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]

Gday Geoff. funny you said that they near;y did end up on the fire l was that sick of them , last minute reprieve they were saved by the bell l though damn , l'll use em for tools haha.

but l must admit , they still tempt me because they're still around then now in the garage and still a nice lookin set of draws so l might go mad one day and try some of this stuff then.

Another funny , the bed l built is big and very bloody heavy let me tell ya. well when l finished it in the garage , it looked really crap , and it gave me a lot of grief too making it too , took forever, lotta mistakes , l'd just about had enough and it was too big and heavy to do a demo setup in the garage just to check how it all came together , and too big and heavy to cart into the house and right up the front room and set up , if it was only gonna look like crap anyway.

So it almost , very very close , went onto the fire as well. l actually started carrying pieces over to the burn off l was just about to do next day. last minute l thought damn it , l'll lug it into the house and try it out. Took a few hours to set it up after , but man , you know what it's one of the most stunning beds l've ever seen, couldn't believe it. Everyone looks at it and even when my daughter comes over she still always goes up to look at the bed again , 12 mths now , she's even sent of pictures to people and she still alwasy says even now 12mths later dado l can not believe you almost threw that incredible bed on the fire.And tbh, neither can l haha.

It really ended up looking like a jumble of junk in the garage but man , l'm still a little stunned when ; walk into the bedroom sometimes soooo, there ya go , proud as punch of it.now.

So maybe there's hope for the draws yet eh.

Didn't know enamel will kill odors but funny yeah l've often noticed with other things acrylic didn't kill odors.

Is there any reason l couldn't paint inside of it and draws too or ? The draws and hidden bits seem to be where all the oldish comes from but l only painted the outside that other time.

[geoff]

Hi RX, you can paint inside the drawers, the one problem you will face is the sides of the drawer that you paint will wear off, just as the bottom of the drawer and possibly the top of the drawer will also wear and eventually be removed.

It will also make the drawer hard to push in and out, but the smell may not be coming from these parts of the drawer, it's most likely from inside the drawer, so that's definitely OK to paint.

You can paint under the drawer cabinet, but do a trial and error with the paint, on the sides, bottom etc, but if any drawers are now difficult to push in and out, then I suggest you would be wasting good paint and not to paint.

If you had a belt sander then you could free up the movement of the drawers.

See how you go, by the way, it doesn't matter if the paint is gloss or flat, it's just easier to clean with gloss paint.

Geoff.

[geoff]

Hello Anyone, have you got outside awnings that always come down when it's windy.

Do you want to paint your bathroom ceiling and need to clean it, I know this topic has been mentioned before, but if you need to clean it then turn the shower on, hot water only, don't turn the fan on, then all the steam will settle on the ceiling, this will make cleaning it much quicker.

It will loosen up any dirt and use a sabco mop where you can squeeze the water out.

If you oil based estapol raw pine timber, say for shelves or maybe a kitchen cupboard or perhaps a TV stand, it will look terrific, but over time the colour will turn a golden colour, whereas water based estapol it won't turn as golden.

Geoff.

[geoff]

Hello, has anyone got a piece of dowell timber or wood jammed into it, to prevent somebody from sliding open a window and gain access to your house/flat, especially next to the back/front door?

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Gday geoff.

thanks a million for the tips with the draws, haven't decided whether to retire them from the shed and try again with them . man l wasted a lot of time on those things.

Yep all my widows have dowels in them. Another place l drilled a hole and slid in a nail to stop them being opened from the outside , haven't bothered with this place though they all had dowels so l just left them to it for now.

Is there a better way ?,

[geoff]

Hi RX, sorry, my fault for not checking the thread, but no you haven't wasted any time on these drawers, I find it to be fun and very inquisitive, that's how you learn.

For me to figure out why something doesn't work properly is challenging, it's no different than a mechanic working out why a car has problems.

To stop an outsider intruder from entering your premises is to not allow someone to be able to lift a window up out of its track, same with a sliding door is important.

Will let you know tomorrow because you can buy expensive items from the hardware store that really don't work but promise you everything.

Interesting topic.

Geoff.

[geoff]

Hello Anyone, are you about to throw out anything electrical, say a toaster, iron, microwave etc., then cut off the cord close to the appliance because you can turn this into an extension cord, maybe a short one, but these come in handy so often.

Geoff.

[geoff]

Hi All, anyone going to install a shower base or maybe a spa.

Geoff.

[Lone_solider]

You need a beyond blue app this is hard work

[geoff]

Hello Lone soldier, thanks for replying and do you help in getting the app or being able to install a shower base.

I've installed the app on my mobile.

Please let me know.

Geoff.