The trouble with being DIY Minded

And that's just from walking into your own home :-)

Mike

To be fair, even with a DIY mindset you often note all these things, and then just add them to the list of things to do, that never gets done!

In message , John Rumm writes

True! Beyond that, though, I do find that asking here often helps to solve a problem in direct AND indirect ways. Just the process of typing a question helps to get my thoughts in order, and sometimes I'm halfway to the answer even before any responses appear. Similarly, some responses don't necessarily provide a direct answer, but do steer the brain in the right direction.

Or aerial / satellite cables not clipped back properly and just asking to be ripped out. ;-(

Or 'Norman doors'.

Any tap that doesn't work.

Any blocked vent.

Any un oiled hinge. [1]

Any stuff growing in the wrong place.

Any closure that needs adjusting.

See above.

Check.

And when 'lifted' done so properly.

Anywhere that needs sweeping.

Check.

Or satellite dishes ... especially those hanging by one screw or their cable.

Or, simply don't notice such things as we do (till pointed out to them) and / or don't have the time / money / opportunity / skills / equipment / position to do anything about it)?

Like, we have some flashing that has come adrift on our 'rear addition' but it's right on the top of a flank wall on the road. I'm not going up there, the guy who built it has moved away and I don't know any roofer that I trust to do it for me.

Ever since I taught our daughter how to decorate she see's everone's bad tiling, slipshod wallpapering and slapdash cutting in ... some to a laughable degree. There is 'the right way' (as in result at least) and all the other ways.

Ignorance (and poor observation) is bliss? I think it is because then they 'aren't bovvered' about half the things we are? ;-(

Cheers, T i m

When my wife was giving birth to our eldest son, he was in distress and she had to have an emergency ceasarean. As they couldn't get the needle in for a spinal, she had to have a GA, so they threw me out of theatre and I had to wait in the delivery room.

First I paced for a bit, then made a cup of tea, then sorted out the power and aerial cabling for the TV and clipped the lid of the mini-trunking back in place.

SteveW

Staying in a cheap hostel in Prague, our room was near the internal entrance door, which closed noisily all night. Next day I was quick to find the two adjusters and soon had it working properly but silently.

Chris

I tend to re-tune the waiting room TV if it can be done without the remote. It annoys me when the tuning is wrong because in two of the six hospitals I've been in since Christmas the TV distribution was done by me and is now maintained by Paul.

Talking about Paul, when he and his twin sister were about to be born there was some concern about the table that Hil was on, because one of the legs was very loose. We'd arrived in the van so I went out and grabbed a few tools and fixed it. It was surreal to be tightening the bolts on a table leg as my wife was starting to eject my daughter just above my head.

When I was in the operating theatre about to be made unconscious so Mr Helm could rebuild my hand the anesthetist (a short plump Chinese lady) came through the door. The auto door closer broke and a piece fell, rolled down her ample bosom, and disappeared under an instrument trolley. The door wouldn't stay shut because of the air cond and they said they couldn't operate until it was because of germs or something, so I said, "Get the bolt! It's gone under there!" A lanky lad retrieved it and with me telling him how he managed to reach up and slot it into place. The anesthetist said to me, "I'm going to put you to sleep now. I hope we will be able to manage without your advice."

Bill

I was at a clients the other day, popped to the loo and noticed the loo roll holder flopping all about the place. Since I had my mini SA knife in my pocket I fixed it. Makes me wonder if someone will be sitting there later, thinking, oh look - someone got that fixed!

Often bad connections on things in hospitals - nurses twist plugs and pull leads.

Stickers on domestic appliances intended for shop display. I don't know why anyone would want a great big sticker on their fridge door. It's not exactly something to boast about having an A rated appliance.

Televisions are the worst, where the sticker is on the actual screen, and people still leave it on.

And I had to spend two minutes at work every morning lining all the mugs on the mug tray with the handles at the same angle.

And station announcements that start as soon as the train enters the platform instead of waiting for it to come to a complete stop and the doors to finish their bleepy-opening cycle before announcing.

Owain

I always take a mini- multitool on holiday - and a couple of washers for the shower hose / head connection.

And a roll of gaffer tape.

I like the stickers thing - at one time it was just mains leads - now all over the place.

DerbyBorn explained on 01/05/2018 :

I tend to notice all of those things, including shops with lights not working and I have to pinch myself to stop me fixing the issues.

I get lots of 'how do you fix...' type calls wanting free advice, on all sorts of problems.

Is that for taping gaffers?

And not long after being sedated to have the camera stuck where the sun don't shine and before the guy who was before me had even finished his cuppa I had walked the diagonal of the hospital grounds and put the (broken) automatic barrier on the exit back together, as everyone else was just standing there looking at it (and in my way for getting out). ;-)

I guess whilst on one hand, those of us who do know how to do some stuff would know how to do it just as well as those they would call in to go the same stuff at much greater cost, you can see why they mightn't let 'anyone' do such things, should it be a poor job, go wrong and hurt someone else.

Mind you, if it was hospital stuff they would be in the right place. ;-) [1]

Cheers, T i m

Those are truly some excellent yarns Bill :)

Many people don't even realise a fix is needed.

It's a dammed good excuse though, I've often used it. I'm suprised there's not a list of good excuses you can use on the DIY wiki, entitled what to tell your partner when you really don't want to do a job.