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]

Gday Geoff.

l've been thinking as you know about working and everything lately and l thought l may as well just ask you here . But supposing you were back to good health and all , would you rather be still working or to go on working , or would you have retired anyway ?

Just wondered regards to my thread .

Anyway hope you've been well , all the best , rx.

[amberlite]

Hi and how nice to care for someone else old dog, like old people these creatures need our understanding. My old boy Moby is yet to use the dog door, so I leave him in while I hang out clothes and he's curious, I don't want to push him but it would be a relief if he took to it. With your situation - I know their strongest sense is smell and sometimes the owners t-shirt can help?? Good luck and admiration to you for being a top dog minder.

[Jstar49]

Hey all,

I wonder if another dog using the door might encourage old dog Amber? I know that my dog learnt to go into the ocean because he followed my brothers dog. And then he passed the practice on, leading other dogs which used to not go deep.

Funny mental pic of you stuck in a dog door tho...;)

Cheers,

J*

[Guest_1584]

Bum in air , tail not lookin happy .

Does moby have to crouch down to get through it ? lf he does he probably knew on site that things gonna be hard for his old bones.lf not still think he's just pop through one day be no stoppin him after that. But yeah few treats on the other side might speed things up if you just can't wait haha.

rx

[amberlite]

Funny Funny thing happened today, the guy next door has a pregnant girl living at his and today the honey moon ended and the girl has a shocking filthy potty mouth. Me and Moby were inside and Moby went to the dog door put his head thru enough to lift the doggy door and he howled like only a large chested hound can. So funny and whatever he said it worked, legend!

[geoff]

Hello RX, and I must apologise for not getting back to you and this thread to answer other questions, please forgive me.

If my health was physically good, then I'd want to be helping both my sons, especially as the oldest has much to do around his house and my youngest who is also very capable at knowing what to do would also help out.

He has a property that needs work but will be worth $'s, then help my youngest, or vice-versa.

Hi Amberlife, sometimes our puppies need a little encouragement, so what I initially did was leave the door flap fully open and then enticed him/her to gradually come out, then I'd lower the flap half way etc until they knew how to come through it, a treat they love or bounce a tennis ball.

Hi Jstar, absolutely if you have a dog that does go through it the other one will follow, that's a good way or slightly push them through it and then reward them.

Take care.

Geoff.

[ecomama]

Hey BB home improvers lol

What a week!

The rain was unbelievable.

So many friends and some family members were "flooded in" and sadly so much devastation.

I had water coming in through my kitchen ceiling and that's never happened that I've known of before.
I must have a cracked tile or more on the roof, ugh.

The water was coming in thru the skylight AND an old ducted air con vent, next to the skylight, that's not in use any more.
Tonight I noticed bowing in the ceiling which is not a happy sight.

With one son we worked out that I could possibly have the skylight replaced (it's always been a shonky ugly thing) with a bigger one with better features.
This could take out the air con vent also.

Ofcourse I need to hire someone who will get on the roof and replaces any broken tiles!
Maybe the broken tiles area will be taken out with a bigger skylight anyway IDK...

Hopefully that's the worst damage we have.
I need to survey things over the weekend.

Good news is that my Uncle's fancy design of the custom made sills on the louvre windows worked a treat! Zero water came in through there thank goodness.

There was enough water flowing into our bottom storey than I care to imagine.

Hope everyone else fared okay???

Love EM

[geoff]

Hello EM, oh no I'm sorry you haven't come out of this well at all, any rain will always find a way to cause more damage than expected and a broken roof tile has happened for a reason and anybody walking on the tiles needs to know how to walk on them, otherwise more damage may occur, that said it does need to be replaced or sill one maybe another option.

There is a type of silicone that can be applied onto wet surfaces, it's not cheap, but personally I have never had much luck with it but over the years I'm sure it's much better, although I have fixed broken roof tiles with roof silicone.

The bowing in the ceiling worries me because it maybe water sitting there and to check place a screwdriver through the roof with an empty bucket under it, this damage is an insurance claim to replace the ceiling, if it's a relatively small area the ceiling will be entirely replaced, however if it's a large area the insurance company may just replace the damaged ceilings, but try to get the whole ceiling replaced, plus the insulation to be replaced as well as any carpet to be cleaned and/or the room to be cleaned because it will make a mess and don't forget about it being painted, all of this needs to be included in the claim.

Please let us know how you get on.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[Guest_1643]

hey EM how's it going with the affects of the rains? Sorry I was in hospital I feel I didn't quite see when that happened and am a little worried to read ... these things are so stressful and hoping u and ur family are okay after the rains

Hi Geoff - I had a question re light bulbs -

I am not sure which size to buy for my new lamps

One of the reviews warned that the instructions for the sizing of the lamp says u should use large globes- but they end up looking ridiculous and don't really fit. My friend said that I need 60w bulbs - are these the smallest available or is there a chance these could all be too big?

Also i know globes come in different kinds of light - warm white, cool white, warm yellow etc etc.... what are the differences between these? What would be recommended for a bedside lamp, and what would be recommended for a room globe brightening upthe entire space from the ceiling?

Thanks for any tips on this interesting topic....light bulbs!!

[Guest_1584]

Thanks for the reply geoff and no worries at all, hope your on the mend.

Fancy having your builder dad helping with the house , beautiful thought geoff and l/m sorry your not up to it atm.

Hiya sleepy. not answering for geoff or anything he knows far more about anything house than l ever will haha but just my 2cents. You might know but never use a true 60watt anymore , you get the very low watt ones that will say equals- or something like that , 60watt. But they'll actually only be about 10 watts or whatever , so same amount of light but at a fraction of the running costs.

Also yeah there's a ton of different brands making the same watt in all kinds of sizes so just look for a good variety n look through those for the smaller globe.

Hope ur well. rx