[Closed] Lockdown jobs you'd otherwise never get round to...

I am finding it hard to be motivated to do anything so I decided to work my way thru the 7 sins. today is sloth

Purge more stuff in the garage (as my Dad grew up in the post war "make do and mend" era I've inherited his "that'll come in handyitis"); re-organise the shelves to make better use of the space; repair the summerhouse- if I can get wood (oeer!); paint the fence; sort out the filing and paperwork that comes with a disabled child; collate my pension stuff ready for a decent review once we're back to normal. And tomorrow......

Trying to fit in what I can while WFH, saving a significant commute and not ferrying the kids around in the eves/weekends.

I’ve scraped all the tubeless residue off my wheels, accumulated through various top ups, tyre explosion and punctures. They look brand new!

Cleaned, disinfected and smoke bombed the chicken coop today. About to dust it with mite and louse powder and diatomaceous earth before replacing the bedding, and dusting the residents.

Also on the list:

Replace a couple of rotten boards in the raised beds.

Paint the doors and wooden windows on the garage.

Replace some saggy shelves in the shed.

Replace a dropper cable and wheel bearings on the bike.

Tidy my sock drawer!

Photograph a collection of studio pottery that used to belong to my dad ready to sell when things pick up

ive been given a laser Cnc machine as a fixer-upper

apply for planning permission for project underground bunker

go back through a career’s worth of unrealised public sculpture projects and turn them into little 3D prints

Shower tray needs new sealant as it's slowly turning black. I've been putting that off for a while...

apply for planning permission for project underground bunker

Can't see that being a problem in the current climate.

You could store medical supplies in it for distribution to the desperate when it gets really bad.

It could be the Cistern of Mercy

painting the fence 🥱

Fish & Chips ... learning to cook proper Chips as I am still getting soggy chips. Fish in batter is not a problem but cooking proper chips is an art. Need to be crispy and not soggy.

However, my potatoes are running very low and only 3 large ones left. 😱

painting the fence

after which you must sand the floor and then wax on, wax off

Nothing too mad yet, I don't want to run out of jobs before all of this is over. However the sofa cushions have been washed and ironed and the kitchen windows are spotless.

Irritatingly all my lock down jobs were kiboshed when the Builders merchants both phoned at 8am saying they were locking down and my orders wouldn't be delivered....

Need to be crispy and not soggy.

Part fry, remove, bring oil up to a high high heat and return the slightly cooled chips back to the oil to finish off. *Should* result in a crispy finish 🙂

Part fry, remove, bring oil up to a high high heat and return the slightly cooled chips back to the oil to finish off. *Should* result in a crispy finish 🙂

How come those at Fish & Chips shop are not part fry? Still come up nice and crispy. 🤔

Normally I travel to the coast for good fish & chips but that is not possible now.

Hopefully by the time virus is over I shall be able to cook myself Fish & Chips ... 😀

Just managing children, that is it. 🤷🏻‍♂️ All this talk of jobs, books and boxsets is utterly unachievable. Trying to keep two energetic children alive is a full time job. Two days in and we are well and truly climbing the walls. I’d kill for a tedious job to do!

I might clay bar the wife's car, but probably I'll just clean the garage

I am sorting the basement.

Kinda regret not ordering in materials for a workbench prior to lock down. Bit making do with building and hanging high level shelves to get shit out the way. Hoovering everything as i shift it. Need yo rewire the lights and add more sockets too.

Then i can start the real work.

Going to wash the van for the first time in 18 months. Might even sweep out the forest from inside it too!

I'm officially working the whole period, so whilst the load will be 'relaxed' over the next few weeks, I can't exactly take the p*ss.

The shed however, is due a substantial tidy, which will be fun. I've already stripped the plaster off a wall in the lounge that got damp and was blown, that got replastered yesterday, I even managed to get it smooth & flat. Wonders never cease.

Did some bush trimming earlier.

Nuff said I think...

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Have you glued all those split logs back together?!!

That's dedicated!

Is it warm enough to paint a garage floor yet? Or will the 6yr old paint have gone off?

No those are the logs still left to do! I did start off thinking I’d do something artistic like McMoonter but that lasted about 5 minutes before I thought ‘**** it just make a big pile’!

I'm struggling with motivation, but probably finishing Pornhub

Wood chip. If by the end of this I still haven’t removed it all, I will give up and just screw plaster board over it.

So far we’ve cleared the garden instead of going on our cancelled holiday.

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And I’ve made a wood store and have been working my way through a pile of (much smaller than timbogs) logs.

I’ve got a door to paint too.

@phil5556 that is an impressive amount of work! But why? It looked nicer and gave nice cover before!

Servicing the old boiler, been putting it off for ages.

That picture makes it look a lot better than it really is! It was mostly brambles and scraggy out of control bushes.

It grows back quickly and we’ll keep all the nice bits in check from now on, it hasn’t been touched for about 20 years, 2 owners ago.

That’s what it looked like in winter, in the summer it gets crazy!

we have leylandii thats as high as the house that needs to be only half as high as the house. i have a saw on a pole so this lockdown thing wil need to go on for a while if im going to get it done.

*tries to work out where phil5556 lives* 😂

Back working tomorrow onwards so painted the garden summer house shed thing today with Sadolin, good for another 8 years hopefully..cleaned out the chicken coop...now to binge watch 'Hunters' on Amazon Prime.

Servicing the old boiler, been putting it off for ages.

Please don't post any pictures..

👏

Sort out back yard, take the wood store down for the summer to make more space for seating. Got some hanging basket plants, make a removable fence panel to get the trailer through, some tatty bits in the cellar need sealing and painting, I'm sure I can think of loads of other things.

Fixed 4 tubeless wheels today.

I’ve got a load of cherry needs cutting, but my electric chainsaw blade is blunt, as is my bow saw. No place left to sort that now.

Try and get on top of the back garden.
Extend the swing so I can put both kids on at the same time.
Sort out the garage.
Polish the cars.
Try and de-green the house.
Decorate the "games" room.
Possibly oil the living room floor.

Apart from tidying the shed & cutting the grass, you mean?

Well there’s a G-major scale on guitar to be learned. Followed by A-major, B-major etc. And all the minors too. Think I’m nearly there with G-major but my little finger really does struggle to reach the A on the bottom E string, while middle finger is on the G. Any tips other than eating lots of those “a little bit fancy” chocolate biscuits

as is my bow saw

File will sort that out or it it hardpoint?

Did four tubeless tyres this evening accompanied by traditional swearing. Trying to avoid mrs p’s growing list of things she wants to “get done”. Really struggle to be enthusiastic about painting a bathroom but strangely interested in above poster’s description of renovating alloy car wheels .....she will kill me before this is done.

Jeez, where to start:

Big bonfire of rubbish I cut down in the winter.

Clear the garage out and build the new shelves I bought over Christmas.

Finish clearing up the end of the garden now the ground had dried up.

Take down the field fencing that blew down in the storms over winter.

Finish rebuilding a mower that I've stripped, it was more broke than I thought!

Fix the septic tank soak away.

Sort the storm water drains (may be linked to above).

All of that and I need to finish some assignments for college, then I can get on with laying a new patio!

Most things don't need any investment, all of the shops I need to buy stuff from will be closed. I'm expecting to be furloughed for a while....

I have had a fence panel that blew down in the storms about 3 years ago. The panel never blew over, just the 2 posts snapped, but a huge bamboo bush has kept it upright since. I knew it would be a pig of a job so kept putting it off. Any way, over 2 days I removed old panel, Dug out the bamboo (it was like digging out concrete), dug out the remnants of the old posts and concrete they were set in then put up the new posts and panel. One of the old posts was so rotten the bamboo roots had grown into it!

Next is clearing the old mortar out between the patio slabs and redoing it with fresh stuff then giving the veg patch a going over.

At this rate i will have a great garden this year as it went to the dogs a bit the last few years as I spent more time riding the gardening. Not this year I reckon.

If I can get a few bits of timber and the odd bag of ballast and a cubic yard of soil delivered then I'll be doing some woodwork and a raised bed, tidying the shed, building some low level bike obstacles for the boys and some decorating.

If I can't then some things won't get finished.

Felt arrived today to re roof the shed which has been a mild concern since last autumns storms left the felt a bit iffy and torn.

Will be decorating the spare room as it's now where I'm working mostly and the bathroom needs some paint too. So that'll be another productive day or two.

One thing that's keeping me going is that when we are released the DiY should be mostly done and we can concentrate on having fun for a bit.

Clean my keyboard

*tries to work out where phil5556 lives* 😂

@nobeerinthefridge - 2 minutes with google maps, want a clue? I must admit it looked familiar and you just confirmed it.

I have numerous bikes in various states of disrepair. Think the BB on the Trailstar is on its way out and 2 old steel frames to correctly ID and restore. Unfortunately I can't move for stuff that has to be sold or given away and I can't even do that!

Squirrelking - don’t put it up here obviously, but if you message me I’ll let you know how close you are.

(And then edit photos a bit 😳)

PM'd

Tidied "that" drawer in the kitchen.

Turned this:

Into this:

Highlight of my day yesterday was taking the tarnished brass numerals off my front door and polishing them to a shine. Knob and letterbox shroud still to do!

Make sure you add a photo of your polished knob 😆

Johndrummer, all the scales are the same finger positions, you just move them up. G-major is E-minor, move the lot up a fret and you have G#-major and F-minor. I suggest starting with C-major/A-minor (index on fifth fret in first position pentatonic) as it's less of a stretch. Oasis' Don't look back in Anger is in C-major and a delightful solo to play that uses all the penatonic positions with nice sliding links. One you've learned the pattern you just start at the appropriate fret and everything follows automaticaly from there without worrying what key you are in.

When you're learning the pentatonic positions, there's no point learning all the positions in isolation as you'll find you only use parts of each of them and it's far more important to be able to move fluidly between the useful bits of each position using slides or bringing up the index finger.

Don't worry about which fingers you use, it's often easier to use the ring finger than the little finger on the low strings as you can keep your hand wrapped around the neck whereas you have to move your thumb to the back off the neck to use the pinky. Some moves high up the neck it's easier to use the major than the ring finger if the ring finger is busy doing what the pinky normally does.

Edit: if you try to play along with Don't look Back in Anger the original is speeded up so tune the guitar 30 cents high.

I’m going to have to buff it out the front of my house , wasn’t able to tug it off yesterday...

I started with patching a couple of inner tubes which turned into a long overdue service of Mrs BigJohn's pub bike. No pubs but she went to the allotment on it and said it was riding lovely.
Then cleared out the workshop after my last (for a while) wardrobe job, in preparation for finishing a TV/hi-fi unit. Sorted it all into wood, metal, cardboard, batteries, lightbulbs, general ready to put it into the van in the right order for unloading at the tip. Then found the tip is shut for the duration.
Never mind, there's a lane up at Cannock Chase where the more responsible fly tippers segregate the junk into separate piles. I'll take it up there later.

Emptied the shed out then put it all back. Inexplicably found loads more room to put stuff.

Also tidied the loft and emptied half of it into the bus (surrogate shed), sanded some apple boxes to use as planters and identified a good few jobs to get done. I'm actually enjoying this.

refelting the hut roof as it had a leak over the winter

Going to fix the electric window on the Saab today as it doesn't go up and down.

Bled the brakes on both bikes, new pads on the hardtail. Took the full sus to bits and checked and greased bearings. New chain and casette on the wifes bike.

I might even clean my car if this keeps going for another few weeks!

Jetwashed most of Scotland from the feel of my body today.

Putolined my first chain yesterday! Don't have a camping stove, so did it on the barbecue. Also discovered that apparently 105 11-speed chains don't have a quick link...

I also have a sourdough starter on the go, and am considering how to make blackberry jam.

On the other hand, my actual work isn't getting done

Rebuilt and repainted a sticky brake caliper on my car, went all in and cleaned and refurbed everything to the max rather than slamming in new parts and spraying over rust and calling it good. And finally fitted the stainless brake hoses I bought about a year ago.

Well, 2 of the stainless hoses, let's not get too carried away. Guess I'll keep going though. Probably will put new seals in the other rear on general principles, and I've got a set of Lexus monoblocks to go on the front that are just getting tidied up, which are comically massive

Not for the first time, so so glad that my 16 year old car spent 13 of those in Japan- doing this same job on the old mondeo rust monster was a nightmare. But everything's easier when you don't have to have it going again for 8.30 the next day

Yes, I fixed the electric window on the Saab. Well, mostly fixed it. It goes up and down again now, but still moves back/forward slightly. However I can't figure out if there is something else in the mechanism I'm missing. Will need to look at some exploded diagrams.

Tried to fix a beer tap that moves back and forward but no beer comes out. Spent a couple of hours on it - stripped it all down and replaced any damaged gaskets and cleared out a little vent I didn't know about with a oral hygiene brush. Even followed a maintenance video about it, but it still doesn't work. I guess I'll need to de-pressurise my tap system and remove one of the working ones to strip down and compare.

Today I am going to prep the stairwell in my building for painting it. So wash down the walls and sand down some rough plaster/filling a neighbour has done. I wonder if I can find my dustmask for sanding! Could be worth lots of money!

Has anyone been brave enough to tackle sorting out that big tub of nuts& bolts and screws yet?
You know that time when you thought "that'll come in useful..."

Unpacked and setup the compressor I bought in October 2017.
Spent the rest of the afternoon randomly blowing air into things.
Valve core remover tool and replacement cores on order and then I'm going to tackle to poorly tubeless wheels on my Enduro.

I put the curtain pole an curtains up in our bedroom yesterday - we've only been in the house 2.5 years........

Had a couple of days sorting the garage and moving stuff into the loft.

Could do with the tip being open though.

Gaggia classic cleaned and serviced, god it was minging!. Now onto replacing firerope on woodburner door.

How very STW.

Nobeerinthefridge
Member
Gaggia classic cleaned and serviced, god it was minging!. Now onto replacing firerope on woodburner door.

How very STW.

You really are secretly choking for a gravel bike 😆

Lol! Steady on sir!

Tbh, woodburners are seen as the devils work on here now, and the coffee overlords would sneer at my 10 year old machine!.

Finished putting Upvc cladding on the front of the house below the windows. Took all the scaffold down front and back, never been so careful. Definitely didn't want a trip to A&E.
Off to fix puncture I got on the trainer yesterday, baffles me how that happened.

Re-felted the shed before winter sets in, not this coming winter or the one just gone, probably three winter's past.

Bemaker - Wheels refurb crap vidoe as someone asked me to make it after I had refurbed the wheels but describves the step :

Carved a seahorse : https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/are-you-bored-enough-to-watch-me-carve-a-sea-horse-from-a-railway-sleeper/

Built a website to see my car : https://nclarksouthampton.wixsite.com/kleemannslk

Liked the website builder so made an Artr one too : https://nclarksouthampton.wixsite.com/nicksartstuff

Got asked by friends what they could do when bored so built a website : https://nclarksouthampton.wixsite.com/mysite

Which in turn meant I made art stones, made a jewellery / watch stand and watched my wife kniot something and also painted a picture.

Is it nearly over yet?

Went from this:

View this post on Instagram

to this:

View this post on Instagram

Not really sure how to tackle the stairs/floor though. Any ideas?

You've turned a door into stairs? 😊

Skirtings all cleaned, both shower trays resealed, shed to tidy, loving it.

Got the compressor up and running, cured all the connection leaks by using a shipping load of PTFE tape.
Setup the lawnmower.
Going to put the summer wheels back on the car.
And there's a mac mini hiding in a cupboard that I'm going to setup as a garage band machine for the kids - might go all the way and install a SSD and max out the ram.

I'm finishing stripping a door.

I started stripping it 5 years ago when I moved in

We made a list. It’s terrifying. Includes ‘re-oiling all the wooden floors’ and ‘Find garden under head high weeds’. There’s also ‘fill in pond’ and ‘paint outside of house’.

It was all a bit overwhelming to be honest. I’ve started a bit smaller and gone with ‘have a beer and consider priority tasks' The first on the list is ‘Order extra beer’.

I'm learning to travel in my mind.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W22vyBpnKiI

Thank heavens I bought a few bags of sharp sand and cement on the off chance a couple of weeks ago. Pointing and re-painting all now done on the outbuilding.

Greenhouses cleared out and prepped (some seeds scooped out of tomatoes and chillies in the fridge and planted so they may pop up). Used spare earth to level garden.

Surly Crosscheck stripped and re-built from flat bar to drop bar with slow but fun Knards.

Couldn't get wood for an outside loo floor I'm re-furbing so dismantled some raised beds and spent an age planing and sanding them back before fitting to floor and Danish oiling (came up OK if I say so myself).

Ground the paint off an old metal hand railing and re-painted before spending the week washing wet paint off the kids' hands.

Started body weight training programme, nicely challenging and progressive ( http://www.startbodyweight.com/).

Away at work now but apparently my 'little old bloke in a 'four candles' DIY supply shop' is open at home so the whole house will probably be getting sealant squashed into every crevice next week (I think my wife lives in terror of a husband without DIY to do).

We had an extension done a couple of years ago, before the builders started I took the old decking up and for some reason stacked it at the bottom of the garden as I knew I'd find a use for it.

Two weeks ago I built a large compost bin after the council stopped the green bin collection. Last weekend I built a fence to stop the dog escaping down the brook. Today I've sorted out the bike bin and put in some shelves.  Still have a load left so I'm going to build a toy bin for the kids to put their footballs, skipping ropes etc. I suspect that I'll be putting their toys in it and they'll take them out, but the idea is sound in principal.

The decking has done me proud, I am however running out of screws...

I also built a set of stairs at the bottom of the garden using old paving slabs.

Really glad I hoard junk 🙂