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]

Hi Birdy, you can use a can of baked beans once the can is emptied as long as you tin cutters and cut a piece big enough to cover the hole, probably the thinner the better, but it has to be dry before you can use silicone.

There is silicone by Selleys that says you can put on wet surfaces, but I've never had any luck using this, it's thick, gooey, awkward and expensive, I wouldn't suggest you buy it.

Good Luck.

Geoff.

[geoff]

Hi Paul, you can buy a colouring mix from your hardware store, but you will have to test how much colour you need to add to the mortar to get the right colour, remember it's a darker colour while it's still wet, so the mix you like while it's wet, won't dry to that colour.

Write down the mix, let's say it might be 10ml of colour to half a bucket of mortar, and those measurements are only a guess.

Hi Birdy I reply back to you but it hasn't appeared as yet, so I'll keep an eye on whether it appears.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[geoff]

Hi Birdy, I must have pressed something else, never mind.

You can use an empty tin of baked beans or something else and cut the side off, clean it and flatten it to cover the holes in the gutter, probably the skinner the tin is the better.

Clean the gutter and wait until it's dry to use the silicone, preferably the gutter silicone, and you can use turps to clean your hands.

There is silicone you can use on 'wet surfaces' but I 've found it to be gooey, thick and awkward plus it's expensive and suggest you don't try and use it.

Just eat more baked beans then you'll have plenty of tin. lol

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[geoff]

Hi Everyone, if you want to paint a timber window sill, for example, it's much better to paint 2 or 3 coats rather than 1 thick coat with either enamel or acrylic paint.

Acrylic paint won't cover any stains, it may seem to be while you brush on the paint, but the stain will always appear, but with enamel paint, the stain won't come through.

Geoff.

[Birdy77]

Hey Geoff,

Guess what? You're a legend. That's what.

I will give your suggestion a go and let you know how I go.

I looked at the guttering this afternoon, and part of one corner is way too rusted-out, so I think I will have to purchase a replacement section there, but i will definitely give your old-tin-can-upcycle trick a good go on the other sections.

"Baked Beans, Good For Your Heart! ...." (etc).

Thanks a bunch Geoff.

🌻birdy

[geoff]

Hi Birdy, what's it called' bake beans and spaghetti for hungry little human beings_ _ _

There are a couple of products you can use for the corners, but you have to decide whether it's cost effective, however, these you can buy to use on the corners:

-knead it steel epoxy, where you can combine two soft products, enclosed in the tube, rub them together and then cover the rusted hole in the gutter, it dries hard, very hard.

-the other product is an aluminium roll which is sticky on one side, you can place on the exterior of the gutter, or cover the corner, it maybe called something different but the staff should know what you're saying.

You can also use this roll aluminum to cover holes in the gutter, depends on whether or how long you want to try and keep the existing gutter.

My Best.

Geoff.

[Music_Freak]

Hi Geoff,

I've bought two garden beds (Galvanised Steel Raised Garden Bed Instant Planter 120 x 90 Aluminium from Catch, if you need to see them) and have some 2cmx9cm timber (1.115m lengths) and corrugated iron look colorbond sheets that are 1.4mx86cm...what I want to know is how to make and attach bottoms to the garden beds. It sounds so complicated to me...I don't even know what screws (would they be stainless steel? All I think I have are plasterboard) or drill bits to use. Please help! Any advise would be MUCH appreciated as always 🙂

I think I've asked about this before, but now that I have it all in front of me...confusion is all I feel...nothing seems to be big enough but for the colorbond length...

[Music_Freak]

I just looked at the packaging...plasterboard screws, fixing to timber and thin metal, bugle head, phillips drive, 7G x 25mm...

Means not a lot to me, they're just the same as what my dad always came home with, saying they were handy...

[geoff]

Hi MF, from what I understand is that if you use plasterboard screws they will rust away, although you could prolong their life by painting with enamel paint, but if you use stainless steel screws then you won't have a problem because they won't rust.

Plasterboard screws are terrific to self drill, but when they are put into a situation where dampness, soil or the outside and exposed to the weather elements, then they will rust.

If the garden beds are dug into the ground, then perhaps you could use plasterboard screws only because the beds will be supported by the ground around them, better though to use stainless steel.

You can buy a 'phillips head' attachment to put into your drill (cordless/electric) which will self drill these screws, if you are unsure of what I mean, then the hardware store will help you.

Good luck and please let us know.

Geoff.

[Music_Freak]

Hi Geoff,

I bought manual drive sheet metal screws (Bunnings says their stainless steel, and I couldn't for the life of me find any packs of screws labelled "stainless steel") and it says on the packaging that I need drill a pilot hole and power drive when fixing pre-drilled materials to timber. I assume this is attaching the colorbond to the timber, which is fine, I've probably got phillips head bits in my kmart set that would suffice (I hope. I didn't ever expect any of it to last long, but it's what I could afford at the time).

What I'm wondering is would I drill the pilot holes with a cheap-y kmart drill bit or a plasterboard screw because the screws seem way sharper and the drill bits are cheap junk, so my thought process is go with the sharpness to get through the colorbond...would that work OK or not?