Graham's Top Tips

[skier-hughes]

It's a very physical job, particularly when you have to get through concrete which varies in thickness from 2" to about 14".
It couldn't have happened at a better time though.

Take bathroom apart to renew.
JO ruptures achillies tendon
Work stops on bathroom, no work no pay for a while.
Jo finds it awkward to get upstairs
Invite 30 people round for a day long barbecue
Downstairs toilet blocks
While trying to unblock you realise problem is worse as water is seeping up from the ground and blockage isn't moving
30 people want to use the toilet....... ok thank goodness for Farmer Joe's outside loo
JO has to go upstairs each time she wants the loo
She berates me like anything for not working fast enough
I eventually get through concrete
I find 3 broken clay sewer pipes
I find the fall is positive from both the loo and the basin/washing machine pipes before it then becomes negative
Nothing I have will do a temporary repair
Start digging up rest of the pipe so that I can take it all up and lay new which at least will fall from house to inspection chamber!
Still no work on the bathroom being done.

On the plus side that's two loos less for Abi to clean
And we've had an idea on changing the use of the bathroom, so it becomes an upstairs loo with sink and partioned off to become my office. Put 2nd en-suite in other bedroom and if we have a full house of guests one lot will have to use the downstairs shower room...... which I'm going to build now I'm doing the drains.

Really really should have had that kit kat..... at Least Jo's tendon is repairing, she now has a removable boot for walking in and has managed to walk upstairs rather than going on her bum and is currently back in London working, with my Mom as chaperone.

 

[JohnB]

And we've had an idea on changing the use of the bathroom, so it becomes an upstairs loo with sink and partioned off to become my office.

Why partition it? I once viewed a house where one upstairs room was the bathroom, office and spare bedroom :shock:.

 

[Flyfisher]

I certainly wish Ihad the confidence/skill to lay drains and pipes.

I wouldn't say it needs a great deal of skill, though it is certainly hard work as Graham describes. Confidence is a definite advantage though. Most of mine stems from not knowing what I'm doing most of the time. :wink:

 

[AMc]

On the plus side that's two loos less for Abi to clean

The upside of our refit was that we have 2 ensuites, a guest bathroom and a downstairs lav.
The downside was before I had 2 loos to clean and now I have 4 and a family who insist on using all of them

<pedant mode/> Fewer loos </pedant mode>

 

[JoceAndChris]

Well, you lot are lucky to have loos at all. And the water to flush them with.

Graham - that is a terrible list of catastrophe. I dread to think what would happen if Chris hurt himself as it's a similar don't work/don't get paid situation - and am glad to read Jo is on the mend.

And reading the above has totally put me off laying pipes, I don't want to drill and bash through concrete. Well done to those who do though!

 

[skier-hughes]

I'm cutting through, bought a 12" cut off saw, it's been a bit of a bonus in making life a littel easier! Eat lunch, finish paperwork for work cafe and then bit more digging and cutting!

 

[Penners]

Here we go, Joce. Instant drainage expertise.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/content/ebiz/wickes/resources/images/gil/74.pdf

Just be aware that, when digging drainage trenches, it's de rigueur to take your shirt off.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Eek! :shock: :lol:

 

[Feltwell]

That was a very girly thing to do!

That's exactly what Mrs F said as well !

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Confidence is a definite advantage though. Most of mine stems from not knowing what I'm doing most of the time. :wink:

Seriously FF, this is a good point and something which I guess unites many of us on here.

I find my "confidence" (bravado?) stems from a general ignorance of what I am getting myself into, coupled with an intense dislike of paying other people to do what I can do/learn to do myself. This is emboldened by a firm belief that most things can be figured out with enough intellect/access to t'internet.

I've not really found anything yet I won't have a go at - general building, carpentry, carpetting, decorating, plumbing, electrics, plastering, slate-laying, roof-leading, central-heating installing, floor-laying, walling, fencing, lambing, etc, etc. There are technical things like drawing plans and structural calcs - but other than that I've not been scared off anything yet.

After all, the farmer who built this place 400 years ago didn't have the cash or access to a vast array of trades-people. He did most of the work himself with local materials, when he had time. And all without broadband access to t'internet. :shock:

What wouldn't you guys/gals try and why?

 

[Zebra]

Yes I agree with that. Currently having a go at underpinning the garden wall. Only downside is the inevitable making of mistakes as one learns, which one must have the courage to correct even if it means taking it all out and doing it again. I just hope the house forgives me.

 

[Flyfisher]

I fully understand FW's 'confidence or bravado?' comment because my general approach is if someone else can do something why can't I learn to do it? My instinct is always to have a go myself, even if on reflection I'll sometimes decline the challenge, but that's usually only after learning more about what's involved.

I've always avoided doing anything concerned with gas installations but otherwise I'll have a go at pretty much anything. Zebra makes a good point about the inevitability of making mistakes but they only give you another job to do, they need not be a disaster and it's all part of the learning process.

The internet is, of course, a wonderful resource for such things. Not just for the knowledge directly accessible but also for putting people in touch with other experienced people willing to share their own expertise (PPUK being a prime example). Before tackling anything new, I find myself taking a long time thinking about it, reading about it, asking about and formulating a plan of action. Then I spend some time rehearsing all the steps in my mind with particular emphasis on thinking about what could go wrong at each stage. There's probably an element of prevarication in all this but, so far, it means that when I finally get around to a job it usually goes according to plan.

There are some jobs that require significant skill though, even if the theory is quite simple. I'd classify plastering as one of those, and certainly one where I need a great deal more practice. I'd also only rate my bricklaying skills as passable, though this is more of a cosmetic issue than a structural one.

But there's immense satisfaction to be had from a job well done (or sometimes just done) and being able to say to yourself "I did that".

 

[Penners]

I find my "confidence" (bravado?) stems from a general ignorance of what I am getting myself into, coupled with an intense dislike of paying other people to do what I can do/learn to do myself. This is emboldened by a firm belief that most things can be figured out with enough intellect/access to t'internet.

I've not really found anything yet I won't have a go at - general building, carpentry, carpetting, decorating, plumbing, electrics, plastering, slate-laying, roof-leading, central-heating installing, floor-laying, walling, fencing, lambing, etc, etc. There are technical things like drawing plans and structural calcs - but other than that I've not been scared off anything yet.

I quite agree, FW. I have yet to find anything (except - like FF- gas) that I'm not prepared to have a bash at. After all, what's the worst that can happen?

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: Great pic! Chris doesn't balk at anything, his father managed a nuclear power station and cycled a hundred miles before breakfast and expected his son to do the same. I don't think tradesmen were ever called, not even for gas works.

It's hard as a girl though, there's lots that just seems impossible. I wouldn't do roofing, plastering, welding, soldering, tiling, chainsawing, wiring, plumbing, brick-laying, log-splitting - Chris will though. he can paint too, I mean artistically, whereas I can't. He's promised to turn the passageway into an Egyptian tomb - can't wait for that!

I am pleased to have learned the petrol strimmers and hedgetrimmers and mower, the heat guns and chemical strippers, glazing, painting and decorating, sanding, polishing, poultry-keeping and Print rooms in the last few years- fun!

My next challenge is to learn the drill.

 

[LadyArowana]

:lol: Great pic! Chris doesn't balk at anything, his father managed a nuclear power station

Just as well he wasn't the safety officer :lol:

 

[Penners]

He's promised to turn the passageway into an Egyptian tomb

Well you're definitely going to need one of these, then.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: :lol: :lol: Love it!

 

[Feltwell]

It's hard as a girl though, there's lots that just seems impossible. I wouldn't do roofing, plastering, welding, soldering, tiling, chainsawing, wiring, plumbing, brick-laying, log-splitting - Chris will though. he can paint too, I mean artistically, whereas I can't. He's promised to turn the passageway into an Egyptian tomb - can't wait for that!

I am pleased to have learned the petrol strimmers and hedgetrimmers and mower, the heat guns and chemical strippers, glazing, painting and decorating, sanding, polishing, poultry-keeping and Print rooms in the last few years- fun!

My next challenge is to learn the drill.

It's great that you're giving these things a go Joce, but I can't agree with you that being a girl rules you out from a lot of the above. Yes, it is a fact that some jobs require a level of physical strength that makes them - generally, there are exceptions - more suited to men.

But, for example, you mentioned tiling and plumbing. The only aspect of that I can think of that requires much strength for either of those is using a pipe bender - and even then that's only really with 22mm pipe, 15mm (which is what most of your house will be plumbed in if it's got modern plumbing) is easy enough. Push fit (which I don't like!) means you can use plastic pipe, so the pipe bender is redundant anyway. And there are evening & daytime classes available in both tiling and plumbing in lots of Further Education colleges. Lots of men wouldn't dream of touching plumbing either, so I'm not sure it's a gender thing.

I am a great believer in giving it a go, and like the other posters above I only really stop at gas - even then I'll plumb it up to a point then get a GasSafe fitter to do the final connection and testing. There is no shame in getting good tradesmen in though - I can lay bricks for example to a reasnoble standard, but a decent bricklayer can do it to at least a comparable standard and 10 times more quickly than I can!

 

[Zebra]

It's hard as a girl though, there's lots that just seems impossible. I wouldn't do roofing, plastering, welding, soldering, tiling, chainsawing, wiring, plumbing, brick-laying, log-splitting

Nonsense nonsense nonsense. Many things may seem impossible to start with, it's just a question of getting going. Of that list I've never tried roofing, but I'd give it a go if I could try a small one to start with (leaving aside for now the matter of how good it might turn out!). I'd never tried any of those before I tried them.

Perhaps it's having a clearly very capable man around that makes you leave it to him, and if you were on your own you'd be getting your welding mask, chainsaw trousers and plumbing hat on.

I'm going on a lime plastering course on Friday, so excited!!!

 

[worms]

Reading back on this thread, I wonder if Joce ever found the reason for the hot water from the cold tap?

The only time I had this, it was a faulty central heating pump which led to an over-enthusiastic oil-fired Esse over-heating. The emergency overflow had been plumbed to go back into the cold water header tank, so when the water boiled in the Esse, it overflowed to the cold system, the cold system heated and we got hot water out of the bathroom cold taps (kitchen colds were on the rising main). On that model of Esse, the burner was gravity-fed with no thermal cut-out on the fuel feed.