Mostly I get someone in and pay the earth. But the job may be too small. We're not great showerers but VR now uses the unit in the ensuite. It has remained more or less ignored during our twenty years' occupancy of the house and the tray (If that's the bit you stand in) needs re-sealing.
I watch a video by a shouty young man with short-cut hair. He's British but his style is reassuringly hortatory. However his bathroom acoustic doesn't do him any favours.
I have dim recollections of the different tasks but Short Hair includes all of them in his Don't Do list. No masking tape. No fingers. The first bollix is I've forgotten how to trigger the sealant gun and must re-watch the video. This won't end well.
I remove the old sealant and I'm proud of that. But then things start to go downhill. The damn silicone is so damn sticky: layers of extra skin creep from my fingers to my wrists and up to my elbow. The temptation to fiddle gets the better of me and the smooth surface of the initial sweep now looks like clotted cream.
Finally I’m aware of a toxic smell. Very chemical. Time to leave the ensuite. The good news is I have an untouched bottle of single malt which should help. The bad news is it's Diet Day and booze is off limits.
DIY stands for do-it-yourself. Or, perhaps, don’t-involve-yourself.
If you stood up to Diet Day, you are a better dieter than I am. Just succumbed to a great deal of chocolate.
ReplyDeleteMost indoor jobs I used to do my self, but with age and decrepitude I am like you these days, RR. I get a man in, which lightens the wallet somewhat.
ReplyDeleteAlthough far from wealthy I now apply Belloc's advice:
Lord Finchley tried to mend the Electric Light
Himself. It struck him dead: And serve him right!
It is the business of the wealthy man
To give employment to the artisan.
Marly: Your comment provoked a question: how long ago did I embark on the 5/2 diet? I searched Tone Deaf: June 5 2013. The announcement was headed The Post I Won't Write. Here's a sample: "To blog about dieting is to commit an offence against common decency." I've stuck to the diet and more or less stuck to that assertion.
ReplyDeleteI see we are polar opposites on the Gustatory Spectrum. Chocolate is easily - preferably - ignored. But tempt me with a slice of rare cold roast beef and I cannot be held responsible for my reaction.
Avus: I like electricity and not just for its potential to reduce attendance in the House of Lords. To many it carries all the mysterious menace of Jack The Ripper. To add a spur socket to a ring-main elevates one into a domestic elite, a bit like reading a musical score. The gawping multitudes believe one is recklessly flirting with invisible forces (true) that are beyond the contemplation of Common Man. Net result: one is, by definition, Uncommon. Who could resist that promotion?
If you have failed at any endeavor, silicone to sparks, know this: You did not watch enough YouTube tutorials in advance.
ReplyDeleteEdsbath: No doubt, no doubt. But I am not psychologically equipped to maintain a sitting position for very long while being lectured at. This was the problem at school. The geography between student and teacher seemed all wrong; as if I were being buried alive for my own good. I envy you because I believe you are far more durable under these circumstances; in fact you've taken things to the next step up: the world of the autodidact.
ReplyDeleteApplying that stuff is one of the most difficult jobs I know. There is an overpowering tendency to "smooth" it out with a finger - catastrophic and irreversible. Most of my efforts have looked shabby, except the ones where I held back from fingering. I notice you didn't post a photo of your efforts.
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh: For me blogging is writing, photos are incidental. I think my prose here is sufficiently self-abasing, I wasn't trying to hide anything.
ReplyDelete