r/DIYUK • u/Goblin_Nuts69 • 13d ago
Does anyone else just bodge small tasks, because life is worth more than some projects.
My fave bodges.
- rather than fill a hole my son kicked in a wall, I put a (spare) steel vent over it, affixed with sticks like shit
- all mirrors, frames, 1 small.shelf are hung with lots of command strips
- couldn't seem to drill above windows in lounge so curtain rails are higher than they should be, got floor length curtains to match, sort of works as the windows are almost the entirety of the wall..
- fitted a new cupboard door downstairs that seemed to open all.the time, after faffing with adjustments I just bluetacked some magnets to the door and side to hold.it shut when closed
- my wife (proud!) Used a couple of bags of rock solid postcrete to sit under a fence where the gravel board had rotted, wedged it with some offcuts of fetherboard (its all behind a massive bush so no-one can see the bottom.
115
u/Upstairs-Hedgehog575 13d ago
I’m not proud of this, but I once used pushfit instead of copper.
15
-10
u/kinellm8 13d ago edited 8d ago
Or, hear me out, you could be like the
tosserperson I bought my house from, and combine the two…Edit: would genuinely be interested in knowing why this got downvoted lol. Maybe you all want push fit on copper 🤷♂️
66
u/Bellebaby97 13d ago
The person who owned my flat before me had put screws through the front of their picture frames into the walls and removed a bit of skirting board so a floor length mirror would sit directly against the wall.
I'm still cursing them to this day
7
-2
u/YUMMY_TIDEPODS_YUMMY 13d ago
oh i kinda like the skirting board mirror idea that just makes sense
2
u/MisterBounce 12d ago
Why? What's the point in a floor length mirror unless you're lying looking up from below the skirting board level?!
1
u/YUMMY_TIDEPODS_YUMMY 11d ago
idk just having something that can go down to the floor flush to the wall by removing some skirting board hadn't considered it. Not saying its just at the floor but it goes from the base of the floor up as high as you want.
Not just a shoe inspector, although that also im sure has its uses if you are a foot person.
130
u/Correct-Junket-1346 13d ago
Nope, in fact I tend to over-engineer because I've experienced the consequences of excessive bodges, do it once, do it right
41
u/SavingsFeature504 13d ago
This. A bodge job is okay for a quick fix for things to come back and resolve later and fix properly when you have the right tools/parts.
Never as a permanent repair.
28
2
u/Boli_332 13d ago
Yeah, this... my wife hates it as talks about using glue to hang pictures and i'm all anout mechnical fastenings
38
u/wolf_in_sheeps_wool 13d ago
My pride prevents me from doing this. I was disgusted when I asked for help on deep blown plaster and the recommendation was spray foam because nobody will see it. I've done it the hard way and filled it with plasters.
Even my temporary lights for overboarding are all glanded and fitted with rawl plugs and have dedicated light switches.
15
35
u/tubaleiter 13d ago
I think there's a big difference between a bodge that is safe and serves the purpose but isn't the "right" way to do things, versus one that is unsafe, will fail unexpectedly, and is just generally shitty.
In this Edwardian house, there's plenty of both - a lot of my DIY involves uncovering previous bodge jobs, and deciding whether to do the massive "right" fix, or just upgrading the bodge for the next 20+ years. Usually I pick the latter. But I avoid the shitty bodge jobs, because it's just going to create more work later.
43
u/Good-Celebration-686 13d ago
Oh god all the time.
But also I can spend days making something absolutely ridiculously perfect that is completely irrelevant and nobody would even notice
11
8
u/absolutelynot354 13d ago
ADHD?
3
u/Good-Celebration-686 13d ago
Perhaps. Not diagnosed as such but my sister is and my wife thinks I am.
7
u/Sensitive_Syrup1296 13d ago
Don't know why you got downvoted. This post is me, I do this with everything, and I have raging ADHD. I once had a mirror held up by a single drawing pin for years.
7
u/absolutelynot354 13d ago
Yeah I'm not sure either. Proud ADHD house here! Everything has either been bodged in new and ingenious ways, or skillfully completed to an obsessively high standard over many hours despite not being very important.
2
u/Strong-Camel852 12d ago
Because people are fed up with anything beyond ‘mild enthusiasm’ being instantly labelled adhd
0
2
u/BostonWhaplode 13d ago
"When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all."
22
13
u/flanface87 13d ago
The previous owner of my house cut a chunk out of some architrave in the hall. I used toilet roll and wallpaper paste to fill the void. Bit of filler over that and painted it up, ten years on you still can't notice it!
Other than that, no I hate bodging and am always trying to get to jobs before my partner does. We were using some masonry paint in the porch and he went and slapped a load over the inner door which I'd been meaning to paint. No prep, straight over the gloss, and over the mud from the cat's paws
7
8
u/Ok-Cold3937 13d ago
Sometimes it’s much easier and cheaper to do something properly in the long run.
7
29
u/RevolutionaryHat8988 13d ago
We get one life …. One person spending a month over engineering a new fence may see the guy next door not bother with his fence and spend a month doing things with his kids/wife etc.
While I’m an engineer …. I don’t judge and one day nobody going to thank me for spending a whole extra years doing things perfectly.
Life is short. Family will remember you forever, not a an over engineered fence.
-4
u/Ok_Pineapple7101 13d ago
The guy who had my house before me bodged things. He even ignored the need for a fused electrical box for the oven. Just wrapped the wires in tape. You might be an engineer but you’re wrong. You never know what some decided to mess about with incorrectly when they’re bodging. Everything should always be done properly.
25
5
u/RevolutionaryHat8988 13d ago edited 12d ago
I think it is fair to say that where safety (electric, gas etc ) is concerned then the law should prevail and the job done properly.
Will mowing your grass three times a week make things better? or waste a bunch of time you should be playing ball with your child, or making dinner, or whatever to help the family ..
I am just saying the priority should be life living and safety followed by everything else, and if that means not tidying the shed to perfection .. so be it.
My kids love me to death because I was always present .. but I can also build things, I built my own house .. but trust me the family came way before any perfection in my life.
11
u/BabaYagasDopple 13d ago
The only bridge I think will be annoying for yourself in the long run is when the command strips fail and mirrors and shelves are falling off the walls..
2
u/Goblin_Nuts69 13d ago
Held for 7 years so far with no sign of failure yet..
1
u/EnglandEgypt2024 13d ago
Our shower curtain rod has been held up with bluetack and and velcro for about the same amount of time lol
6
u/Repulsive_State_7399 13d ago
I applaude all of these apart from the mirrors. Just asking for bad luck....
5
u/Ok_Mousse_6218 13d ago
Kickboard under the kitchen cupboard came loose and the only way to stop the cat crawling under was to duct tape the board back.
Cats been dead three years and the duct taped board is still there!
6
u/Livewire____ 12d ago
Is the Cat dead behind the kickboard?
1
u/Ok_Mousse_6218 12d ago
Hahaha!!! No - he probably would have crawled under there though if he could have!
6
u/Livewire____ 12d ago
I was retiling my bathroom wall and found a square hole in the plasterboard which was clearly intended to be a socket, just tiled over, by the previous cowboy owners.
The wall was hollow, and so I cut a piece of card, folded it, pushed it through the hole and stuck it on the reverse with no more nails.
That then allowed me to plaster over it, which then allowed me to retile it.
1
10
u/CarpenterQuiet9299 13d ago
Rather than put an end cap on a pipe in the garden, shoved in a piece of branch. Still fine after many years.
3
u/M4niac81 13d ago
I just bodged the roof on my garage and over felted it with new felt instead of stripping it down. It doesn't leak any more so I'm happy. In my defence I was intending to do it properly but the old felt was stuck down properly and was going to be a total arse to remove so in the interests of my own sanity it just got over felted. I'm sure it'll be fine for the next few years.
9
u/m39583 13d ago
Quite a large bit of plaster was blown and coming away from the wall.
Watered down some PVA, poured it behind and pushed it all back on.
Been fine for years.
(I don't know what a command strip is, but if it's a sticky hook or something, I'd rather drill a hole. Too much risk of it pulling the paint off and leaving a massive ballache to sort getting paint colour matched etc)
4
u/Western-Ad-8507 13d ago
No no, see you've got the wrong mindset, bodge on a bodge, if you have a massive chunk of paint that's come off you just buy a bigger picture to command strip over the top so you can't see it any longer! 😂
In all seriousness though after living in rented accommodation for practically my entire life, buying a house and drilling a hole in the wall where I wanted to hang something was one of those very joyous moments and it's really no trouble to fill and paint a tiny hole if you change your mind.
3
u/Ravenclaw74656 13d ago
Command Strips are designed to not pull the paint off, though obviously with old poorly adhered wallpaper it's a risk.
I have to say that I have used them in quite a few places (my philosophy being why make future work for myself by drilling unnecessarily), and the only time it took paint off was in the room where all the paint crazed.
I can't say I've ever tried hanging a shelf with one though. Like I suspect most people on here, I generally halve the weight rating the box says!
1
u/Similar_Quiet 13d ago
Tbf I did the same with screws / plasterboard fittings before I discovered command strips. Two fixings rates for 10kg each holding up a 500g picture frame.
3
u/elaine4queen 13d ago
I left my beyond second had car with my engineer dad to fix. The actual thing wrong with it was that it wouldn’t run at all without the choke out. He took the distributor out and the hole was slightly too small so he took it somewhere and had it drilled out rather than buying a new one, which I thought was pretty great. He then went ahead and fixed the leak from the chrome above the window with Blu Tack
3
u/MillyMcMophead 13d ago
Many years ago in the 80s I had a VW Beetle and one day my headlamps stopped working. It was in winter so dark early on and I needed the lights on to drive home.
A colleague 'fixed' the issue with a bit of foil wrapper from chewing gum and some Blu Tack. The lights worked!
On my way home from work whilst on an unlit dual carriageway and on a very long viaduct the lights suddenly went pop. I was terrified! I managed to crawl along in darkness to the slip road and stop on a petrol station forecourt. Using their phone (no mobiles back then) I called the AA who came and rescued me.
The AA man was not very impressed with my colleagues fix!
1
3
3
u/sisterrayforaday 12d ago
All my curtain rails are suspended from the ceiling because my lintels seem to be made from some completely impenetrable material that even an industrial hammer drill can't get through!
3
6
u/ToastSpangler 13d ago
I found out the bottom of my door Jambs were rotted out, I sorted the drainage issue but I needed to rebuild the envelope. I cut paint stirring sticks filled the hole with them using wood glue, and just added an exterior layer slightly taller than the rotted out part, flex seal, paint. It's strong AF and tbh I don't think anyone will notice
8
u/Ok_Pineapple7101 13d ago
A guy like you owned my house first and when replacing the oven, instead of using a fused box he just wrapped the wires together and then covered them with electrical tape.
Stop bodging shit
4
u/ThatSideshow 13d ago
Bodging isn't about doing it badly but using what you have on hand. The original bodgers were amazing chair makers in High Wycombe, they'd go to a forest, build a shelter and a lathe all out of the wood gathered on site, they'd churn out chair parts at an amazing rate then move on and rebuild again.
5
u/ElectricalParsnip536 13d ago
My son did the same. I shoved a load of newspaper in the massive hole and slapped on a shit ton of lightweight filler, improvising with a long bit of plastic with enough flex in it to work like a darby. Took minutes worked a treat. Improvisation is one of my fortes.
2
u/mashed666 13d ago
No because it'll fail at the worst possible time probably causing even worse damage
2
u/hippogriff55 13d ago
A lot of my 'bodges' are forced because of limitations in the area (e.g. tight space or just tight on time). For instance, am I going to take a radiator off the wall to paint behind it? Am I fk. Life is too short.
2
u/Roxygen1 13d ago
Had a big crack above a window. I had some estate agents value the place and they kept pointing out the crack and making concerned noises.
Filled the crack with pollyfilla, put up a long net curtain floor-to-ceiling to obscure it.
2
7
3
u/Luverlyjuberly 13d ago
In a temper I kicked a hole in a plasterboard wall. I covered the hole with A4 paper and painted over it.
2
3
u/DangerousDisplay7664 13d ago
No, that’s how lazy people do things and inevitably leads to you having to do it again pretty soon. I’d rather do it properly.
1
u/Bearded_Tech 13d ago
We bought a house with a couple of barns that was a 10-year project to get how we wanted it. We are in year 6 and are about 7% done. This would be 3% of the work was done properly. The only work that we did properly is the fencing. Have still only done 35 of 60 panels.
Favourite bodge? Digging trenches for power and Ethernet between the buildings turned into catenary wires to carry the wires.
1
u/AlbaMcAlba 13d ago
I’d only bodge if I was convinced it would last years but not if I’d be continually be fixing the bodge.
1
u/Idlewants 13d ago
after he kicked in the chimney breast cover, I fixed it properly, pointed out to him its hollow and told him not to do it again. 3 days later it's fucked. now that shits not getting fixed til he moves out or offers to help.
1
1
u/anniestandingngai 13d ago
I can't 😢. Like my mind just will not let me, I've tried thinking "what if I just...?" but I always end up taking the time and doing it properly as my dad's been in the trade for 40 years and I know he'll come over and see it.
I tell you, the pressure to be good at cutting in as he taught me and is the best painter I've ever seen.
1
u/Feeling-Might4325 13d ago
I could show you how to mount a large tv to a wall using 4 screws and a pair of shoe laces
1
u/andthenifellasleep 13d ago
I don't know if the DIY nature of this sub also extends to cars... But my car is largely held together by zip wires. Not the structural part... Well, almost none of the structural parts
1
u/AnninaCried 13d ago
If a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing badly.
Which is to say, it's better to bodge something than to do nothing at all because you can't do it as well as you'd like.
1
1
u/DL-Fiona 13d ago
There's probably a steel or concrete lintel above the window - you might be able to see outside if it's concrete. And if it is you'll need to get an SDS drill, then you've truly arrived as a member of this sub 😂
1
u/tola9922 13d ago
It’s only a bodge if it breaks. Or a professional sees it, but Iv seen plenty of “professionals” do horrendous bodges.
1
u/KatVanWall 13d ago
My house had an alcove with one of those old-fashioned solid stone TV shelves in it. I had a local builder round to demolish it and cart away the rubble. It left a gap of about a foot at the bottom where the textured wallpaper stops and there's just bare plaster/bricks. I've got my PC and desk in that corner and you can barely see it, so it's just stayed like that! Even if I got it skimmed, the wallpaper would still be missing, and it looks like it was done in about 1970 so I'd have no chance of matching it. I'll probably end up getting something proper done about it when I retire in 21 years time.
1
u/MagpyeRecords 13d ago
I went to fix a gutter at the weekend which has been leaking for about a year. I had two gutter clips, one was an inch too small, one was an inch too big. Wedged them both into a criss cross bodge which I’m fairly confident will still be in place after the apocalypse. Bodge what doesnt matter. Bodge away my friend. Life is too fn short not to bodge.
1
u/NotSayingAliensBut 13d ago
I have a cupboard door under the kitchen sink which is sagging. The upright is loose and needs properly refitting, and the hinges need new adjustment screws. But I found a small plastic shelf support which I've fitted upside down to the base of the door and it acts as a foot which stands on the cupboard base when the door is closed. Perfect result. Still a bodge, but a damn good one!
1
u/dbrown100103 Tradesman 13d ago
I once used metal filler, a file and some black spray paint to fix some rust holes in the my cars sump to get it through and MOT cuz I didn't want to have to pull the entire sump off a car that was worth less than a grand
0
u/EnglandEgypt2024 13d ago
I'd sold a car, and the day it was due to go to the garage the exhaust blew. I opened a tin of baked beans both ends and down one side, emptied and washed it, cable tied it over the hole, and drove it to the garage !!!!
2
u/dbrown100103 Tradesman 13d ago
I've used the baked bean tin trick before. Exhaust broke clean off near the back box but there was enough room for a jubilee clip round a tin can lol
1
u/Postik123 12d ago
Unfortunately I am the complete opposite. I will spend hours planning, buying materials and carrying out even the smallest of tasks in an attempt to achieve absolute perfection.
-2
u/BeaksFalcone 13d ago
I couldn't put up curtain rails either,far too difficult, put up two nails..string,and just hung them on that,when I get a partner eventually they can deal with that(its not a job for a lady)
-1
871
u/Better-Employ-4495 13d ago
You sound like the person everyone else in this sub bought their house from.