Projects

[spacesailor]

Private sale by owner .

It just shows how little your cars worth to the insurance company .

Cosmetic damage ,with no structural problems. 

That car was still in registration & drivable. 

Not even broken glass .

spacesailor

[willedoo]

11 hours ago, onetrack said:

The bloke with the damaged MG ZS looks like a real "backyarder", I'd be investigating his business "model" and be very wary of buying anything from him.

 

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/regents-park/auto-body-parts/2021-mg-zs-ev-electric-car-/1327744196

He could be like the dudes on Facebook who run scams to try to fleece deposits from people. They try to get holding deposits by bank transfer then disappear. Usually they are advertising something with a price that's obviously too low.

[Litespeed]

Could be a big scam.

 

However in the future, lots of deals like this will become available.

 

Perfect for converting old cars or even better making big boats electric or hybrid.

[willedoo]

I get a bit of amusement watching these third world country handyman videos on YouTube. They're rough but inventive. This bloke made a worm gear by bending a round bar around a rod. If anyone is asking 'why would you bother going to all that trouble', it's the site income. With enough views, they can make a living in their country if they pump out heaps of videos like this one.

 

 

[willedoo]

Depending on the viewpoint, I've been acquiring either more junk or more material for projects from my new house flipper acquaintances. I brought home a load yesterday and today and in money value at least $1,000 or more so it was worth getting soaked through to the skin on both days.

 

This is today's load, around 40 metres of 100x35 LVL RedEdge concrete boxing timber and about the same amount of 90x35 H2 pine studs and some 70mm pieces. Plus an almost full roll of vapour barrier and some fibro offcuts. The RedEdge formwork timber is very similar to the Red Alert LVL structural beams which come in a 100x45mm size for use as joists. The structural LVL is almost twice the price of the concrete edging timber but would no doubt have a much higher engineered strength. The old ute was a bit top heavy so it was steady as she goes coming home in the rain on a wet road with 45 psi in the rear tyres. I was only gone two hours and the rain gauge had 57mm in it when I got back. It must have rained fairly hard going by the debris around the place.

 

The house the flippers are renovating is almost finished so there'll only be one more load of odds and ends when the job is finished. They live in the houses they renovate and don't own a property, so it's cheaper to dump the renovation recycled materials and the new, unused over-ordered gear and offcuts rather than to own and maintain a place to store for later jobs.

 

 

[nomadpete]

I just finished proving Onetrack's axiom of projects.

 

A fortnight ago, my dearest said 'Do you think WE could lay some pavers over the muddy patch under the house?'

 

A quick look - yeah, ten pavers, a bit of crusher dust - maybe some gravel under it to let moisture drain away. A slab of concrete would  work for me but I'm not the creative one.

 

Couplar daze- she'll be right!

 

Step one - can't see much dirt due to the man-fern forest that had sprung up over the decade that i had put off the job. Each fern had to be dug up and transplanted. I think she might knew them by name. (Not the names I had for them).

Dug a trench for a french drain. Hit rock. Jackhammered the rocks out to give the drain a fall. That ended up twice the estimated length. It rained and mud was everywhere. During this excavating, I  came across a sewer pipe that blocked the drain path and a hidden water main pipe. More digging. Then laid a 4' square concrete slab beneath the meter box just past the intended pavers. More shopping for sand/gravel/cement. . Finally satisfied with the drain path (and avoiding a sewer mishap) another trip to get a trailer load of coarse gravel. In goes slotted pipe, gravel, geofab. Nice!

 

Another trip to get a trailer load of crusher dust to bed the pavers.

 

The water main pipe had the main shutoff tap for the house below the surface. Now this was to be a walkway. It required a pit with a lid, to end up flush with the pavers. Another half day lost going trip to plumbing supplier. More digging. 

Half a trailer load of crusher dust spread and levelled - pavers purchased.

 

This little area is a trapezoidal shape. Pavers are not. Mask, goggles, big grinder. I dropped the grinder and broke the disk. Another trip to hardware store. We are good friends now.

 

Cut 4 pavers (400x400) at the correct angle, then one needed a 100mm round cut around the sewer pipe and 2 more needed to be cut to fit around the pit.

 

So my 2 day simple project only took 2 weeks. Onetrack I  got away lightly this time!

 

Easy peasy.

 

[old man emu]

Piece of cake, mate! Three hours on a Frid'y afternoon.

[willedoo]

I don't know whether it's just me but those things seem to take a lot longer the older I get. And not just the physical part, but the planning and figuring as well.

[facthunter]

There's always more in it than you reasonably expected especially if you're going over someone else's patch-up job, or water is involved.  Nev

[spacesailor]

No waterproof membrane! .

spacesailor

[nomadpete]

5 hours ago, willedoo said:

I don't know whether it's just me but those things seem to take a lot longer the older I get. And not just the physical part, but the planning and figuring as well.

Agree!

 

I thought that I would achieve so much when I 'retired'.

Unfortunately it now takes me all week to achieve what I used to do in a week end. Even then it takes me the next week to recover.

[willedoo]

17 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

Agree!

 

I thought that I would achieve so much when I 'retired'.

Unfortunately it now takes me all week to achieve what I used to do in a week end. Even then it takes me the next week to recover.

I've found since retiring that no job's as urgent as it once was when you had to get it finished on the weekend because you had to be at work on Monday. Now life is just one big weekend.

[spacesailor]

Disagree! .

Retirement means no weekends ! .

That's why we oldies lose track of what day it is .

spacesailor

[Litespeed]

What month is it?

[pmccarthy]

What YEAR is it? I never planned anything after 2020.

[nomadpete]

I still haven't gotten over the Y2K bug.

[spacesailor]

This month is easy ! .

The time to buy the kids presents. 

Lots of them ! .

or  just put a $50 note in their Christmas  card .

it's much  cheaper. 

Let's count the cost.  4+ 15+22 =41 × $50 ?

I'm broke . 

spacesailor

PS. : how about ! , only the school age children .

go fund me !. 

 

[old man emu]

What ever happened to the custom of children telling people what they wished for as a gift at Christmas and the thrill of the anticipation to see if that wish is fulfilled as parcels are unwrapped on Christmas Day? I hate what has happened with gift giving now. Kids just say that they would like money from those giving gifts so that the kid can build a bankroll to buy something that they really want, but is too expensive for one gift giver to give.

 

While it is good that the kids have a plan for using money gifted to them, and usually what they want is not frivolous, giving a card with money or gift vouchers in it, robs the giver of the chance to enjoy the suspense associated with the opening of a wrapped parcel. I know that it's better to give than receive, but isn't the suspense of the unknown the essence of Christmas gift-giving? 

[spacesailor]

I lost!. The magic of Christmas .

After my mother's boyfriend , cooked,

  Topsy & Snowy

Our pet rabbits,  for Christmas dinner .

So I personally dislike that time , & as 'Saint Clause '

Was German , shit it's enough to send you to hell. 

( Atheist ) .

spacesailor

[facthunter]

My  Acute depression worsens. Dog, your life is GRIM, space.   Nev

[spacesailor]

But I survived. 

spacesailor

[facthunter]

Then you should be HAPPY and GAY, the Laxette WAY.   Nev

[nomadpete]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

Then you should be HAPPY and GAY, the Laxette WAY.   Nev

I thought Happy and Gay were the seventh and eighth dwarfs?

[pmccarthy]

As there were only seven dwarfs, does that make Gay the dwarf that cannot speak its name?

[nomadpete]

Snow white didn't mention the eighth dwarf - he wasn't to her taste.