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

[Guest_1584]

Hi Geoff.

They're the concrete surrounds to pipes popping up, you know where in older houses there were some terra cotta pipes sticking up outside and they make a concrete mound around them, well the mounds are cracked up a bit. So not quite gully traps as such , more just drainage pipes for the laundry, bathr and such.

Won't matter if the cracks show again in a few yrs , selling the house. Just wanna fill thm with something and paint them , tidy them up.

Cheers

[Guest_1643]

Hi Geoff,

Thank you, you're right that now landlords could even maybe get in trouble if they are lax about things like heating, which is essential. The agent said she will follow up soon, I will try and contact her if she does not.

I am looking forward to having the TV installed on the wall above the fireplace!! When the guy comes to do this I am going to ask him to do some other odd jobs. I will put out the meat for the lizard when he is here, so if the lizard comes out I won't be too scared on my own! I'm really a little freaked out than when/if it comes out i won't know how to deal with it. i am a vegetarian so will have to get some minced meat for this!

I was going to move before COVID but decided not to, so I didn't bother with getting it all fixed, but I hope with the heater and with getting rid of the lizard i'dd feel more comfortable

Thanks so much for your advice

[Guest_1643]

hi Geoff, I spoke to the guy today about the fan - just on the phone he was able to fix it!

it was my error and mistake -

There was a powerswitch near the gas heater which has two connected switches, and one switch in the middle (with no outlet below it). Apparantly that switch is to turn on the fan for the heater.
I had no idea baout this.

Now have to tell the landlord lol

The technician joked that I should buy him beers because he saved me 200 dollars as they wanted to charge me for him coming if it was my fault that i couldn't get the heater working

I am just happy that it is resolved at no cost now

[geoff]

Hi RX, I know the ones you are talking about and if you want to paint them and the cracks aren't too big, then 'no-gaps' should be good enough, if they are big then I'd fill them with a mortar mix, but brush them down with 'bondcrete', it comes in a green tin and then place the mortar in the crack.

There will undoubtedly have a small crack, maybe/maybe not, then you can again usee the 'no-gaps' to fill the small crack.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[geoff]

Hello Sleepy, the lizard might not eat the mince if there's any noise, but it might not be in the hole, it could be outside instead.

Get the technician to do the work, unless they don't charge for a call out fee, but then you have to get them back again.

Good luck.

Geoff.

[Guest_1643]

Hi Greg,

Thanks! The technician is coming today to install the TV and will see if I can also put the meat out to see if the lizard is there. It may not be . I've named the lizard ugly lol

Not to discriminate and all creatures are beautiful but I don't want this little friend in my room while I sleep!

[Guest_1584]

Ahh yeah bondcrete , thanks geoff l knew it was something l was thinking lime. l think l've still got some actually , somewhere , my FIL repaired out concrete tank.

Thanks for that mate , can't wait to do them now.

RX

[Guest_1643]

hello i've no idea how it typed greg instead of geoff as i have never known or met a greg in my entire life!

sorry for the typo geoff, that sucks of me!

i dont know how that happened

[geoff]

Hi RX, repairing concrete tanks is great fun if you have 2 tanks and can rely on one so you can fix the other.

A good chance to clean them out and where I was living (married) one of my son's had his 21st at home, there were 2 tanks, one with lid and the other didn't have one, so what was thrown into the tank, the mind boggles, so it was a good chance to empty it and give it a good clean.

Water was no problem, the other tank was enormous, and when we had the first downpour, it wouldn't take long before it was full again.

No need to worry Sleepy, you don't know how many times I've been called Greg.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Yeah it was so satisfying geoff too.Our first place had this huge concrete tank probably 18ft across. So l cleaned it while he repaired it. Best water ever when it was all cleaned up and running again, later on he did a second one for us .