What "man jobs" have you done today?

Soldato
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
21,949
Put the roof on over the last 2 days. Happy with how it is looking.

As mentioned previously we will eventually but putting an extension on the rear at some point so didnt want to spend a great deal on this.

Guttering still needs to go on and flashing will be done in the summer when weather is warming and easier to work with the flashing tape.

Need to work out a bit of cladding to go on the side where the neighbour is and then maybe some sleeper raised beds between the posts closest the the neighbour also to enclose the area slightly.

I think we may train some sort of plants to grow up the posts just need to decide what.

YEaMA22.jpg
LBLg1pE.jpg
Presumably a decent gust and this is gone?

What was the benefit of building this?
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
3,517
I have now built the two giant wardrobes and bedside tables and built a house for the kids out of the cardboard that all came in.

I asked the six year old if she liked her new wardrobe and she said "no". Typical.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Jul 2006
Posts
7,686
Presumably a decent gust and this is gone?

What was the benefit of building this?

Had strong winds and driving rain last night and it held strong! Each sheet is held with 25 screws so not going anywhere.

We have bbqs and a pizza oven so will allow us to use rain or shine... At the minute it's not ideal under an umbrella!

Also with current covid restrictions will allow people to come and sit in the garden rain or shine.

Like I say, work in progress but does the job for not a great deal of money.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Jul 2006
Posts
7,686
Looks good @GinG. You'll no doubt be kicking yourselves soon that you didn't build it to cover the patio doors so you don't get wet going in/out the house :D

Dont go there... I wanted to but wife didn't want it going across all the way.

I am looking forward to the I told you so moment!

It's not an issue if we decide to... Easily able to extend with another post, extend the framing and then a couple more sheets.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jun 2011
Posts
6,012
Dont go there... I wanted to but wife didn't want it going across all the way.

I am looking forward to the I told you so moment!

It's not an issue if we decide to... Easily able to extend with another post, extend the framing and then a couple more sheets.

when it blows over it will no doubt be covering the doorway anyway :p
 
Associate
Joined
27 Jul 2015
Posts
1,470
Despite not being a man, the 70+ neighbour asked me to help with a plastic shed he'd bought and had to be assembled. Like most men the novelette sized instrutions were deemed part of the disposable accessories along with several screws and other parts supplied.

It seemed he'd begun the assembly at paragraph 7 and moved on since there and then couldn't understand what he was supposed to do next. It's taken two days to get it to a state where the wind doesn't blow pieces off it and the rain doesn't flood the thing, but it's not easy trying to work out what someone has done when it's all out of order and not much of the instructions make much sense when wrong pieces are in wrong placess.
 
Associate
Joined
13 Nov 2012
Posts
2,191
Put the roof on over the last 2 days. Happy with how it is looking.

As mentioned previously we will eventually but putting an extension on the rear at some point so didnt want to spend a great deal on this.

Guttering still needs to go on and flashing will be done in the summer when weather is warming and easier to work with the flashing tape.

Need to work out a bit of cladding to go on the side where the neighbour is and then maybe some sleeper raised beds between the posts closest the the neighbour also to enclose the area slightly.

I think we may train some sort of plants to grow up the posts just need to decide what.

YEaMA22.jpg
LBLg1pE.jpg

Looks good, GinG. I can't wait until we buy a place later this year (hopefully) so I can start thinking of bigger building projects like this.

Today I finished my 'IKEA hack', thought I'd bang this out in a day or two but as always it has ended up taking about 10 days, on and off. I stained the tabletop at the weekend and over the last 2 days have applied 3 coats of varnish and attached to the top, pretty happy with how it looks.

I say 'finished' but I still need to address the feet, I'm either going to buy some or use the cut-offs they are currently resting on, not sure yet. Also the camera needs a new home, I don't like too many electricals on there. The piggy bank and generic picture are temporary until we decide what else to place there.

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The other bits of assembly...

Bought a 3.6m Redwood timber from Wickes to make a tabletop for the top of an Ikea Eket bookcase. We needed a little shelving unit and liked the Eket and the colour, but thought it'd be nicer with a solid wood top.

Glued the wood up, it is planed square edge so was hoping to not have to do much other than sanding, but it was a little twisted so is a bit uneven now it's together and will need planing. Best price I could find for a half decent hand plane was £25, but I noticed a well reviewed electric plane on offer at Amazon for £35, so went with that. That's what's in the box.

Next few days when I find time I will trim the edges straight, plane both sides flat, sand smooth and then stain and varnish before screwing from underneath to the top of the bookcase. Also currently using the off-cuts as feet, I will chop them down and attach them to the bottom once I've decided exactly what shape and size I want them to be. Will stain them also to match the top.

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Today was my first day off work for a bit over a week, so got more work done on the table top for the bookcase.

Planed the surface almost perfectly flat, I've never used an electric plane before and realised while I was trying to even it out I was taking off more than I needed in some spots, but got it looking pretty good in the end. Now I know for next time I use it!

I put a 12mm trim all the way around, I didn't want the end grain showing once I've stained it and didn't just want to put trim on the edges so I wrapped all the way around. Then I've used some wood filler to fill any small gaps. Tomorrow I will sand the whole thing ready for stain and varnish.

Only thing I'm not sure about the look of is a few spots where you can see glue in between the boards, which compared to the wood looks quite dark. Not sure if it'll disappear when I stain darker.

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Soldato
Joined
22 Jul 2006
Posts
7,686
Looks good, GinG. I can't wait until we buy a place later this year (hopefully) so I can start thinking of bigger building projects like this.

Today I finished my 'IKEA hack', thought I'd bang this out in a day or two but as always it has ended up taking about 10 days, on and off. I stained the tabletop at the weekend and over the last 2 days have applied 3 coats of varnish and attached to the top, pretty happy with how it looks.

I say 'finished' but I still need to address the feet, I'm either going to buy some or use the cut-offs they are currently resting on, not sure yet. Also the camera needs a new home, I don't like too many electricals on there. The piggy bank and generic picture are temporary until we decide what else to place there.

50977366016_8cd3554b32_c.jpg


The other bits of assembly...


Thanks!

Good luck buying. Nothing better than getting your own place, no chance of being able to buy sooner and take advantage of the stamp duty holiday?
 
Associate
Joined
15 Nov 2005
Posts
2,307
Location
Newcastle
Currently sorting out my front porch.

Wall marked up and channel cut to install a double socket:

IMG-20210125-WA0000.jpg


Socket all in, tested and working:

PXL-20210125-142029050.jpg


Then stripped the wallpaper, removed the skirting and architrave, and ripped up the old floor tiles and adhesive back to the concrete base, then retiled:

PXL-20210222-175541400.jpg


Have since grouted the floor and now waiting for my plasterer to come out and skim the room. Once that's done I can get it painted and fit new skirting and architrave and fit a new light fitting.
 
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