Coping With Covid

[Paul-R]

Hmmmm, this thread has had big clean-up. Can't say I'm surprised as it was veering towards the overtly political.

Anyhoos, I'm still here. Let's get back on track...

[mickthemaverick]

An issue has cropped up for me which is far more related to Coping with Covid! Since the lockdown I have not been able to get access to my pressure washer due to it being "blocked in" at the back of the garage by all the stuff I brought home from my mate's house move which I am unable to distribute because of the lockdown. Today I decided to bite the bullet and move everything to release the pressure washer and other stuff I may well need before the lockdown is over. Now comes my issue: We live on the side of a hill and our drive slopes up about 1in5 to the road. I cannot wash the car on the drive because all the dirty soapy water runs down and against the garage door where it may seep under and into the carpet which keeps SWMBO's car nice and cosy. I cannot take the car to the handwash I normally use as they are closed, I cannot take the car to my mate's drive because he is 30 miles away and that would contravene lockout rules so I won't do that. I am left with washing it in the road outside my house but I cannot decide whether that is socially acceptable to use the power washer and snow out in the road, so what do you think?

[white exec]

What normally happens to heavy rainwater on the drive, Mick?

[Paul-R]

Given the situation and your house drive it has to be the road, surely?

[mickthemaverick]

What normally happens to heavy rainwater on the drive, Mick?

It seeps under the garage door and into the carpet, but it is only rainwater which dries out harmlessly, not car shampoo!! There is a drainage channel in front of the garage which deals with normal rainfall etc but will get overloaded with the pressure washer.

[bobins]

That's a no-brainer. Car wash in the road and a separate bucket with sign stuck on it "£5 for pressure wash and clean, leave your cars in an orderly line and your money in the bucket"

[mickthemaverick]

I went with the road, and the snow and did it quickly to get the worst off!!:

Own work

Before:

Own work

And after:

Own work

[Gibbo2286]

Did mine yesterday but I have the convenience of a drive that slopes away...…………………...and I don't have a garage.

[mickthemaverick]

I think this is called setting yourself up............ I still think a bright and shiny red Mk1 is the nicest looking car of the whole C5 range!!!

[mickthemaverick]

Did mine yesterday but I have the convenience of a drive that slopes away...…………………...and I don't have a garage.

Then I shall count myself lucky...I think I'd rather have the garage and suffer the sloping drive!!

[Gibbo2286]

When the builders did this small group of houses they did this end too close to the boundary so there's only enough room for a narrow workshop.

The houses that do have garages have them so small that modern cars don't fit, my neighbour has a Honda Jazz, he can just about squeeze it in then crawl out of the part open door.

[mickthemaverick]

Yes our garage is not a decent size for today's cars. The C5 will just fit but you have to get out the sunroof! Fortunately SWMBO's car is a Suzuki Celerio which you can drive in keeping to the left and then use the door 3/4 open. I have a folding bench down the left which I can use if I take her car out first!!

Own work

High level storage:

Own work

Exit room:

Own work

And the stuff I have to get shot of when we are freed!!:

Own work

[myglaren]

I had a garage in the former house that I repaired my Hillman Imps and GS in. Benches at the side and back. Repainted the GS in there too.
Had some friends visit from Sweden in a Volvo 245. Couldn't close the door ?.

[Hell Razor5543]

Just to let you know that the worldwide mortality rate has (for the last two days) dropped from 21% to 20% (this is the mortality rate against the number of closed cases).

[white exec]

Years ago, had a garage in a double row facing each other, in a shared area. Decent enough size, with lots of headroom, but totally without power or light (except when the up-and-over door was open) and no prospect of being able to get mains out there - except for a 100m run of mains cable across a pavement, over a large green, and then across a road!

Had to be a bit ingenious for light and power, so resorted to 12v. A 4ft fluorescent fitting acquired a 12v fluorescent inverter (ex-'bus), and a couple of 12v drills from RS. Easy enough nowadays (rechargeable tools, LEDs and solar panels), but this was in the days (mid-80s) before all that.

Didn't stop a few car projects, though. A Morris 1300 getting a replacement 1300 auto power unit, and a Rover 3500S being converted to 5-speed, and remaining driveable (not on public roads) with all its wings removed for a very thorough waxoyling. A BRG Dolomite 1850HL replaced the 1300, and was substantially updated.

Carrying a couple of hefty 12v batteries to and from the house for charging was a reasonable way of keeping fit. At least the garage block had access to water: one solitary tap shared between 16 garages.

On-going entertainment was provided by a neighbour, who was painstakingly renovating a bright red MG roadster. His attention to bodywork and trim was immaculate, but he had not the first clue on electrics, and was happy to admit it. On a car like that, the full circuit diagram was pretty much a back-of-postcard job. Those were the days!