Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum Re: Few Tips for 1st time O/b's 42Oct 12, 2009 6:15 pm Lol, no, but get the picture. Love the Bundys! Life's too short too drink bad wine Re: Few Tips for 1st time O/b's 43Oct 26, 2009 11:25 pm Filling Mortar Cracks...had a call from a friend concerned about motar cracks, when i went around & looked i was a bit surprised by the size, a Buiding Inspector had looked at them & said there was no great structural concern (brick veneer) & suggested silicon type filler. he'd done a bit & although the product he bought was meant to be mortar colour it stood out rather badly. luckily it was a an old cream mortar which is common in WA (yellow sand & white cement) i remember a brickie once telling me the best way to match mortar was to do a mini mix using tablespoon at same ratio as a shovel. this can also be done with mortar colours ( good idea to always keep a small tub of ur mortar colouring after bricking is finish on new house & ask brickie for mortar mixing details- kept dry colours will last for years). i suggested he first fill the gaps with the filler he had bought, but not out right to mortar line, we then got a stiff brush & "painted" the mini mortar mix (yellow sand / white cement & added boncrete) over the filler, lightly shaped out to the old mortar level, left it about 1/2 hr then spounged it down - it dreid out a near perfect match. just remember u never know when cracks might appear in mortar thru all sorts of reason so know ur mortar colour & mixing ratio it could come in handy some time. i've seen people try to match paint to paint over cracks - almost impossible to do & has wrong texture, u might end up having to paint all the mortar in the house & can look ugly - try this idea first cheers tony Re: Few Tips for 1st time O/b's 44Dec 03, 2009 2:05 am Mini Stops.....if ur into these water mixers that need flexi tubes to be fitted (as opposed to solid copper water conectors to standard taps) its not a bad idea to put a Mini Stop at the point where ur hard copper conector joins the flexi hose. 2 reasons for this suggestion - 1stly insurance chap tells me most damage in houses these days is caused by water damage from burst or leaking "flexi hoses"....!!! 2ndly if one of these flexi hoses does burst or leak, u just turn off the mini stop (the other hot or cold can still be used) and all the rest of ur house water can remain on instead of having to be turned off the water main. bylaws require u have mini stop on toilet cystern & dishwasher, i've added them to all tap mixers in bathrooms & kitchen. a mini stop costs around $17 - cheap insurance 4 ur future peace of mind & satisfaction of not having the water off while ur waiting for fixing or finding another hose. one other hint - if u do put in any mini stops anywhere, on the 1st April ( April fools day) turn all the stops on & off a few times to make sure these don't get corrosion from water - i've known valves, gate valves, taps, & mini stops to all sieze up after a few years if never used. also good idea to keep one spare flexi hose somewhere handy!!! cheers tony. Re: Few Tips for 1st time O/b's 45Dec 03, 2009 7:57 am Top tip - Do not throw away any materials until you have completely finished building. Not even odd screws or little bits of timber. You will probably need them the day after you throw them away. JB Re: Few Tips for 1st time O/b's 46Jan 31, 2011 1:56 pm Hi all, sorry i forgot about this thread till i got a pm other day re roofing & insulation. when ur getting design for home done and if ur onto this north facing building which if done properly can save u many $'s for years to come...this is only the second of six homes that i've had the good fortune to be able to position as i like & the resulting large windows on north & small on south with good insulation has made our new house very, very cost effective for heating & cooling - i can't believe the difference to our last east facing home. also we have THOUGHT about light this time, & have natural light working for us throughout the house. so heres a couple of tips.
1) verandahs - if u want a wider verandah & are worried about "winter sun, summer shade" calculations of verandah width, u can have the wider verandah & achieve same results by using either clear or poly sheeting in conjunction with roof sheeting. by putting the roof material from wall to 1/2 verandah width & poly from 1/2 width out to gutters it gives light, but keeps heat from noon day sun off walls. see pic below:- Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ 2) Insulation & Installing same- don't skimp.......go to a higher rating than set for ur location, in terms of overall cost insultion is cheap - cheaper if u put it in urself & the result of it saves $'s every day ur in the house. If u are putting insulation in the ceiling urself, make sure u get the bales or packages of insulation tied up in the roof frame after the roof cladding is on and BEFORE u get the ceiling put in. saves a lot of work getting it either thru manholes in ceiling or taking roof cladding off (IMO very bad practice anyway). 3) Light & Power in ceiling. when u get electrician in, make sure u put 1 or 2 lights in the ceiling, with switch right next to the manhole, and also have a power point in the ceiling. costs little to do while building saves time & adds safety throughout house's lifetime. Hope this might work for u ...cheers tony Re: Few Tips for 1st time O/b's 47Jan 31, 2011 10:08 pm Always Gold from you Tony. Thanks again for the top tips. Plans Done Feb 2010 Permit Done 23 April. Set out Done. Scrape and Excavations Done. Footings Done May 10th. Now, to find a brickie.Got one! Sub-floor bricks & Garage Done - 13th June Sub-floor installed 28 June (?) Re: Few Tips for 1st time O/b's 48Feb 13, 2011 2:37 am CUTTING ROOF or WALL SHEETS : Helped a friend with a little roofing job today, which involved cutting a colourbond sheet length ways. he was very surprised when he saw how i did it, & i thought everyone knew this, but not so - so heres a tip for those who don't know. To cut either colorbond, zincalume or custom orb length ways. place a good straight piece of wood along where u want the cut, (perhaps clamp it there if u want otherwise just hold it firmly) then run the heel of a wood saw or the corner of an old cheisel along the timber so as to deeply score a line - just do it once firmly is better than 2 or 3 goes half heartedly. with snips, just nick a cut about 10ml into each end on the score line, then bend the sheet along the score line, using that line as the hinging point. one or two flexes back & forth and the sheet will break as clean as a whistle - very quick, very neat. If u have never done this b4, get a bit of scrap & have a few practice runs, u will be surprised how well it works. DONT ever write with a lead pencil on plain Custom Orb or Zincalume, lead reacts with zinc & can cause corrosion. hope that might help someone - cheers tony Hi there, We’ve recently had plans approved to add a 1st storey addition to our existing house for a growing family in Sydney. With the current cost of building… 0 4275 Just be careful with building stability during construction, that is when the structure may be weakened, refer to your engineering drawings for stability methodology. 1 7215 Thank you so much. This has been very helpful. We definitely wish to settle and get these people out of our life. They are trying to charge us interest on late… 7 14242 |