Anyone doing any diy this weekend?

[Tin Pot]

Rods, but don't poke it. Fit the screw attachment things, and wind that clockwise* into the blockage and then pull. You'll bring chunks off at a time, until you finally break through. A pair of Mollgrips clipped onto your rods helps turn them (and don't forget to wear gloves, and clean your rods straight away whilst they're still wet).

*Because if you go the other way you'll unscrew the joint between two rods, and then have the fun of fishing a lost rod out of your drain.

I tried the twisty rod thing to no avail, now trying the Kerscher Pipe Cleaning attachment.

Any idea how you can tell if progress is being made? It’s not going any further into the pipe as the minutes go by.

Edit

As I hit ‘post’ the drain suddenly unblocked and water level fell about 40cm.
This is an external drain pipe and can still see the water level, but it does seem to drain when added to.

 

[Thomson]

Took a weeks holiday off work last week. Put up new partition plaster boarded and skimmed. Ripped up carpet layed laminate flooring. Skirtings and facings on. Stripped wallpaper. Put up coving. Done some more plastering last night till 11.30. Just decorating to do soon. And I hate diy.

 

[Tin Pot]

Anyone know at what rate a drain should drain?

Although I can see the water level, I poured 6 litres down in ten seconds and the level didn’t rise - could just be a high water table after the heavy rain?

 

[Profpointy]

Yep !

Just resoldered the cables of our garden fairy lights. Mrs PP had been pruning and got mesmerised by "cut the plant not the cable". Obviously I'd never do anything as stupid as that: Not me ! Cutting a cable instead of a cable tie is totally different after all.


Next job is fixing the pipes on the pond pump filter thing so I can finally get some fish.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I'm painting the kitchen walls. What a pain in the arse job, cutting in around numerous cupboards and nooks and crannies. With a bit of luck I'll finish the second coat tomorrow.

 

[Tin Pot]

Anyone know at what rate a drain should drain?

Although I can see the water level, I poured 6 litres down in ten seconds and the level didn’t rise - could just be a high water table after the heavy rain?

Seems to be a water trap.

It’s working in the rain right now better than ever so I’m calling that a win.

 

[MontyVeda]

I plan on doing some every weekend but seldom get round to it... I enjoy the planning stages too much, plus thinking about my plans is one of the more productive ways of procrastinating.

This is first in the queue; A tool caddy that'll fit under my kitchen worktop.

The shelves (not drawn) will be heavy gauge wire to stop me from dumping screws and nails on it (it's for tools only), and any dust will fall right through. It'll also have wheels on the two back legs so it'll easily get in and out of its little cubby hole.

I've been putting it off because cutting the 40 mortices was a bit daunting, but I've concocted a self centering jig for my little router...

Those two bearings on the base engage with either side of the workpiece and ensure that the cuts are dead centre. The clamps are also the stops to ensure that each mortice is an inch. Each one takes less than a minute to set up and a couple of minutes to cut. Without all that procrastination I'm sure i'd have done it the hard way... 9 mortices done, 31 to go!

 

[subaqua]

New kitchen going in. Which will mean outside float gets sorted with a correct size pipe . And hole in ceiling gets filled in. And floor gets levelled properly

 

[MontyVeda]

I did a bit of DIY the weekend...

A bit of scribing:

a bit of sawing:

a bit of filing:

a bit of drilling:

...and repeat three times:

A few years ago I made a flood barrier (AKA a sheet of ply) for a friends cellar door, which fitted to the wooden door frame. Then she got a new uPVC door fitted, which still leaks quite a lot when the rain is torrential, so those four steel latch things above are to clamp the ply to the new frame.

The sill on the top stops rain running down the door from getting behind the barrier...

this is the outside with the door shut:

Just needs a lick of paint on the sill and some proper torrential rain so we know if it still works. I'm confident it will

 

[oldwheels]

Clear out any rubbish and generally clean inside my motorhome. I have a prospective buyer so while it looks lived in it is clean and tidy. As an itinerant ferry skipper he needs it to live in for a couple of weeks at a time at least.

 

[cyberknight]

Just installed new pull switch for the shower. found out last night it was broke . lad says oh yeah i tried it earlier.......

 

[slowmotion]

I took down the bathroom extract fan and cleared twenty years of dust from the through-wall 100mm duct. Cleaned up the fan motor and squirted a shed load of GT85 into the noisy bearings. On startup it sounded promising but quickly reverted to being horrid again.

I ordered another el-cheapo fan from Screwfix.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I put my partner's TV up on her bedroom wall last night. I was very upset with the outcome; the chimney breast was very soft and crumbly and even though I drilled accurate pilot holes and gradually increased the size of my bit, the bit still got carried off dead centre. So the TV is ever so slightly wonky. My partner says it's fine but it drives me mad looking at it!

The next few evenings will be decorating her son's bedroom. I hate painting but it should be done quicker with 2 of us.

 

[MontyVeda]

I put my partner's TV up on her bedroom wall last night. I was very upset with the outcome; the chimney breast was very soft and crumbly and even though I drilled accurate pilot holes and gradually increased the size of my bit, the bit still got carried off dead centre. So the TV is ever so slightly wonky. My partner says it's fine but it drives me mad looking at it!

The next few evenings will be decorating her son's bedroom. I hate painting but it should be done quicker with 2 of us.

You have my empathy.

It seems most houses in Lancaster built around 1900 have rubble walls. I dread drilling them. It seldom goes well.

 

[MichaelW2]

Finally got around to reinstalling a kitchen drawer. The wooden rail wore out. My replacement rail snapped at a weak point. I got some metal ball bearing sliders and installed them. Only after fitting some side pieces of wood exactly the correct thickness to mount the sliders on. Everything in my house seems to be special, not standard.