Tell us about your self-inflicted DIY cock-ups

[DickyC]

Two walls and a slight return on a third wall in the kitchen were tiled up 18 inches from the worktop. When we moved in 20 years ago I tiled over existing tiles. Refurbishing the kitchen this time, I decided not to add a third layer, I'd take them off and start again. Oh, my good gawd. The walls had originally been plastered. Some of the plaster jumped off, some of it didn't. I was left with, politely, a bit of a mess. Some sound plaster, some bare wall. What I should have done, I now realise, was to have stripped off all the old plaster and started again. Oh, no, I said to myself, a couple of tubs of Polyfilla Deep Fill will sort that out.

Sigh.

Yes, I see I could have said to myself it wasn't working but I didn't. I kept going back for another tub or two of Deep Fill.

The reparations are nearly finished, ready for tiling. I may have to go back and buy one more tub. It will be the 14th. The price averages out between suppliers - none of whom stock much at a time - at about £10 a go. So far I have spent £130 on a five quid job.

And I should point out that I left the tiles under the cupboards on one wall in place. This self-inflicted cock-up was on one wall and the short return.

Robert Dyas want £15 a tub. They did not have my custom.

[DickyC]

Mr Magooagain said:

Oh Dicky Dicky Dicky! You’re just not using the knowledgeable resources at you’re disposal old chap!

Yes, yes, I realise that now, Monsieur. But at the time I thought a blob filler here and there and the job's a good un.

The advice I would have needed was, when do I stop?

Nah, come on, just one more tub.

[DickyC]

Simpo Two said:

I hacksawed through the rising main.

Win to me I think!

We had a plumber do that! Not only that, he didn't feel up to the task of fixing it or even restricting the flow. He did help me find the stop cock outside the house but didn't have the long-handled doohicky to turn it off. Two hours later the water company turned up. By which time we had 2,000 litres of water in the kitchen.

[DickyC]

TimmyMallett said:

I was digging out roots in the front garden with a mattock. With a hefty swoop and a 'chungggggggggg!' sparks bounced off something in the ground, and I think you can work the rest out......

The lights were going out all over Europe?

[DickyC]

Weedkiller Woes

The top of a new bottle of Kill-O-Death herbicide wouldn't come off. Having read the instructions regarding the contents, I was being careful. Do not get it on your skin, do not breathe the vapour and 101 similarly dire warnings. Study cap. There's a tab with a tear-off strip around the circumference of the cap. Easy. Huh, not easy. Can't shift the tab with my thumb nail; can't shift it with a screwdriver; can stab myself in the thumb with a Stanley Knife. Hmm, quite badly. Blood everywhere. I'm poisoned, I'll need a Tetanus jab, I'll get sepsis. Goodbye, cruel world. When I'd been tended by an understandably unsympathetic wife, I studied the cap again. It wasn't a lift tab, it was a Press Here tab. There was another identical one on the opposite side. Gentle squeeze, top turned, top came off.

Resident Cock-Up Consultant ignores own advice.

[DickyC]

From Technical:

Will I die in a ball of fire?

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...