• Replies 3 replies
  • Subscribers 28 subscribers
  • Views 577 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

another diy disaster

spock

i have been stressed all day and the trigger was yet another failiure on my part.

i hate diy and last night messed up yet another simple task. i cut through a water pipe.

oh i wish my wife would listen to me when i say, 'i can't do fixit jobs around the house'.

this isn't the first disaster i've had and i sadly feel won't be the last.

anyone else out there as useless as me at diy.

i am fed up with being embarrased when tradesmen turn up to put right my messes.

rob

  • guys

    thanks so much for responding. your comments have reasured me a little and it is nice to know i'm not the only one.

    the pipe will be fixed next tuesday, we can muddle through. well the others in the house can muddle but i'll just try to cope with being freaked.

    we just a man round to quote for put our new kitchen in and the price was very good. he came highly recomended so he starts next week. we were going to get him in after christmas but my wife caved in the wake of my upset and called him today.

    thanks again for your support, although i do still fell a complete fool i am getting better.

    oh by the way charles, i think i am the last person anybody should take diy advice from.Smile

    rob

  • Hi, I had a similar thing happen to me a few years ago. I was repairing an electric shower, (afraid I've forgotten exactly what needed doing)Frown  but I needed to disconnect the wires inside the shower unit. (just remembered, I was replacing the on/off switch)Smile I had switched off the electricity at the main box and double checked by trying all the light switches in the house. When I touched the screw to release the wire there was a huge flash and a loud noise. The screwdrivew had actually melted at the end! Eventually I discovered that the shower unit had a seperate electricity supply which I had not switched off.   (Never again). I have fitted lights before though and been okay with them. How do you stop the return current? I've just bought a new light fitting for the kitchen.

  • Earlier this year I tried to replace the spotlight system in my kitchen. I turned off the lighting circuit, took the existing lights down, and then found that the cables they were attached to were the 60-year-old ones that had come with the house. They were stiff and brittle, and bits dropped off as I tried to fit the new lights. I couldn't make the wires fit the new set of lights, and then I suddenly got an electric shock!

    At this point I admitted defeat and called an electrician, who turned off the whole system. Apparently the return wire can carry a current even when the circuit is off. I felt lucky to be alive at that point, but I was still rather blaming myself for not having known better.

    I definitely sympathise with you, Rob. It's best not to feel guilty about these things - but it's hard to remember that with water running up your arm, or whatever.

    Alex R (posting personally)