i'm fairly competent when it comes to diy as i'm sure many of you are... however, i'm sure we've all got some diy skeletons in the cupboard from when we were starting out... some minor and some totally preposterous. i'll begin with a 'little one'

o i used a pool ball as a spirit level for a number of years before finally buying the real thing

I've never been able to do flat pack without having bits left over.

(I hide them from Mrs Sted now to avoid critisism).

Oh, and I have fashioned part of an outrigger on a Triumph 2000 from a cornflakes box.

(got it through it's MOT mind)

For all the girls out there, an outrigger is an integral part of the cars chassis, so don't try this at home.

What's a chassis

i was thinking about you when i started this thread (not in a gay way) - how did wiring that light fitting work out for you?

ok - i was thinking about you in a gay way

However bad our own DIY disasters may be, they won't be as bad the the so-called professionals. A few years ago we had our bathroom re-plumbed, and afterwards Mrs Whiz wondered why it felt so warm when she went to the loo. It turned out the toilet was flushing hot water. Meanwhile the left-hand tap in the sink produced cold water, the right-hand one hot, which as every schoolboy knows (apart from those schoolboys who grow up to be plumbers), is the wrong way round.

Couple of torches gaffer taped to the wall. Job done.

my right hand tap is hot

in fact even on my tap in the kitchen which has blue and red bit coloured in on it when bought, the hot is on the right......

On my first car, 'A' reg Ford Escort , the clip that holds the hand brake cable to the underside of the car broke and the cable was dragging on the floor. I wrapped a rope around the cable, pulled the rope into the car and shut the door so that the rope had lifted the cable off the floor and would stay that way as long as the door remained shut.

Much to the annoyance of all my passengers I drove my car like this for the next 6 months til the MOT was up when I got it fixed. The fella in the garage didn't even charge me for the clip.

We must have the same plumber then

According to British Standards BS CP 310 1965 and BS 1010 Part2 1973, when hot and cold taps are provided together the hot water tap should be on the left and the cold on the right. For the reason why, see following discussion:

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/in ... 959AAa6Wd6

There was me thinking that it was to do with toothbrushing

the teethbrushing is a gd point, i am right handed so hold my brush with my right hand, i can then easily operate the cold tap with my left hand...imagine the cross over confusion having to reach over myself....