Most frustrating DIY job you've ever done?
Discussion
I don't mean expensive/lengthy/boring, I mean the most fiddly three handed job you've ever done.
I've always known I couldn't be a plumber or a mechanic, as fiddly jobs in enclosed spaces are my idea of hell.
Tonight I tried to mend the pipe from my bath's overflow, which had come adrift. It was nominally a push fit connection between the socket behind the overflow and a flexible pipe, but for some reason it wouldn't stay in place. So my whizzo scheme was to secure a jubilee clip round the connection. However:
/rant
Stories please!
I've always known I couldn't be a plumber or a mechanic, as fiddly jobs in enclosed spaces are my idea of hell.
Tonight I tried to mend the pipe from my bath's overflow, which had come adrift. It was nominally a push fit connection between the socket behind the overflow and a flexible pipe, but for some reason it wouldn't stay in place. So my whizzo scheme was to secure a jubilee clip round the connection. However:
- the pipe had to be held in place or it came adrift
- ditto the jubilee clip, but doing so was a separate operation to holding the pipe
- space constraints mean the only way to access this was by lying next to the bath in a position where I couldn't see what I was doing, or easily use my left hand
/rant
Stories please!
Anything involving that thing which is satans's own creation....
Silicon sealant.
As a DIY person and also a boat owner I'm often using this stuff and I hate it. It gets everywhere. I never know when to stop...as in I think it I smooth this bit down it will look ok but no, I just bugger the whole thing up again. Tubes that run out and deposit a big air bubble right in the middle of a run.
When it comes to silicon I can usually achieve a finish that in fairness most people would be very proud of...if they were MIG welding that is!
Silicon sealant.
As a DIY person and also a boat owner I'm often using this stuff and I hate it. It gets everywhere. I never know when to stop...as in I think it I smooth this bit down it will look ok but no, I just bugger the whole thing up again. Tubes that run out and deposit a big air bubble right in the middle of a run.
When it comes to silicon I can usually achieve a finish that in fairness most people would be very proud of...if they were MIG welding that is!
Hard-Drive said:
Anything involving that thing which is satans's own creation....
Silicon sealant.
As a DIY person and also a boat owner I'm often using this stuff and I hate it. It gets everywhere. I never know when to stop...as in I think it I smooth this bit down it will look ok but no, I just bugger the whole thing up again. Tubes that run out and deposit a big air bubble right in the middle of a run.
When it comes to silicon I can usually achieve a finish that in fairness most people would be very proud of...if they were MIG welding that is!
I too used to hate all things silicon until I discovered these: http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-smoothing-to...Silicon sealant.
As a DIY person and also a boat owner I'm often using this stuff and I hate it. It gets everywhere. I never know when to stop...as in I think it I smooth this bit down it will look ok but no, I just bugger the whole thing up again. Tubes that run out and deposit a big air bubble right in the middle of a run.
When it comes to silicon I can usually achieve a finish that in fairness most people would be very proud of...if they were MIG welding that is!
Makes the job so easy.
As for frustrating jobs I've encountered - frankly too many to list
C0ffin D0dger said:
I too used to hate all things silicon until I discovered these: http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-smoothing-to...
Makes the job so easy.
As for frustrating jobs I've encountered - frankly too many to list
Or fairy liquid and a finger. Makes the job so easy.
As for frustrating jobs I've encountered - frankly too many to list
Hard-Drive said:
When it comes to silicon I can usually achieve a finish that in fairness most people would be very proud of...if they were MIG welding that is!
haha, snap! More car related, fitting a PAS hose under a car in the most confined V6 engine bay ever! The rubber hose needed pushing onto a metal pipe that was not secured as it had a rubber hose on the other end. This was a repair so I had to cut the metal pipe first, space was so tiny I had to use a hobby type cutting wheel. To this day I still do not know how I contorted by hands into the space & pushed it on. Freezing cold November day too, pissing with rain. Lovely. Although the frustration melted away when it worked (& still does) saving the £400 quoted by a garage to fix it.
Hard-Drive said:
Anything involving that thing which is satans's own creation....
Silicon sealant.
Silicon sealant.
I've just done the entire interior of a house extension myself - plastering, plumbing, wiring, flooring, tiling, the lot... but I had to get someone else to do the silicone sealant in the en-suite.
Anything in our house where we live....
Sounds mad, but bear with me! The previous owner, if they have touched anything, have bodged it to the nth degree. A 'simple' job is never, ever simple. I'm not saying I am the world's best DIYer, but given the right tools, I'm reasonably capable. But any time I have to do anything here, the work will undoubtedly take twice as long and leave me scratching my head. I am in awe of people who do good DIY/building work (PVApour, Scottish Schoold building chap and Muncher are my heroes!)!
Sounds mad, but bear with me! The previous owner, if they have touched anything, have bodged it to the nth degree. A 'simple' job is never, ever simple. I'm not saying I am the world's best DIYer, but given the right tools, I'm reasonably capable. But any time I have to do anything here, the work will undoubtedly take twice as long and leave me scratching my head. I am in awe of people who do good DIY/building work (PVApour, Scottish Schoold building chap and Muncher are my heroes!)!
All of them. In this house anyway. I can only assume the previous owner was a complete buffoon. Everything been done in the most cack-handed, non-straight-forward way possible. Just makes every job, even seemingly simple ones, take bloody ages and necessitate multiple trips to the DIY store.
And if its not his handy work f
king up my day, its the cheap st fixtures and fittings he's used that have either broken, or corroded so bad they've fused together. Lots of rounded screw heads about as well.
And if its not his handy work f
king up my day, its the cheap st fixtures and fittings he's used that have either broken, or corroded so bad they've fused together. Lots of rounded screw heads about as well.Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Friday 9th October 15:54
NorthDave said:
C0ffin D0dger said:
I too used to hate all things silicon until I discovered these: http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-smoothing-to...
Makes the job so easy.
As for frustrating jobs I've encountered - frankly too many to list
Or fairy liquid and a finger. Makes the job so easy.
As for frustrating jobs I've encountered - frankly too many to list
600mm porcelain tiles on my bathroom floor; you have to be really accurate as a slight out is magnified down the line. Ended up abandoning the lay after an hour and about 4 or 5 tiles, scooping up all the wet adhesive (to preserve the in-floor electric element) and not realising the adhesive is actually quite abrasive, so removing all the skin on my fingertips into the bargain. Not the best tiling project for someone who's done little tiling before!
justanother5tar said:
NorthDave said:
C0ffin D0dger said:
I too used to hate all things silicon until I discovered these: http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-smoothing-to...
Makes the job so easy.
As for frustrating jobs I've encountered - frankly too many to list
Or fairy liquid and a finger. Makes the job so easy.
As for frustrating jobs I've encountered - frankly too many to list
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