What's made you grumpy today?

[The Panda Nut]

On the schools issue, I have found that so many young people struggle to write anything. So little time is spent on handwriting it seems, then later, everything is done on screen, so they learn to type with two fingers. Hand them a fountain pen, and they'll destroy the nib.

As for climbing the stairs and forgetting why, been a member of that club for a few years now. For many more, I've been 'losing' tools. Use it, put it down beside you, can't find it a few moments later. Yet, there it is when clearing up. These things hide. I bought a set of small picks a year or so ago. Used them once, no idea where they've gone.

I have issued another general order to my tools.

General Order No. 2
Hand and power tools
Any tool found to be 'hiding' before, during and after works will be shot. This includes circular saws like the one found recently after two months of hiding in plain sight. Tools hiding in plain site is now a capitol offence.

By order Panda Nut.

Or should that just be Nut!
That circular saw evaded capture fow weeks and was eventaully found hiding in a disused cabinet from my daughters house sored in teh gargae, It MUST have walked in there by itself and then moved the cabinet against the wall so the door was inaccessible. As for the cabinet, it too will be executed and go to the crematoria. (Woodburner)

If I could have back the time wasted looking for tools and stuff that hide, I would have finished my building works and moved on to something more fun. .......about 6 months ago!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I have issued another general order to my tools.

General Order No. 2
Hand and power tools
Any tool found to be 'hiding' before, during and after works will be shot. This includes circular saws like the one found recently after two months of hiding in plain sight. Tools hiding in plain site is now a capitol offence.

By order Panda Nut.

Or should that just be Nut!
That circular saw evaded capture fow weeks and was eventaully found hiding in a disused cabinet from my daughters house sored in teh gargae, It MUST have walked in there by itself and then moved the cabinet against the wall so the door was inaccessible. As for the cabinet, it too will be executed and go to the crematoria. (Woodburner)

If I could have back the time wasted looking for tools and stuff that hide, I would have finished my building works and moved on to something more fun. .......about 6 months ago!

Oh dear, I see so much of myself in this. What I really need to do is clear out all the "useful" crap I've got stored in my garage and shed, then there would be far less places for "stuff" to hide. Trouble is every time I try to do it, mostly what I end up doing is moving the "useful" stuff from one part of the garage/shed to another place and eventually not even ending up with enough stuff to fill Becky's boot!

 

[The Panda Nut]

Oh dear, I see so much of myself in this. What I really need to do is clear out all the "useful" crap I've got stored in my garage and shed, then there would be far less places for "stuff" to hide. Trouble is every time I try to do it, mostly what I end up doing is moving the "useful" stuff from one part of the garage/shed to another place and eventually not even ending up with enough stuff to fill Becky's boot!

 

[The Panda Nut]

I have a triple garage, sadly in line, but its got a pretty big roof and its FULL. I am however going to start clearing it next summer. Im going to repaint my chimney and then get shot of my scaffold tower. If there is a mad younger DIYer here that wants an old scaffold tower let me know as I dont expect I can sell it. It dates back to around 1960 but its still sound and I had it extended. Not something you need often but very useful to have if you have the space to store it. Then I must have a dozen fence posts, rolls of wire netting various wooden bed frames and slats and a couple of vast wardrobes all of which can go in the the tool cremater. I have a drywall sander thats still new in the box. I wonder if I could make something else out of it. Maybe the handle can go so its just a sander?? What else is up there I wonder. As in every single case, its absolutely bombproof certain that I will need anything I get rid of within 24 hours of its departure. Ladders and scaffolding are to go on safety grounds. It will be nice to be able to get the car inside and open the door fully to climb out. The garage must be 12' wide at its widest..... Im actually thinking of converting it to a tiny house and selling it off separately if we move.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Noops dashboard erupted into hideouus rattles yesterday, no warning, no provocation and no reason. Its where dash board meets dashtop and radio. Can be stopped with light upward presure on the left side of the top of the radio. I cant drive it like this so radio, and possibly dash must come out. I NEED RADIO REMOVAL TOOLS NOW. cant find my old ones. Does anyone know are these panda specific please?

After weeks of aggro...
The noise is from under the dash top, just left of the demist vent grill. Ive beenv building up to looking at it brain engaged, I think its airbag related. I shall extract the glovebox and have a peep. May be it just needs a tiny piece of foam packing above. If not Im going to send it in to the dealer. Just placing a hand onto of the dash stops the noise straight away. Tapping gently induces it. A step further forwards though. Massive summer heat may be to blame. The good news is its a lot less bad now and stops when the car is warm. What a bu* er!
Things like this have seen many cars sent packing, but I still love this Panda!!!

 

[StevenRB45]

Outside lane of the A1 was sheet ice this morning...

Nowt happened but that was an adventure

 

[porta]

After weeks of aggro...
The noise is from under the dash top, just left of the demist vent grill. Ive beenv building up to looking at it brain engaged, I think its airbag related. I shall extract the glovebox and have a peep. May be it just needs a tiny piece of foam packing above. If not Im going to send it in to the dealer. Just placing a hand onto of the dash stops the noise straight away. Tapping gently induces it. A step further forwards though. Massive summer heat may be to blame. The good news is its a lot less bad now and stops when the car is warm. What a bu* er!
Things like this have seen many cars sent packing, but I still love this Panda!!!

I remember having to take out a ‘regrettable’ (Regatta) dash to get to a persistent rattle from multiple areas…discovered the customers kids had been putting change down the air vents!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Coal effect gas fire in the living room has been looking rather sad just of late. It's because, after a number of years use, the fake ceramic coals have lost some of their volume and settled down in the gas bed. I've been slightly concerned because this means they are almost resting on the burner orifices, but also it's looking like a fire that's needing some more fuel. I ordered a genuine new coals set from Gazco - the manufacturer - at nearly doubled the cost of eBay bargain buys because our local fireplace specialist advised me to. He also told me to get them on line as he'd take a mark up and he knows I will change them myself. Taken me about five hours in total mainly because three of the eight screws which hold the glass front in place didn't want to play the game. Ended up running a die down the screws M6 and a tap into the holes. Found a new use for ceramic brake grease too - all 8 fixings treated and screwed in beautifully! Now looks a treat
I'll try to get a picture of it for you

How's that!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Ref my last post. The "grump" was because I thought those 3 seized screws were going to shear and they're threaded into captive fittings in the sheet metal frame. Would have been a nightmare to sort out. However, gently gently with plus gas and lots of toing and froing and they came out. Now sweet as a nut with the Ceramic brake grease to make next time easier.
By the way, yes I know about that crack. It's in the inner block walling and is not repeated in the outer brickwork of the cavity construction. My Civil Engineer daughter tells me the house is definitely not going to fall down because of it and is consulting with colleagues about what's going to be best to do about it. Probably stitching, but there's a new American adhesive injection system which makes much less mess but, of course, costs more. We'll see.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Ref my last post. The "grump" was because I thought those 3 seized screws were going to shear and they're threaded into captive fittings in the sheet metal frame. Would have been a nightmare to sort out. However, gently gently with plus gas and lots of toing and froing and they came out. Now sweet as a nut with the Ceramic brake grease to make next time easier.
By the way, yes I know about that crack. It's in the inner block walling and is not repeated in the outer brickwork of the cavity construction. My Civil Engineer daughter tells me the house is definitely not going to fall down because of it and is consulting with colleagues about what's going to be best to do about it. Probably stitching, but there's a new American adhesive injection system which makes much less mess but, of course, costs more. We'll see.

When I saw the picture I wondered if the gas pipe runs in the wall there, or something else (a bit too much to the side for the isolation switch wiring) but it may be something like the pipe for the gas expanding/contracting when the fire is in use. and the outer plaster cracking as a result.

In our last house we had lived in for 10+ years, it was a relatively new build only 4 years old when we moved in, an old converted brewery maltings. There were a lot of settling in cracks that would appear over the course of the 10 or so years we lived there and many were an easy fix with some wall filler and some sand paper to tidy up the finish. They rarely came back.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

When I saw the picture I wondered if the gas pipe runs in the wall there, or something else (a bit too much to the side for the isolation switch wiring) but it may be something like the pipe for the gas expanding/contracting when the fire is in use. and the outer plaster cracking as a result.

In our last house we had lived in for 10+ years, it was a relatively new build only 4 years old when we moved in, an old converted brewery maltings. There were a lot of settling in cracks that would appear over the course of the 10 or so years we lived there and many were an easy fix with some wall filler and some sand paper to tidy up the finish. They rarely came back.

'Fraid not. the gas pipe feeds straight through the wall behind it direct into the fire. The crack's been there for years, appeared about 6 or 7 years after we bought the house (new build) and I filled it once about 20 years ago. Unfortunately it came back. Daughter says it's most likely that, because the house is cavity wall with brick outside, board insulation in the cavity and blockwork to the inside, that the brickwork and blockwork is expanding and contracting at different rates. She tells me this sort of construction is now strongly recommended to have drywall - plasterboard - interior finishing and not plastered directly to the blockwork, as ours is. Also I found interesting, she tells me that when blockwork cracks like this it doesn't shear in just one plane but staggers through the depth of the crack. This results in the crack retaining quite a lot of mechanical strength, much more than a crack in brickwork for instance. Anyway, as I say, it's been like this for years and not got any worse. She's soon to make a recommendation as to what we might do but I recon if we do nothing it's not going to fall down before us and then the kids can decide what they're going to do with it between them to get it sold! By the way, there's absolutely no signs of cracking in the exterior brick.