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 RX, thanks, a good question, the family (wife's side) and us, bought the hotel in the centre of Bendigo, it had magnificent stain glass windows but needed to be spruced up and the clientele were mostly bikies, so I had to somehow get rid of them and clean up the pub, only 1 keg was sold.

That happened and brought the pub up to about 6 kegs and at that time there were 50 pubs in Bendigo.

We lived upstairs with MIL and her partner staying in another section of the pub, the chefs were had, some were good but generally difficult to cope with.

The other pub we moved to, we only managed, but brought the hotel up to 35 kegs a week, a busy hotel, unfortunately, I was assaulted from behind by 2 bikies, that's when my head hit the concrete and developed major problems, I could go on, but I'll leave it there, ask me anything you want.

Take care.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Damn that's no good Geoff sorry to hear it . One thing would be very very dicey in the pub business l'd imagine , never knowing just who might walk in or flare up into trouble somewhere. l know pub guys are very good at reading the crowd but you'll never get them all or every situation eh.

Went through Bendigo a few mths back. like all the regional;s lately gees it's really gone ahead leaps and bounds

All the best

rx.

[geoff]

Hello RX, the pub we managed was in the SEC area and many times I had to try and break up altercations with me coming off second best from an unexpected blow, just had a crown refitted to my front tooth after 38 years, but when the SEC broke up was probably one of the worst days as the guys started drinking down at the river at 7 am and were highly intoxicated when the pub opened, that was a long day.

I haven't been through Bendigo for a long time, our pub was in Hargreaves st, a lovely looking hotel, although apparently, the upstairs floor has all changed to how we had it.

Take care.

Geoff.

[geoff]

Hi All, does anyone have to replace a stump or what do you do when you lose power from the power points but your lights still work.

Geoff.

[Paw Prints]

Hello Geoff,

The lights are usually on a different circuit/fuse to the power points... so losing one lot only usually means the circuit has tripped... it could be a faulty appliance plugged in which is tripping it or the wiring may need looking at by a Sparky... sometimes even though it has tripped it doesn't show in the meter box... turning the main switch off & then flicking every switch off & on before turning the main switch back on can help reset everything sometimes...

Paws

[Guest_1584]

Gday Geoff.

Mate l had the craziest sliding door you ever saw.

it slides effortlessly to half way open but then it's like it hits a brick wall. My daughter can't force it from there but if l go give it an almighty shove it pops open the rest of the way.

Wth is going on with it any idea ?

Hope your well.

rx

ps , tbh , l could do a few stumps on this place some are pretty shotty but l'm not gonna worry about it for now.

[geoff]

Hello Paw Prints, thanks for replying, it was my mistake as I was asking other people if this problem had occurred to them, but what you have said is right, well done.

Hi RX, sometimes the track can warp and in this case, the middle of the track has risen, one option is to drill a couple of holes through the track and then rescrew the track down, but make sure the screw heads don't infringe the wheels on the door.

When you try and open/close the door does it make an awful noise, like metal rubbing against metal, if it does then the wheels on the door may need to be replaced.

You can check by lifting the door upwards and it should pull out from the tracks, then you will be able to look at the wheels and see whether they are damaged, if you need to replace one wheel you might as well do the others and lubricate the track.

Can you easily get under your house so you can temporarily mend the stumps until you can fix them later on.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Thanks for that Geoff.

Yeah l'll have to get lift that damn door off and see what's going on l suppose. But nah no loud metal rubbing , it just comes to a like a dead bang stop. Hard to get to this one but l'll have to get it off and check it out. Tracks ok , these tracks are very heavy duty they won't be warping.

Nope can't get under this house it sits about 200ml off the ground. As l said though l won't be doing the stumps. l did do two though along the outside to put in my new porch, Just packed them. Jacked the side corner of the house up with my mates 5tone can trolley jack. But that's as much as l'm doing , probably selling end of yr.

Cheers for that , let you know what the door wheels look like they're doing.

rx

[Guest_1584]

Hi again Geoff.

Btw were you ever into canoes or building them ? Canoeing my main hobby and last yr l bought a new one in a style l'd been after for yrs. New just in my new canoe but it's actually 60yrs old and was under the house 40 or 50 yrs. It is fg but with wooden seats and gunwales and other trims .

Well it was in such bad shape, everything was rotten and falling off , even coming home and it was a bit embarrassing bringing it home on the trailer tbh that's how ugly it was.l knew the hull was very rare and extremely hard to find though and couldn't believe l'd found it.

So l've been rebuilding it since when l get time do a bit here there. l have been using most of the yr still half finished but close enough to get it on the water. Well this last few wks l decided to finish it off so that l can get it out of the damn garage workshop. Did some finishing touches today on seats and rails and some sanding , should see it , it's absolutely beautiful .

All sanded and completely new paint and colour. All new wood end to end, rails seats cross members and a rebuilt nose which was also rotted away. Wish l could put in a pic you might like it.

All the best

rx

[Paw Prints]

Hello Geoff,

My oops... I mis-read your post... I must confess I did think it odd when I read it that you wouldn't know about lighting/power circuits as you have so much knowledge about most things...

Paws