What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12

[pseudonym]

Just had a quote in and accepted it

Replace all garden fence panels, remove and rebuild retaining wall, remove grass and replace with patio, remove front grass and replace with gravel.

Should make a minimal maintenance free space for me in the future.

[Frnc]

I was thinking of going out on my bike, but my right knee was really bad on Sunday. I couldn't straighen my leg and could barely walk. It's quite a bit better now, but I think it would be premature to try a bike ride. I have to walk to the doctors' on Thursday, that will be a good test. I think it's osteoarthritis, which is basically getting old.

[GillyBee]

Found a pair of walking shoes I've only worn once, under the book case in the living room. One was very mouldy. Surprising. A reminder to check through stuff you have in long term storage now and then. I binned them anyway. Maybe they'd got slightly damp and I put them under there too soon.

It seems to a problem anywhere there is a poor air flow. We have had problems in a built in wardrobe and had to insulate/line the walls - which helped some but airflow is what solved the issue.

[Frnc]

Found a pair of walking shoes I've only worn once, under the book case in the living room. One was very mouldy. Surprising. A reminder to check through stuff you have in long term storage now and then. I binned them anyway. Maybe they'd got slightly damp and I put them under there too soon.

It seems to a problem anywhere there is a poor air flow. We have had problems in a built in wardrobe and had to insulate/line the walls - which helped some but airflow is what solved the issue.

This is why I worry slightly about some stuff I have stored, eg in my bugout bags. I've not checked everything recently, but it seems to be ok.

I used to do things like backpacking, so I had sleeping bag, boots, tent etc that would get wet. Never had anything go mouldy. I would dry my gear as much as possible when away, and again at home. Eg my tent would be over the bannister for a couple of days to make sure it was bone dry.

I did move the clothes rail in the prep room away from the wall a bit in winter, in case there was ever any condensation on the wall, as it's external, and gets quite cold in there. I also put a thermometer on the skirting to keep an eye on it.

[GillyBee]

I have not done much swimming last winter and it was my kit bag and contents that were "got". The contents felt damp but were put away bone dry. And yes the wall was external. I think if you can't store anywhere else, packing everything bone dry into completely air and watertight wipe clean bags or boxes might work.

[Kiwififer]

Not so much prepping but I have bought a portable camping tripod set. I quite fancy getting the tent out and finding a secluded spot by a beach somewhere in the next wee bit as I think this is going to be our summer…

[Medusa]

Had the last bit of the house re-pointed, necessary yes, but not one of those things you spend money on like a new kitchen and be delighted with every time you look at it. It needed doing and is done and finished with. Decided that we needed a new and bigger wood shed, the last one was a budget shed, well protected against the elements, a full new roof and re felted a couple of times. It has lasted 10 years so not bad for what we paid back then. The new one is 4 feet bigger and is better constructed. It should give us extra space to store the chopped wood and keep any spare pallets/logs which need chopping dry rather than having pallet city in the garden. First job is to empty the leftover wood, take down the old shed and then build the new one. We then have a big job on to chop all the pallets and logs we have accumulated. We have access to another couple of big loads of logs but need to get through what we have first. Hopefully we will not need to buy any wood this next winter as Ive mentioned previously we seemed to rock through the "kiln dried" stuff this year. Our plans had been to move this year at the latest, relocate to somewhere rural and enjoy a quieter life either semi-retired or retired, but cost of living and life in general seems to have conspired against us.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Still taking stock after the Portugal/ Spanish panic earlier this week...

Knew I was getting low on aa cells so got 40x energiser and 30x varta aa battery to add the zombie stores already have about 50 aaa cells and about 20x D cells in stock so that's a happy me.. not counting the rechargeable...s

Cleaned the new 20l drum and filled that this evening that brings instant accessible clean water upto a firm 100l (5x 20l) not counting the half dozen. Supermarket 5l bottles and 500ml bottles that are sat In the cupboard

Just flushed the 120l rain barrel out since we lost water a couple if years ago that's sat full of tap water just bleached scrubbed and refilled it was still clear and fresh would have puritabed it first though if i wanted to sup it ...

Incidentally I walked alway from some compact folding water butt's in lidl I was really tempted 2 for 30quid nice and compact for storage when not in use but shtf we've a 3000l paddling pool if we get notice that'll get filled for toilet flushing etc


Grabbed the last pack of 4x led push lights in lidl £2.50 four lights cw batteries double sided tape backing 3xaaa cells per lamp .. perfect for all areas pull transport tab out the battery box , stick to a hard surface and click on..

Earlier I grabbed a little pifco rechargeable strip light in home bargains..

https://home.bargains/product/f3e4afb2- ... a04af29f9e

not the best thing the led driver whines when it's on but OK for a hallway or stairway

And another couple of pairs of abekp3 respirator cartridges for the full face mask

[Frnc]

Got a new extension lead for the TV, router etc. TV was acting up. Turns out the lead had come loose from a transformer box. Anyway, I have individual switches now. Router took a while to boot, but finally did after a couple of tries. Chucked out one old extension lead.

Got a box of light bulbs as I was getting low. 60W equivalent seem bright enough. They are 2700K which is warm but not too yellow. Make is Lepro.

1 box Imodium delivered on subsribe n save. Looked at my list for these, hand sanitizer wipes etc. Replace 1 x Imodium in my bike bag. Noticed the wipes were over a year out of date, which was surprising. Replaced them. The latest box I have is marked 20250905 which imo is confusing as it could mean 5th of Sep or 9th of May, and who cares about the exact day for hand wipes anyway. Looked it up and the standard for UK healthcare is YYMMDD which I assume this is to, though they added two YYs. Glad I checked as I normally assume day before month for UK dates. Apparently the government insisted on the DDs. So they are OK for 2 years but not a day later. These are individually wrapped, so they are great for travelling etc and don't dry out unless long past expiry date. I do end up chucking quite a few, but that can't be helped. They come in a box of 100.

[Frnc]

Ordered some Nikwax spray on waterproofer. You wet the item and spray it on, wipe off any excess. My bike 'softshell' wateproof jacket wasn't actually leaking, but I noticed water was soaking in to the outer layer on the shoulders making very obvious wet patches. This should stop that, make it bead up and fall off. You can get wash-in DWR, but I don't like the idea of it going on the inside. I'll put it on a hanger on the washing line to do it.