to ask for your dh diy disasters *lighthearted!*

[Gimmeashake]

I'm fed up with tales of wonderful house renovations/ projects over furlough and thought I'd remedy it by asking for your diy disasters! Specifically, your dh disasters because I seem to have landed the one who can't put up a shelf (well, not one you can actually, you know, put stuff on 😄). Now, I have worked throughout lockdown otherwise I'd have done it - dh has been furloughed but working on a private project, watching dc, does the shopping, cooking etc. He does his fair share, this isn't a dh bashing thread. But, my house most definitely does not look amazing after five months of having people in it ALL OF THE TIME. Please tell me there are some downsides to having a dh who actually knows what to do with a drill 😁

I've been house hunting and one house had loads of wooden panels in the bedroom with lights shining from behind. The lady explained they were Pinterest attempts but they were awful and needed ripped out in my opinion.

We bought a new build as a) it was more affordable and b) we wouldn't have to do anything to it. So envious of the 'escape to the chateau' types knocking down walls and the like! Dh siliconed the bath once 🤦‍♀️it looks like a toddler's iced a cake.

Not exactly DIY disaster (my DH is actually great at DIY) but one time he was fixing something, got frustrated as it wasn't going to plan and went to get something from the shed. In a course of action I don't fully understand (but believe is summed up as a 'temper tantrum' he flung a piece of wood at the ground, which promptly boomeranged back up and got him in the face. 5 hours in A&E to have a piece of skin on his face glued back on I don't know if the DIY ever got finished...

@Lurchermom thanks- that helps ☺! Your poor dh though; sounds v painful!

[quote Gimmeashake]@Lurchermom thanks- that helps ☺! Your poor dh though; sounds v painful![/quote]
Uncomfortable at the time for him but has given me years of "if you're going to have a strip, try not to throw anything that might bounce" comments, so I think we came out of it pretty well.

*strop lol

In his defence, I'm no good at DIY either, but I at least have attention to detail. Several times he's painted whole rooms in the wrong paint finish and not realised (e.g. gloss all over bedroom walls). It then needs to be primed and repainted making the job take at least 3 times as long as it needed to. So frustrating.

Too many to mention but would be very outing, so I'm keeping schtum.

@Lurchermom haha!
@Iamnotminterested ah go on.....

@NamedyChangedy points for effort I suppose....

My DH needed to fix something in the attic and his foot slipped and made a hole in the ceiling above the stairs. Very frustrating at the time but great ammunition for mocking for me now.

I put together his side table to be helpful and, whilst nailing on the back board, a nail went at a funny angle and lifted up the surface of the wood on the top. DH mocked me for that and reminded me again whilst we were putting together a new wardrobe and nailing the back board in place. We turn it over and he had done it this time. Cue plenty of mocking heading his way.

My DDad was putting up a shelf for my DSis - with that cocky been-doing-this-since-you-were-a-twinkle-in-my-eye attitude. Put one bracket in, started on the next and there was a loud bang. He'd drilled through an electricity cable. The electrician that turned up was amazed that DDad was still alive - he could easily have been electrocuted. Mind you, the electrician explained that the cables often go diagonally across a wall, rather than along the top/sides/bottom, which is why you need one of those little meter things to tell you where the cables are.

It has to be said that my DDad had form for drilling into things. There was a loose floorboard in the house - it was deliberately loose because it gave access to a flange* (or something) for the the hot water system. My DMum kept tripping over this board cos over the years, it started sticking up slightly. DDad decided to screw it down, figuring that he could just unscrew it when access was required. Vvvvvim!!!!! First hole in. Vvvvvvim!!! Misses the joist and he had a water feature in the bedroom, a delicate little fountain. He was panicking and running on the spot (which he did when stressed), trying to get my Dsis to stop my DMum coming home. Enter one highly amused plumber who fixed the damage and DMum came home and gave DDad a hug cos it was an accident and it was all sorted.

She wasn't quite so understanding a few weeks later when she took the big roasting tin down out of the cupboard and was drenched in the filthy water that had leaked through the cupboard ceiling and filled the tin up.

To be fair to my DDad, he was pretty good at DIY, he could just be a bit of a Reg Prescott at times. Miss him.

*I just like that word.

@TheSecondMrsAshwell that's lovely great image! Reminded me of my late ddad too. Fond memories.

DP drilled through the stone bathroom wall to attach a cabinet. Now we have two massive holes and no cabinet as the stud wasn't there

@CorianderLord excellent.

@TheSecondMrsAshwell

My DDad was putting up a shelf for my DSis - with that cocky been-doing-this-since-you-were-a-twinkle-in-my-eye attitude. Put one bracket in, started on the next and there was a loud bang. He'd drilled through an electricity cable. The electrician that turned up was amazed that DDad was still alive - he could easily have been electrocuted. Mind you, the electrician explained that the cables often go diagonally across a wall, rather than along the top/sides/bottom, which is why you need one of those little meter things to tell you where the cables are.

It has to be said that my DDad had form for drilling into things. There was a loose floorboard in the house - it was deliberately loose because it gave access to a flange* (or something) for the the hot water system. My DMum kept tripping over this board cos over the years, it started sticking up slightly. DDad decided to screw it down, figuring that he could just unscrew it when access was required. Vvvvvim!!!!! First hole in. Vvvvvvim!!! Misses the joist and he had a water feature in the bedroom, a delicate little fountain. He was panicking and running on the spot (which he did when stressed), trying to get my Dsis to stop my DMum coming home. Enter one highly amused plumber who fixed the damage and DMum came home and gave DDad a hug cos it was an accident and it was all sorted.

She wasn't quite so understanding a few weeks later when she took the big roasting tin down out of the cupboard and was drenched in the filthy water that had leaked through the cupboard ceiling and filled the tin up.

To be fair to my DDad, he was pretty good at DIY, he could just be a bit of a Reg Prescott at times. Miss him.

*I just like that word.

The cable story sounds terrifying, I'll definitely not be drilling any holes anytime soon

Not exactly DIY, but DH managed to land himself in A&E a few years ago when he cut his hand using a vegetable peeler and the bleeding wouldn't stop. A flipping vegetable peeler - we let our nursery children use them! DH is nonlonger allowed to use tools without adult supervision

My late dad was always doing DIY and could turn his hand to anything. I grew up with a basic knowledge of so much stuff because I used to help him when I was little. I just sort of assumed other people knew too...

BUT DH hasn't a clue. He thinks he does. But he doesn't.

I can't do any DIY jobs with him because we ALWAYS end up arguing because I don't agree with how he wants to do something...

Anyway, about 10 years ago he put up some shelving we needed in the garage. They were very deep shelves. In the morning, when I went into the garage, they had fallen off the wall and damaged the roof, bonnet, side wing and passenger door of MY car!!!

I had to claim on the insurance and told the guy on the phone what had happened BUT he had to follow his 'script' and asked stuff like what speed was I doing and what were the road conditions like, had it been raining etc etc...

Its so long ago now I can't remember if it was initially my diy or the previous homeowner's, but:
Victorian terrace, lounge knocked through, and an excellent array of bookshelves right between the front room chimney breast and the back one. I was up on my chair putting my least used / most embarrassing books on the top shelf when the WHOLE LOT of shelves started to come away from the wall (on those metal ladder things so all joined together). Luckily my housemate was at home and her my desperate screams so we were able to manage the retreat to an extent - but it was a lot of work putting the whole lot of shelves up again, using some super hard filler in all the holes that time around...

As for DH he is annoyingly careful for the purposes of funny stories. Though I did once have to take him to A&E ro get a splintee of stone removed from his eyeball after some ill-advised soldering of water pipes using a roofing slate to protect the wall instead of a proper heat shield 🤢

He cut through a strip of underlay with a Stanley knife which flicked up and got embedded in his wrist. He was saved by his watch strap but he still needed his wrist glued together.

Electrocuted himself wiring in a plug socket. A loud bang and lots of swearing followed!

Fell bodily through the ceiling, landing on the desk below. Bless him....

DH is useless with DIY. He moans SO MUCH.
He put acetone on real wood flooring to remove paint but instead it ruined the wood!

He usually throws a strop but once a task is completed (with my help) he gets off telling everyone how amazing he is and how he did it all by himself.

Just recovered from one this weekend! Our kitchen tap stopped working. DH fetches his tool
box and tried to fix it in numerous ways, on the last attempt giving it a good wack. It snapped in half. Cue much pacing up and down the house while I tracked down a plumber. To give him his due he sorted absolutely everything else that day and cooked us all a v nice dinner as a sorry.

A friend bought a bungalow.
He decided to re-tile the floor in the kitchen.
To keep it all nice and neat he decided to screw a batten across the door threshold.
He drilled through a central heating pipe.🤦‍♀️

Luckily, he got a new kitchen, carpets and some furniture off the insurance.

DH and I are incompetent at DIY so won't attempt anything beyond flatplack furniture. My DF on the other hand refuses to accept he might not be a DIY genius. I regularly hide "small jobs" for him as they generally turn into expensive big jobs. He once fitted an extractor fan. All went well until he overbalanced when crouching on the kitchen counter and fell out the window.