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

I guess much depends upon how much one can earn in paid employment, relative to the capabilities one might care to adopt to further ones ambitions/priorities which might other wise be outside ones expected financial capabilities.. Of course for many it can be the related to the many challenges relating to DIY and not necessarily mere economics. Though in my case economics was the prime mover when young, I am not much up for DIY these days, and paying someone to perform a lesser quality task than I might manage myself would rankle somewhat .... Each to their own.

My wife and I have just finished (for the time being), the landscaping of our new garden. It was immensely hard physical work for the both of us. We did it ourselves both to save money and so that we had control over the project ourselves. I really don' think we knew how physically difficult it was going to be. However, we know the job has been done properly and we have both grown stronger and slimmer in the process. Getting people in to do work seems to be a real lottery and we have had from the sublime to the ridiculous in terms of quality of work over the last few years.

The last bloke I got in to do anything was to clear out our top gutters, I didn't fancy going up a ladder that high. In the event the 'handyman' proved to be even more lily-livered than I, so I ended up going up there anyway whilst he stood at the bottom and apologised.

We are well served in our village with craftsmen and we often work on a bartering basis, I got four years credit when we had our Rattery Sawmills (local quality wood products only) panelled fence put up by a friend, he wouldn't send us a bill so it took a while to repay him with electronic/electrical jobs he was wanting solved.

I took him a box of his favourite beer to tide him over, there was a good bit over after I left him..

We do all get to drink vast amounts of tea and lots of homemade cake eating goes on

45 years ago, and still resident, I bought a derelict stone cottage. I stood on the clay floor, after removing the rotten floor woodwork and looked up through the slanting roof tiles, Oh what have done said I. One evening my two sons went to bed by climbing a ladder up to a window because I had both stair wells full of rubble. They loved it! Last year I timbered and tiled the roof to a single extension with Cotswold reproduction stone tiles. At 76 I am getting a little tired not to say pissed off with DIY.

Good on you at 76, its what keeps us young. The wife was b#llocking her father a few weeks ago on whatsapp....for climbing up onto the roof of his 2 storey house to fix his aerial, mind you he is 91 coming 92 in November.

On the hottest day, the forewoman tasked me with repairing the wobbly decking, but as I drilled an hole it occurred to me that the heat generated by the drill bit could set the tinder dry decking alight.

Grudgeingly did acknowledge that I was potentially stupid enough to burn the house down so left me alone to have a siesta instead.

Nice one! ... sadly, even with Global Warming, that's not an excuse you'll get to use anywhere near often enough 🙁

K

Ps ... unfortunately for me Mrs Image is made of sterner stuff and would have just given me a spray bottle of water and instructions to flit the drilling area before each hole ... and some caustic remark that we didn't buy that fire-extinguisher for it to sit un-used!! 🙂

If he had fallen it would indeed have been a sad funeral but the reception would have been fantastic.