okokegal - you definitely have a book in the making there. I have to admit I love to get lost in our local hardware centre, probably as well they weren't around in the 60s and 70s I could have got into a lot of trouble. I don't have the projects now to need half the cool stuff I find, but I do like to play with the cool young sales assistants, the ones who are experts on everything but have never hammered a nail in anything in their life and assume every little old lady is a pushover. It is like duck season, all year round.

Question:
What would cause me to shake my head and place my hands in the See No Evil position?

Answer:
DH + chandelier + replacement bulb + WINDEX. This combination equals a blue arcing flame from the light socket, and DH squealing something like, "EEK!" and squittering into the kitchen like Morticia Adams...one of the problems with that is said flame is still between him and his only way out of danger---the kitchen has one entrance/exit.

Since he managed not to injure himself, burn the building down, and all except that one light socket still work on the chandelier, I let him stay and somehow I have not resorted to strong drink...yet.

@ Halleycomet & Okdokegal --- Bless you both; I am in awe of you.

Oh Halley, Hally, Hally......we love you; always got an outrageous tale to tell!! LOL Hattie

This is not exactly DIY, but my boss has backed through the garage doors of every house he's lived in since I've known him, one door twice............that makes 4. Did I mention he is a heart surgeon known around the world?

I'm sure most people would think it odd to see a mother and daughter fighting over the home improvement store sale ads rather than the Macy's and Bed Bath & Beyond ads, but that's how it works when we're together :))

Installed our "Easy Closet" system and couldn't find a stud in the corner, so we used an anchor. 3 mos later the anchor screw worked it's way out and well you can see the results. The particle board partitions have all busted, so we get to purchase them again. Ugh!!

And that stuff isn't cheap, mamadubbs! I really dislike sheetrock anchors :((

happyasaclam, I'd join right in on elbowing both of you for a chance at the home center and hardware ads as well as all the tool flyers. When I lived big city, I had all the places I normally frequented trained on 'don't ask me if you can help me' because I am looking for stuff for 'not for purpose intended' projects. You seen home and garden parts, I seen art supplies... that was my other great use for a lot of that stuff. At the orange store, they had a lovely tile and stone cutting saw all set up and wouldn't let customers use it. And they wouldn't make cuts for customers or so a clerk told me... (too many 'you cut it too short/too long, didn't get the notch right' bits). So. I said I mark it, you cut it the way I marked it, and we are both happy (cutting stone tiles for kaleidoscope holder bases so I could be off 1/8" with no issues). In that case they would...

One plumbing supply place I would buy 2" copper pipe, whole 20' length, and cut it to carry it home. If they cut they charged a LOT per foot more than if it was sold whole. I bought a serious pipe cutter and would show up, and the clerk had to be with me as I measured and cut it up into smaller (not to exact but close multiples so I could get the pieces home). And they decided that if I cut it they couldn't charge me; so when the two of us would emerge, which one of us was filthy from handling the pipe and cutter... if clerk was they'd charge me cut price, If I was the one that was 'couldn't shake your hand' they charged me full piece price. And I wearing my bracelet of masking tape and lugging my cutter in pouch, having taped my 4 roughly 5' pieces together, would put them on shoulder and carry them home.

I seen someone else here has met the 'caulked the windows into place'. When we bought our present place, that is what they did; all the screens are permanently caulked into place. And they used the cheap vinyl type screening to replace all the dead screens (sun kills everything here) just before we bought it... and we have a whole house of dead screens. In the spring I am going to set up the assembly line and spend half my life on a ladder prying screens off the windows and try to save the frames... if I just don't replace some of those windows in their entirety. I did some trial probes and that might be the easier thing to do.

You are a dedicated DIYer if: you dare to be seen in public in your work/chore clothes and you darned all the embarrassing ventilations holes shut at least; 'turn around and bend over' is a legit request for ventilation checks before you head out for more supplies; you can wear a bracelet of duct tape or masking tape roll for hours and have worn them to the fast food joint for lunch without realizing it; those wimpy nail aprons don't cut it so you had to sew your own because you won't break down and buy a true 'unky norm fanclub' toolbelt....

okdokegal, my daughter and I both got over the "spit and polished" look a long time ago. I'm there to get what I need and get out, not look pretty doing it! :D However, there are times I want to take the time to drool over tools and such. My husband would rather go with me to shop for shoes than go shopping with me at the hardware store. LOL!!

My mother says I'm the only woman she knows who does all her Black Friday shopping at home improvement stores. This year I went online to Lowes, visited HD and Menards...but no Sears this time. A couple years ago, I visited the farm supply store for my Xmas shopping--it's difficult to find a good place to buy women's work clothes and I wanted a pair of cotton duck insulated bibs for outdoor work.

Got to be careful with being a dedicated DIY person...I got my own house finished, so I joined up with my partner and starting buying and rehabbing foreclosed homes.

I was building a bunk bed for my son. It was a really nice design. He had a king on the bottom and a twin -xl on top, that sat horizontally above the king. I made a ladder and the last thing to put around it was a railing. I had watched a guy one time use mountain laurel limbs for railings. For those that don't know mountain laurel is a curly wood, usually about 1 to 3 inches in diameter. It makes beautiful projects. He cut the wood on a miter saw - so I thought I would also. I almost lost a hand, but only lost a fingernail. The piece got caught in the saw and the saw threw the wood across the shop like it fired from a gun, ripping off my nail in the process. It scared me so bad it took several years before I would touch a miter saw again. And the project - my husband finished the railing for me.

Bought a foreclosure with paneling halfway up the entire hallway--both sides, and the wall in the dining area. At the top of the paneling was a piece of crown molding, yes CROWN MOLDING--very ugly. I tore it out so fast, before we even had signed the papers (who would care anyway?) Each nail hole had about twenty to match around it, took a whole day to patch. Under the paneling in the dining area was the remnants of drywall that once was decorated with tile of some kind. In my desire to make this home beautiful I accidentally picked up a bucket of plaster instead of drywall compound. I proceeded to attempt to smooth out the ugly drywall, I finally used a roller to make a stucco design. The problem occurred when I decided it was almost as ugly as what I started with. I tried to sand it down and smooth it out only to realize the bucket said "plaster" not "drywall compound"--ugh!! Then I saw a decorating show on T.V. and realized I could antique it with a coat of watered down latex paint applied with a wadded up bag and watered down oil based stain applied in the same manner on top. This was a real 'game changer' and made the wall stand out in a great way. Many lessons learned the hard way, lol.

Major disasters? No, by the grace of God. We've gutted 3 homes down to studs and rebuilt. Minor projects turned into major ones (removed a wall and entire ceiling fell in; little electrical issue turned into a whole-house rewiring; broke windows; changing tub trims turned into ripping out and replacing a bunch of tile; etc), but the end results were so much better than had we worked with what was already there.

When it rains it pours buckets and tankercars....

I am taking care of friends pets and plants for a few days; and went Saturday evening to do what needed doing; and come home to find hubby gone and the bottom of the shower pan punctured and bloody. The bathroom I hadn't looked at, on the OTHER side of the kitchen, the floor gave way when hubby went to shower. He called 911 and got trip to the ER; he will be staying there for a few days as they make sure that he's not going to be infected. He has several stitches and some good scrapes on his left leg past the knee, an IV they're giving him antibiotics, and a few things that go beep and boop.

I have finished with emergency demo, and slapped some plywood down so I don't go through and things can't come in from under the house. Not the way to pull an allnighter. There won't be any Christmas cheer around here; living under a bridge is sounding good right now. Yes more termite damage too. Nothing fresh, that is part of why the late night demo, was to find out if I had a living colony or not. And long term water damage from leaky flange by the looks of it. It didn't feel bad when I used it Saturday afternoon.

I am going to have to pull the floor from that bathroom, all the way across the kitchen and laundry area and to the chunk I just glued back together; or about 1/4 of the floor and by the looks of it replace at least a third of that joisting; and as long as I'm in there, the kitchen remodel had just as well be started. Why do work you will rip apart a few months later.

I think I'll feel better after the coffee wears off and I check on how he's doing, feed friend's dogs and cats, and go to bed.

Oh, yeah, I had to find my friend Mr. Respirator again too, and later today I need to go buy a shopping cart full of bleach again. Blegh.

I am going to save this discussion as inspiration for when our DIY projects turn into "mayhem"... after reading this, our little catastrophes seem pretty mundane, and everyone's positive attitudes and ability to laugh at things later will remind me that "this too shall pass".

@rinqreation-- that photo of the painted car interior should be blown up and posted at paint stores and paint counters everywhere! Thanks for the laugh!

Ms. Linda, Pro... look at Duluth Trading Company for clothes that can take some abuse. I am built thick middle so I buy guy's clothes; and they have some workpants that will take major abuse; they also occasionally have a sale. I love their 'crack spackle' buckets for holiday gifts, these have one of their extra long tailed teeshirts in a spackle bucket. Carhartt, go online and look; else I can't afford their stuff either.

One tool company sent me a survey early last year asking me my opinion on some pink tinted tool line they thought they'd bring out. Twice the price for Pink, and I sort of let them know that I'd rather have a GOOD tool for that price than a pink one. Color wasn't going to sway me, quality and features (not to mention a good battery life and not weighing half a ton) would get my buckage.

Friend's critters are okay, hubby is sneering at his breakfast (and they're saying he can come home Tuesday), and I think my new project rates a fifth to drown my sorrows. Off for a nap then starting to pack up and empty out all of that and find the appliance dolly, it's going to be a long slog the next few days.

Oh, okdokegal! I'm so happy your hubby is ok. I know you both must feel miserable right now. Keep your spirits up as best you can. Keep posting your progress and I'll keep praying for you :)

okdokegal....I agree with happyasaclam! Keep your chins up (as we say in good old UK!) and carry on....what did that guy say in the Exotic Marigold movie?...oh yeah "It will all be alright in the end, and if it isn't alright, then it is not yet the end." Er....has that "end" got an ETA by any chance? Don't worry, you WILL get there! Hatxx

Thanks happyasaclam and hattirowland. I had a nap, it is a gorgeous afternoon, we have a (ugly) storm coming through in a few days and I'm taking a break from demo. I want some things done before it starts having a high around freezing and snow. Making my list and checking it twice for lumber and other supplies for my run to civilization and Monday the skip dumpster will arrive. Mold is a four letter word. Bathroom design/Houzz fantasy will meet budget reality and the bargains bin tomorrow at the big home centers. This isn't the first time I've had a kitchen ripped to the shreds either, that is next, pulling appliances. (this is that one microwave's second kitchen remodel that it's saved lives, and I still have my electric frypan and hot plate). I think the worst DIY is the stuff that happens not on your schedule.... but. Microwave burritos taste totally different under these circumstances. Ah well. Have to go back and get into the grey zone, the black zone is all tarped off and I took some wall sheathing off the living room to allow us to still use the main bedroom, temporary door.

I have a Dr appointment on the 5th and if he yells at me I'm not getting enough exercise, I'm going to walk back up the street and get him a couple of tools and drag him home with me. :)

@OKDOKEGAL---

I'd offer to come help but suspect that this might create some sort of cosmic "Perfect Storm" and a meteor might hit the house!!!!!

Hope the hubs is better soon--he might be better off taking a few days "Rest Cure" in the hospital but you could give him a few hints that MOST hotels ARE cheaper!!!! LOL!!!!

I think I was "doomed" as one of my first memories is of my mother telling me that we were MOVING from my grandparents cozy home to The House That Rumplestiltskin Built! (And they wonder WHY I never read MY kids fairy stories!) The house was built in the 1600's (In the USA this is very rare.) The hardwood floors were covered with various layers of--stuff. Lino; plywood; narrow boards over the wide ones. So mom hauled off ALL the layers and discovered WHY the repairs were done--in the door ways there WAS no flooring. IT had worn THRU. You could see---and had to walk OVER---the joists (large trees) into the basement. And she flung boards across this and we all had to WALK over these---to a small clumsy kid this was torture. Do you wonder that I have an EXTREME fear of heights????

We lived there for 16 or so years and the place was held together with spit and masking tape. The old coal fired boiler--that mom had painted a face and clothing on--used to freak out repair guys!---exploded. The water pipes--made of iron---cracked and we filled 'em in with some sort of caulking and taped over them--they were still "fixed" that way when we sold the place.

When hubs and I moved to the country we had little clue what we were in for! We bought an old farm house and found that it had it's moments---the dryer vent was piped into the basement so there were lint drifts feet high--and old heat tapes that we discovered sparking away under there!

We also decided to be "farmers" --we had dairy goats. One day I wandered into one of the barns and discovered that a large metal garbage can we used for feed was almost empty and the lid was off---but there was a suspicious scrabbling inside. I was heavily pregnant--overdue in fact---and decided to let hubs do the honors. He discovered a LARGE rat in there--- and so I said well DROWN it! Apparently waking him up to deal with this had addled his brain and he decided to SCOOP up the rat and DUMP it into a BUCKET of water---as if the rat was so DEPRESSED with his failure to find food in the can he would commit suicide. Ummmmmm---

I think we were cosmic sisters in another dimension, halleycomet.

My parents' house (I lived there from 3-18) we did take the kitchen to the joists. I was carried to the bathroom until it was found out that I COULD squeeze through the door that went to almost nowhere and go use the potty that way. The bathroom was the Victorian 'maid room' that was off the kitchen and had a back door onto the stairs. The door was still there and would hit the toilet after about 4-5 inches. I could squeeze though when we first moved in.

The one rental house hubby and I lived in (and where he ripped his finger up) had had the dryer vent exiting in between the joists to the upper level. The upstairs bathroom had 13 years of venting crammed in under it between two joists. No wonder the dryer wouldn't work. The fellow the management company sent out had to take the drywall down in the downstairs bathroom/laundry room and clean all that out, then run a vent to the garage, then from there all the way outside. And replace the ceiling in that area. Why that place hadn't burned down was a mystery.

The summer before third anniversary, we lived in the small house I did the carpet replace and found the fossilized dog doo. I had collected a huge garbage bag of curtains including a prized set of offwhite panels that would cover a sliding patio door (for $3). Those were vital for rental apartments to cover bare windows. We had a mouse issue, and our year old cat would corner mice but had no idea what to do with them. You'd hear the mouse squeaking and find him have one cornered, mouse is having coronary and he'd look to me like 'now what'. Hubby had gone to bed early and I roll him to come deal with the mouse. And I quote "Go to Bed, it won't eat much!" and he rolled over. I took his size 13 left sneaker and bagged myself a mouse. It was definitely dead, blunt force trauma, I think I broke it's little neck. It wasn't a smush and it wasn't oozing, but it was very dead. Cat is hovering as I have done unto his live toy; and I take a fly swatter and scoop up said rodent... go and roll hubby over, and he opens his eyes to see the prize about 3" in front of his nose. "I took care of it." and went to toss it outside. Cat wasn't happy I tossed his toy outside. Next morning I found mouse had eaten a hole all the way through my curtain bag, including about 8 holes total in my prized patio door panels. Three decades later he still hasn't lived down the 'it won't eat much' comment.

I am just winding down after a long day of demo and rigged tarp for the night and shut that chunk off. Washer, dryer, swamp cooler, fridge, stove, dishwasher, are all out. The cupboards are empty. I have pulled the toilet and the shower enclosure and made it to the outside and I think I can reuse those siding bits.

Tomorrow is a very early leave to hit a city that has the blue and the orange homecenters and get supplies. A friend has a nice big pickup, and I have a nice big trailer, I will buy gas and lunch. I hope to get home and get the cabinets pulled, I may be reusing some of them, and buying cabinets inna box for some of it. Countertops are going to be poured concrete and some granite tile inset, the orange store sells 18x31" pieces, and a few hotplate trivet things so I can set a pot down without worry. Those are not this trip though, I won't be ready to pour counters for a while. Skip dumpster, the provider knows where to park it, by the time I get home I should be gifted. A neighbor will keep watch so it doesn't get used for dumping of stuff before I get home.

Hubby can come home to rest (I will nail his feet to the floor and bring him a 5 gallon pail if he doesn't stay out of my way) while I finish taking up flooring and sub; and start the joist work and get some sheathing back on the house at that corner. I need the siding on before the icky weather gets here.

I forgot the amount of times I had to pull tiny bits of metal/wood from my hands (a 2mm drill once broke off while drilling in iron, thing stuck quite deep in my finger) or the saw took a part of my flesh. Not really DIY gone wrong, but 'war scars' nonetheless.

I also vididly remember a nasty experience I had at technical school (furniture making). All students had to use tools from the rack and put it back there after use in mint condition.
I was carving a notch for a hinge plate in a beech door, quite a dense wood. As I was tightly holding on to the chisel when I heard a funny sound, but since I was so focused on the work at hand, I ignored it. Shortly after my beech became red, right were I touched it with the chisel.. I opened my hand and blood quickly filled up the palm of my hand, a few deep cuts across three fingers and some shallow along my hand.
Turns out some student had sharpened the chisel so fanaticly the sides had become razor sharp. I kept cool and rolled some masking tape around my fingers, like I always do, but the scar still shows, 14 years later.

What the?

Why are things repeating?

huh? time-loop issues?

Dr Who!

I'm not getting doubles...

Stick with chook, druesig. It won't be long. :D

Wow! We appear to be really safe or lucky at my house. After 35 years of professional remodelling I have few war stories. Even the kids rarely damaged themselves despite the fact that there was always tools around and holes in the floors and walls.

Maybe we don't truly qualify as DYI since we do it for a living.

My husband did once manage to staple hammer himself though. I know, I know. How can you possibly do that? I asked too. Once I got him to admit to how he had gotten that HUGE goose egg with the ugly sore in the middle on his forearm, I too had to ask how he could possibly have done such a thing. LOL When he told me, I laughed and he was so offended.

Turns out he was installing Tyvek on a house and working cross arm back and forth, smoothing and staple hammering as he went. Well his left arm wasn't moving as fast as he thought and WHAM. Did I mention that he does this for a living? He really has a swing from operating a hammer every day. Ouch. I cannot imagine how much that hurt. I wouldn't have been able to work for a week. He of course continued working with a electrical tape and t-shirt strip bandage to control the bleeding.

@OKDOKEGAL---

Hey Sis!

I am EXHAUSTED just reading your Punch List!!!!!!!

It seems that it is almost always the hubs---who USED to do this for a living!!!!--and now sells the stuff to do it--that gets hurt doing actual work. The rest of us only seem to get hurt in bizarre and puzzling ways that give us injuries all out of proportion to the method!

We have the daughter who broke BOTH ankles (seperate incidents) while WALKING---who fell on a rock wall and came running in to tell me she really hurt herself--and mom looking at the proferred hand and saying--Gee I see nothing--until she flexed the palm and suddenly I was looking at bone. Off to the ER--again! Other kid was walking on one of those stone curbs at the edge of the school parking lot and went over---body one way foot the other. Took him to the ER also--to be told--Oh it's JUST a sprain. FFWD a year and he injures this AGAIN and we take him to the ortho and the guy sez---WHEN did he BREAK this and WHY was it NOT treated??? Thought for sure I was gonna land me in jail for child neglect. Got the old x-rays and a lay person could CLEARLY see the break---

I managed to slip and NOT fall in my driveway--hit a frozen snow ridge hard while trying to get the car moved for the plow guy. I had to do an all day plane fest to go to my mothers funeral. So--not really noticing much about the state of my foot/leg--figgered it was the plane ride and foot jammed under seat in front. IT was--not. Bones of the mid foot; ankle and lower tib-fib--ALL broken. The ER I went to in AZ refused to x-ray. By the time I got home to NY it was too late to set these---the bones had shifted and shattered too much. Off with her leg! We tried for a year but it was no use.

The grand kids seem to be carrying on the tradition---grand daughter at age 2 ran into a PADDED playground toy and broke bones of mid foot; and for the past 6 weeks has been in a soft cast as she fell off a different PADDED play ground and onto a heavily PADDED floor and managed to BEND the bones of the hand! OUCH!

And almost ALL of our injuries occur on HOLIDAYS!

I think you should invest in some "Quality Time" and hire a sitter for the hubs!!!!!!

If you have a Habitat RE-Store they sometimes have great deals on cabinets---new and used! Actually my hubs just arranged to donate a bunch of their (Blue store!!!!) items---things like special orders that for one reason or another didn't leave; slight dings---my NEW favorite store! And for me--right down the street from Harbor Freight! Jackpot!!!!

Winding down... and found out I have solid platinum neighbors...

I left at 5 am for 2 hour drive to hit home centers in big city with friend and we were loaded by 10 with both of our needs lists, hitting in front of my place shortly after noon... neighbor across street was defending the skip dumpster against all comers; yes it's a dumpster and privately hired and NO YOU CAN NOT PUT SOMETHING IN IT, and in roughly half an hour had eight phone pictures to scare off people.

Neighbor on south side, father, son, and daughter's BF showed up to help, on other side, neighbor and his brother showed, and that one's wife's brother showed up to herd kids. Daughter's three, the brother in law's 2 and two more. Mother and daughter cooked food.

I suited, sprayed, we ripped up all the flooring needed and wrapped up and took out old joists and put new in; some were sistered; and we redid the outside wall studding, got outside sheathed and wrapped and the siding back on, and replaced the two windows and the patio door. And got my subfloor back on, redid the plumbing in that bathroom that was under, (I still have to put down new shower, mount new toilet, install new vanity and faucets; and finish off the washer hookups). But, we got it zipped up on the outside which was my greatest worry. Kitchen has the new sink stubs in and the dish washer line, and the icemaker line. I have a gutted looking mess I have to get on, but we got it so I am not going to fall through and from the outside things are once more tight.

Weather is going to go to the proverbial warm place in a handbasket Wednesday, so this is the absolute best. I have supplies stacked all over in here but I can lay the good flooring, assemble cabinets from the box, spray foam and do drywall and wiring INSIDE.

I wish I had a RE-store within a day's drive; I'm just glad I can get to a orange or blue home center in two hours... each way.

I really owe some people around me. And we got the dumpster already winched out of here; the city can deal with people wanting to dump stuff.

As much as I love my hubby he usually picks AFTER the clinic closes. I usually end up needing their services at five minutes BEFORE they close. It is much cheaper to go to the clinic and have them put you in a wheelchair and wheel you 100 ft to the hospital than to go to the ER first...

He gets to come home tomorrow and I will warn him about getting his feet nailed to the floor if he tries to help.

I have broken a bone in the top of my foot twice. Once I dropped a concrete block on it in a pond, and they couldn't do much for me so it just hurt until it healed. I broke the one next to it several years later (pumpkin weighoff I was in charge of, I KNEW that trailer but didn't know it could bottom out in the back and it whacked me at 9:05 am, or first bit of the weighoff). I got to gimp around on it until 3:30 and we had the last pumpkin loaded back up and that was an ER visit. They offered walking cast and it'd hurt, or no cast and it'd hurt.

I've broken my nose four times... ran a nail completely through my foot (bottom up) near where I broke those bones... I have broken my little toes so many times it's a wonder they have toe-shape anymore... sigh.

Tomorrow I think I will start with turning the power off and replacing those couple of exterior outlets that had burnout; with the GFI's I have and put the weather enclosures on them; then seat that toilet and figure out PEX. Adventures!

@OKDOKE---
I read your post and have to go nap now------

Nothing that exciting planned here. What we NEED to do and what at this minute we ARE doing is---vastly different! Sitting here looking at a bee youuuu teee ful new faucet for the BR---one of the ones that looks like an old pitcher pump. We need a willing victim er helper to get under the cramped BR sink to put the new supply lines in--what is wrong with the old ones I dunno.

When we moved in here NONE of the plumbing lines had shut offs---we found that out the hard way!!! As it was a foreclosure and the owner had died in the middle of that process ALL of their stuff had to be hauled out before we could fix things and hey---- if it wasn't broken at the moment--we were NOT fixing anything! Gradually ALL of the water lines "went" or were replaced before they went; toilets had to be replaced before we could move in --and we just replaced them again with new ones that have the dual-flush that are SOOOO much nicer easier to clean and actually ya know---flush! And for $85 bucks EACH I am thrilled and amazed.

Moving on to::: Replace or do SOMETHING with the fake panel under the K sink--this piece broke off it's lil mounts and the mounts are no longer made. Need to fab something to hold it in there before I just get a hammer and nails! If it didn't hold my much loved towel bar I would just place a decorative panel over---K drawers need new boxes in a big way---Back door needs to be re-done as Big Brown Stupid Dog (not mine! Daughters) ATE the wood around it---also the base adjustable threshold needs to be replaced. Front door needs some wood repaired where water damaged it---should be easy---count on it to NOT be this in reality! There is more --lots!!!--but I fear for my keyboards ability to survive salt water----

re:::: Skip dumpsters--my son's co (Engineers) did a "Charity project" for a church and helped them gut it. As part of the "deal" the Co was to get the copper and other metal and sell it. The crew carefully put all of this in a special dumpster and the metal scrap guy was to come and fetch. They noticed ti was empty before he was to have arrived and discovered that some one had STOLEN all of it--WHILE they were working on the project! Bold thieves.

I have looked with envy on these lovely yawning hungry to be filled spaces tho!!!!!

Roll time back to about 1972.

Mom had been asking Dad to help her pick out wall paper for the main bathroom. He put her off, and put her off, and put her off. Finally he said "just get what you want." He spent the next 5 years shaving in a room with purple, orange and white stripes and an orange shower curtain.

The next time she said she wanted to make some decorating changes, he got his keys out right away and helped!

I love these posts. :) I have a fairly recent one. I painted and redecorated our guest room, and noticed a tiny little spot of wall paint on the white crown that I'd somehow missed, and hadn't touched up. No big deal--I grabbed the can of trim paint and a ladder. I didn't bother putting down drop cloths or covering the bed, because it would take just a second to fix. I somehow tripped coming down the ladder (i had on flip flops--not a good plan) with the open can in my hand, and threw a nearly full gallon of white paint across the brand new bedding on the bed. I think you could probably hear the shrieking from miles away. I grabbed the bedding (everything--duvet, comforter, quilt, shams, sheets--there was paint on everything) and ran to the bath, threw everything in the tub, and started rinsing out paint. Fortunately it all came out between the rinsing and repeated washes in the laundry, and none went through to the mattress, or spilled on the rug or the bed itself. We've renovated numerous old homes, but when I goof up, it's usually when I'm doing something that SHOULD be easy, I'm in a hurry, and I'm sure nothing can go wrong. ;)

halleycomet, in 1984 someone put an $800 outer/inner front door on this place. It may have looked nice. By the time we showed up it is well past it's life expectancy; there is no lockset that will fit it, the front handle came apart and I think a few pieces are now lost, and there is no weatherstripping that will fit or stay on for the inner door. When heating season arrives I put a note on door saying 'go around' and stick corrugated cardboard in the cracks around the door perimeter. My hubby wants to keep the door and fix the handle and lockset despite the fact I can't get the parts plus the entire thing is trashed. I should have been smart yesterday and gotten a new set and had my neighbors help me pull that mess and put in something that closes, insulates, is draftproof and had a SCREEN in the outer so I could ventilate the place by opening the inner. I so want that. Today, I just got the power back on, the wiring went well for the stuff I had to replace. I now get to finish deciding where the other stuff needs to be re-routed; and after my lunch break, I get to reseat a toilet and plumb it in. The joys....

Jan W, I did something not dissimilar in high school. My folks place had the upstairs sort of stuck together, there were tongue/groove one foot ceiling tiles stapled/tacknailed to the underside of the rafters/roof joists then there was poured vermiculite insulation up there. I had gone up there (wasn't supposed to be up there) to look for something of mine that was supposed to be in storage (wasn't, mom had lied and given it to my cousins at the reunion the past summer) and. I slipped and put a foot through and knocked a tile out. And poured about 6-8 gallons of vermiculite. INTO the master bedroom. Mom was at work and due home at 3, it was 11:30... so. I had to fake that tile back into place, wash it, then I got a pail and got a pail and a half scraped back up and poured and leveled... THEN. Vermiculite sticks to EVERYTHING. I had to take the end off the vacuum cleaner hose and hand suck that entire room; bedding and all. My mom decided to grocery shop, so I had until almost 4:30 and barely finished and got rid of the third vacuum cleaner bag when she showed. I did that start of freshman year; my eagle eyed dad missed that one ceiling tile was slightly and I do mean slightly, different in appearance; until I left for college. A week after I was talking to them and he said, did I know anything about that tile being strange? He didn't remember doing any work in there.... it was safe to 'fess up at that point. OH.

OKDOKE--

When it comes to this stuff---prob NEVER safe to fess up! Under the theory of "Go big or go home" ya know----

And it's usually the SMALL things that get blown out of proportion that gets us in trouble----Funny how hubs never mentions the time he came home to find me knee deep in heavy vinyl wall paper--it was SHINY plastic coated stuff with PINK and GREEN FROGS on it!!!!--and circles AND stripes---thought I was gonna heave every time I went in that room! Baby #1 on way so needed nursery. Ripped wallpaper down by main force as the steamer wouldn't touch it and the wallpaper remover made it cling harder---and ripped the facing paper off the sheet rock. No he doesn't mention THAT. Nor the time (In a different house) that I steamed ugly "Colonial Bicentennial Theme" wallpaper off the bathroom walls and discovered that these were "seconds" and the entire WALL of plasterboard DISSOLVED---nope he seems to have forgotten THAT. PS I sold the crib and other nursery stuff to PAY to fix this!!!! LOL!

Nope. What HE remembers is:::: One exceptionaly COLD night in our old farmhouse---with the dryer lint "insulation" and the water pipes run on the OUTSIDE of the kitchen walls--complete with lovely decorative scorch marks!--to prevent them from--freezing! Well--that did NOT work so he is in basement thawing out pipes and running new heat tape, He gets the water turned ON and says---run a load of laundry so we can see if the water is OK to that point. This is just outside of the kitchen where I am slicing and dicing away. He goes back down the crumbly stone basement stairs and into the crawlspace---there WAS a cistern in there so you could stand up---IF you were Hobbit size!--He's--6'2". Hmmmm---Well I hear a noise and I turn around to see---WATER. Flying EVERYWHERE. The hose to the washer was frozen and the pressure caused the hose to separate and I now have pressurized water flying out of the hose that is frantically whipping back and forth---

So I did what ANY sensible person would do---I SCREAMED. A lot. And loudly!!!! I can't REACH the shut off's as I am too short. So when he arrives on the scene there I am--doused and screaming and the hand scraped pumpkin pine floor boards were awash---He leans over the geyser and pushes the OFF button on the washer. It was like a miracle occured! No more WATER!!!! I will NEVER live that one down.

Apparently he thought I was INJURED with the chopping and slicing and dicing and THAT was why I screamed---and he jumped up and WHACKED his head on one of those bark covered beams-----

Nor the time I thought the house was on FIRE and got the kids out to the -30 driveway to find that the CAR radiator had frozen---called the Fire Dept (of which he was a member) and when THEY arrived discovered that the pipes---sensing a THEME here???---had cracked and it was STEAM I was seeing NOT smoke----we lost the kitchen pipes that day AND the dishwasher motor AND the washing machine motor AND some of the basement pipes--and I had the wood stove not 5 FEET from the kitchen pipes GLOWING red.

And the time I ran OVER the car battery charger---who leaves it hooked up TO the car???? And the time my horse followed me INTO the house onto those pumpkin pine floors---

Yeah. IT's the little things!

Yes, halleycomet,
my beloved hubby suffers from "Selective Memory" too, just like "Selective Hearing"

It sounds like your kitchen and the floor definitely have 'character' there....

It got very cold here now but. Just incentive to get the outerwalls wired and insulation and drywall UP. Hubby is still alive though he won't stay in bed like he's supposed to.

Hopefully it's sprayfoam day tomorrow and I might not freeze solid before then. I hope that goes well....

I wish someone would run over the battery charger, it's a 40 year old model and been well abused; I've been leery of it for the past twenty. If the floor hadn't given out, Santa might have brought a new one and the old one dropped off into a volcano on the way back to the north pole....

One day job was and still is making wire wrapped jewelry, and my own links to make chains and chain-mail jewelry. I know wire. It can have a personality and mind of it's own. If you are going to manipulate a piece of wire, such as bend or curl it, you usually put a bend in the end then clamp it (pliers or vise) to be able to get a better grip and control of it.

A temporary rigging to put gutters up, was to make a couple of slinging hangers of 9 gauge hot dip wire. That usually takes more strength than I can muster, to do fancy manipulation of that thick of a stiff wire so hubby is doing it. We need to straighten the piece to cut it to lengths, and he clips a vise grip to the end of it. I am saying 'put a bend in it' (in the end) like a broken record and I am on a ladder partly up. The person helping us is looking kind of helpless as I'm penned in by where hubby decided to manufacture the slings. !!!!!!put a bend in it or it'll slip!!!!!! and I can't get onto the roof or off that ladder unless I jump over him.

Of course it slips slightly, I reemphasize PUT A BEND IN IT and he reclamps it as is, vise grip parallel to the wire 'I almost got it' and whango. I take it squarely across back of both calves. He starts swearing a blue streak madder than a wet hen, I shove my way Off the ladder and leave him to deal with it falling and I gimp for the duct tape then start heading for the ER (a few blocks away) on foot. Friend bails and makes me get in his truck and takes me down there. That scar is still there, left calf took three stitches, right one only butterfly closures.

Gutters still aren't up there, four years later, come to think of it.....

@OKDOKEGAL--

Oh we gave up on gutters a while ago! Can't quite remember why tho! Probably something similar but without the trip to the ER. It does make me wonder someday HOW they get up and go to work and make it home alive.

However--hubs at work managed to shoot a nail gun projectile thru his hand----soooo----

My daughter has a scar left over from her husband screaming from the back yard--COME QUICK THERE IS A HURT BEAVER OUT HERE!!!! Well since we DO wildlife rehab--but usually the wounded arrive in a CAR not on their own feet---well we all rush out there and look for a--beaver. We see--no beaver! So of course my smart ass daughter and I say--There is NO beaver here! So he says--well maybe it is an OTTER! Um---where DID he grow up? What it WAS was one very befuddled groundhog. Had been hit by a car and waddled off towards it's hole under our brush pile.

Then SIL let his DOG out!!!! Big Brown Stupid Dog took one look and decided--MINE! Daughter managed to get his chain but not before he went AROUND her legs. Lovely burn marks that have scarred um--nicely? We corraled the groundhog in a cat carrier and put it in the shed until he recovered. We had a little blind baby groundhog a few years ago and I have a soft spot for them even if they DO make holes.

Then there was the day just after we moved into this house when we had to pull a window out of the wall to fix something. We discovered a huge wasp nest inbetween the casing and the studs. So we get as many out as we can and spray and shop vac. Fix whatever needed fixing and went about our business. Suddenly kid who sleeps in that room can't breath. Go to ER where they tell me she is having an allergic reaction to--fish she had 3 DAYS ago. OR maybe she had chicken pox. Um---two days later this happens AGAIN. Again ER can tell me nothing. FFWD to that summer and a hurricane in the Gulf. We collected clothing etc donations and while I am packing these up at our local firehouse the kids are playing outside. Suddenly the older kid runs in--sister has been STUNG by something and can't BREATH. Now--this is long before cell phones. We are in a RURAL area. I can see no one at any of the few nearby houses. I cant get ANY of the 3 phones to WORK and no I don't know how to get the FIRETRUCK radios to work either! Load kid in car for break neck drive to nearest ER 30 mins away; ever PRAY for a cop to spot you?

After spending 7 hours in the ER being told--we might have to AIRLIFT her out---we manage to go home. While I am driving I hear a noise in the front end--I think it is a branch from the tail end of that same hurricane. We get home and hubs looks under the car--HOW fast were you going? Um I looked and I was over 90 and didn't look again why? Seems the entire front end had come APART during our wild ride.

At least this time the ER did not try and tell me it was FISH. Ironically tho a few years later BOTH her father and she became allergic to shrimp. And they are all allergic to wasps!

The summer of the hornets... these build the papery covered nests. This is the year we learn hubby has major issues with being stung. It was a few years after we found out I was not deadly allergic to bees, wasps, and hornets. Especially the bees.

We had a large colony of hornets find a sneaky place to build a large clump UNDER a cabinet we had sitting on our deck under the canopy. They were sprayed and sent to the great yonder. We thought them gone. Hahah. Found another cluster nearby after I had disturbed them and done the teleport into house minus my pants because they got up the pantslegs, through the patio door and I felt crappy for half a day (took 7 stings). Next morning before dawn I rose to do battle with the can of black raid (diehornetdie). Thought we got them. HAHAHAHAH.

We find that the back steps are cast hollow concrete, the standard three step bit, and there's a crack at the base on the deck side and.... there's a large colony in there. This is about a week after Mass Murder With A Can #2. Okay, I rise at dawn, put a whole can down the crack/hole and tamp it shut with some shovels of dirt and take the sting of retribution (one). (this is about 10 days after finding of nest #1, this is nest #3)

They're back. For three days, every other day, I rise before dawn and spray a whole can in there and seal it up. They're back.....

I go to a garden center, they suggest Vikor. And have to order it in. Pricy, I pay they order, it takes 3 days to get the can. Rise before dawn, give'm an entire can of Vikor and seal it up.

About 3 days and they're still there and seemingly strong as ever.

Hubby gets mad, gets a gas can (gallon) of unleaded and pours THAT down the hole, and tamps it shut. He avoids getting stung.

Now there are a few foundation cracks; we didn't know about that; and. The unleaded fumes definitely backed up into the basement, for a few days we couldn't be down there, and we vented and used fans to ventilate that basement. Okay, problem solved?

All they flying ones were killed, and we figure that the core hatched out about four days later, a few survived, and very poisoned with all that Raid, Vikor, and unleaded. And a few found their way INTO the house.

I get called to clean up something one of the cats is looking at, a dying hornet. I cap her with a glass, find a card, and send her to a whirlpool funeral. Repeat a few times over the coming day.

The kitchen had this ungodly gold/brown tracery textured vinyl tile that was a shade that if you dropped uncooked pasta on it you would not see it. I wear contacts otherwise things are a blur not far away from my face. It is 3 am, our old and not well cat is in an onery mode and to shut him up I go to get the canned catfood out of fridge and give him a spoonful. And with can in hand, step on one of these half dead poisoned hornets. She ground her little rear into that toe side and gave me a really good sting; more than the usual amount I will vouch. I can't really see, lift foot as it feels like I was glass cut with HOT glass and grab the blur and pluck off, toss on floor and crown it with the catfood can and stump off to get into the papayan laced meat tenderizer to make that burning hot nail sting hurt less. Then I come back to find confused cat sitting and looking at the catfood can, lift it, and find the can has a curved bottom so hornet is still alive. I find something else to end her with (smush) and feed cat. By how sick I got and felt, figured she'd given me half a dozen stings worth.

This is an honest to god true story, and this is the part that makes it a classic.

That afternoon, to feel better, I went to take a shower. This is the early days of internet so dial up access is the way it goes. I take shower, still dripdrying and working on my hair, I go to sit in computer chair, in basement and start my email to downloading while I go get dressed.

If I'd known that chair was already occupied, I would have let her use it. That hornet got me. In a 'big H'. I call the clinic and ask for the doc as I want advice on what to do, and you don't know the pain... nurse said later he was hanging onto the counter, had the phone as far away from his head as he could get, bent over, and trying not to pass out from trying not to laugh out loud or too loudly. Mostly nothing to be done and sitting really didn't happen for about a week.

How is this a DIY disaster? Next time, if this ever happens again, I will put a chain on the steps, PULL THEM LOOSE and kill every last one of those little buggers! C4 is an option in this sort of case!

Many, many DIY failures stuffed under the bed for no one to see and a little dog who constantly has primer on her ears...stop me before I DIY again!

OKDOKEGAL---

OMG!!!! Not only do we have the same wasps I think we have the same FLOOR!!!!!!

Allegedly there are "Worse" places to get stung---one of them being the hands. Feet and face come next. I am not sure where the rear end ranks tho!!!!! I hope you have a plentiful supply of EPIPENS stashed everywhere. We now have the hubs and TWO kids allergic---our daughter is one of those scientific puzzlers--not allergic to honeybees but anaphylactic to "Mixed Vespids" ie wasps and hornets. White faced wasps are the worst offenders. She was actually included as a child in a Johns Hopkins study of adult reactions. Our younger son is also allergic but not so far as reactive. And we think the two grandkids have inherited this--AND the shrimp allergy. Makes for fun when people like great grandmother can't seem to UNDERSTAND this and try to grab food off their plates with a shrimp contaminated fork. Have to be ever so careful.

These wasps in particular will and DO build EVERYWHERE. We have had them in the dog house; in the grill; in every container on our porch; and oh yeah--IN the house---we have a large double glass door that we don't use and that has a large hutch in front of it. I kept hearing some sort of buzzzzzing sound and finding bugs of the stinging variety in the kitchen. Finally managed to look behind the hutch and discovered that the casing was loose and a wind storm had apparently lifted a piece of outside alum siding--and there they were!!!!! Had to kick out daughter and tackle this=---the NON allergic people anyways! We spend most of our summers with a can of foam wasp killer close to hand. And everyone knows--you are ON CALL if you are not the allergy people to spray at any time any place!

I also keep Benadryl handy at all times and in the car too. Can keep you alive til you get to the ER. Daughter had a soccer field sting and the ambulance took SO long to get there that I drove to the Squad building with the kid---apparently clutching the Epipen case the while time---got in the ambulance with it--got to the hospital waving it about--this has a HUGE needle after it is deployed!!!---and it had to be pried out of my now bloody hand. When we got done--many hours later----we went outside and I looked for my car and it was--gone!!!! Oh No!!! Stolen aged Honda! Went inside to call police and a nurse that knew us said--Did you forget--you came in the ambulance! Where is your car? OOps. Had to call for pick up and discovered car parked at a very strange angle with the doors still opened and blood on the stick shift where I had driven WITH that Epipen in hand----

Don't even get me started on the kid that needed rabies shots--and turned out ALLERGIC to them!!!!!!!

I had just finished painting the kitchen ceiling of our first home late on Sunday night, the final touch. Monday night I was starting the trim in the dining room when I heard a shriek and a crash from the kitchen, thinking my wife had tripped and fallen, I ran in to see a pretty lovely gam hanging through the new drywall. For some reason known only to her, she went in to one of the most torn up rooms in that torn up old house and went through a hole in the floor. I struggled not to laugh as I helped her up, made appropriate noises about the scrape and the bruise. Went back downstairs and got a scrap of drywall and started fixing....right after I put a board over that hole in the floor!

halleycomet,
I've had side of face (x2), back of neck by hairline (x3), back of left hand, on top of right foot, around both ankles (x5) and above left elbow; then there was the mass run with two below knee and two above on outer right side and two on outer left calf and one in right armpit (the time they got in my clothes) plus left next to little toe. Hornets. Then the EPIC. The ones that hurt the most at onset were top of foot and back of hand; the longest lasting post-grief was the epic one, followed closely by the toe. We now have epipens around because of hubby.

Mr. Ironwood Builder, your darling beautiful Better Half sounds like my handsome dashing Better Half. Who is still supposed to be under bed arrest. If he's not supposed to be there, do that, go there, or find that, he will promptly do so and don't ask why.... and I promised tomorrow what he can do is drywall mud. I hope the sprayfoaming goes well and I can start with the drywall, he's actually pretty good at mudding.

My husband and I have always been DIYs. We think we're good at it, but a couple of years ago, everything we touched messed up or fell apart.
The last straw was trying to use our new power washer on a trex deck ( our first time using a power washer.). Well we went round and round with that spayer, making circles and squiggle
marks on the deck boards. My husband was so frustrated, he said now we've ----------- up.
With some humor, we got over it and now we call ourselves Mr and Mrs Fudcup.

@ okedokegal and halleycomet, your stories are amazing.

Someone pulls the TP roller off the wall, and this is what I find. What kind of idiot contractor fills walls with scrap sheetrock? This is not the first time. It seems every time I need to get inside one of my walls I find more construction debris than space.

@Mark Deason: No wonder the TP roller came off.

Had a gap above the garage door leading to the backyard...on outside of house there was molding around the door frame, on inside just a gap, no molding....so I bought a can of spray foam, luckily I followed the directions and wore eye goggles and a mask...after spraying the foam, it did not swell up as much as I imagined it would, so I applied more...got down from the ladder and looked up when I heard this weird whoosh noise..,it was finally expanding.. got a big old plop of it that came down and covered my goggles and mask, plus my hair. It was heck trying to get it out of my hair, ended up cutting it out...more bangs and feathering the sides....threw out the t-shirt I was wearing. Used a saw and trimmed off the extra 4 inches of foam above the doorway...but spray foam is definitely a cool product :)

LOL...I tried to fill a gap between the garage and the laundry room and when the foam swelled...yup, let it dry and had to cut off the 'over expansion'. I learned quick and used that stuff in many places!!!! Never got it on me thank goodness!!

I just tried to build a shelf on castors for my basement shed using wood dowels. Just 2 storeys. So I wanted to use shorter dowels for the top and bottom shelf to connect with square beams, and long ones to connect the middle shelf with the lower and upper beams. I roughly glued the beams to the top and bottom, lining them up nicely and supporting them with tape to stay in position, all went well. When the glue had dried I drilled the holes through and pushed in the dowels with glue, again, all went smoothly. BUT now it comes. The middle bit I wanted to connect in the same way using longer dowels to go through beams shelf and beams again so I glued it to the bottom beams to get accurate matching holes again. I marked all the holes, remembered to flip the template to mirror the markings correctly on the beams so they would fit did the drilling, bot the glue out and stuck the dowels in but they did not fit exactly and I ended up with a 2 inch gap between the beams and the shelf plate. I tried to rescue the situation by trying to quickly pull the shelf back out from the dowels in the beams to at least use it to just fix on one side but it was stuck and when I used force it broke right in the middle. Disaster and tears resulted. Now I have to start again :( This time I will just add another middle shelf and simply lay them on top of each other. So frustrated but it was too challenging to get all the holes to match ... :(