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]

Hey Geoff. Of course mate no worries and thanks as always.

Dunno if it's the aspestos stuff but yeah it is very brittle. It's on the original part of the house which l was guessing is around 60, could be older. Anyway it's well painted so should be right in that regard, can't see any pattern.

Think l've just used window sealant or something , can't remember to be honest, dunno if there's any difference to say bathrooms sealants or if that's just an excuse to put the price up .

Nah the water just splashes everywhere and into the gaps from when you have shower

[geoff]

Hi RX, and thanks as always for getting back to us/me.

Window sealant I don't think would be suitable for the bath and will come off, Selleys sell a tube called 'Wet Area' for the bath, so clean the area you want to put this sealant with metho on a cloth, let it dry and remove any loose paint.

To smooth the sealant use your finger but make sure you have a wet soapy finger, this will stop the sealant from sticking to your finger.

There are only a couple of sealants that can be painted over, but I wouldn't be doing that for a while, let the sealant have a decent time to dry.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[Guest_1584]

Gday Geoff.

Thanks very much for those tips , no worries then l'll do that then. Really looking forward to it actually , it's all looking pretty ugly again atm. Funny thing , l was grabbing some roof sealant yesterday for an RV job l'm doing and low and behold, l accidentally actually grabbed that very one l discovered today when l went to use it, a bathroom wet area sealant. So there ya go can't wait to clean it all up now,

Came up with a solution for my back fence to btw., well your solution actually haha.Think l may as well just dig out 3 or 4 of the main poles and fillem with concrete like you did on that job you talked about. That should keep it upright , you think ?

Thanks again as always.

rx

[Guest_093]

hi geoff fill you in(pardon the pun) have been in the house nearly 3 months now and paint splotches still have not come off the floor, they have worn off a bit, it is a bit of getting down on hands and knees and using the paint scraper thingey, much more to do around yard as in trimming trees and shrubs, have planted 5 fruit trees and grasshoppers had a munch out but they are getting lots of new shoots on them now, 1 even had a couple of flowers on it which i pinched the bud off way to early for flowers yet!!

All the best Spitfire1

[geoff]

Hi RX and Spitfire, I'm pleased you found the sealant RX and if don't use all the tube then force a screw/nail into the nozzle, sometimes it will be OK other times the rest of the tube will go hard, it's a 50-50 chance, but silicone tends to go off more so than 'no-gaps' or 'liquid nails', I don't know why.

Good luck with concrete, it should work and sorry if it doesn't.

Hi Spitfire, I could go back through the pages to see what you have on the floor, tiles, lino or floating floorboards but perhaps you could tell me, thanks.

With the grasshoppers you can try a garlic spray or an insect spray from the hardware shop, you could get a couple of chooks, they will eat them plus you'll get some eggs.

Hope to hear back from you.

Geoff.

[Guest_093]

hi geoff and everyone

the house was painted by us before we moved in so hence there is lots of paint splotches on floor and dividing skirt boards internally did try metho and water but that did not work really well it is a matter of elbow grease of hand and knees and scraping with a paint spatula a bit hard on the knees tho and i am way to rough and impatient to use the paint scraper maybe try a rough side of a sponge i think and probably everything else from hardware store is too expensive @ the moment am short of $$$$!! For floor i think it is wood looking vinyl and skirting boards just plain timber/wood and it is easy to clean wall paint just a wipe over with a damp cloth & light store cleaner Spitfire

[Guest_093]

as well is it very super hard to lay new tiles down in the bathroom and remove the old ones, it is on the to do list for later?? Spitfire

[geoff]

Hi Spitfire, if the metho didn't remove the paint then it's probably enamel paint so copy and paste this 'will poly paintstripper damage lino to get paint off', nail polish remover will also remove it, and the paint store will also sell alcohol remover.

Do you have a tile cutter or the shop where you bought the tiles from should be able to cut the tiles for you, all you have to do is mark the tiles, there maybe a charge for this, not too much, but it's better than trying to cut them yourself and in the meantime break the tile.

Take care.

Geoff.

[Guest_093]

hi geoff the old tiles in the bathroom need to taken off and thrown and then you do what you have to do whatever that is to prepare for laying of the new tiles which are allready on the patio been stored ready to do, it is a total bathroon reno and I scratch my head at this one lol!!! spitfire

[geoff]

Hi Spitfire, sorry I haven't got back to you, just wondering how you are going.

My Best.

Geoff.