What was your worst job of the year?

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Newbie_Neil

Established Member
Joined
27 Jul 2003
Messages
6,538
Reaction score
4
Location
Nottingham, England
Hi all

I have to go back to the start of this tale which was two weeks before Christmas 2002. Before we start I must explain that, because of my work, the run up to Christmas and January is a very busy time.

Nevertheless, SWMBO decided that "we" needed a new cooker for Christmas. I didn't think it would be too much of a problem getting it installed before Christmas, assuming we could get a plumber to fit the gas piping. I was quite happy with the electrics on the new dual-fuel cooker.

Now imagine the scene. We already have a cooker in between two kitchen units. So I duly measure the gap, please note Scrit that I did this THREE times, and it kept coming out at 594mm. 8)

An hour later, in John Lewis, "we" picked out the cooker of "our dreams". It was 590mm wide, but what the heck this was for SWMBO and we had 594mm to play with, so we place the order. :lol:

The cooker was duly delivered and I arranged for the plumber to do the job before Christmas. I got home from work that evening to find the cooker in the middle of the kitchen with the gas pipe trailing over to the fitting on the wall. Shock, horror, the units had not been fitted at 90degrees to the floor. The gap at the work surface level might have been 594mm but it most certainly was nowhere near that at the base of the unit. :? :shock:

So, now it is Christmas and there I am cooking the Christmas dinner in the middle of the kitchen because I did not have any time to look at it beforehand and SWMBO had decided that it was all my fault. :oops: :shock:

She was absolutely right, of course. :oops: :oops:

Now, I don't know whether you have tried to take the side off a kitchen unit but it is quite difficult. :roll:

I couldn't get the worktop off because the back of the unit was covering the screws that were holding it together. So I had to cut into the back to allow me to start to unscrew the sides. Eventually I had the sides off and set about taking 6mm off the base to allow the side to fit at 90 degrees. :)

But, of course, the drawer would not now fit into the reduced gap so I had to get the router out and recess the fixings. :cry:

Well now I'd got the drawer back in but, of course, the door now overlapped the side of the unit. So it was back out with the router and take off part of the door. Hey, the door now fitted a treat.

Even SWMBO became involved and said it was a good opportunity to clean the door "properly". Well just as SWMBO had finished cleaning the door it slipped from her hand. Now normally it would not matter too much but it was upside down at the time and it landed on the ceramic tiled floor. The thin wooden top of the door was shaped like a quarter moon to allow your fingers to get in to open the door. It was very thin at that point and, surprise surprise, it broke. :shock: :shock:

So now I have a door with no means of opening it. At the point it broke it must have only been three or four mm. :shock:

Sometime during all this, SWMBO beat a hasty retreat. :lol:

So I gently sand the two pieces of timber apply the glue and put two brads in a'la'Norm. Sorry, sorry, sorry (Alf, please forgive me). :lol:

Whilst recessing the fittings for the drawer I had also recessed the fittings for the door. :)

So now, it only remained to sort out the new back. This was quite easily achieved and I then proceeded to put it all back together. :)

I looked at my watch and was surprised to see that it was the middle of January. 8)

So, my first "project" of the year was complete. :wink:

Cheers
Neil
 
Neil

Nice to hear a story of a good professional recovery :lol:

Scrit
 
Eeek! With a tale of woe like that you're forgiven all the brads in the world, mate. :shock:

Cheers, Alf

Who could tell the tale of the simple hanging of a mirror in the bathroom which resulted in calling out the plumber, chasing out half the wall and having to re-decorate the just-completed room. But I won't if you don't mind... :lol:
 
Back
Top