Things you often Wonder

[bickster]

2 minutes ago, GarethRDR said:

I pay a proper grown-up to do it for me. 

The motto on our family crest is EGO POSTULO ADULTUS, i.e. "I need an adult".

You pay someone to do it? OMG! Two wires, two holes, screwdriver required and something to stand on. Just remember to turn the electricity off at the fusebox.

How much do you get charged for that?

[GarethRDR]

I don't know, I've only ever had it done as part of an entire room-redo.

I am, however, amazing at building flat-pack furniture.

[sidcow]

52 minutes ago, blandy said:

The police should certainly have a lead to go on

I'm hearing they actually looking into this now, it's a live investigation 

[Mark Albrighton]

How often are people having to change plugs? 

I think that’s it with me, I can do most of these tasks, but because they’re so infrequently required they might seem slightly more alien than they are.

[mjmooney]

4 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

How often are people having to change plugs? 

I think that’s it with me, I can do most of these tasks, but because they’re so infrequently required they might seem slightly more alien than they are.

It's true that it's a less common requirement these days, due to moulded plugs. But there are still plenty of similar small wiring jobs that it would be insane to pay an electrician to do, as @bickster says - ceiling roses, replacement sockets, etc. 

Edited June 16, 2021 by mjmooney

[GarethRDR]

2 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

I can do most of these tasks, but because they’re so infrequently required they might seem slightly more alien than they are.

Me, trying desperately to explain away another disappointing sexual escapade.

[Seat68]

16 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

It's true that it's a less common requirement these days, due to moulded plugs. But there are still plenty of similar small wiring jobs that it would be insane to pay an electrician to do, as @bickster says - ceiling roses, replacement sockets, etc. 

I can do all if this and unsurprisingly it wasnt passed down by my father. Youtube and a diy book taught me. 

[chrisp65]

Being basically broke for many many years meant I had to learn how to do basic electrics and plumbing.

I’ve added radiators to systems, I’ve added and moved ceiling lights, I fitted my own kitchen and my own bathroom. Not through being some alpha male, just through needing to and having no money.

In the same spirit, I can still do the plugs n points on an old car, learnt on a VW Beetle and a twin pot Dolomite.

I’m still dicking about with old hifi shite, so I’m still dicking about with plugs and fuses and the likes.

 

Now, I look at the money people want to come and fit a carpet or plaster a wall and I think, **** that, I used to do it because I had to, I can’t be paying good money now. I fixed our tumble dryer with a youtube tutorial and googling up some spare parts. I couldn’t be giving someone £40 just to walk in the house to tell me how much the job would cost.

[Rugeley Villa]

I’m crap at DIY. Luckily the wife’s sisters fella is an electrician and a very good DIY’er . He used to do it for free, and still would, but I started throwing him a few quid. It’s not expensive as it would be if I paid someone else, and it saves me the hassle of doing it. I’ve no interest in learning some stuff, and the way I look at it, it’s work . I do enough work in the week at work, why would I want to do more unwanted work. There’s some stuff I’ll do, but majority of it, I just ring him.

[Xela]

5 hours ago, villa4europe said:

When I was a yoof and had a couple of bangers the hardest part was just getting the **** thing off in the first place, you needed to be Eddie Hall to undo the nuts, drove me to disppair, I'd have to phone like the father in law or step dad and you'd get that look of disgust because you don't know how to do it, I do know how to do it I just can't get the nuts off! 

"so you're not stupid you're just weak..."

Same happened to me. Had a puncture. I think Charles Atlas had tightened the wheel nuts previously. I needed the AA with their big wrench (insert KW) to get it off! 

[Xela]

4 hours ago, bickster said:

You people that have no clue how to change a plug. What do you do if you buy a new light fitting for the ceiling?

Buy a new house with the type of fitting I like. 

[mjmooney]

11 minutes ago, Xela said:

Same happened to me. Had a puncture. I think Charles Atlas had tightened the wheel nuts previously. I needed the AA with their big wrench (insert KW) to get it off! 

Garages tighten up wheelnuts with those air pressure powered drivers. It's pretty well impossible for the average person to loosen them manually. I've literally jumped up and down on my wheel wrench, to no avail. 

[mjmooney]

1 hour ago, chrisp65 said:

Being basically broke for many many years meant I had to learn how to do basic electrics and plumbing.

Same. Our first house needed loads of work, and we were skint, so I taught myself the basics (electrics, plumbing, carpentry) from a DIY manual - this was long before the internet. Having said that, I never did as neat a job as a pro would, and nowadays I will get in a tradesman for the bigger jobs. It's true though, that YouTube and WikiHow are a great help. 

[sidcow]

I did loads of work in our first house, fitted the kitchen, wallpapering and decoration, some plumbing, woodwork here and there.  Most of it badly.  I swore in our new house I wouldn't do anything that needed a proper skill. I'd rather pay someone to make it look right than do it myself and it look crap.

I am pretty handy with a screwdriver though.

I'll change sockets and switches, install new light fittings, move some wiring about, changed the under cabinet lights.  But I wouldn't do anything that messed with the actual system like adding a spur or something.  You really need to know what you are doing.  

I did move the garage light switch from the actual garage door end to the house door end by putting in a junction box at the old terminal and running a new wire to the new location.  That's about as much as I would do.

[sidcow]

15 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Same. Our first house needed loads of work, and we were skint, so I taught myself the basics (electrics, plumbing, carpentry) from a DIY manual - this was long before the internet. Having said that, I never did as neat a job as a pro would, and nowadays I will get in a tradesman for the bigger jobs. It's true though, that YouTube and WikiHow are a great help. 

My parents bought me the Readers Digest DIY manual.  I got SO many tips from that it's untrue.

[Seat68]

While I am swinging my dick. A couple of weeks ago I changed a plug socket the previous owners wired incorrectly. I wired correctly. Turns out they wired it incorrectly intentionally and thats how I came to call out an electrician on a sunday morning. 

[sidcow]

8 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

While I am swinging my dick. A couple of weeks ago I changed a plug socket the previous owners wired incorrectly. I wired correctly. Turns out they wired it incorrectly intentionally and thats how I came to call out an electrician on a sunday morning. 

[Seat68]

19 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Basically they installed a socket themselves that went against the standard rules and as such a double socket didn’t work. I wired it correctly and turns out the **** idiots wired it incorrectly correctly. It was not part of the main house, it was to a shed and so easy enough to sort out. 

[bickster]

1 hour ago, mjmooney said:

Garages tighten up wheelnuts with those air pressure powered drivers. It's pretty well impossible for the average person to loosen them manually. I've literally jumped up and down on my wheel wrench, to no avail. 

There are two solutions to this

1) tell the garage to hand tighten your  nuts

2) buy a telescopic wheel brace - £8 from Screwfix

[Xela]

1 minute ago, bickster said:

There are two solutions to this

1) tell the garage to hand tighten your  nuts