Jobs that take x6 longer than they look like.

[Navigator]

Some tasks seem simple to look at but take ages to do due to things that are unexpected.

I had a nut in a corner steady explode when packing up at The National and thought it would be a half-hour at maximum to replace. Corner steady came off quite easily as I have deep sockets (otherwise ages with a spanner but do-able that way). Finding and ordering from e-Bay was a few minutes, and delivery was next day.

Old nut was in three bits and fell out once things unscrewed, but getting the new one back into place wasn't. Anyone who has looked underneath will know the steady is made out of thick steel and then galvanised. The nut fits in a recess on each side of a channel but there is no way to slide into place. What I thought I might have done on a site if I had a spare nut actually finally required a big bench vice, a couple of giant pinch bars and four hands. Not helped that it is all well greased!

What "extended" jobs have you encountered recently?

[Takethedogalong]

A lot of my garden projects end up being a lot more than they seem! I plonk down for a nice gentle weeding session, then "holy poop" bindweed! The whole area has to be decimated. I hate bindweed, and Couch grass, and nettles. Not too fond of wild geraniums either........if you've got one, next year you have a thousand. I pot a few up and pass them onto folks I don't like!

Only kidding by the way!

[DianneT]

Most of my jobs are extended by Old Age

[Jaydug]

What "extended" jobs have you encountered recently?

Five weeks ago I decided it was time to fit a new recessed hand basin in the bathroom. New basin and taps were ordered on online and quickly delivered (Victoria Plumbing). Because of a different shaped bowl, t'was decided I'd have a new worktop. That was delivered and both fitted with new taps reconnected to the supply. Because the new sink was slightly deeper, the trap hung slightly lower giving the waste water the job of flowing uphill. A new pipe would have to go lower down through the outside wall. Then suddenly a phone call from the hospital. "We've had a cancellation. Could you come tomorrow for your procedure?" I agreed and arrived home two hours later with a heavily bandaged hand and arm in a sling. Meanwhile the plumbing was on hold. A week later, with hand and upper arm unwrapped, it was discovered the skin graft hadn't taken. Three weeks later and the hand is still heavily bandaged but the harvest site is nicely healed. Bathroom still resembles a building site.

[DianneT]

Oh dear sorry to hear that Jaydug hope your arm is better job gets completed soon.

Dianne

[Rosa]

Hope you recover soon Jaydug. Our newly formed en suite is crawling along, we can only get a plasterer between his more important jobs, likewise the plumber for an awkward bit of pipe work that OH would rather not tackle. I can't remember when this "project" started but the dust is well over six weeks old!

[Admiral]

Went to change a bulb in an electric fire, two minute job, yes it did take two minutes but it took me 35 minutes to get back on my feet !! as my knees have given up the ghost after playing too much rugby in my younger days, I had to call for Mrs Admiral to help me get to my feet, and she was in Tesco's at the time !!!!!

[DianneT]

Went to change a bulb in an electric fire, two minute job, yes it did take two minutes but it took me 35 minutes to get back on my feet !! as my knees have given up the ghost after playing too much rugby in my younger days, I had to call for Mrs Admiral to help me get to my feet, and she was in Tesco's at the time !!!!!

I think a lot of us are in same boat well m OH is I can still manage to get up myself.

[Quarryjmiller]

Towing a trailer back from Barcelona in March this year when vibration in MH starts to rear its head, this isn’t wheel balance, something else is causing it, stop for fuel, check all six wheels, all looking good, all about the same temperature, swap drivers, back onto Autoroute, I lie on floor over rear axle & confirm that’s where it’s coming from, next aire, pull into nice long lorry bay, not another vehicle in sight.

This time I’m under the MH feeling the tyres, inside of passenger side rear is very hot, decide to change it myself because ‘I’ll have it done by the time ADAC have answered the phone’.

Unlock and unhitch trailer, roll it back out of way, open passenger side garage door, unload four chairs, table, assorted, levelling blocks, traction mats and stuff I didn’t know I had. Pile it up against trailer.

Dig out bottle jack, remove wheel trims, pat myself on back for having extension bar for wheel wrench.

French registered MH parks next to us, sigh as I listen to my partner explaining in French to lady from MH that yes we do have breakdown insurance and that it is quicker to change it ourselves.

Wheel nuts loosened, jack in place and screwed tight to jacking point,finally worked out how the valve on the jack works, fitted gaffer tape to stop handle extension falling off, jack up van.

Remove wheel and get instant reminder that I’m not as young as I was, how can something full of air be that heavy?

Now for the juggling, anybody else out there remember how road wheel hubs used to have studs and you just hooked the wheel on and lined it up?

French motorhome leaves and is immediately replaced by a Swedish one, partner explains to Swedish driver that we do have breakdown insurance and that this way is quicker, he is clearly not convinced but who cares - it’s snowing - in fact it’s snowing a lot.

OK, wheel lined up, studs all properly located and I am nipping them up in diagonal order ready to drop the van from the jack, Gendarmes arrive, listen to partner explaining that we do have breakdown insurance but ‘he (notice the word he has been inserted) thinks it quicker to change it himself’, Gendarmes return to their warm, dry Megane and depart.

Snow is now sticking well and the chairs and table etc etc are looking very white, drop the jack and try to pull it out, that isn’t happening, it’s stuck firm, at this point I remembered a piece of advice given to me 44 years ago, never screw a hydraulic bottle jack up tight to the jacking point because you will not be able to get it out again, aagh!

OK, simple solution, this van came with a compressor (it was me who added the spare), I will pump the tyre up, dig out the compressor, open the bonnet, locate the power point, wrestle with the crocodile clips to stop them falling off, attach the hose, realise this going to take a while so load the old wheel, brush the still falling snow from the camping ephemera and load it into MH garage.

Check the tyre pressure, up 6lbs, try the jack, not moving, pace up and down, pressure now up 8lbs, jacks not moving, think back to first time I actually used a bottle jack (also 44 years ago), return to compressor, switch off, let tyre back to normal pressure, pack up compressor, put it away, brush myself down, return to cab, start engine, engage gear, drive forward and off jack, it wasn’t that dramatic to be honest, just a thump as the jack fell over, back out into snow, retrieve jack, pack it away, tighten wheel nuts, refit wheel trim and the real challenge - threading the cable ties through the wheel trim with frozen fingers, hump trailer back on to hitch, check lights, take wheel trim back off to check that I really had tightened the wheel nuts.

To be fair, it was all accomplished in under an hour and no jack or MH was harmed in the making of this epic but I can’t help but remember how well schooled I was in the art of changing the remould clad wheels on my Viva with a ropey old scissor jack back in the seventies.

[DianneT]

Nice to read your story Quarryjmiller. I believe we all like to think we can still do these sort of jobs like we use to. These days we would call ADAC.

Dianne