Monday, June 9, 2008

Re-using an old wheel barrow

A couple of weeks ago I found this old wheel barrow in the back of the garden. I thought it was a shame to let it go to waste so I thought I fix it up a little bit.

The frame was really rusty and needed sanding. The worst part of the job...

Then I painted the frame blue. I used some paint that is OK for covering sanded rusty surfaces.

To be able to use the wheel barrow again (decoratively) I made a wooden tray and gave the wood several layers of varnish. The last layer was a nice glossy one.

I think it looks nice and I'm happy to have used the wheel barrow instead of letting it go to waste!

Replacing an outside light

We had this outside light that we wanted to replace with a sensor light so that it would turn on automatically. The new light was bought at the DIY store and has both a light and a sensor.

Before starting I checked for 3 important things:
1) Is there enough room to mount the new light?
2) Will there be enough cable to reach IN to the new light?
3) Has the power been turned off?

You really don't want to find out the answer to any of these questions is "no" after you started...

This is the old light. Say "bye bye" now.

Unscrewing was a bit of a struggle. When screws seem fixed by rust or other crap, just give the case a few whacks with a hammer to loosen things up a bit. It did the trick for me :-)

After removing the old light, I cleaned up and tidied the wires. Work gets a lot easier and nicer when you have a clean and proper workplace.

Then I mounted the back panel of the new light and I connected the mains wires.

Next I connected the wires coming from the sensor and the light.

Screw the front on the back and you're done.