Thread: Home improvements

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Very nice job. Looks great

Thanks you my friend!

Bought a bidet toilet seat during the plandemic as TP was in short supply. Well if I didn?t fall in love with the heated seat function.
Well the thang started leaking when butt wash functions were enabled so I had to take it apart to see what was going on.

Damn near felt like a bomb demolition guy once I opened it up.

Do I cut the blue one, or the red one??

Turned out to be neither. Had a pinched O ring in the tank.
Relubed and replaced the seals, and no more water leaking out the sides when in operation.
I know it?s more a European thing, but nothing for nothing, it is a nice device to have. Wifey really loves it, beyond the warm seat in the winter..
Cheers gents.

You da man, Mike! I recently learned and fixed my old dryer by cleaning and polishing contacts in the timer.
Also found a gasket punch and an old mud flap made a great, long-lasting seat for my toilet valves which previously would deteriorate fast.

Still using up hoarded TP! Times, they are tough!

Nothin like fixin shit instead of replacing it huh?. Never get tired of tinkering.
Amazing how glaze kills electrics over time Tom, cleaning contact points can make things run like new.
A mud flapper, nice idea that. 8 times thicker than the ones they sell today.

We had a railway strike a week ago, that would have shut down our supply chain in days if it went on, so I wanted to get the thing fixed, just in case.
Took the week of so good to get stuff done before a mini vacation.

Nice work man.

I wish I could be anywhere close to the point where I can install such a nicety on my toilets. Even trying to install a showerhead is still a distant dream.

Not for lack of skills, mind, living in a mud-walled 19th century farm has given me plenty, just that... Well it's a mud-walled 19th century farm.

For example, this summer I "simply" had to change a toilet unit in the studio, but when it came to the point of screwing the tap (final point, yeah !), the pipe came off.

Actually, all the pipes came off one after the other, and I am at the point I have to redo the whole plumbing.
They used a cheap technique to solder the junctions, and everything gave at the same time.

On a side note, while having an old house gives you a lot of skills (from mud to micro-computers) having kids asking you to repair their toys gives you another whole set

Indeed, I have had the mindset to repair and stock some spares for lots of things. So much obsolescence happening. And at an alarming rate.
The old Crane Oxford toilets in my old hose use flappers with a 'buttonhole to attach. Bought a dozen NOS off the bay. Even old seasoned hardware stores told me they had never seen anything like that.

I use a gasket hole punch on the thick mudflap to cut a rubber cylinder for use in the toilet float valve to seal the incoming water flow.
Chinese float valves have seals which deteriorate in no time at all. I spend a lot of time making new parts work like they should.

I have bought a NOS timer off the bay (Cheap!) in case my drier fix quits down the road.

At my age, I am in most everything for the long haul!

I was brought up by a family of "fixers." My grandmother especially would say, "we just can't afford to replace it," whatever "it" happened to be. Fact was she was just the cheapest woman that ever lived. I think she died death gripping the first nickel she ever made. From that though I gained the mentality that it's not right to throw away something that can be fixed, more for moral reasons than monetary. I nurse things along as ling as it is practical.

I wish I was actually taught how to fix things.

I'm one these kids who had fixers as progenitors, but that would not teach you any damn thing. You know, the "shut up and hold the light correctly" kind.
I once simply asked how to change a light fixture, to be told "I did it for you, you would not be able to do it".
Insisting, even, that a engineering degree including skills in high power electronics did not qualify me for home electricity tasks.

Thanks Turing for YouTube.

Originally Posted by Aggelos

I wish I was actually taught how to fix things.

I'm one these kids who had fixers as progenitors, but that would not teach you any damn thing. You know, the "shut up and hold the light correctly" kind.
I once simply asked how to change a light fixture, to be told "I did it for you, you would not be able to do it".
Insisting, even, that a engineering degree including skills in high power electronics did not qualify me for home electricity tasks.

Thanks Turing for YouTube.

I was or have ben one of those people that you talk negatively about.

I learn by seeing. Maybe you dont.


I felt by holding the flashligtht and watching me doing something they would learn....

I have had the comment that you made me hold the light. But did they look at what the light revield?

I have had young know italls work for me before. They obviously cannot do something so naturally, I take over.
Here comes a chorus of why this and whythat.

I tell them to watch and learn. You cannot absorb anything with your mouth going.

If they cannot help it, I tell them questions are for when I am done.