This is from a layman's point of view

Jan 14, 2005 48 Replies

Well people, this is words straight from a layman's mouth, my missus to be exact, after reading some of the postings to this group asking for advice. She read a good few of the ones where people have done or suggested the daftest things to do with certain safety issues of gas, electricity, structures and the likes, and she asked me "how many people are out there actually doing these types of daft things, without asking on help groups likes this one for advice first?" It got me to thinking about it this as well, I might add.



So, I just wondered if anyone had heard or seen of the silly things that have caused preventable incidents while making a simple job harder to carry out? If anyone can furnish us with documents, pictures, stories, Etc. on the lines of "This shouldn't happen to a DIYer", they would be more than gratefully received.



The old lady and me have been together for many years now, and we need things to cheer us up from time to time, while lying in bed of a cold dark night. :-)


There was a case in court on the news about a year ago where someone sawed all the wooden posts out of his (rented!) house to make a loft conversion.

Bob

I remember that one now - it was a cracker!

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know there are some real gems over on
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however because it's a Merkin site and they don't have a term to describe DIY, it's hard to track down DIY-related ones on the site (but hey, it's still fun looking!!)

Here's a not particularly outstanding one I've just found, about a guy using car batteries to jack up his car...

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Here is the BBC news item:

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Yeah - but wasn't there also a Beeny show one where a 'professional' builder did something similar using ties hammered into the joists ?

Yup. Not so cataclysmic as the loft conversion in terms of damage wrought, as the BCO just made him do the job again properly.

There was another Beeny one quite recently where a bloke was removing the end wall of his house, and got a structural engineer in to specify how he should support the structure during this process. However, the punter knew better and duly ignored the professional advice which he'd paid for, and hired only about half the number of Acros that he'd been told to use.

He was lucky though as he got away with it (therefore no 'preventable incident' as specified by the OP!!)

David

Silly Bugger !!! That's the type of thing we like. A fully qualified professional doing the daftest things, eh? And he still didn't win the full Darwin Award for his actions? Boy, these Darwin Awards are a tough. LOL !!!

Ah right !!! Now I remember that stupid bugger. He's not a bad man, he's just "Stupid" with a capital Doh! LOL !!! Keep them coming.

ROFLMAO !!! Now that's the type of thing we're looking for. A few hundred pounds turns in to thousands, eh? Wait till the missus see's this one. LOL !!!

I'm preparing to write a book called: "This shouldn't happen to a DIYer", but I can't be arsed to do any research myself, much less pay anyone else to to do it for me.

-- S.C.

ROFLMAO !!!!! You must be joking mate !!!! Have you seen the way I write things. I can't even spoke proper England. Thank the heavens for Spell Checkers, I say. :-) I just want to show how some people think things are done. Be they dangerous, simply stupid or down right crazy actions of people who, as the Darwin Awards site puts it, haven't grown out of the Neanderthal age.

So, your translation is wrong and, I think you should learn to speak my language. :-)

">> Here's one:

Another tack on the same story??

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A couple I found here:

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I've got two for you, but without references, I'm afraid.

1) In Winchester, some 20 years ago, someone with a house in the city centre decided that his 1/2 cellar could be turned into a usable space. He got his pick & spade out and started digging down. After a bit he hit some concrete so dug that out too. Shame really as it was the foundations. The road was closed for a couple of days while his house was carried away in tipper trucks.

2) I saw on a TV prog a few years ago a report on a _PRO_ chippy who felt that he was being slowed down by the blade cover on his Skil saw. Well, he took himself out of the gene pool but survived to feel really sore & stupid! When he dropped the running saw it caught on his trousers and ran up his leg causing damage to certain parts of his anatomy.

In message , Stephen Chalmers writes

More like a thin pamphlet I would think

I can't see BW having the time to do something like that

What about that story of the bloke in Shropshire who almost managed to demolish his house

Well don't leave us all hanging like this. What bloke iu Shropshite ?

Which story is that?

And the book is now out the window, it's down to a single side of an A4 sheet of paper. :-)

In message , Mike writes

If I'd remembered more, I would have posted more. I just remember someone here posting the url

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