Tim Dowling's long-standing DIY philosophy of 'First Do Nothing' has served him well, allowing collapsed walls to become ivy-covered and stuck doors to sort themselves out—until an electric car charger installation forced him to act.
Dowling admits that none of the maintenance issues he faced this year fixed themselves, but many became conveniently irrelevant. The collapsed brick wall is now overgrown with ivy and all but invisible. The partially collapsed pergola remains in the same condition, but the wisteria it was holding up died, so it can carry on collapsing. The stuck garden door did sort of fix itself—one day it just opened—but then unfixed itself a fortnight later, fusing shut permanently.
The charger installation begins
Dowling and his wife embarked on the labyrinthine process of getting an electric car charger installed. The process required uploading photos of the proposed site and fuse box, and even a video of the journey between the two. Dowling refused to make the video, so his wife did it. He also had to upload a hand-drawn floor plan, which he deliberately did poorly, thinking, 'I don't work for you people.'
The next morning, Dowling woke with an idea. He found his trowel and used it to open the stuck garden door, discovering that the latch needed a bit of help from a flat-bladed article. He considered removing the strike plate and chiselling away a few millimetres of wood, but decided to simply keep the trowel handy.
The electrician's dilemma
When the electrician arrived, he was immediately unhappy. He didn't see an obvious cable route between the charger site and fuse box, and talked about running unsightly trunking along the walls. Dowling told him his wife wouldn't accept that. The electrician said, 'This is just the worst job.'
Dowling then suggested running the cable under the house, through the garden door, and to the charger on the wall. The electrician said they'd have to lift some floorboards. The first board came up easily, revealing the brick piers on which the house rests—a sight that left Dowling uneasy. The second board was longer and securely nailed in, requiring leverage from both sides.
Floorboard chaos ensues
Dowling fetched his trowel to help with the prying. When his wife got home, they were on their knees pulling up board number four. 'You've removed the sitting room floor, I see,' she said. The electrician peered under with his phone torch and said a joist was still in the way.
Dowling felt a strong urge to press on, hoping the installation wouldn't spread over days or weeks. He slid his trowel blade between two boards and pressed down, thinking, 'We're a long way from First Do Nothing.'
The installation ultimately failed to be completed quickly, and Dowling's DIY intervention led to a dismantled floor. His philosophy of inaction had been abandoned, and the consequences were plain to see.
