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_1643]

Hi Hanna yes I'm in a rental . I've never felt sadly I got too much relief when I used a fan, it is hard not to have anything in the house at all to help with it, mostly just with sleep. I can handle it otherwise but it can affect sleep not to have the right temperature. In hospital we learnt that of course it differs and is individual but a nice temp for sleep is between 16- 18 degrees. It can have a big effect!

Thanks for ur wishes

[Hanna3]

Hi Sleepy,

I know it's terribly hot here and sleeping is difficult! Using a spray bottle to spray it across the way a fan blows so it blows a cool mist into your face is a help, although you can't do that in bed at night of course! I hope you find something to help you.

[geoff]

Hi RX, I'd much prefer a rattler keeping me cool than suffer from the heat, anytime.

As I said I've not used a humidifier so my help with this is minimal.

Grandy do you have any movement in the floor or if you placed a tennis ball at one corner of the house would it automatically roll towards another corner, just curious.

Take care.

Geoff.

[Ggrand]

Hello Geoff...

Thank you...I placed a tennis ball into each corner of my home and it stayed there..

Does that mean that my home hasn’t shifted at all?...It’s an old house built in the 50-60s by the government to house the workers that built the dam out here...

Still has the original flooring...without squeaky noises when I walk on it...

Our home in the metro area of Sydney was only 10 yrs old when we bought it and the floor was so squeaky... the ceiling started to crack and open up..Does that mean that the metro house is shifting....My younger son bought the house off us...I hope it is safe for him...or not a money pit..

Thank you again dear Geoff for your kindness...I’m quite sure I will need your knowledge again soon... I need to put skirting boards in every room..There was none in here, the previous owners had 3 layers of carpet in most rooms..I’ve taken it up in 3 rooms and put vinyl tiles down..Now I have a gap to cover up...but it won’t be until next year, I still need to buy the skirting boards...

My kindest and most caring thoughts dear Geoff..

Grandy..

[geoff]

Good Morning Grandy, 3 layers of carpet reminds me years ago when I had to lay tiles to the floor but had to pull up the carpet, well not one, 2 or 3 but more on top of lino and way underneath layers of old newspaper to expose all these beautiful floorboards, all I wanted to do was polish them being a 'woodman', it was awful to lay cement sheeting and then ceramic tiles.

The house you sold to your son would have been a dream come true back in my heyday, something I've done with several old houses where I live, done them up and sold them or rented out, loved it.

The house you live in is difficult to tell whether or not it's sound, but if you don't have any squeaky floorboards or movement in plaster seems to be solid, only except the door you had to take off.

I would love to take me back to those days but as we know age doesn't stop.

My Best.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Gdat Geoff and all.

Geoff wanted to ask bc l just had a sad realization today. Before my gf left for home for awhile she planted tomatoes along the new fence out the back door. It's a gorgeous little spot l made for mornings and coffees , gets beautiful sun. And the tomatoes coming up now just really make it , thought we could put some herbs and things along it too,

But today l realized the fence in brand new and made of treated bloody pine palings , poles, and rails. and runs right to the ground. the little strip she made just runs about a foot in and along the fence so anything grown there is gonna have the fence right there and run off from the timber. , so the whole ideas probably kaput .

Or is there anything l can do with the fence , paint or something, would thoroughly sealing the timber stop it ?

Something l notice on garden shows if the build a garden bed first thing they do is box it with treated pine sleepers usually don't even line it or anything - so how do they grow veggies in soil surrounded by that stuff anyway ?

Cheers mate hope your well. rx

[Jstar49]

Hiya,

Bummer about the fence, but... unless you're really particular about what you eat it's probably fine. I'm sure Bunnings sells some kind of sealant which would help- if it wasn't worse of course- or you could use beeswax or something? Just a thought. However the biggest danger with treated pine is longer term, in the soil, and for kids. So many gardens are made of treated pine. (Pretty sure one of mine is, an old one) And I know there's a lot of cancer around, so we can't rule it out, but kids and playgrounds are the main reason that I know of for treated pine to be replaced.

That's my take on it anyway, what does everyone else think?

Cheers,

J*

[Guest_1584]

Thanks j.

Yeah see all that's exactly what l'd be thinking, it's go into the soil, roots and up into your veggies l guess. Ahhh, not exactly what we had in mind with beautiful home grown tomatoes hey.

We'll see what Geoffs got to say but yeah spose l could look around for a natural seal , dunno if that'd do it.

Cheers for that.

[Jstar49]

Hi 🙂

An interesting thing about tomatoes- there's a hugely beneficial super nutrient in tomatoes that's only released if it's vine ripened. One of the reasons why our food isn't as good as it used to be, I guess, with everything being picked early and artificially ripened in coolrooms, stored for waaay too long. My dad used to grow tomatoes so I guess I found out a lot about them, Can't grow them tho lol!

Cheers,

J*

[Ggrand]

Hello Geoff...

I thought I seen it all when I pulled up 3 layers of carpet then underlay...Unfortunately the floor boards here are old and solid..but not suitable to polish...

I was curious if ceramic tiles could be placed on top of wooden floors...Can I ask you Geoff only when you have time...Your thread workshop looks very busy..😁..

What exactly is cement sheeting...as it sounds by your post they can be used over the wooden floors before laying ceramic tiles....

Thank you for all your help dear Geoff...I really hope that your feeling okay and some light shining into your precious soul...

My kindest and most caring wishes..

Grandy..