Slimline Salad Dressing?

Last weekend I finally got round to dusting down the hi-fi amp and speakers that I bought 24 years ago and connected them up to the brand new CD player that I bought last year, but had packed away until I could get covers to prevent small fingers from damaging the speakers.

I couldn't really get a satisfactory metal grille solution, so the reason that I connected everything up last weekend was that I'd decided that I could trust the kids.
They've never really touched the surround sound system in the front room.

One of the speakers has a cloth cover. The cloth cover had come off the other speaker.

To my dismay this morning I discovered that Frodo had poked in the centre dome of the woofer. I knew it was him, as he ran a mile when I discovered it. After a good telling off I established that he'd pushed it, thinking it was a button (he was trying to figure out how to turn the music on).
Luckily he hadn't touched the tweeter.

I got him to help me fix it tonight - he helped me turn a few screws whilst I took the speaker out to examine it from all sides.

Googling for a solution suggested the following options.

i) Suck the dome back into shape with a hoover.
ii) Pierce the dome with a pin and hook it back into shape.
iii) Use a piece of sticky tape to pull the dome back into shape - start with say masking tape and work your way through sellotape, parcel tape, gaffer tape etc until you find something just sticky enough.

I decided that option i) could work, but a Dyson might just rip the dome right off.
Option ii) would leave a small hole, that might degrade the sound.

Therefore I went for option iii).
Masking tape, and sellotape were no good, but a piece of parcel tape did the trick. Hooray!

The speaker is now working as well as before (warm bass sound with plenty of middle and crisp clear high's), and has a taught cloth cover protecting it from further mishaps.

For those that don't understand, the title of this post refers to the Not the Nine O'Clock News Gramophone Sketch :-

Knee Pads

A long time ago I bought a set of knee pads to help minimise skateboarding injuries.

Every now and again they turn up, usually when I'm looking for something else.

I've got no idea where they are right now, but I could really use them - I'm busy laying some oak flooring, which involves a lot of kneeling on a hard surface.

Perhaps I'll just strap on a couple of cushions?

Breaking Rocks

We've asked a pal, who's a landscape gardener by profession, to help us transform our back yard into a garden (and are paying him for his services).

We're looking forward to having grass. To prepare for this the concrete floor where the garage/shed used to stand has to be broken up.

Spent a couple of hours today helping him do this, with a whizzer (aka angle grinder), a sledgehammer, a pick and a giant crowbar. We've now got about half of the ex-garage area broken up.

I'm now aching, and have a few blisters on my hands. Now I know why this sort of activity is traditionally a punishment for convicts. Owch!

I'm a Database Administrator, not a Bricklayer

Today I have been mostly cementing reclaimed bricks back into the spaces which were created in my garden wall when I tore down the old garage/shed.

Tonight I have been mostly...

...painting an outhouse door.

What colour?

"Black! black! black!"

Demolition Man

Spent Easter Sunday/Monday knocking down the walls of the old garage/shed in our back yard in order to turn it into a garden / playspace.

Managed to get the whole thing down armed only with a lump hammer and a bolster chisel. Quite enjoyable smashing out brick after brick.

Of course I got carried away and created a huge mess of brickwork which I then had to clear out of the way and pile up neatly brick by brick at the back of the garden - in order to leave a safe space for the hobbits to play in. "Aaaargh! - Me backs knacking!".

Worst part was the huge, heavy concrete lintel that sat above what was once a set of double garage doors, but had been bricked up. Had a tricky time removing the brick work one row at a time beneath this monolith, without it crashing onto my head. I tried using my 1100W drill at this point, but it barely dented the concrete, so I used it to drill out the cement beneath the lintel instead. It came down with a thump, taking a small upper part of the garden wall with it - but nothing that can't be repaired.

Now all the bricks and rubble need to be removed - and somehow I've got to break up that lintel. Novelist Supermum has suggested an ancient method which involves vinegar. Hannibal did this when crossing the Alps - I reckon he probably heated and rapidly cooled the rocks as well.

No Basketball Here

Cleared all the waste and rubble out of the now roofless old garage. Took the door that sticks when shut off it's hinges and removed all of the glass from the side window. Removed or hammered in any old nails and hooks from the walls and joists, then hosed the whole place down. Should be pulling down the walls that don't form the property boundary down next month.

In the meantime it makes a nice little enclosed play area in which Frodo and Samwise can kick a ball around.

Some kids are never satisfied. 2 year old Samwise asked me why his new playground didn't have any basketball hoops!

Finally my Blog came good...

... and provided some useful information to somebody!

Ikea Roller Blinds - Aaaaargh!!!

Make exact measurements as per instructions. Drill holes in correct place. Plug holes with screw fixings. Fix plastic blind fittings with screw. Click blind into place. Test by gently pulling on pull cord. Whole thing comes crashing down! Unscrew one of the plastic blind fittings. Drill new holes 5mm from the old ones. Repeat fitting process. Whole thing comes crashing down, crumpling the bottom of the blind and making a tear in the right hand edge. Rant and rave at blind, tools, crappy instructions and any sympathetic member of the family who happens to cross my path. Drill a further set of new holes. Repeat process. This time the blind works, but the fixings look as if they are straining. Run the blind up and down for about 15 minutes like some sort of manic semaphore until I'm convinced that it isn't going to free itself from the over-strained fixings. Fit the pull cord bottom guide (2 more holes into solid brickwork). Novelist Supermum then hides the tear buy the strategic application of planet, alien and robot stickers (the blind is in Frodo's room).

Decided to leave the more difficult, larger blind to be fixed in Samwise's room for another occasion. Probably need to book an Anger Management course first.

Wireless Central Heating Thermostat

Our central heating doesn't have a thermostat.

I've considered installing one myself in the past, however the thing that has put me off the most is lifting a number of floorboards and trying to route a wire from the kitchen, through the morning room, through the hall and into the living room.

I discovered the answer in B&Q - a wireless (radio frequency) thermostat for 50 quid.

I've managed fit it myself, and surprise surprise it appears to have worked first time.

The fitting was hastened by the discovery of four little holes in the wall above the boiler heating timer/controller, fitted with wall plugs, and the words "RF" pencilled beside them. The previous occupant/owner had one fitted, and must have removed it before we bought the property.

The RF receiver that I had bought fitted these holes perfectly (the thermostat and RF receiver are sold together). Had some trouble figuring out the wiring diagram for the timer controller and the receiver (and checking/confirming that my assumptions were correct), but essentially this was simply a matter of connecting live/neutral feeds from the fused supply that goes to the timer/controller to the receiver as well. The common terminal of the timer/controller is already linked to the fused live supply. I connected the switched live from the timer/controller to the common terminal of the receiver.
(previously this had gone directly to the boiler). I connected the switched live from the receiver to the boiler.

So the heating timer/controller switches on the supply to the thermostat, which switches on the supply to the boiler.

Followed the manual, tested the receiver hard wiring connection, then tested the radio frequency connection from the thermostat to the receiver - all OK.

The beauty of a wireless solution is that we can easily move the thermostat around whilst we determine the optimum position for it in the living room (or we can easily move it to any other room). There is a bracket that we can screw to the wall and clip the thermostat on and off this as required. I'll fit the bracket once we're happy with the best location.

Hopefully this should save a little money on Gas Bills - I wonder how quickly I'll get my 50 quid back?