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

[blondguy]

Thankyou Geoff for helping me out re whether or not to paint the timber around the doors and windows

All the the door and window timber surrounds are Meranti stained in Californian Redwood......I guess I just dont have the courage to paint over them despite the benefits of enhancing the size of the rooms

I do know that there is no turning back once I start to paint all the door and window trim.....

Making decisions with depression is hard work. I might just leave them for the time being

Thanks heaps Geoff for your expertise on this one

Best always...Paul

[Music_Freak]

"Making decisions with depression is hard work." - it sure is Paul!!

Could you perhaps cover one of the door frames etc, with coloured paper, matching the paint colour to see if you liked it?

I haven't even started my colourbond roofing garden edging. I did measure everything but can't find where I wrote it all, so will likely just start again

[geoff]

Hi Paul, I don't think that I would want to paint over the Meranti now, the colour of Californian Redwood would be beautiful and if they are painted the same colour as the walls then chip marks would be seen more noticeably.

I absolutely agree with what you have said, "Making decisions with depression is hard work."

Hi Music_Freak, no worries, I know that I always lost what I wrote down, although with OCD I had to always check the size, and that was such a burden.

Good to have you both on the thread.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Gday geoff and everyone.

Got a nice light one for ya Geoff but l hate it with a passion , so hence l always have the problem bc l can never be bothered doing it until l need the scraper again but by then the stuff set.

Ever come up with a quick easy way to clean the scrapers ?

Man l hate that job. The narrow ones l basically cut the set goo off with a stanely knife whatever it might be and l get a nice clean scraper or spectacular but the wider ones like 2 3 or 4 inch scrapers , there's a lot of blade there that builds up a lot of crap, drives me crazy.

Once that's set , clue or no gaps or whatever it is , pain in the ass to clean.

Cheers.

rx

[Guest_1584]

Hi Geoff , bit late , shame . l picked up a nice second hand glass door for the front about 12mths ago.

lt put up a bit of a fight too bugger. Heavy as hell , it came off a school , really solid door, It had a very cool brass heavy handle and hinges too , probably cost more alone to buy than what l paid for the whole door .

There was a grotty old room at the front with a rotten old wood door all blocking the sun and often damn inside , yuck l can tell ya. But l ripped out the walls and turned it all into my new little porch and put on this glass door at end of hall what use to be creepy dark doorway going into that old room. So now the sun pours straight in and down the hall or the beautiful morning light coming in from the porch and outside. God it changed the whole house and you see out over the view across road too. Love that door.

But it took about 5 goes to get it to fit . Even with a whole new floor out front on porch and the house jacked up to square again, poor old girl , the door frame was still a bit lopsided . Hated trying to trip the door to fit was so scared l'd wreck it . and it was so heavy to take on and off 5 times.

Anyway , me won in the end haha. Looks fantastic.

Cheers. rx

[geoff]

Hello RX, I'm sorry I'm a bit late, but I'll always be checking this thread so please don't feel as though I've forgotten.

I used to use the wider scrapers, just as I used wide paint brushes to paint window frames but to clean the scrapers I use my belt sander where I turned it upside down, with the belt showing then turn it on and then slowly put the dirty scraper onto it, that will clean it.

The 2nd hand door must be a real bonus I'm sure it would look beautiful, a real gem.

What should be done to all front and back doors that face the weather is that they need to be painted on the bottom of the door or the part of the door you don't see, the part that may rub against the carpet because any water from the rain will soak into the door and make it swell, then you'll need to replace it.

If no rain hits the door and it's well protected from the outside elements then you don't have to worry, maybe like your porch.

Let us know and again sorry I'm late.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Gday Geoff .

No no mate you weren't late don't worry about that whenever you come in you come in all cool.

l meant l was late with the door problem , hang on , nah l was a bit early haha , about 12 mths ago l think l fitted that but l wasn't even here then , sure could've done with some tips though, Still as l say l got him in the end. Shame to about the painting top and bottom , sides whatever, too what a great idea l see what you mean that'd be great added protection. Trouble now would be with mine , l'd have to take the heavy bugger off again to get at the bottom to paint it , it turned out a really snug fit in the end.

Might be able to get some on it with sliding a rag under it or something , really don't wanna take it off yet again.

Ah huh , belt sander, another great idea , haven't got one but eh , been looking for an excuse to buy one , l'd buy one just for the damn scrappers l hate that job so much.

Thanks mate,

Cheers

[blondguy]

Hey Geoff MusicFreak and RX 🙂

Thanks for that Geoff.....Maybe I am chicken and really have nothing to worry about but like MusicFreak mentioned its a hard decision when our brain is overthinking a decision...even though the house would look better painting the door and window trim......

Music_Freak made a good point....."Could you perhaps cover one of the door frames etc, with coloured paper, matching the paint colour to see if you liked it?" Thankyou MF.....I will give that a go...and thankyou 🙂

Have a good weekend everyone

Cheers

Paul

[geoff]

Hi Paul, good idea about coloured paper, what happens when you try and use Xmas paper, only joking. lol

Hi RX, with painting under the door, you can use a sponge soaked in paint and just rub it under top and bottom of the door or if you can't fit a sponge then try a rag with clean sides on both the front and back of the door, but the rag under the door will have paint on it, then drag the rag through.

You may have to do this several times, and just another thought, if you want to paint let's say a window frame DON'T put a massive thick coat on, hoping that will be alright, and you won't have to put any other coats on the frame, because it will take a long time to dry and it won't finish as an even coat and will look terrible.

Instead put 2 or 3 coats on the frame with acrylic or oil based paint.

I had to paint the interior of a house, walls, ceiling, doors etc in winter time all with oil-based paint.

The ceiling was done and I put a portable heater in the room hoping to dry it quicker so another coat could be put on the next day.

It looked dry and felt dry but as soon as I started to do the second coat it went on OK but a few moments later it looked like crocodile skin, not smooth, horrible, so I had to scrap all the paint off and start once again, so I learnt another lesson.

You can't force OIL-BASED paint to dry with a fan heater especially in winter time, it has to dry on it's own, sure you can dry it with a heater , BUT you still have to wait a couple of days, and I'm talking about being in the middle of winter, cold, rain, frost, snow when the temperature is 3 up to 10 degrees.

Bye for now but please continue.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Hey geoff and all.

Thanks mate yeah l'd get a few coats on it one way or other cheers for that.

Geez what a bugger having to strip that room back again , not a nice job eh.l've usually coated enamel again in a few hours , even one hour, past a certain tacky point and it's fine to 2nd coat won't crinkle up.2nd coat can bite in enough but still be a second coat.

Once you start waiting 12 hours or next day that's when it then needs a few days or at least 24hr. depends on the stuff and dried better or you have a wet coat going over a semi dry coat but still soft enough to bite in and crinkle it up as it dries .

And then like ya say moisture and temp and all sorts of crap can also mess it up.

anyway looks like l might be building a house end of year geoff, no more renos, nice and new. Pretty sure gonna sell here now end of year get some land and build. last stand haha.