Beyond Blue Home Improvement Thread

[geoff]

Hi everyone. I'm Geoff and have been a dedicated Volunteer on the forums for 13 years. I am proud to have stopped some of the stigmas that are associated with mental health as well as doing my best to help others too

Before my health went south I was a builder in all aspects of home construction and renovation. If you don't have a handyman around I hope I can offer you some tips that may be of help. I have had many years of experience in home renovation and will do my best to help you out if you are stuck and need some advice

I hope my experience may be of help to the people on Beyond Blue and make their life a little bit better. Even if you need help with the most basic painting job or putting up a shelf I can help there too with some tips

I will do my best to get back to anyone that has a question when I can as this is social yet important thread

Geoff

[geoff]

Hello Lone solider, can I ask how did you go?

Geoff.

[blondguy]

Hi Geoff

As you are aware I am as handy as a rubber shovel....seriously...

I have just had a Vulcan wall furnace removed (the vertical one) and the drywall was cut to the same dimensions as the studs when it was installed in 1991.

How do I re plaster the vertical rectangle when I dont have anywhere to mount some timber supports for the new plaster (drywall) ?

any help would be greatly appreciated 🙂

The Rubber Shovel

[geoff]

Hi Paul, great to hear from you.

This is a common problem when something is removed from your wall, when it seems as though you have no studs.

The plaster to cover the hole won't stay there, lol, so what you can do is buy some pine timber, off the shelf at a hardware store, 70mm x 35mm either the length of the hole, or in 2 or 3 bits and then nail/screw them onto the existing stud that's hidden.

Do the same for the other side, this will enable you to nail the plaster onto these extra studs.

They need to be nailed/screwed flush with the back of the existing plaster on the hidden stud so that the plaster can be attached.

Attach them so the clout to nail your plaster won't be any problem.

Mix up some powdered plaster and apply to fill any gaps, cornice adhesive 'goes off' quickly in that it dries much quicker, and you can buy a small bag of it.

You can do it.

Any problems please let me know.

Geoff.

[blondguy]

Hey Geoff

Thankyou heaps for the tips....I have some 70x30 pine...I will give it a go 🙂

Thanks for the confidence boost too!

Have a great day

Paul

[geoff]

Hi Paul, let me know if there are any problems.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Gday to Geoff and all.

Geoff l'm wondering is what l could fill some wooden window ledges with , well the bottom board of the windows .?

And also in the corner joins of the frame as well, some of those have a few gaps and little bits of rot. Would any of the liquid nails seal and glue those up . Not sure if any of that stuffs any good for something that cops as much weather as a window frame corner .

My place has still got some of the older wooden windows and the bottom parts have a few rotten bits and holes .

Is there something to fill them with and smooth over to paint , too much work getting the windows out to replace the boards just to sell off.

Cheers

rx

[geoff]

Hi RX, great to hear from you.

You can buy 'turbo builders bog filler' because what it does is spread smoothly, fills any gaps, holes and dents and will replace any rotten timber, I've used it before for similar jobs.

There are other types as well which I've also used, like 'timber mate wood filler', this is good because if the container goes hard you can re-activate it, in other words use it again, same as 's*****ys Plastibond Heavyduty Bog'.

There is an 'exterior polyfilla' all of these you can sand and then paint, they aren't cheap to buy but if it's only a little hole to fill then it's worthwhile.

If you just want to stop any water from getting in and don't care about making it all perfect, then no-gaps is cheap.

It's not that hard to pull the whole window out and replace it, just wish I was still capable to do it.

You can get a window manufacturer to come out and give you a quote, this depends on how much money you want to spend, it might be interesting, doesn't mean you have to accept it, so weigh up the cost of the bog compared to new window.

Jobs like these and other ones someone has asked me about, I would fall over backwards to do them.

Let me know how you get on.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Gday Geoff , thanks a million for that mate sounds great just what l was looking for.

But nah l won't bother getting anyone out bc l know it'll at least be miles over my budget but if l can just bogem up and paint them up nice the next guy can worry about it,

But yeah funny , must be frustrating for ya typing on a keyboard instead of being out there and getting stuck into some of the things you get asked about . l kno0w l for one would love to let you lose on this place haha.

Thanks again mate and yep will do.

Hope your well , cheers

[Guest_1584]

Ahh one more thing Geoff when you get a minute.

What can l do with aluminum windows where they get heaps of wind blowing through like they seem to have gaps or something where the sliding window is suppose to fit . Get a lot of wind at the front and sometimes the curtains are blowing around even with the windows shut and you feel the wind getting through.

Cheers

[geoff]

Hi RX, well said RX, yes it does frustrate me so much not being able to do it myself, thankfully I have a son who can do it.

On the outside, sometimes there could be a gap between the window and weatherboard (?) from memory, if so 'no-more' gaps is a life saver, so fill in the gaps, then smooth over with a wet cloth or wet finger, just be careful you don't get any splinters.

Try and smooth the 'no-more gaps' level with the boards, let it dry a day or so then you can paint over it.

It gets a top skin in a short time, just like what happens to a custard you make on the stove, if you have bricks for example instead of weatherboards, 'no-more gaps' can still be used but with much more care.

Silicone can be used instead, but a lot of silicone products are very good but can't be painted over.

On the inside of the house, the wind could be coming from a gap between the architrave and the wall and depending on how large the gap is 'no-more gaps' can be used again, if it's a large gap then the wrong window has been put in, don't worry, that can be fixed.

Let me know RX what your situation is.

Great talking with you.

Geoff.