boltonblue

OK so if you're not a do it yourself kind of person, it may be harder to relate.

We recently replaced our 30 year old peeling formica bathroom counters and sinks with a nice new corian counter and sinks.
Different sinks means the drains are in a different place which means re-plumbing the drains. grumble grumble grumble
No big deal, go to home despot and buy the obligatory selection of new parts and some extra parts because this crap never fits right.

fiddle with drains and finally get it to fit right.
Glue it up, looking good.
I decided to exercise a little caution before I proceeded to install the faucet and check the drain for leaks.
Fill a 2 gallon bucket from the tub and vigorously pour it all in to get a little pressure on the drains.
it was at this point, I reminded by the sound of pouring water I hadn't been plumbed in the drain on other sink yet.....
The sink that is connected to the same overall drain pipe....
Sometimes I guess we just need to be reminded that we're not perfect.
dumbass!!

robb

Happens to the best of us. Kind of like changing your oil and forgetting to put the drain plug back in before you refill.

jukngene

Measure twice, plumb once, or something like that.

S2KRAY

Been there, done that. I got a better one. Painted the calipers on my 2016 BMW 228i. Painted the drivers side first, hand tightened the nuts as I ordered a toque wrench and it didn't show up until 3 days later. Painted the passenger side calipers and torqued the nuts to spec. Forgot to torque the drivers side nuts. Driving down the interstate and the bimmer was suddenly driving erratically I was going 70 in the left lane in rush hour traffic. A guy in the right lane noticed my panic and let me in front of him. When I pulled over and got out ALL of the lug nuts on both wheels on the drivers side were off. Fortunately both wheels stayed on and wedged against the rotor and calipers. Called for a tow and the tow truck driver said I was lucky I was not severely injured or killed. Somebody was looking over me for sure. BMW replaced both wheels, calipers, rotors and other components. Insurance covered it. So for Christmas my son-in-law presented me with a very nice reminder of my screw up. It was a large laminated board and mounted on it was an old torque wrench he had in his garage. The top of it over the wrench reads, Wheel Tightener Thingy, Next to the head is, Nut goes here,. under that is, accessories included, which is a 19mm socket. Then we have, Guaranteed to keep wheels from falling off, then, It's the wheel thing. Next to the wrench handle is, Hand goes here, under that is, Never worry about your nuts again. Now the best part. At the bottom of the board there are instructions which read, Put wheel on car, Tighten your nuts, If you have any nuts left over you screwed up, Ask spouse to inspect your nuts, and finally, Drinking may impair your ability to use your tool. I laughed my nuts off, mounted it on the wall next to the 228 as a reminder and it has become the best neighborhood car guy garage plaque. Laughing now but not then. I would take a pix but don't know how to include it.

dlq04

Great story Ray. Funny but I have a similar one that I documented in my file of car's owned. This was about my 1990 Nissan Maxima.
It was nearing 200,000 miles when rust finally attacked the underside of the car in area’s where the structual jacking points were. Also items were starting to fail that required more expense than could be justified. Both exhaust manifolds needed replaced. In the spring of 2007 I swapped out the winter tires and installed the summer ones, thinking it would likely be the last time for doing this. For some reason the air gun I used did not torque the wheel nuts properly (and I foolishly did not hand torque it to validate). Driving into town at 70 mph I slowed down and stepped on the brakes for the red light by a Shell gas station. When I did all four wheels came off the car at the same time!! The car skidded through the intersection on the brake discs and belly. Wheel nuts scattered everywhere. Thankfully it was Sunday and little or no traffic. One wheel rolled as far as a Target store parking lot, at least a block and half away. Naturally it drew a crowd quickly, which helped to recover the four wheels & tires plus the several wheel lug nuts. Everything was re-installed by hand after jacking it up. When I mentioned that my plans were to scrap the car due to its age, one of the young people helping at the time said he was a mechanic and offered to buy it. It was pushed it to his friend’s house just a quarter block away and I sold it to him $50, making him sign a paper he was buying it "as is". I hoped I would see it on the road again around town but never did.

skunkworks

Here's my stupidity story...

Years ago while working on my ’67 Chevy Nova in my garage, I removed one end of rubber gas hose that was located on the undercarriage, it connected two steel hoses together. Gasoline immediately began to gush from the opened hose. I wasn’t thinking about the gas tank which was non-vented and had residual pressure pressure in it. I tried, but he hose couldn’t be reconnected. As I was lying underneath the car, it required me to push myself out, run to loosen the gas cap, and then try to stop the siphoning which followed.

After the gushing and drainage came to a halt over 1/2 gallon of gasoline was spread over my garage floor. Quickly, the house’s main circuit breaker was turned off and then came the cleanup processes…Several days of flooding my garage floor with water and leaving the garage doors open. The gasoline vapors lasted for at least three-four days.

I’m lucky there wasn’t an explosion that destroyed the house.

Gary

tof

Glad you are still with us, Ray.

Yesterday, I turned on the ignition in the Miata so I could lower the windows to drop the top. (Not required but recommended.) Went inside for my sunglasses. Came back out and searched my pockets for the car keys. Must have left them inside. Spent 15 minutes looking in all the usual places. Remembered that keys were still in the ignition which was still turned to the "on" position.

And, no, the car wasn't actually running so not really that bad, right?

S2KRAY

You guys are making me feel less stupid, thanks.

cosmomiller

My wife and I absolutely howled at this one! It sounds like a typical airline commuter story! Made our day.

dlq04

OMG Gary that reminds me of my gasoline story. It was during the winter and I was working on the MG in the garage with the heater on. I had been having problems with the car stumbling so I cleaned the carburetors. I decided it would be a good idea to blowout the fuel lines between the carbs and the gas tank. Like a dummy I increased the air pressure a little too much. So much so that it blew open the flip type gas cap at the rear of the car and gasoline shot into the air like an oil well gusher! I ran for the side door, pushing the garage door opener as I ran out. Things get a little foggy after that. Somehow I was able to get the MG pushed out and I squeegeed the gasoline on the floor out the double doors. As best I recall I did all this while the overhead furnace was still going, as I would have to climb on a table back in a corner to reach the shutoff valve (not a good plan given the situation).

Ok people, don't remind me of any more of my dumb mistakes.