| Most people would say that this sink is installed slightly
on the low side! Well, over the next week or two, I hope to be dealing
with this.
The problem is the pedestal. No, I didn't forget to fit it, it's just that it turned out to be a little short. This meant that there was a gap between the sink and the splashback tiles, but more important than that, the sink waste outlet was hard against the waste pipe outlet (at the top of the picture). That means I can't fit a trap in and I'll be buggered if I'm going to move the waste outlet. **Update** Whoohoo! The sink is on the wall and plumbed in! Now
for that wallpaper!
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Well, it got finished eventually! And yes, that is red wallpaper! I'll
be back soon with details of the impending bedroom decorating (well, only
if something goes wrong) and also with details of how I manage to deal
with the patio that is now bursting at the seams because of tree roots.
Yes, I planted the damned tree!
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| I did a half-decent job of wiring up the new bedroom extension at Bayleaf
Cottage, marred only when I put a foot wrong and found myself stood on
the microwave in the kitchen below! The builders also put a foot through
the dining room ceiling, but they never did admit which one of them did
it.
All of this pales into insignificance when we remember Dave, Jo and John's neighbour. He put scaffolding up outside his house in early June 1992 and it's still there. We fully expect it to stay there too, as not many of the bolts go round any more. |
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Then I set about making a lampshade out of black and white glass. I
left the glass in the boot of the car and then went to get the Christmas
shopping when it had gone dark. The results of this error of judgement
are shown below!
However, the lampshade is finally installed on the ceiling, where it can do me no more harm. I have seen to it that it is not going to fall down and smash my head in. Probably. |
Now, like any ambitious DIY-er, I don't necessarily rule out simple
surgery. However, being as the skin on the back of a hand is stretched
loosely over the inner workings and isn't attached to the underlying structure,
my repair with duct tape proved ineffective. The cut edges of the skin
kept rolling out of sight and were never going to meet each other and heal.
So it was down to the local casualty department for antibiotics, a tetanus
jab and a better sort of duct tape.
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If you want see a closer view of these pictures they are available at higher resolution! Go on! you know you want to! Right click on an image and select 'View Image', or whatever equivalent action your browser requires you to perform. |  |
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Anyway, I set about removing the old fan and in the process, I managed
to cut through both the electricity cable AND the gas pipe! Most people
are capable of bringing their house down around their ears. Me, I can do
that to an entire street!
Well, I have to move them anyway, as the exhaust flexihose has to go through here. |
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No worries! On the wall and running. Now I have to block up that hole
where the old fan was. The only hard part will be finding tiles that match
the existing ones.
Why is it that the DIY stores can sell half-a-dozen or so shades of any colour that you can think of, but seem able to sell 10,000 different shades of white? |
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I always like doing this. Suspend with wooden wedges whatever it is to be mounted in the space it has to fit - and get your can of FILLER FOAM! |  |
I have actually managed, in the past, to have a minor filler foam disaster.
I was using a can to fill the gap under a bedroom window sill, when, because
I'd used the can before, the valve jammed open. I was on the downstairs
bathroom roof at the time, so I just went back down the ladder and put
the kettle on until the can had emptied itself. What do you do with
a 4-foot diameter cottage loaf? I had to stamp it into two pieces before
we could get it in the refuse truck.
| I decided to have a go at making a stained glass window to go over
the dining room door.
I guess it belongs here by virtue of it being something of a style disaster, even though I didn't really design it - it's based on Piet Mondrian's "Red, Yellow and Blue", or something. |
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I was putting up a few shelves in my study recently, in a sort of alcove. The plaster isn't good, so I thought I'd start by fixing two planks to the walls to fix the shelf brackets to, sealing gaps with decorator's filler and painting the same colour as the walls. I went to the shed to get the tube of filler, and as as I was about to start, noticed that I'd got brown, not white. "The hell with it", I thought, "The paint covers well enough" and got on with it. When I came to paint over it, I realised I hadn't used decorator's filler, I'd used silicone sealant. Could I paint over it? Absolutely not! It just wouldn't wet! Doh! I tried water-based primer with a dash of washing-up liquid (so-so results) and eventually found an oil-based primer that covered it in two coats. Then I could finally paint over that! How to make a 30-minute job take 2 days! |
| This has taken me aound 12 months. The window was started around July
2004, and was finished two weeks ago, after spending some weeks under my
bed, half completed.
I guess the window took something between 12 and 24 hours to make, all in, and four hours to fit it (including three of them looking for mislaid tools!). That means I have applied myself to this task 0.03% of the time. What the heck do I do with the rest of it? Anyway, I've quit for the day, leaving a bit of making good to be done, as the neighbour says there's going to be thunder and rain. Thunder and rain? What could possibly go wrong?
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Woo, they weren't joking about that thunder and lightning, were they? Sorry about my inability to frame a picture in the dark.
Oh, it'll only take 10 minutes...How many times have I said that!I decided to level the dishwasher, which I noticed was very slightly slanted to the left. It sits on floorboards to the left and tiles to the right. I slipped a piece of hardboard under the feet to check how much levelling it needed (the feet aren't adjustable) and when I withdrew the the hardboard it had a damp patch on it. Out came the dishwasher and cooker and I found this... The wall has been damaged by damp, but it's bone dry! I bashed off all the blown plaster and cleared up. The floorboards are wet. I upended the dishwasher and sure enough, it's leaking. It seems that the wall was damaged by rainwater leaking down the wall cavity, which was fixed some time ago. It had done that, unnoticed, for ages, until the cooker hood went in and I could hear the drips plinking on the cooker hood exhaust tube. I might as well fix up this damage now I'm here! And I'll have to see if the dishwasher can be fixed. Am I going to 'get a man in'? The hell I am!
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Well, having checked, it seems I can replace a ceiling rose. I can also
replace any other single run of cable if, and only if, it has been damaged
by impact, fire, or by rodents. The following springs to mind:
I found this sort of ceiling rose to be very handy as you
can wire up a heavy lamp at ground level and you can take it down to clean
it,
which saves balancing on a ladder. Now that's something that is
dangerous!
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I will shortly be taking some time off work, so look forward to a lot more appearing here!
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Author: Martyn Arnold Last modified: |
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