DIY with function over finesse!!

[myglaren]

That was a s**t+e joke Mick

+e - the censor struck again.

[mickthemaverick]

Sorry my sense of humour needs a good flush!!

[mickthemaverick]

I woke up the other morning and realised my "tat" corner needed some sorting:

Not a pretty sight!

So I had a good hunt and found an almost suitable solution on ebay. It was actually 3 cm too wide at the top and 4cm too high but close enough so I bought it and collected it yesterday. I removed a 4cm strip from to top ro give me a little wriggle room and cut the legs down by 4cm too. I then installed it today and now it looks like this:

That's much better!

I can give myself brownie points too because the doors are designed to open and then slide back along the insides to leave the space clear for a TV, but in my case it will open to reveal my freeview recorder for when I have the need, not to mention all my fans!!

Just open the doors to reveal my fanclub!

[CitroJim]

Excellent!

[mickthemaverick]

I'm sure my two, possibly three readers, will remember my work on the garage roof during the summer which culminated in sealing the sheet to rafter gaps with expanding foam as detailed at viewtopic.php?p=730837#p730837

Well it turned out that I did too good a job without paying sufficient attention to the part those gaps played in the ventilation of the garage!! Once the weather started getting cold and SWMBO was garaging her car after driving in the rain we began to notice the odd pool of water on the floor which I initially put down to her car dripping dry. However yesterday I had need of my oil sucking kit which was in its cardboard box on the top shelf at the back of the garage. I went up my two step to discover the bottom of the box was sodden!!

A bit of head scratching followed as I was totally convinced I had sealed all the leaks! I had, too well!!! I realised that the underside of the roof was wet at the back, lower, end and then it dawned on me that we had an evaporation-condensation cycle going on with the rainwater from the car evaporating during the warmth of the day and then condensing on the underside of the roof once the cold night set in. Because the roof slopes down towards the back that moisture was following its natural path until meeting my foam barrier at which point it was collecting in sufficient volume to drip down onto the shelves!!

So this morning I have been out and driller ventilation holes through each of the foam fillers in the hope that with a flow of air restored the water will get extracted as it presunably used to!:

The original expanding foam filling

My new holes and the damp roof patches

I may have to add some further ventilation at the front to give us a flow through but for the time being we will leave the roller shutter an inch off the ground until the intial dampness has dried out!!

[Dormouse]

Well spotted! Ventilation is very important! The driest garages all have good ventilation.

[mickthemaverick]

Having done my best for the garage this morning I decided to tackle the other issue which has been niggling since I rearranged my "tat" corner. You may remember I ended up with it looking like this:

When I thought I had finished!

However since then while ostensibly praising my efforts SWMBO has mumbled about it being better "if it had been white with gold knobs to match the rest of my room!!" Needless to say in line with the thread title I was happy with the function without finesse condition I had reached.
This morning then after doing the garage I set about seeking some more brownie points while she is out volunteering at the dementia club. Suffice to say as far as I am concerned it is now definitely finished but I'm going to wait for her to spot it without telling her!!:

Now that I have!!

[CitroJim]

Well spotted! Ventilation is very important! The driest garages all have good ventilation.

Same for houses too... I always keep both my house and garage very well ventilated... Never a problem with damp, mould or condensation in either... Plus it's very good for your health - as is not excessively heating your home.... I can't stand stuffiness...

I fear with everyone trying to save on heating bills and sealing them up tight to try to keep a bit of heat in the problem of damp and mould will soon rear its ugly head, especially for those who try to dry washing indoors without adequate ventilation and a nice through draft...

[Dormouse]

My mother was the world's worst for sealing up all the vents and running her gas fire and gas cooker. You could not get through to her how dangerous it was.

[MattBLancs]

Well spotted! Ventilation is very important! The driest garages all have good ventilation.

Same for houses too... I always keep both my house and garage very well ventilated... Never a problem with damp, mould or condensation in either... Plus it's very good for your health - as is not excessively heating your home.... I can't stand stuffiness...

I fear with everyone trying to save on heating bills and sealing them up tight to try to keep a bit of heat in the problem of damp and mould will soon rear its ugly head, especially for those who try to dry washing indoors without adequate ventilation and a nice through draft...

Dehumidifier is the answer for drying indoors, used one for this purpose alone for years and no damp problems.

There's some heat recovery ventilation units now that can give some fresh air but save on heating costs. Fresh air is important and you are quite right that excessive airtightness isn't great for health.

"Fortunately" I have a wooden shed type garage with plenty of infiltration (and it's too full of stuff to get a car in sadly!) So no heat recovery ventilation needed there as yet.

[CitroJim]

Dehumidifier is the answer for drying indoors, used one for this purpose alone for years and no damp problems.

That's good to know Matt Our local radio have been pushing them hard, a bit like they have been doing with air-fryers, and I did wonder, having zero experience of them, if they are as good as they are cracked up to be...

Just like air-fryers, I believe demand is currently outstripping supply by some margin and they are rather hard to get hold of...

[MattBLancs]

Have an air frier. It's good. Can't say it's changed my world, probably have chips more often because of it, but as likely as:
We've two young children and so am too tired to bother with "complicated cooking" often!
It doesn't have anywhere to go out the way, so is always ready to go on the worktop.

A few airers, dehumidifier set up in a room - shut it in and leave it chugging away - more energy efficient than a conventional tumble dryer. Obviously knocked into a cocked hat by "stick stuff out on the line" but weather not always that helpful. Have stuff on the line in December sometimes - am rather optimistic as you can tell!

[CitroJim]

Have stuff on the line in December sometimes - am rather optimistic as you can tell!

I do too... As I spend a lot of my life wearing light technical sports kit and lycra it dries very quickly but generally I find that if it's not raining and there's a decent breeze even towels can go some decent way to drying at this time of the year...

On days like today a line of washing will dry fully... Other days it usually needs a short airing in the tumble drier on its low setting. I have a quite elderly tumble drier and it's both very gentle on clothes and on low it's very frugal. It lives in my conservatory. Does me a treat.

Interesting on the air fryer... I can see it's advantage in your situation. My daughter say that for me to have one would be pointless as none of my cooking is really suitable for it!

[mickthemaverick]

SWMBO uses the rotary drying line in the garden if there is no rain about regardless of time of year. When it is raining or expected soon the 1600 rpm spin gets the laundry pretty dry and we air off on driers in the study with the window open and the rad on. Works for us, no damp issues in there at all.

[MattBLancs]

...the rotary drying line in the garden ... the 1600 rpm spin gets the laundry pretty dry....

Deliberately misquoted = how I misread/ misunderstood that first reading of it!

Now there's a way of making drying outside more exciting!