What accidents have you had while DIY'ing?!!

[mike2016]

Thought I'd admit to getting my thumbs crushed/stuck in a telescopic ladder last night while trying to collapse it down before installing in my loft. Nothing broken but very sore and blood underneath both thumbnails. Just thought I'd ask what amazing near misses / accidents have others have had while DIY'ing here?! Can you do better?!!

[RandAbuild]

Not up to that - I managed to whack my forefinger with a lump hammer putting in insulation early on in our build, but I shudder now thinking how stupid I was guiding in 400kg floor beams without wearing my steel toecaps. One slip of the telehandler would have flattened my toes and my ambitions with it...

[ProDave]

Re blood under thumbnails.

 

Years ago on a Sunday I was doing some fencing and hit my thumb very hard with a hammer.  It came up with a lovely blood blister under the nail and throbbed like mad.

 

Next morning at work, I went straight to see the nurse, a perk of working somewhere with a pretty good medical facility, no waiting hours in A&E.  She punctured the nail to let the blood out and the throbbing stopped immediately.

 

True to her prediction I did loose the nail and a new one grew back in it's place.

[Gone West]

I've ended up with two ridged discs in my neck which causes constant background pain which intensifies when I have to hold my right arm above my head or lift heavy weights. So that's simple I just take it easy.

[jamieled]

29 minutes ago, mike2016 said:

Thought I'd admit to getting my thumbs crushed/stuck in a telescopic ladder last night while trying to collapse it down before installing in my loft. Nothing broken but very sore and blood underneath both thumbnails. Just thought I'd ask what amazing near misses / accidents have others have had while DIY'ing here?! Can you do better?!!

You might already know this, but if you heat up a pin, use it to make a hole where the blood is, should relieve the pain quite a bit.

[Ferdinand]

these days the place to take those would be any Drs surgery for a same day nurse appointment, or a Minor Injuries Unit.

 

I had my nasty burn re-dressed half a dozen times in December, including Christmas Day, and the difference in waiting times between different similar local facilities was between minutes and 4 hours. if you phone up they can tell how long you have to wait.

 

If you do not want to self-medicate ?.

 

F

Edited February 1, 2020 by Ferdinand

[joe90]

I whacked my little finger with a hammer, x ray showed the end bone in 9 pieces, they wanted to refer me to a specialist, but what could he do.? (Never went back and end of finger slightly bigger than the other one.)

 

worst one was using an angle grinder with a wood carving blade (circular saw blade), unlike circular saws they don’t have a retracting blade guard so I took it easy, did my cut using both hands and went to put it down with my left hand and I have arthritis in my left thumb, thumb let go, flex around my wrist so when it fell it turned back on my thumb nearly severing it from my hand. I cut through loads of neves and two tendons, they managed to sew it back on but I have almost constant pain and reduced mobility. Lesson learnt, let blade stop before putting power tools down.

 

(I have another photo of them trying to find the ends of the tendons but resisted as its lunch time)

Edited February 1, 2020 by joe90

[ProDave]

@AnonymousBosch needs to come and describe in all the detail how he came to be missing a couple of digits.

[AliG]

My dad is hopeless when it comes to DIY.

 

About 20 years ago he was helping me put up a curtain rail in my granny’s new flat

I put the brackets up then we were at each end of the rail to lift it up.

 

Dad went to kneel on the chair he was going to stand on but knelt right on to a screwdriver.

 

As he fell off the chair in agony it flew the other way gouging the wall.

 

So a half hour job ended with me having to fill and paint the wall which took much longer than actually putting up the curtain rail.

Edited February 1, 2020 by AliG

[ToughButterCup]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

@AnonymousBosch needs to come and describe in all the detail how he came to be missing a couple of digits.

 

... And a susquent attempt at amputating a third ..... but the angle grinder came off worst ....

 

 

And this is what's left on each hand - just 4 ... i.e. 8 in total

 

 

A slightly mischevious post: I suffer from Dupuytrens Contracture

'You god it good and proper - ya got it  bad, lad ' said the surgeon as he marked up my finger for amputation.

Trouble was that he was marking up the wrong finger for amputation. Oh how we laughed together when I pointed the error out 

 

It (the amuptations) still occasionally hurt like buggery for a few instants ( feels like a simple stab with a sharp object) and then nothing - no after-pain, no hint of redness, nothing. Wierd.

 

[Ferdinand]

TBH never anything serious. But I am ultra cautious, and currently have fingers crossed.

 

As a Type I Diabetic I may eventually get complications to make your skin crawl.

Edited February 1, 2020 by Ferdinand

[ProDave]

I sometimes sail with a tpye 1 diabetic. For the last 30 years her doctor has been telling her she has a life expectancy of another 15 years, and still no major problems.

[Ferdinand]

9 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I sometimes sail with a tpye 1 diabetic. For the last 30 years her doctor has been telling her she has a life expectancy of another 15 years, and still no major problems.

 

Yep. The iron law is that by managing it properly you get most of the life expectancy back.

 

And yet, and yet...

 

The best plan is to be diagnosed at 62 like Lindsay Hoyle.

Edited February 1, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Ed Davies]

While unloading the steel from my van to the container I tripped over a bit of rope and landed face down gravel ruining a pair of glasses, leaving a cut in my forehead which bled quite copiously and hurting my wrist enough that my GP (who was also the small-fractures specialist at the local hospital) wasn't sure if there was a fracture or not. Fortunately I just had time as as I fell to chuck the bracket I was carrying rather than plant my face on that but didn't have time to get my hands back properly.

 

For the first year working on the house I seemed to cut or bruise my hands pretty much every other day. Since then almost never (touch C24) - probably a combination of getting the hang of stuff a bit better and collecting better tools.

[Oz07]

@AnonymousBosch howd it happen again

[mike2016]

I'm still considering the hot paperclip trick (needle is apparently too narrow) and watching the blood spurt everywhere!! The pressure is getting much better today and they said in the minor injuries clinic I wouldn't lose the nails. They didn't think it was needing draining though. If it continues to heal at this rate I'll hopefully not need the "pressure relief valve" / "expansion vessel" with non return valve inserted!! I went downstairs and poured very cold mains water all over both thumbs immediately after and that seems to have helped contain the bleeding. 

Those are some gruesome pictures!! 

[Declan52]

24 minutes ago, mike2016 said:

I'm still considering the hot paperclip trick (needle is apparently too narrow) and watching the blood spurt everywhere!! The pressure is getting much better today and they said in the minor injuries clinic I wouldn't lose the nails. They didn't think it was needing draining though. If it continues to heal at this rate I'll hopefully not need the "pressure relief valve" / "expansion vessel" with non return valve inserted!! I went downstairs and poured very cold mains water all over both thumbs immediately after and that seems to have helped contain the bleeding. 

Those are some gruesome pictures!! 

I used a drill bit too do mine. A wood bit with a good sharp point heated up with go through it in no time. Just roll it back and forth with your other hand and it will go in. Over the years I lost every single nail and used this method each time. 

[Cpd]

26 minutes ago, mike2016 said:

I'm still considering the hot paperclip trick

 

1 minute ago, Declan52 said:

I used a drill bit too do mine. A wood bit with a good sharp point heated up with go through it in no time. Just roll it back and forth with your other hand and it will go in. Over the years I lost every single nail and used this method each time. 

This is what I have always done but with a small metal bit and never bothered heating it as I did not know about it making it easier, having Been a stone mason most of my life and having half a dozen workers I have seen sooo many crushed fingers.......  

 

 

[ProDave]

When I had mine "done" by the nurse it was indeed a paper clip heated over a spirit burner.

[Declan52]

53 minutes ago, Cpd said:

 

This is what I have always done but with a small metal bit and never bothered heating it as I did not know about it making it easier, having Been a stone mason most of my life and having half a dozen workers I have seen sooo many crushed fingers.......  

 

 

It's a bit weird the first time but there is no feeling until you get through the nail and then it's only relief you feel when the throbbing stops.

One of the many perks of working on a building site is you get a lot of these type of injuries. Easily must have had to do this 15 times over the years.

[MJNewton]

I had a cut on my forearm that I didn't think much of but as it developed a scar I started to feel almost like there was something inside it. Casually mentioning it to the doctor one day whilst there for something else he sent me to hospital for an x-ray where they discovered there was indeed something inside... Two weeks later I am lay on a bed with my arm stretched out to one side with a plastic surgeon cutting my arm open. Local aesthetic so I was awake, and petrified (really quite squirmish) so when his assistant tripped over the wheel of the trolley table my arm was on I didn't see the funny side (I can now). Anyway, he pulled the object out and identified it as a piece of porcelain tile! Cue sudden flashback to six months earlier when I was chipping tiles off the wall and noticed a small cut on my forearm and wondering what had happened!

[Moira Niedzwiecka]

Had an argument with a piece of cement board a while ago. Heavy stuff, fell back on me.

Also fell down the stairs 3 weeks ago while cladding wall with birch ply.

No idea I had done so much damage until the following day.

No fracture but soft tissue & vascular trauma. 

Lots of swelling & bruising & lost blood supply to toes

Crutches & keeping leg elevated for 2 weeks.

Got infected & needed dressing every day for 2 weeks.

Healing now but will be 6 to 8 weeks before completely healed.

Fun this self building lark.

[Big Jimbo]

Took the top inch of my index finger off with a Stanley knife. Dr Angel (I kid you not) sewed it back on. I have feeling in it, but it is bent, and it feels like somebody else's finger.

Shot myself in the leg with a nail gun. 24 hours in hospital gettting it dug out, as it had gone into the bone. The funny part was that it was Saturday night, and when i was wheeled into the hospital, i got a lot of looks because the ambulance guy shouted "Got one here, shot in the leg", as he wheeled me in.

Stanley Knife again while plasterboarding. Slid it down my hand and needed 22 stitches.

Old bit of plastic stuck in my eye when doing a bit of demo with no goggles on.

It sounds like a lot, buy i have been renovating each house i have owned for 30 years.

Forgot , i had a saw blade tooth come off a table saw i was using, with no guard, that went deep into my shoulder. no goggles on then either, so i consider myself Lucky Jim.

[Markblox]

11 hours ago, Big Jimbo said:

Took the top inch of my index finger off with a Stanley knife. Dr Angel (I kid you not) sewed it back on. I have feeling in it, but it is bent, and it feels like somebody else's finger.

Shot myself in the leg with a nail gun. 24 hours in hospital gettting it dug out, as it had gone into the bone. The funny part was that it was Saturday night, and when i was wheeled into the hospital, i got a lot of looks because the ambulance guy shouted "Got one here, shot in the leg", as he wheeled me in.

Stanley Knife again while plasterboarding. Slid it down my hand and needed 22 stitches.

Old bit of plastic stuck in my eye when doing a bit of demo with no goggles on.

It sounds like a lot, buy i have been renovating each house i have owned for 30 years.

Forgot , i had a saw blade tooth come off a table saw i was using, with no guard, that went deep into my shoulder. no goggles on then either, so i consider myself Lucky Jim.

Bit of a recurring theme , you do use goggles now, right?

Edited February 2, 2020 by Markblox

[joe90]

7 hours ago, Big Jimbo said:

Shot myself in the leg with a nail gun

ah yes, done that, holding a stud frame with my hand and a nail fired from a paslode turned 90’ in the wood when it hit another nail straight through a finger, I  pulled it out with pliers and carried on. My mate said should I go to hospital but I explained that doctors knew nothing about nail guns ????