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]

hey rx i appreciate that

i can't even buy 60 watt anymore at coles - i didn't know why. Is 6 watt the equivelent? love that energy saving tip - thanks so much for your input

[Guest_1584]

Ah no worries sleepy .

Yeah 6 watt could be with some , it usually says on the box , equal to 60watt or 40 or whatever it is.

[ecomama]

Hey Geoff

Are you feeling better?

Thanks for your reply.

Well tbh I got so ANGRY with some of the terrible ppl in the roofing industry (not AT them, just to myself lol). The first guy was so big, I was afraid he'd break more tiles getting on the roof, he said "I could see from the street (Uhh what?) that blah blah blah needs doing... you have to call my mate, think you need a NEW ROOF..."
I think I blanked out after that...

No, I remember he ALSO said, if his friend repairs it all minimum cost $12000 then he'd come back & finish it off at $4000.

I spent a few days trying to calm myself down. A new roof would mean selling my home. No way could I afford that. $16k was a HUGE push.

I just kept waiting for the others. It rained EVERY DAY.

Stressful.

I even had a disagreement with my BF over it & haven't spoken to him since.
Too stressful.

YES! My ceiling COULD cave in.

Anyone who'd gotten back to me just said "Maybe I'll get out there sometime to quote IDK..."

Then on Friday night I Prayed. Looked at the list of Roofing firms & said "Guide me God PLEASE!"

ONE name seemed brighter than the others.
I texted him.
He phoned the next morning, came out that afternoon.

He was lithe and PASSIONATE about roofing! His dedication to his craft reminded me of Kenny the dunny guy lol. He spidered all over my roof & talked stacks. He wrote up a quote for UNDER $4000. I said YES!

When?
Not for 3 weeks... I said what about the leak?
He said "Oh I put the tile back, it had come loose, I already did that"
WHAT?? What a guy, HE'S the man lol.

Then said if ANYTHING worries me, to phone him immediately & he'll put ours as urgent.
Then left for Gloucester about 6h away.

He listed ALL the rooves he's done in my area on his quote. They're like his "babies", he LOVES his jobs.

I politely texted all the other roofers, said I found someone and won't need them to come out.

Now I'm saving like a banshee lol without dampening the kid's school holiday fun.

Thanks Geoff
EMxxxx

[ecomama]

Sorry Geoff forgot to mention the CEILING...

yeah that too... freaking hell, what a palaver.

So yes, the ceiling is bowed about 5cm I'd say at it's lowest point. NOT HAPPY.

The roofing quote includes taking the skylight OUT and redoing the beams and tiling it up.
NO MORE SKYLIGHT lol. (There's one in bathroom but it's okay for now...).

Roofer said I don't need another Whirlybird as I already have TWO, I didn't know about.. the other side of my roof is about 5 stories high from the ground in the back yard - can't see.
Gosh ours is a massive roof, biggest in the street by far. Biggest house, largest block, more $$$ to maintain blah blah blah.

I saw a Carpenter working on the Engineer's house at the end of the street, so I stopped and asked for his number. This Engineer is FUSSY! So I thought good.

Carpenter said probably 2 men for a day's work... but since then, I've decided to ask them to take out ALL the old ducted air con vents in the ceiling of every room, IDK about 8 vents plus the skylight huge rectangle PLUS another rectangular thing from the old ducted system.

That comes AFTER the roofing's completed ofcourse.

omg THEN I need a new light in the kitchen too. I've got an AMAZING electrician, nothing's too hard, he's super fast and a quarter of the price of others. Just starting out his business and fantastic.

THEN I need it all painted. Really don't think I can manage painting it all on top of working, the kids and my garden. I'm already exhausted lol.

All this has set my Cabin dreams back about IDK 1-2 years? Sad but facing facts.

Oh I found a Cabin manufacturer in Qld who does them in KIT form at about half the price of here, with alot more features ie all the wiring and plumbing outlet set... will enquire later.

Just prepping the land down the side for the Cabin's path AND clearing the land down there.
Lantana GONE yay!
5 dead trees to remove. Crazy tree loppers killed them last year. Not happy.

I think I need a guy in a mini backhoe?
Will have to plan the area and line for the retaining wall down there before that.

Having a safe home is my priority atm.

Love EM

[Guest_1584]

Yep tell ya what em

it's bloody amazing the differences between quotes and the people in anything.

l always say get at least 3 in anything unless you already really know your prices.

My brother , God l swear one day gold is gonna fall outa the sky and just land at his feet.

He's rood is espestos , however you spell that. One little corner broke in a storm , but bc it's espestos the insurance paid him for a whole new roof, 25k.

He put some silicon in the crack sealed it up for another 20yrs and pocketed the 25k. bloody hell.

it flooded a few yrs back , he paid 85k for that house 18yrs ago , the insurance paid him 220k for the flood damage . He fixed it himself for 30k and pocketed the rest. Double bloody hell.

rx

[Guest_1584]

Ps , and not only , but the house is now worth 600k , so his made all up about 800k out of his 85k house. Triple bloody hell.

ps ps, love those names that jump out at ya in anything, for me it's never wrong so l usually go with them .

rx

[Guest_1643]

i'm having hell with hazardous stuff too 😞

i've been smelling a musty-mold like smell since the rains in victoria a few weeks ago

Today I opened up my drawer with papers and they are moldy. Black mold. Gross.
Something must have leaked.

I am trying to get the agent to fix it but they are being painful. They try and put things off when this is distressing.
I'm not feeling so good about having this stuff in my home. Thank G-d i'm not so sensitive to itbut it's not good to live with, and it's in my bedroom.

A mouldy cupboard. Just no!

[ecomama]

Hey rx

Wish I knew who your brother's insurance company was, they may have been better than mine over this stuff, IDK.

I actually contacted 9 Roofers altogether but clearly they have enough work and don't much care about looking after potential customers.
Yep it's happened a few times, when I've been "drawn" to a name. Hasn't gone wrong yet. Pity I don't think about doing that FIRST time. I usually only think about it when my back's against the wall lol.

Sleepy, I just asked on your thread whether you'd contacted the Property Manager lol.
Alexa only got some action after she contacted the Tenant's association.

Sorry gotta go pick up kids from work
EMxxxx

[Guest_1584]

Ahh , tbh it wasn't all sweet sailing took him nearly 3yrs to get the flood payout they were trying every trick in the book to get out of it.

Hope you can get it sorted and rid of it sleepy , best of luck.

rx

[geoff]

Hello RX and everyone else, a warm white is like candlelight creating ambience in a room and creating pools of light, if you can say and while the government is pushing to get people to use LED lights, especially in Vic by replacing your original globes free of charge with LED globes.

Warm white lights are often used for weddings as it creates a romantic mood but you can use them for bedrooms, lounge rooms etc.

It is difficult to get used to replacing one globe with another that has a higher or lower wattage, at first, until you get used to it.

Cool white (around 4000k) is a great option if you are unsure which temperature to choose, as it has the best of both worlds, while bright white light gives a lively feel, it all depends on what you actually like.

I know that my bedroom lamp globe was replaced with a LED globe which you can't directly look at, whereas the old globes you could, these LED globes are expensive but supposedly last longer and better for how much electricity is used, I don't know, but eventually the old globes you won;'t be able to buy, it's like with a car running on super petrol when you filled it up with unleaded, a mixture had to be added to make unleaded suitable for those cars than ran on super.

The lower the wattage the more electricity you saved, back in 'those' days.

Best wishes.

Geoff.