PLEASE HELP!!!

[jt9099]

Hi, thanks for looking, basically, i have bought some DIY wireless CCTV and intruder alarm equipment from here

The thing is, I am pretty new to the world of DIY. The instructions with the equipment are good, but I dont really understand them

does anyone have any advice for me before I set up the bits and bobs?? I have contacted the suppliers, and they have answered all my questions, but I just want to make sure I have addressed most eventualities before i go for it!

Cheers

Joanne x x aged 22 from London

 

[notb665]

Hi Joanne x x,

Read all the instructions many times over, on different days - you will probably pick something different up each time you read them and the days will help you to absorb and process the information. Same goes for deciding on the siting of the equipment.

Buy the best tools you can (cheaper and quicker in the long run). If you are going up ladders a toolbelt is good.

Practice on something first. e.g. if you have never drilled into a wall to fix a wall-plug and screw, find something to do this to, maybe use a workbench and a brick to try a few sizes of wall-plug and screw. It might take a few goes and a bit of time, but at least you'll be confident when you get to do it for real.

I find that the fixings supplied with equipment (i.e. wall-plugs and screws) are rarely up to the job, but then I always like to go 110% with everything.

Don't be tempted to hotwire something, switch the electricity off!

Be safe: if you're going to climb ladders to fit the cameras there is no point stretching or being uncomfortable at the top. Even if you have to go up and down a few times to be comfortable, that's better than falling off! Make sure they can't slip at the bottom.

Someone else there to throw around ideas is always helpful (and hand you stuff and hold the ladders).

Don't attempt anything when you're tired and take your time, thinking about it several times if needs be. Getting frustrated is always counter-productive.

Of course all that applies in my utopian dream of an ideal world!!

I personally recommend Collin's DIY manual for the, er, DIYer- 'tis rather good and very comprehensive.

Hope this helps. How about some photos of your handywork when it's done?

 

[jt9099]

Hi, thanks for your advice. There are some really good ideas that you have posted and thank you very much for taking the time to write your advice. I will certainly try and take some photos, although my IT skills are something to be desired...

Thank you once again x

 

[notb665]

How did you get on?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

How did you get on?

Badly.

She didn't take your advice, and overstretched whilst up a ladder.

The ladder toppled over, and fell across some old and manky overhead cable, which got ripped out at one end, fell to the ground, and shorted out on a car in the driveway.

The car caught fire, the petrol tank exploded, and the fire rapidly spread to a chemical store in a light industrial unit next door.

By a sheer stroke of bad luck, the chemical store erupted in a spectacular fashion, just as a plane was passing overhead (did I mention that there was an airfield just beyond the industrial unit?). The plane was too high to have been damaged by the explosion, but low and slow enough for the pilot, who reacted instinctively by jerking the controls to avoid the fireball, to put the plane into a stall from which he did not have time to recover.

He ploughed into the ground, and a piece of cartwheeling engine bounced over the perimeter fence and smashed into the cab of a lorry, which ran off the road, down an embankment and onto a railway line. An Intercity 125 crashed into the lorry, and was derailed just as a goods train laden with petrol was coming the other way.

In all, 579 people lost their lives, and several hundred more were seriously injured.

I'm surprised you don't remember it.

 

[notb665]

Do you write short stories for a living, or have you not got anything better to do?

 

[breezer]

have you not got anything better to do?

you should not reply to "old posts" if the poster wants help they will come back for it, i know you wereasking howthey got on, but as they only made 2 posts you could be waiting some time, hence my first comment

 

[notb665]

you should not reply to "old posts"

Surely I can if I want to.

you could be waiting some time

So?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

you should not reply to "old posts"

Surely I can if I want to.

If it only affected you, then yes, but since it propels the post up to the top of the list that everybody looks at, and possibly triggers email notifications for other people, then no, you shouldn't really.

 

[securespark]

At least when Ban wasted our time with a story, there was a laugh at the end of it.

 

[Panjandrum]

Ban: tonight your posts have given endless amusement. Thanks - from a de-stressing reader.
PJ

 

[jt9099]

to notb665> thanks for your advice, it went really well. I managed to put up the stuff on my own which was a complete suprise! AND it is still afixed to where I left it...Next project is to make my mothers house more secure, as she lives on her own....homebuddy.co.uk turned out to be an excellent site, and I would certainly recommend it....thanks again for your earlier advice, much appreciated.