I hate home DIY.
I'm happy in the garage, doing metal work, even cutting down trees, but home DIY always seems to be my nemesis.
The siphon unit in our en-suite has been playing up, so I've been nagged to get it sorted. This afternoon my excuses ran out.
First the screws holding the cistern to wall had corroded so badly the heads broke off when I tried to unscrew them. That's OK, I thought, I will attack them with a mole wrench once I've got it off. The overflow and mains connections came off easily, but then I found the wing nuts holding the cistern to the toilet were seized solid. It was pretty obvious a bit of WD40 wasn't going to help, so I reached for the junior hacksaw. Five minutes later, I'd made no impression due to restricted access and having to cut through the nut and bolt
So I found myself lying on the carpet complete with safety glasses and ear defenders cutting the nuts off with the angle grinder. The nuts removed, I tried again, and the washers were so corroded to the bolts, I still couldn't get it off. After trying pliers and a chisel, I had to angle grind the washers in half to get the cistern off FFS
Just finished the job after more than 2 hours of my life wasted (including a trip to Wickes to buy a seal that didn't fit without a lot of modification, but that's another story).
Next time, I think I will pay someone else to do it
