I once used duct tape to “repair” a leaky sink. The sink won. I lost. And now I owe my landlord $300.
Men, what’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done in the name of “fixing it yourself”?
r/AskMen
I once used duct tape to “repair” a leaky sink. The sink won. I lost. And now I owe my landlord $300.
Comments
I wrapped a leaking fuel line underneath a minivan with Scotch tape, where it kept falling in and out. One time I was readjusting it, the van started lowering on me slowly due to a failing jack and I didn’t realize it until I found I was stuck. I somehow scrambled out before it dropped fully onto my chest. I don’t do anything with cars anymore.
Did the brakes on my car. Three days and two sets of brake pads later, I would have come out better taking it to the mechanic
I don’t know what you mean by fixing myself but I used to punch myself everytime I did something dumb, or wrong, and guess what it didn’t work
Used JB Weld on a radiator; it still cracked more then the car blew up. (overheated)
If I took it directly to the shop the next day I noticed, I could have saved it.
I’ve….never actually had a repair attempt go wrong.
Couple times I took a few basic steps myself that didn’t solve it and called a pro for something more drastic I didnt have the tools for, but never any trouble/damage come out of trying.
A friend told me we could change the head gasket in my truck. Long story short we bent valves, got the timing chain off time etc etc. 2 months later we towed my truck to a mechanic with a box of screws and springs and parts and I paid twice as much to have him fix my screw up
I couldn’t have been more than eight or nine at the time. Mother was having trouble with the operating system on our computer. I don’t remember exactly what the problem was, but I sure remember how I solved the problem. I went into MS-DOS and used the command “format c:”
Fixed the OS by reinstalling it. Unfortunately, I wiped out everything else on that C drive, too.
I was sick with the flu but I decided that it wasn’t going to stop me from replacing a light fixture.
I took out my multimeter to test if there was voltage and it popped. I put the setting on continuity instead.
Decided that the light fixture can wait until I am feeling better so I don’t do any more stupid mistakes.
The light switch in my bedroom was physically broken off, so I figured it would be an easy fix. Got the parts, replaced it no problem, light switch works again! Except now none of the outlets in the room next door work.
Built the deck. When we bought our house, I insisted I build the fence. Wife wanted to pay someone. I didn’t listen and although I completed it, it isn’t very pretty.
Few summers later we had to rebuild the deck. I thought that if the deck looked great it would make up for not taking her advice on hiring out the work.
Wellllllll the deck itself looked great, but I did a poor job with the railings. As always, I should have listened to her. We saved a lot of money between the projects, but having the projects professionally done would have added value
Ran a ratchet strap to hold down ignition coils to the motor because the bolts broke off. Held up to this day, still no check engine light but still the dumbest fix I performed.
I absolutely suck at working on cars. Someone convinced me to just change my spark plugs myself instead of having my mechanic do it. I looked it up in the manual. Watched some videos. Got to the point when I was like “ya I might be able to do this.” Popped the hood, leaned over and heard a crunch. I rested my arm on a plastic piece of my radiator and cracked a big hole it.
Investigating a smell in the attic, was unsuccessful. But I DID slip and put a hole in the ceiling right in the middle of the kitchen.
Figured a “sticky” wrist pin on a 356 Porsche rebuild was no big deal. Was draining chunks of piston first oil change
Not kicking to stool out from underneath me
Using super glue stitches on a serious cut, so I could delay going to A&E until after a hookup. When I did eventually go, I got told exactly what a moron I was by the nurse.
Hit the thing I was fixing. Didn’t help the situation.
I periodically give up hope in searching for a mental health professional and just stop trying for a few months.
Trying to shake the blues, I thought it was up to me 😂 well to be fair the psychiatrist said to fight so I paused life and suffered to finally to just die, and realized it’s the est thing anyways
Avoided therapy for 15 years.
Tried to replace a resettable fuse on an in-wall heater. Bought the fuse, took apart the heater. The heater had brass eyelets crimped to a mica sheet.
Being that 230v AC ain’t nothing to fuck with, I shit canned everything and bought a new heater.
Also, don’t replace 45 tubes with 47s unless you’re certain the power transformer can supply the extra current. Nothing smells quite like burnt insulation from the 1920s.
Cut my big toenail at the corner, far enough down to try to avoid the nail pushing into the skin, badly ripping the small bit enough down into the skin instead. Caused an infection. Lasted a few days, so I was like, ‘Oh I’ll just soak it in epsom salt every few hours and lance this bulbous thing on it’.
Few days turned into 2 weeks and I couldn’t walk right lol
Had to get the infection ball out like they scooped a melon baller on by toe and the doctor decided to cut that nail down to never ingrow again. Now I have half a toenail forever lol