Miscellaneous DIY Projects (or bits of jobs)

[Cathy]

Kevin you are 18inches taller than this midget.

[Stanley]

Cathy, the best things come in very small parcels....

[Big Kev]

Kevin you are 18inches taller than this midget.

[Cathy]

Kevin, ‘Hello up there, here I am’

[Big Kev]

An hour's labour so far. Should get the rest of the dining room done today. As usual nothing is straight, let alone square. I've used an off cut of flooring to fill the 12mm gap at the kitchen end.

[Big Kev]

Very impressed with the laminate flooring, it 'clicks' together very easily one piece at a time (previous products I've used you had to join a whole row together before 'clicking' it into the previous row).

[PanBiker]

Looking good Kev, well done. That would be more than a "bit of a job" for me.

[Big Kev]

Looking good Kev, well done. That would be more than a "bit of a job" for me.

It goes together really easy Ian, it's the fiddly bits around the door frames and fireplace that slow things down. I'll be trimming around 10mm off the bottom of the doors tomorrow and refitting them, it's a thick bit of laminate.

[PanBiker]

I will have to take the door off our bedroom to shave a bit off since we had the new carpet fitted.

[Stanley]

"it's the fiddly bits around the door frames and fireplace that slow things down"
I have exactly the same trouble with small engines Kev.

[Big Kev]

Finished the last of the flooring today, I only had the hallway to do. 10mm off the bottom of 5 doors, just need to put some quadrant around the edges but that'll have to wait a week as I'm back on shift tomorrow.

[chinatyke]

Another good job. Looks nice. Well done. When you get your new mattress will that be everything done?

[Stanley]

I can see why when I die my house will be a doer-upper!

[Big Kev]

When you get your new mattress will that be everything done?

It will for a while

[Big Kev]

A top tip, don't use carpet underlay for laminate flooring. It's too soft and the floor feels weird when you walk on it. I have an hour's work on Sunday to lift the floor and replace the underlay with wood fibre underlay. A PITA but it's got to be done.

[Stanley]

I noted the underlay and was wondering about it..... Hard Luck Kev, we all have them.

[Big Kev]

Decided to do the floor after work this evening, 45 minutes to take it up and remove the old underlay and an hour to put down the wood fibre boards and replace the floor. It doesn't feel weird any more

[Stanley]

[Big Kev]

Some final touches on the hallway today, I had this pendant light stored in the cellar which needed new glass shades. I found a company that supplied a set of 3 for just over £12 and they arrived yesterday, the fitting replaces a spotlight bar with 4 heads on it which didn't look right in the hallway.

[Stanley]

Elegant springs to mind.

[Big Kev]

It's a definite improvement, the spotlight bar just didn't look right.

[Cathy]

Very swish Kevin, love the architraves.

[Big Kev]

Thank you Cathy, all original features.

[PanBiker]

A minor domestic job today. The telescopic washing line prop failed. It's an Aldi telescopic job with a compression gland at the top of the first pole used to secure the sliding top section. Problem is it has lost it's efficiency and no longer grips the pole tight enough to hold it securely and invariably drops back down as soon as you introduce it to a line of clothes. We only ever use it at one height so I have fixed it with a couple of rivets.



The heads were a little proud so I fixed that with a short length of heat shrink.



Easy fix and I can guarantee it won't slip now. Qualifies for make do and mend. Could have just bought another one but that would probably eventually fail in the same way. A bad design is a bad design

My mums prop was just two bits of wood the top section ran through a couple of rectangular tin guides on the side of the bottom section that created the adjustable design. One hole drilled through the side of the bottom section near the top and multiple spaced holes in the bottom third of the top section. A wooden dowel peg was used to set the required height and this was secured by a piece of string to the bottom pole so you didn't loose it. Never failed, no point really trying to re-invent the wheel.

[Stanley]

Your mum had a posh prop! Ours was just a piece of slater's lath with a notch on the end.....