The new news 24 thread

[Snake Charmer]

  On 07/12/2024 at 19:18, JJ0063 said:

I’ll be fine up a ladder I reckon. I’ve found one on gumtree that extends to 8.4m. If I reverse the camper up to the bottom of the ladder so it can’t slip I think il be alright!

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Get Mrs.JJ at the bottom of the ladder and say "One of us needs to foot this ladder while you go up it."

[Sunny Jim]

@JJ0063 ideally your ladder should be at an angle of 75 degrees or 1 in 4. (The easiest way to judge this is to have your toes touching the bottom of the stiles with your arms  outstretched your fingertips should just touch the ladder - your body is the right angle and the ladder is the hypotenuse).

With the ladder at the correct angle put a decent sized eye bolt in the wall at about chest height. Thread a ratchet strap from the bolt around one stile, under a rung then round the other stile and back to the bolt and ratchet it up. That'll hold the ladder in place far more securely than the van or someone footing it.

Be safe at height and whatever you do don't step back to admire your work until you're back on the ground!

[artdjones]

  On 07/12/2024 at 16:11, JJ0063 said:

Mrs JJ wants Xmas lights outside, I only own a stepladder. 
 

Stupid question but what sort of size ladder am I going to need to be able to reach the point of this gable end to drill a hook in and hook some lights up? 
 

Never bought a ladder before.

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2 x 4.5m would be ok, but you will have to pay around £300, and keep them well locked up, so you have to think, Is it worth it for a few fairy lights?

Drive two cold chisels well into the ground to stop slippage, and remember, the bottom 1 meter out from the wall for every 4m of height.

The higher you go the worse you will be injured when you fall. 30ft is the height where you have a 50% chance of dying if you come off.

I'd just tell your wife it would be better if she did it, as she's the one that wants the lights. I'm sure she's a stunning, brave and empowered (insert other clichés here) modern woman. You go girl!

What's that? Feminism doesn't really work in these situations? Strange......

[BorniteIdentity]

Me and ladders don’t get on after I fell from a roof approximately that high. 

These days, even the Sky TV man will bolt his ladders to your house. If you don’t let them drill fixings, they don’t go up. 

Make sure the ladders are sufficiently rated for your weight (and actually weigh yourself, don’t guess) and make sure the second hand ladders you buy haven’t been stored outside or have been compromised. 

I’m the least risk averse person you’ll ever meet, but there’s a lot that can go wrong - more than just a ladder slipping away. I was very lucky not to be crippled from the eyebrows down. 

[JJ0063]

You lot have made me think il just pay ‘a man’ to do it. Think that might be easier/safer!

[artdjones]

  On 07/12/2024 at 22:39, BorniteIdentity said:

I was very lucky not to be crippled from the eyebrows down. 

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Yes, like I said above, 30ft falls are about where you have a 50/50 chance of survival, with the odds against rapidly increasing after that.

[Mr Pastry]

  On 07/12/2024 at 22:42, JJ0063 said:

You lot have made me think il just pay ‘a man’ to do it. Think that might be easier/safer!

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Yep.  Really not worth the risk.  Remember there are no brownie points to be had, domestically, by being good at DIY.  You just get told off for making a mess and taking too long.  Whereas there are quite a lot of brownie points to be had by paying for things.  Cynical, moi?   

[BorniteIdentity]

  On 07/12/2024 at 22:42, JJ0063 said:

You lot have made me think il just pay ‘a man’ to do it. Think that might be easier/safer!

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It's quite a humbling feeling - being entangled in a set of ladders, the ambulance arriving and the paramedic telling you that the air ambulance will be arriving shortly.

[artdjones]

  On 07/12/2024 at 22:47, BorniteIdentity said:

It's quite a humbling feeling - being entangled in a set of ladders, the ambulance arriving and the paramedic telling you that the air ambulance will be arriving shortly.

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I came off from about 12 -14ft in early 2020. The house owner rushed out thinking I was a goner, but I had fallen into a sort of sitting position, then rolled onto my back, with my head missing a rock by a foot. He helped me up, gave me a cup of tea, and I threw the ladder on and drove home. A subsequent x-ray revealed no damage.

What really gave me a jolt was finding out that the house owner died in his sleep a fortnight after at the age of 62, totally unexpectedly. Life can be surprisingly random.

[Sunny Jim]

First rule of Safe Work at Height - can the work at height be avoided?

Maybe suggest a compromise of putting some around the front door or over the front window that can be safely done off your step ladder.

[High Jetter]

Y Tho? You only see them when returning home (if you remembered to turn them on.) The rest of the time (your paid leccy) is purely for the benefit* of others. Is it wurf it?

[Vince70]

I’ve taken the £250 Golf Mk3.5 off the road, now that I have my carport as the V5 Golf and Mini are on winter duties, so wanted to do a few jobs to it as I’ve come really attached to the car as it’s the perfect plodder and love the ancient 2 litre as it literally costs pennies to run.

I did wonder why the  underside was as good as new as I’ve been losing oil from the roof motor for ages so bought 4 new hydraulic pipes that I fitted on Monday, but I’m waiting for a syringe I ordered off eBay now to fill the pump up.

I originally only changed two pipes but then I noticed another had burst on the driver’s side and luckily I bought the complete kit and the interior was already apart so it could have been worse.

Today as the weather was terrible I decided to strip the drivers seat down which took an hour as I’ve never done one before as my bottom seat bolster sponge was down to the metal although the material wasn’t bad and I had a spare passenger seat in as new condition so I changed the lower squab and material over from the spare seat and after stripping the first seat down the second one was a breeze and only took 10 minutes.

The interior now is as good as new ( once  I put it back in ) like the rest of the car and even decided to go Max Power 90’s style as I found a new old stock Peco stainless exhaust back box for the old girl which I picked up locally off Facebook for a bargain £60 and found some   LED side repeaters in black for 77p on Ali express as the originals do get a bit of condensation in them.

She’s most definitely a keeper.

 

[Rust Collector]

Merry Shite-mas @BorniteIdentity

[Fat_Pirate]

Put a new rear caliper on the 607 today (it was dragging occasionally), wasn't the weather for it but satisfying to get it done.  Couldn't find any at the usual places (I was expecting it to be shared with the 406/407, but both of those appear extinct now so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise), so it was my first order from Autodoc; £82 all in, ordered last Saturday and arrived Friday so not bad.

[camryv6]

  On 07/12/2024 at 22:15, Sunny Jim said:

@JJ0063 ideally your ladder should be at an angle of 75 degrees or 1 in 4. (The easiest way to judge this is to have your toes touching the bottom of the stiles with your arms  outstretched your fingertips should just touch the ladder - your body is the right angle and the ladder is the hypotenuse).

With the ladder at the correct angle put a decent sized eye bolt in the wall at about chest height. Thread a ratchet strap from the bolt around one stile, under a rung then round the other stile and back to the bolt and ratchet it up. That'll hold the ladder in place far more securely than the van or someone footing it.

Be safe at height and whatever you do don't step back to admire your work until you're back on the ground!

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Fuck off with your common sense !! 🤫

[camryv6]

  On 07/12/2024 at 22:47, Mr Pastry said:

Yep.  Really not worth the risk.  Remember there are no brownie points to be had, domestically, by being good at DIY.  You just get told off for making a mess and taking too long.  Whereas there are quite a lot of brownie points to be had by paying for things.  Cynical, moi?   

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I agree, i have been asked a few time why did i take so long !!

[hairnet]

  On 07/12/2024 at 23:03, Sunny Jim said:

First rule of Safe Work at Height - can the work at height be avoided?

 

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yes its called uttering 'fuck that'

[wesacosa]

Visited the Walthamstow Pump House museum today. Quirky little place well worth a visit if you if you are in the area

and the highlight for me, one of the actual London's Burning Dennis RS Fire Appliances

 

[Hawkeyethenoo]

Bugger. Could only find one H4 bulb, stuck that in the O/S lamp and it worked, so is just the dipped beam bulbs that both failed on the same day. Will rustle another up from somewhere. Spent a couple of hours this morning getting the mighty Dacia cleaned up and although the seats could do with a shampoo, it came up really well. Dacia Logan MCV Laureate, 2015, 92500 miles, has had a clutch and a timing belt last year, runs brilliantly and N/S dipped bulb aside, everything works!

A work colleague of my wife expressed an interest as her car just died. Sad times. I showed Lucy round it today and we've agreed terms. Then nipped down to Stirling to pick up Xmas shyte and the bloody thing returned 56mpg without even trying. What a car. We've owned it nearly 10 years and it's going to its new home just up the road. Well done thy good and faithful Dacia. Live long & prosper! 🖖

While I'm here, need a radio code - anyone got a code that I can try? Thanks.

 

[artdjones]

  On 08/12/2024 at 17:08, Hawkeyethenoo said:

Bugger. Could only find one H4 bulb, stuck that in the O/S lamp and it worked, so is just the dipped beam bulbs that both failed on the same day. Will rustle another up from somewhere. Spent a couple of hours this morning getting the mighty Dacia cleaned up and although the seats could do with a shampoo, it came up really well. Dacia Logan MCV Laureate, 2015, 92500 miles, has had a clutch and a timing belt last year, runs brilliantly and N/S dipped bulb aside, everything works!

A work colleague of my wife expressed an interest as her car just died. Sad times. I showed Lucy round it today and we've agreed terms. Then nipped down to Stirling to pick up Xmas shyte and the bloody thing returned 56mpg without even trying. What a car. We've owned it nearly 10 years and it's going to its new home just up the road. Well done thy good and faithful Dacia. Live long & prosper! 🖖

While I'm here, need a radio code - anyone got a code that I can try? Thanks.

 

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They are great cars. Amazing space in the back.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I really wish we got Dacia models like that.

[Spottedlaurel]

No roof bars required today, got a 7' tree in the Carina E:

I was admiring the old (mostly 1930s) cars in the barn belonging to the farmer when I noticed an LS400 also tucked away in there. It was one I'd seen around before, turns out he's storing it in there for someone local and it will be for sale after Christmas.

[High Jetter]

  On 08/12/2024 at 20:55, Spottedlaurel said:

 got a 7' tree in the Carina E:

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Poet!

[Spottedlaurel]

  On 08/12/2024 at 21:53, High Jetter said:

Poet!

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Quite the rap isn't it?....

[kirton]

Up a ladder.

Recent in A&E tv programme guy fell two foot off a ladder. resulted in paralysis, no  need for any height for extreme damage, so at least remove anything that would do more damage than the ground if you did fall, or just slip.

Don't be dumb like a neighbour's son up my borrowed ladder, he had the rung hooks the wrong up. He seemed put out when I told him to get of the ladder slowly and carefully.

[D.E]

  On 08/12/2024 at 22:00, Spottedlaurel said:

Quite the rap isn't it?....

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Fit the Tree

[gm]

  On 07/12/2024 at 16:11, JJ0063 said:

Mrs JJ wants Xmas lights outside, I only own a stepladder. 
 

Stupid question but what sort of size ladder am I going to need to be able to reach the point of this gable end to drill a hook in and hook some lights up? 
 

Never bought a ladder before.

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get these lads round to help out  

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

  On 07/12/2024 at 23:03, Sunny Jim said:

First rule of Safe Work at Height - can the work at height be avoided?

Maybe suggest a compromise of putting some around the front door or over the front window that can be safely done off your step ladder.

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I did a couple of PASMA courses and the British Ladder Association course a few years ago when one of my jobs included rigging stage lighting.  Courses were fine and as it was just me on the last one, the instructor decided to take me up on a cherry picker for an hour or so because we had nothing better to do and figured I'd rather have fun than go back to work.

The long and short of it is that cherry pickers are hilarious fun and you should absolutely get one if you can.  Especially one that you can drive from the basket.

 

[tooSavvy]

  On 07/12/2024 at 22:39, BorniteIdentity said:

These days, even the Sky TV man will bolt his ladders to your house. If you don’t let them drill fixings, they don’t go up. 

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During my time as WVM, starting my day from a stock/storage depot, there were Sky guys collecting the kit for their job sheets..

Sky got very 'contractual variance' with *some contractors when they discovered [... likely after a ladder fall 🙄] guys were drilling a couple of 13mm deep hole, up the wall, and smearing mastic into it.... = Quick UP LADDER & AWAY!!

Sacked...no pay!

🚙💨

[wuvvum]

The gearbox on the Merc started behaving very strangely yesterday evening - it was taking a good second or so to change between gears, with the revs flaring in between.  It wasn't responding to manual shifts either.  The accelerator felt strange too - very on/off near the top of its travel. 

I pulled over, switched off and restarted and it was fine after that.  Plugged the laptop in when I got home and it wasn't finding any fault codes.  So no idea what was happening there, although it was definitely electrical rather than mechanical.  I did briefly wonder whether it was the tuning box playing silly buggers, but that isn't linked to the gearbox so it can't have been that.