasn't the most fun!
 
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