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]

Yeah it would sleepy , but didn't you buy a heater last yr l remember you were looking at panel heaters.

Funny anyway l thought of you a few days agao bc l bought an electric fake wood fire heater to put into a job for work.

So l've been trying ti out in the house last few nights gees it pretty damn good l tell ya. Warms up so well and it's really nice to watch. lt's hard to tell it's even fake until unless you look closer. lt's like having a wood fire but not needing wood it's very nice.

Has some good settings to to help keep the bill down . l got it for 170 on ebay.

Cheers all.

[geoff]

Hello EM, if I can go back to painting over wallpaper, if you first use an acrylic paint this will penetrate through the wall paper and loosen the glue, then it may peel off as you have said, however, if you use an oil based paint primer this won't penetrate through the wall paper, then you'll be able to paint acrylic, the oil based paint won't allow it to go through to the wallpaper glue.

I only mention this because sometimes taking wall paper off can be very difficult, plus there may be more trouble that it's trying to hide, especially if it's been done just to sell the property.

Hi Sleepy and RX, if you do take this to the VCAT, there will be no problem as heating/cooling is imperative and certainly a must, so something will have to be done.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Funny you should say that Geoff bc l've got a tiny cabin on 1/2 ac l just rent out, it's and 40mins over from where l live.

l don't use agents l just run the ad myself privately when someone moves out. lt's a very cheap rental and alternative for them and people have really loved it over the yrs. l built it myself it only has solar which l built myself too and a small converted gas bottle wood fire for heating.

My brother and l went through this silly faze where we were trying to make converted all kinds of things into little wood fires for sheds really. But l put one of them in the cabin and used it myself for 8mths and it was really beautiful. Hammered out the heat for such a tiny space and it only uses little short pieces of wood so it's really economical. You can go pick up an armful of sticks from somewhere and run it a wk on that.

Anyway anyone that rents the cabin always comment on how they love the little home made wood heater.

rx

[geoff]

Hello RX, I must admit a wood fire (Coonara) is the best heat the only problem shaving to chop wood and it creates a lot of dust, but you can't beat it.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Just dropped back to add this just encase anyone dropping through needs a heater and might've liked the sound of the fake wood heater l talked about.

We've been using it about a wk now and yeah it does warm the place up but not overly though not even this time of yr. So middle of winter and yeah, you'd def' need something with a bit more punch.

Just thought l'd better add an update.

rx

[Guest_1584]

Hi Geoff.

And yeah l agree a nice wood heater is just a gorgeous heat and a beautiful thing to have.

Butttt, l haven't had any fires this yr though at all actually. l just needed a break from not only having to get wood and all the work involved, but also messing around with the fire itself too. Haven't missed any of it one bit as yet either to tell you the truth.Funny too but my brothers always loved getting wood but just lately even he's also been saying with the amount of work involved he's just getting fed up with it.

rx

[Paw Prints]

Hello Geoff,

A couple of questions

My ride on mower has a flat battery & I finally found in the manual that I need to trickle charge at 2amps for approx 2hrs... so far so good... I have bought the charger... but neither the mower manual nor the charger manual say whether or not I should disconnect the terminals from the mower before clipping on the charger...

my 2nd question is... I have always understood that if you turn off the power using the main switch then everything should go off... are there any exceptions? (I don't have solar) The reason I ask is the other day my main switch tripped off yet my reverse cycle kept operating... it does have its own circuit... but so do my water pump, the garage, my oven & they all go off when the main switch is turned off.

Thanks

Paws

[geoff]

Hello Paws, RX, EM and everyone else, if you trickle charge the battery, then I don't think you need to disconnect the terminals, whereas if you disconnect the battery then you're using full charge.

If you disconnect the battery take off the 'negative cable first, then the positive, and when reconnecting it's vice-versa, and when you don't plan to use the mower you can leave the trickle charge on all the time, just means when you want to use it you won't have any problems starting it, but it's always best to check with the battery dealership.

The reverse cycle air con will have its own fuse switch and you can turn it on and off by this, it's separate to the main switch because it uses more power, everything else is connected to the main switch.

Hi RX, I'm so pleased I don't have to cut wood, sharpen the chain saw, when I was young and fit, no worries, but now I'm older, couldn't do this now.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[Paw Prints]

Thank you Geoff

[geoff]

Hi All, anyone wanting to paint a weatherboard house, don't waste your time trying to sand all the boards down with a belt sander, orbital sander or by hand, hire a pressure pump gerni, this will take more loose paint than by sanding.

Years ago I spent day after day sanding the boards down on a house by hand, then I hired a gerni to wash it down, this was phenomenal, it took more loose paint than I had ever expected and made all the days sanding a waste of time.

Geoff.