Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms DIY as a lifestyle choice

So in 1987 we moved to our current address. Although the drive down the side of the house is narrow, the seller got his Sierra down there, so it wasn't too bad. Although these days a Sierra is a small car.

Anyway, being a corner plot, there was scope to join a second garage to the original. I employed a bricklayer for the walls but did everything else myself. This included the footings for the garage and the drive extension, and a soakaway, which had to be a cubic metre. That was all fun digging out with nothing more than a spade, but then I was just 34 years old. The garage door came from a neighbour who had gone electric, so matched. The whole thing was a lot of fun, but I don't know how people do such physical work day after day.

Recently the fence and posts which I erected back in 1987 started to look weary. I've only had to change one fence post, which is quite impressive. When I took these down, two of the remaining four were still solid, but the other two were rotten at ground level.

Until now I've had to move both VW's to get the Morgan out of either garage, but I persuaded MrsW to allow me to extend the hard standing slightly, so the the left hand garage is accessible even with the Golf on the drive. This work has been progressing over the last few days, and once again I found myself digging footings for the new hard standing retaining wall. It's still a challenge, and of course now I'm 69, and the weather over the last couple of days has been extra testing.

I also forgot how hard work it is mixing mortar. I know it's tough but what a back aching process! But actually I can lay bricks to a decent enough standard, I'm just messy with the pointing. I used fence post concrete for the new posts, but because of the shape, I had to get 4 fence panels and cut two down, which proved another challenge because they use three different types of joint, which had to be replicated.
So I've been doing a few full shifts, starting early while it was still cool and finishing mid afternoon, except one day when I wanted to finish the wall, so it was 6pm.

The garden slopes so I had to calculate the amount of ballast to level up, I estimated 30 bags, and fortunately that was right!! I removed the top of the old retaining wall with my concrete cutter, which is the most useful £65 I ever spent. But a dangerous tool, even with full protection, it has a mind of its own from the gyro effect.
Today I did the concrete surface, but borrowed a mixing bucket and electric mixer from Son in Law. Again I though a couple of hours would see this done but it was over 4 hours and it looked like I was going to run out of sand at one point. Anyway all that's left to do now is to tidy up around the back gate with the new fence panel offcuts.

I could have got a man in, but where's the fun in that? And I've lost a few pounds in weight!!!

I am unworthy. As soon as I saw the fence posts go in the recent wind I reached for google/phone to get the "man" in.

Plumbing and gardening are a no, computing is okay. We should sort out an exchange forum!

Dave,

I used to take on quite advanced DIY jobs, mostly because I enjoyed it, but also because I couldn't afford to hire professional help.

Over the years my ability to carry out hard manual labour has diminished, I simply don't have the upper body strength I once had, so I have to hire in help.
I'm slightly envious that you still can do a full day's labor: the last time I tried I needed the help of a chiropractor to recover and it took a week.
We all age differently, but the key issue is to enjoy what you do.

Today I spent a few hours in the workshop making door wedges: in this heat we have doors open and with any breeze internal doors slam. So some scrap "mahogany" from old double glazing frames was converted to elegantly tapered wedges, with the help of my old band saw. I love that thing, it cuts wonderfully and never tires. The trick is a sharp blade of the correct type for the material that you want to cut. My saw is 30+ years old and is free of any sort of safety lock....other than a "quick stop" if off button is pressed. Modern band saws are covered with safety locks that just make doing anything difficult, because idiots can buy dangerous shop tools.

You've also saved a lot of £££, which with man maths can be used on the Mog, well done Dave

Happy with Electrics, plumbing, carpentry, mechanics and grass cutting, the rest of the gardening is down to my good lady or we get a man in as I have zero interest in gardening or erecting fences so he does all that for us too so we can have more fun walking or driving around glorious Devon countryside .

Been there and done it when we had three youngsters growing up out of financial necessity but not nowadays thank goodness.

Concreting is a no go area, I mixed and laid the base for our oil tank 15 years ago and hated every second of it, just no finesse or fun involved with that stuff.

Dave W ... totally agree with the DIY lifestyle .... I rarely have to get a 'man' in for anything (and when I do I almost always regret it) .... not a clue how much money has been saved over the years with all the building work, forestry, car repairs/rebuilds (not to mention race car engineering) and vegetable gardening providing the bulk of our food in the summer months (and beyond the summer months now we've built the polycrub)... it's meant us having a lifestyle of people much better off than we actually are.

That's not even touching on the peace of mind of knowing you can handle just about any job that gets thrown at you .... so many people must feel helpless in the face of the stuff they have in their lives ... and totally dependent on (often not good/reliable and increasingly expensive) 'tradespeople' .... wouldn't suit me one bit!

K

I am 69 also, in the last two years, I have took down and re built a conservatory, new raised deck and two raised flower beds, this Spring I fitted a new kitchen. My sister in law told me I was so clever, my reply was if I was clever I would have got people in.

That's the trick. We try to be as self-sufficient as possible, it has enabled us to end up with more than we'd otherwise have been able to afford.

It's a dying ability I'm afraid; I didn't particularly enjoy it when younger, but my father roped me in for just about every task around; I realise now it was a priceless apprenticeship. With todays electronic trickery, it's hard to get the kids away from their screens, let alone lend a hand! My partners 26 yr old was shocked to learn that there was water in domestic radiators, and didn't realise the oil needed changing in the old Golf she had.

Couldn’t agree more. The satisfaction gained from completing a job well done is immeasurable.

Yes - sometimes it is necessary to get ‘the man’ in but so long as the tools for the job are available, practice makes perfect!