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 Anyone, I'm just wondering whether anyone is concerned about asbestos, in the walls, roof or underlay, because if you have an older house/unit then there is a possibility of it being present.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[Birdy77]

Hi Geoff,

You would love this little house I'm sure, you'd be able to fix so many things about it while your heart was all aflutter.

I have traced the title deeds back to 1854 which was the original land grant. From what i can gather i think the cottage was built around the late 1870s, but don't have an exact date. We are only the 7th owners from that time (one family owned it for 51 years). It has an old brick-lined domed well in the backyard from before there was town water. I want to repurpose it as a rain tank - a project i will ask you about another time.

My nephews don't live closeby, so I'd be interested in your option that a handyman could do. The bounciness is basically in the middle of the floor.

I hope you are well Geoff. Thanks so much for your help and I'm sorry for my delayed reply.

🌻birdy

[geoff]

Hello Birdy, the cottage sounds to be gorgeous, I'd love it and what the owners, carpenters could do back in those days was unbelievable.

Some handymen aren't able to do anything complicated, but one who also does the building of back porches, pergolas sheds, garages, decking, able to move plumbing and the list goes on, should be able to fix the bouncy floor without any problem but it means cutting into the existing floorboards a metre by a metre in the appropriate area.

Do you know whether the other stumps are visible and redgum, I'd really love to see it but unable due to the rules.

Love to hear back from you.

Geoff.

Doesn't matter old you become, the adrenaline still pumps away even though I can only be the

[Guest_1584]

Hey Geoff and one and all.

Sorry l didn't get back about the doors Geoff and thanks for the reply.

But anyway , they're on , and look good, still nice and flat and holding up fine, l painted them before l put them on seal them from warp , but the hinges and yeah short screw,came up with an idea and liquid nailed the hinges as well as the screws, seem solid as a rock. Well you wouldn't wanna swing on them but normal use they seem fine.The bigger one is 1.8 x about 650 chip board, glued and screwed 3 good size hinges on that one seems to be staying nice and straight and holding solid too.

Gees , l like the idea of the glue and wood dust geoff, have to try and remember that one. Just today actually l bought a tube of wood grain no gaps for some paneling gaps on a job at work, see how that goes tomorrow. It's not a house of anything , an rv actually.

All the best. rx

[geoff]

Hi RX, well done and please keep us informed as to what you're doing.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[Birdy77]

Hello Geoff,

That's great advice, thanks so much. We have new next door neighbours moving in soon and the wife's dad is a retired local builder so I'm hoping i may be able to ask him to do a few things, and may ask him to do what you suggested. He may be able to get under the house anyway, and i will let you know.

The stumps aren't visible, but at the back there is a deck that has planks blocking the underneath of the house, but i can take these off. I've done that before and shone a torch up to see if i could see the stumps, but couldn't see far. I was too scared to creep in there. I could see one of the stumps of the back part of the house has been replaced with a pile (? Stack? Pylon?) of bricks, so not sure about the other stumps.

I have found some gates i want for the driveway, they are a heritage style, made of metal, the pedestrian gate is 1m wide and the longer panel is 2.2 m wide. The driveway is 3.6 m wide with posts either side for the picket fence.

So I'm short 400mm. I guess a few mm each side will be used up with the hinges, and a few mm fir the gap between the gates where the latch will be. But 400mm is a fair chunk.

Do you think i could attach a piece of timber to each fence post on either side of the driveway and attach the hinges to that? Or would the gates to be too heavy and rip the timber off?

My other idea was to somehow attach a new post on either side of the driveway, and attach the hinges/gates to those, then fill in the gap between the new posts and the existing post/fence with a picket or two.

With this option I'd need to attach the new posts to the existing concrete of the driveway, I'm thinking something like a metal plate screwed into the concrete, sort of like what would be attached on a decking if that makes sense?

I don't know if I've explained that clearly or not, but i hope you understand, if not i will try to clarify.

What do you think?

🌻birdy

[blondguy]

Hey Birdy and everyone

Geoff is in hospital after having an accident at home that involved his hand last week. He is doing okay yet it may be a while until he will be back on line

If anyone wants to send Geoff their wishes please send it via

[email protected]

Paul

[Birdy77]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for letting us know. I was wondering if Geoff was ok.

Dear Geoff,

You take good care of yourself and get that hand of yours all better.

There is no pressure to reply here or anywhere, you take your time and rest up.

I hope you feel better.

🌻birdy

[geoff]

Dear Paul and Birdy, I can't thank you enough for your very kind gestures and expressions of kindness, I really appreciate it more than you would ever know so thank you both once again.

I will be on the forums but using one hand to type makes it slow for me and plase forgive me Birdy as I haven't replied back to you, my brain needs to adjust back to how it was.

My kind thoughts.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Gday geoff , sorry to hear about that but l hope things are looking better , nice to see you back to mate

All the best, rx