A thread devoted to ‘adapted DIY’ like when you didn’t use the right tool for the job or didn’t have the right materials and so used something else. Also for posting any botch jobs, makeshift jobs and ‘that’ll do untill I get down to the DIY store jobs’ that never actually got done properly in the end even though you know you should get round to doing it right one day. So all the adapted DIY successes and catastrophes…

I’ll kick off with one of my own: I had been nagged about a hanging telephone cable for weeks when it finally got the better of me. In the abscence of proper cable guides (the hook shaped ones with the nail in) I got a roll of transparent tape and taped the thing back up. So far nobody has noticed and it hasn’t fallen down yet…happy days! A real classic though is the story of a friend of mine who wallpapered his entire bedroom by stapling the paper to the wall coz he didn’t want the hassle of using wallpaper paste - again nobody noticed - the staples looked like part of the design on the paper.

If it slips use duct tape, if it sticks use WD-40

^ words to live by

Harry homeowner is my favorite customer. When his wife gets fed up with stuff being half right ,I get no quibble when I submit my estimate. In the beginning they say fake it till you make it. And I worked with guys that said, we do it right cause we do it twice. When all else fails call a professional!

@basement_shaman the plastering gang I used to work for also had their own saying - ‘near enough’s good enough’ Just been doing a bit of plastering myself - filling out the gaping holes I left after removing the cupboard under the stairs. Good job so far.

Went into a widows home, She said her sink was draining slow,the moment I got into the kitchen I new thing were astray, I open the sink base cabinet; low and behold some fly by night handy guy or maybe it was her deceased husband used a car radiator hose to hook up the drain. No trap to clean out. I don’t know how she dealt with the sewer gases for so many years.So I replace everything .

You must have seen it all by now - taping up a cable is one thing - shorcuts on plumbing is another. Have to say I impressed myself with my recent plumbing job. Again, a sink, and the previous owner had cut the pipes too long, as a result they didn’t fit right and leaked all over the place - took me a while but no makeshift stuff where the water supply is concerned.

Just got back from a long holiday in Hungary at my Dad’s summer house…well the curtain rail fell down on one side and me, being in a bit of a hurry, noticed that there is a conveniently placed pipe right across the top of the window frame…well it was a no brainer for me - tie it back up with a piece of string and forget to fix it properly before I leave. Good job I know how to tie a decent knot, that’s what I say!

An old seaman’s saying is “if you can’t tie a knot, tie a lot!”

Worked for me this time - gonna have to get the drill out on my next visit though which is at least another 10 months away. Only then will I know if my lot of knots held

Well my PS3 broke down the other day (yellow light of death) so I bought a new one, I got the cheapest model because I plan to take the HDD out of the old one and put it in the new one. Well the new one didn’t even have a hard drive in it or even the mount needed to install it, at first I thought they forgot to put the mount in but then I read in the instructions that the mount is “sold seperately”. So I had to order one from eBay and I just stuck some felt pads in there to hold the HDD in place while I wait for the mount to come in. Well I wont be getting a PS4 anytime soon now that I just bought a new PS3, fucking PlayStation I never had a Nintendo break down on me and I have a NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii and they all still work just fine and have way more mileage than the PS3 ever did.

surely there is a mount in the old ps3…?

My old PS3 is an original, these new slim ones use a different mount. My old mount is too big for these new slim ones, I tried to jam it in there but its a no go.

AH YEAaah, the ol’ PS3 - now if you’d only have asked me first…now with a bit of chewing gum and some good, strong string you’d never have to worry about that slim mount model. AND, if you change the yellow light bulb to a blue one - hey presto!! - you just don’t get the yellow light of death any more…another good job done!

I found some pictures of some great bodge up jobs, and I thought I was bad! - here are some of the best: As I said - That should do the job!!

oops - seems these pics are not displaying - will see what I can do to fix that…love the irony though

When setting the intake manifold on my 87 r10 the manifold gaskets slipped as i set it. so i pulled it up reset gaskets and seen what, for being bullheaded and at the end of a long day on the upper rebuild, was enough rtv sealant to do the job. lmao if it didn’t weep oil, so i had to pull intake and do all over again. i new it was coming just didn’t want to clean off wet rtv and reset manifold in dark. ahhh should have though. good news was that the next time i fixed it right and stumbled across some other issues. just goes to show everything happens for a reason.