Things fall apart

[j4]

Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by broken things: things I want to fix, but don't quite know how, or don't have the tools. I don't want to throw them away (or even recycle them — repair is better than recycling) but I never quite seem to have the time/energy to fix them, or if I have the time/energy then I don't have the tools to hand, and by the time I get to the point of working out what I need, the shop that sells the tools is closed, or it's too dark to do things outside, and ... basically, "for want of a nail, FAIL".

One strategy would be to plan better: to decide "this Sunday I am going to fix the Broken Doobrie, which means I will need a thingummy and a whatsit, so I have to buy the thingummy from Sprockets 'R' Us before Sunday, and borrow the whatsit from Fred when I see him on Saturday." But that would require knowing in advance that I'm not going to feel too tired and miserable on the Sunday in question to do anything more energetic than stay in bed reading Chalet School books; and at the moment I feel like I can't take awakeness for granted, let alone feeling-up-to-doing-things-ness. (I generally feel guilty about not "feeling up to" doing things, as though it's just a question of willpower; but for once I have an actual excuse, which is that it's hard work making a whole actual human being, and sometimes I will just have to sit down and rest.) The other strategy would be to make sure I have all the thingummies and whatsits in the house to start with so that when I do have the time and the energy I've already got the tools. This is probably less efficient (there are lots of tools I will probably only need very rarely, so the sensible thing to do would be to borrow them rather than spend money on them and then have them taking up space) but on the other hand might result in things actually getting mended, which would create more space (because things could either be used by us rather than stored in a 'things that need fixing' pile, or given away to be used by someone else) and save money.

What I'd really love is some kind of regular 'fixing things' drop-in session where people could get together and bring their broken objects and fix them together, sharing tools and workspace, actively helping each other learn how to fix things, or just being companionable while they fix their own things. I don't know how I'd go about organising such a thing, though (and I don't really have the time or energy at the moment). I fail at Big Society. But, in the meantime, here are some examples of the sort of things on my mental list of things-that-need-fixing:


Two toasters. The first of these is my beloved Sunlight toaster which after over 40 years of faithful service finally stopped toasting -- the elements just don't heat up. It is such a simple thing, with so few parts, that I'm sure it must be fixable; but I don't really know where to start. The other is a toaster kindly donated to us by a friend to fill the gap left by my Sunlight; unfortunately it too needs fixing, as while it heats up, it doesn't pop up as it should (so has to be watched carefully for fear of setting the kitchen on fire burning the toast. It's a much newer model, but the 'pop-up' mechanism surely can't be that complicated... can it?

A suitcase. One of those pull-along ones; the wheels etc still work, but the stand which allows you to stand it up inbetween wheeling it has broken. I know I could screw this back on to the base of the suitcase quite easily (and nobody needs to see if it's a bit of a botch as it'll be inside/under a suitcase), but the holes in the stand where the screws would go are still taken up with the rivets which originally held it on, and I have no tools suitable for cutting the heads off rivets (someone suggested a bolt-cutter, but that definitely falls into the category of "tools that I will probably not need more than once or twice in my life", so I would probably need to borrow it from someone/somewhere). The suitcase is a handy size, I got it from a charity shop for £3 (the handle has clearly already been fixed by a previous owner) and replacing it would probably cost about 8 times that (and I don't use suitcases that often so I'm reluctant to spend much money on one), so I'm keen to eke out its life a bit longer if I can.

Badly hung doors. The wonky wardrobe door is my fault (self-assembly), & I do have the tools to fix it (a screwdriver), I just can't seem to get it to sit straight, so it scrapes slightly against the drawer underneath. The problem is it's a very heavy door (because of the full-length mirror on it) and hard to hold up while adjusting it, & I've had a couple of goes & got tired of trying, but it annoys me most days. The other wonky door is one of the internal doors, & is not my fault, & the problem is that the wood has split badly where the hinges are attached and it's all dropped down a bit (and now scrapes along the floor when you try to open/close it), & I can't really see how best to fix it: as far as I can see the options are a) replace the door (most expensive option, & would require someone with a car to deliver the door, but probably not too hard once you've got to that stage?); b) remove the hinges, wood-cement the gaps back together in some way that it's still strong enough to reattach the hinges, & hope that it all holds together; or c) remove the door & re-hang it the other way round, but that means moving the handle as well and painting the raw edge which all feels like a bit of a faff.

Draught-excluder. One of those brushy-things that go on the bottom of a door. We managed to get as far as cutting this down to size so it would fit the front door, but the front door has screws in (probably from a previous draught-excluder) which are in the way, and they're so tightly wedged in that I can't get them out. I suspect this is going to involve something tricky like drilling into the middle of the screw (I am a complete novice at drilling and it scares me a bit because there seems to be a lot of potential for cocking things up messily and dangerously), but I don't really know how that works either.

An Apple ][ which exploded. OK, here it's the parts/expertise that are lacking rather than the tools; my lovely old Apple ][ went 'pop' and filled the house with nasty-smelling smoke. I suspect that means the PSU is now dead, but I don't know how to check which bits are working and which aren't, and it is hard to find spare parts for 30-year-old computers.

Clothes with broken zips. I am fine with mending buttons & buttonholes, hems, seams and minor tears (by hand -- I don't have a sewing machine, and don't really want one because they cost money/space and I'm not really interested in sewing for fun), I even sort of know how to darn (badly), but zips are totally beyond me. I have tried them but I can't get them straight/flat. I have one pair of trousers and one skirt which need the zips replacing, and I have spent about 6 years dithering about whether to try to give them away to someone who might fix them, or pay someone to fix them for me (at which point I might still give them away, but there'd be less chance that they'd just get thrown out), or just give up and put them in fabric recycling, or what. (If anybody's interested in claiming them, the trousers are just a generic pair of comfy black combats in a size 12 or thereabouts, but the skirt is quite wacky -- full-length black velvet with a silver fake-leather corset-like band at the top; the zip is in the leather bit, which seems to tear at the slightest provocation. It's a lovely goth thing which I will probably never wear again but I don't want to throw it out & I can't really sell it or give it away while it's broken.)


Advice welcome but not demanded/expected!

Comments

[k425.livejournal.com]

Badly-hung doors - can they be removed and planed a bit along the bottom?

Draught excluder - do you have an electric screwdriver? I have a feeling they go in reverse, which may pull the old screws out. You have probably tried that, though.

Clothes with broken zips - many dry cleaners will do this. I have avoided knitting a number of items so far because they involve zips and like you zips are beyond me.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/02/down-with-kids-chris-cleave - it's hard work making a baby, and I love this every time I read it.

[aldabra]

How old is the internal door? There was a door-hanging lesson in the DIY course I went to, from which I remember that door hanging is really heavy and awkward and uncomfortable, and modern doors have a handedness such that you can't put the handle on the other side because the wood isn't strong enough there. I don't remember whether this applies to Victorian doors too. (Also, getting a new door and hanging that involves planing the edges off, because new doors are rectangular but door frames are any old shape, so you can't assume the door will fit in the door frame. Measuring this is harder than it sounds.)

Having been to the class, if I had that problem I would buy a new door and get someone in to fit it for me. Especially if I was pregnant or had a baby.

[1ngi.livejournal.com]

Group fixing things day - this idea is made of WIN

[j4.livejournal.com]

Badly-hung doors - can they be removed and planed a bit along the bottom?

Hmm, possibly. I worry that then the door will just continue to fall off as the wood splits worse... but it's probably worth a try (& maybe easier than the other options). So, a plane may be on the list of whatsits to borrow from someone... :)

do you have an electric screwdriver?

Yes, & it does go in reverse (it's saved me many blisters when dis/assembling flatpack furniture!) -- I have tried it on the draught-excluder-impeding screws, but actually for really firmly wedged screws it's often less good than a normal screwdriver, because it's far too easy for it to slip & just go spinning round (stripping the screw head so it's harder to try next time). Which is what happened in this case. So I suspect I have actually made it worse. :-/ Ho hum.

Clothes with broken zips - many dry cleaners will do this.

Oh yes, there's no shortage of people to pay to fix zips -- just dithering about whether to spend money fixing something that I may well not wear afterwards (and in the case of the trousers, the cost of the zip-fixing would be more than I paid for them originally!).

Thanks for the Chris Cleave link - lovely! I do miss his column in the Guardian -- that awful "heroic mother of five" or whatever is nowhere near as funny or interesting...

[j4.livejournal.com]

How old is the internal door?

Oh cripes, dunno. It's a 1930s ex-council house & the internal doors have almost certainly been replaced since it was built, so, um, modern-ish. That's a bugger about the handedness if it's true. :-( How would you tell if the wood wasn't strong enough (er, other than by trying it & having it all fall apart under you, I guess)?

Yeah, getting a new door probably comes under the "get someone in to do it", mostly because without a car we couldn't get it here ourselves anyway & by the time we've paid someone to deliver it we may as well pay them to fit it.

This is where having some kind of friendly affordable odd-job-man would be really useful. I suspect in fact we will still have a slightly sticky door 20 years from now. :-}

A DIY course would be a great idea -- even if I didn't end up doing much more of the stuff myself it would be good to know what's involved & have a better idea of whether things should be big/difficult/expensive jobs. I should probably look for a class round here, but, argh, time...

[aldabra]

The modernest ones (the ones that are flat rather than panelled) are hollow, except for the bit they expect the doorhandle to go through, so possibly you can hear by tapping. (When you get them they have some kind of code printed on one of the edges so you can orientate them, but I forget the details, and it's useless once it's been painted anyway). The panelled ones have an up and a down (at least this one here does); I can't remember whether they also have an in and an out, but I would guess they do. I do remember consciously deciding not to remember all this on the grounds that it was obviously Too Difficult to do oneself anyway.

The DIY course was great, but I strongly recommend waiting until you've got the kiddo and she's sleeping properly.

Thoughts from a semi-professional bodger

[shermarama]

Screws for the draught excluder: how are they blocking it? As in they're sticking out? If so could they be hacksawed / filed back to be flush with the door, so they don't have to come out? Drilling into screws only really works if they're pretty big screws - otherwise if you hear someone talking about 'drilling the screw head off' or something, that only really works with screws that are holding a plate in place or the like - you use a drill wider than the body of the screw but narrower than the head, and then drill through the head to disconnect it from the body, freeing up whatever they're holding in.

That, incidentally, though, could be the way to get the rivets out of the suitcase - you drill the head off the shank so the rest of it can be pulled through from the other side - but I'm a bit confused there about the exact problem. Are the rivets in the stand bit, not the case? And are they not already broken? (Drilling rivets out is cool, though, because you end up with the rim of the head flapping round the drill bit like a washer, making a part that didn't exist before.)

Um, old toaster is possibly fixable but a right pain. There'll likely be a break in the element somewhere but you've have to get the element exposed and go over it all with a multimeter to find where the break is. Triumphant if you could find it, though.

The wood cement option for the internal door could well work. Good wood glue is stronger than wood. Internal doors made of cheap stuff can be very cheap, as little as £15 - £20, but if that one's solid wood it's worth having a crack at fixing.

[k425.livejournal.com]

I realised after I'd hit post that you'd probably thought about dry-cleaners.

I read making babies out of stars a couple of times a year because it's lovely. And you're right about the mother of five.

Re: Thoughts from a semi-professional bodger

[j4.livejournal.com]

Screws for the draught excluder: how are they blocking it? As in they're sticking out? If so could they be hacksawed / filed back to be flush with the door, so they don't have to come out?

Yeah, they're sticking out of the door by a few mm -- just enough that I can't get the draught excluder on over them. I wouldn't've thought you could get through a metal screw with a hacksaw, but if it's possible, maybe worth a try -- I think it will be really awkward to get in there with a saw though. Hmmm. I guess if it all goes horribly wrong then we have an excuse to get a new front door (which might fit better & could have a proper letterbox). :-}

I'm a bit confused there about the exact problem. Are the rivets in the stand bit, not the case? And are they not already broken?

The rivets are in the stand -- they were riveting the moulded plastic stand into a bit of chipboard inside the case (also going through the canvas exterior); they've ripped out through the chipboard and the canvas, so the rivets have remained intact in the stand. (Hm. Does that make more sense? I can take photos if that would help!) Not entirely sure I see how the drilling works still though.

Good news about the wood-glue -- thanks! I will give this a go when I have the round tuits. And potentially good news about the toaster -- someone else mentioned a multimeter & this makes more sense now, it sounds fiddly-but-by-no-means-impossible.

Lots to try & learn! Thank you :)

Re: Thoughts from a semi-professional bodger

[j4.livejournal.com]

PS I initially read that as "semi-professional badger" :D

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

When we paid someone to rehang a door, I was struck at the time that it looked very high up the list of things that I was glad I got someone else to do.

[atreic.livejournal.com]

I applaud your sentiment. Anyone who can even acknowledge the merit of fighting this is clearly Worthy. The sheer ease of buying new things and near impossibility of fixing broken ones to the same standard, coupled with being time poor and money rich, makes me rather a failure at this sort of thing. It's taken me years to realise that though, and a surprising amount of time living in a house over-full of really depressing broken things.

Around with Meles

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

Could this be some sort of pro-celebrity TV show in the manner of Around With Alliss http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Alliss where a celebrity and a badger go round burrowing, eating worms etc.?

Re: Thoughts from a semi-professional bodger

[shermarama]

You can certainly get through a screw with a hacksaw. Depending on what state the heads are in they might help the blade bend a little and get closer to the material, even. You'll probably get a few scratches on the door surface from it, but hopefully they'll be covered by the draught excluder.

And about the rivets, yes, right, then drilling the heads off is the way to go. If we were in the same room I'd draw a diagram; I can't find one on the net offhand, but imagine if you're using a drill bit that's a little bit thicker than the tube part of the rivet, and then using it to remove the material from the centre of the head, you're going to be left with a ring of remaining head that's no longer attached to the tube bit. Um, needs to be a metal bit, turning nice and slowly, and if the rivets are now loose they'll tend to turn in the holes rather than stay still and be drilled, but sufficient pressure on them should sort that, especially if you're not worried about the stand bit getting a bit messed up. If they're long enough to be held clear enough of the stand bit with pliers, actually, you could just hacksaw through the tube, as an alternative.

Re: Thoughts from a semi-professional bodger

[shermarama]

Semi-professional bodger, semi-professional badger, la la la-la-la, la la la-la-la....

Attempt To Solve Underlying Problem Yields Mixed Results

[monkeyhands.livejournal.com]

"This needs fixing with a [insert name of expensive tool that takes up a lot of space here]. But I don't want to buy a brand-new [INOETTTUALOSH] because that would be bad from a money, carbon and storage point of view. I need a second-hand [INOETTTUALOSH], and I bet lots of other people are in the same boat. I know! I'll look into setting up a tool library, where people can borrow each others' [INOETTTUALOSH] as well as other types of tool! Or maybe it should be some kind of barter system? Actually, maybe it would be good if I invented a new type of currency. The first step is to email that guy who said he was inventing a new currency to see how he's getting on. I'll just send a message to his hotmail address, which will bounce because his inbox is over quota because he never checks his email, and by the time it bounces back this doughnut will have worn off and I'll be having a post-sugar crash that makes me feel tired and despairing."

[vinaigrettegirl.livejournal.com]

Before hacksawing draft excluder screws: if you have a cook's blowtorch, heat the screws and then tap with a hammer to dislodge. Or, if no torch, even a very hot hairdryer, then WD40, let penetrate, and then tap with a hammer. This loosens most screws enough to remove them. Dislodging from their other end is also a possibility to mull.

Electric Aids in Headington fix things like your fave toaster. They fixed my 26 y o Moulinex blender...

Katie up at our corner shop does zips, 4 quid instead of 15-20. So all those pints of Teh B33r you can't drink would pay for a zip replacement or two. I can run stuff to and fro for you easily or you can drop stuff off at The Post Box... She's ace.

The door problem may be a hinge thing, a doorframe thing, or a door thing. Can you get O and a spirit level together with the door, with some props, so you can level the door and adjust the hinges, before planing and all that palaver?

I can loan you a level and our Big Red DIY book...

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

Oh argh, are zips really difficult? I've never done one, but have bought one to put in the cardigan I've been knitting and was blithely assuming it couldn't be that hard. What do I need to watch out for?

[j4.livejournal.com]

To be honest if someone as capable as you decided it was Too Difficult then I probably shouldn't even try! :-}

The DIY course was great, but I strongly recommend waiting until you've got the kiddo and she's sleeping properly.

Probably wise -- I have to keep reminding myself that maternity leave is not the time when I should be planning to redecorate the house / write my novel (ho ho) / etc...

Re: Around with Meles

[j4.livejournal.com]

I would totally watch this. :)

I had to keep reminding myself that too

[jinty]

Just as well, seeing as I strongly recommend the "staying in bed /on the sofa for as much as possible of the first few weeks" option of baby-keeping. Have managed to do or at least start one or two tasks on the to do list now... weeks later...

[venta.livejournal.com]

This totally misses the entire point of your post, but I was curious as to whether you'd read The Chalet Girls Grow Up (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chalet-Girls-Grow-Up-Sequel/dp/0953395200). Largely because I'd be interested to hear your opinion (and can lend it if required).

[jinty]

Smith and Osman*, I think it is, near Hollow Way also fix electrical goods, probably including things like the toaster.

* there's another Smith - Smith & Low - actually on Hollow Way who are a hardware store and don't fix things. I can never remember which is which but it's one of those two!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Having just (now) had the sense to read the Amazon review comments on that, I may have all the validating of my own opinion which I require :)

[k425.livejournal.com]

They're probably not, but I've built it up in my mind, you know? I couldn't do them in school Domestic Science lessons, but I couldn't thread a sewing machine either.

Every now and then I think "this is a nice pattern. I should knit this. It has a zip, but that shouldn't be a problem. Or I could knit more socks. I'll do that".