The Home Improvement Thread

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Hi everyone

 

I'm looking for any recommendations of a reliable / reputable home

maintenance / handy man (a hot woman will be better!) for some minor work around the house - window glass replacement, part(s) toilet cistern be

replaced, etc. I'm technically challenged.

 

I'm in the southern suburbs of Cape Town (Plumstead)

Eddie Adams. Retired gent out of Retreat area. Charges R 100 callout fee. Will PM you his contact details. 

[mecheng89]

Hi all,

 

First question - I'm looking to repair water damaged (read:peeling) paint. What do I do? Do I scrape all the paint off the walls, and then what? What paint do I use in a bathroom?

 

Second question - My garage gets very dusty very quickly. What I've noticed is that there are gaps between the wall and the slating tiles. What can I do to keep the dust out? Do I stuff each individual hole with a rag, or do something more permanent like a ceiling? I once saw a silver looking bubble wrap in a friends garage with looks like it could hold the dust at bay.

 

Third question - previous owner clearly had no idea how to mount a towel rail to the wall. The hole left behind is easily 50mm deep and has destroyed all the paint around it. What do I do? Do I strip the paint off this wall too, replaster the wall, and re-paint?

 

Fourth question - Very stubborn marks on shower door - any suggestions how to get it off? Window cleaner doesn't help much. 

 

Thanks guys!

Edited March 29, 2017 by mecheng89

[mon-goose]

Hi all,

 

First question - I'm looking to repair water damaged (read:peeling) paint. What do I do? Do I scrape all the paint off the walls, and then what? What paint do I use in a bathroom?

 

Second question - My garage gets very dusty very quickly. What I've noticed is that there are gaps between the wall and the slating tiles. What can I do to keep the dust out? Do I stuff each individual hole with a rag, or do something more permanent like a ceiling? I once saw a silver looking bubble wrap in a friends garage with looks like it could hold the dust at bay.

 

Third question - previous owner clearly had no idea how to mount a towel rail to the wall. The hole left behind is easily 50mm deep and has destroyed all the paint around it. What do I do? Do I strip the paint off this wall too, replaster the wall, and re-paint?

 

Fourth question - Very stubborn marks on shower door - any suggestions how to get it off? Window cleaner doesn't help much. 

 

Thanks guys!

question 1: make sure the source of the leak is fixed. peel the paint off and let it dry very well. Then paint on a waterproofing undercoat and a bathroom specific paint from any of your big hardware

 

question 3. you could just fill up the hole with a polyfiller and then sandpaper it down a bit to even out the texture with the surrounding area. The undercoat and paint

[fanievb]

This is more of a home maintenance than improvement question....who knows how to waterproof IBR roofing?

 

I have IBR roofing on the garage. 3° slope so basically flat and during these heavy storms water leaks through and down the garage wall.

 

Think the leak is along the overlapping sections as well as the screws into the support beams.

 

What products should I be buying? What are the tips and tricks?

 

Rubaro (if you can get it, i bought mine directly from a local contractor) http://ctliquiseal.co.za/images/DS%20-%20Rubaro%20BR400%20Brush.pdf 

 

forms a flexible rubber layer (no need for crappy membrane)

 

it's expensive and the coverage is not that great, but it's worth it.

 

 

[LazyTrailRider]

Greywater system that was installed by Water Rhapsody. Collects from 3 bathrooms, kitchen and 2 student suites that I am renting out. 2 day installation. Asked for a meter so that I can monitor my Greywater recovery vs total usage. Very amped about this installation. The guys did an amazing job.

 

I considered them before going with a cheap builder-installed system which I've now had to invest 2x the cost into to maintain, taking into account what my time costs. So you learn.

 

My primary issue is filtering: my setup had no inlet filter from the shower, only a standard wellpoint mesh filter (which is easily cleanable) on the pump's inlet itself. The problem is that crap keeps clogging the one-way floating valve at the bottom of the tank, so I've improvised a filter on the pipe running into the tank with a kitchen sieve covered with a knee-high camisole which I replace on a weekly basis. It works, but it's a pain to clean.

 

What does the Water Rhapsody filter entail?

[GLuvsMtb]

I considered them before going with a cheap builder-installed system which I've now had to invest 2x the cost into to maintain, taking into account what my time costs. So you learn.

 

My primary issue is filtering: my setup had no inlet filter from the shower, only a standard wellpoint mesh filter (which is easily cleanable) on the pump's inlet itself. The problem is that crap keeps clogging the one-way floating valve at the bottom of the tank, so I've improvised a filter on the pipe running into the tank with a kitchen sieve covered with a knee-high camisole which I replace on a weekly basis. It works, but it's a pain to clean.

 

What does the Water Rhapsody filter entail?

Its a double-mesh filter. Hopefully you are not recycling dish washer / kitchen sink water as it contains too a high consecration of debris. My gardener cleans the double mesh weekly, and I am due to give the tank and pump a good pressure wash and rinse with a good degreaser. I'll do that when we receive the next bout of good rains. Then I can use stored rain water for this. Currently I am supplementing the grey water with rain water which does seem to help with the water quality.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Zatopek]

Its a double-mesh filter. Hopefully you are not recycling dish washer / kitchen sink water as it contains too a high consecration of debris. My gardener cleans the double mesh weekly, and I am due to give the tank and pump a good pressure wash and rinse with a good degreaser. I'll do that when we receive the next bout of good rains. Then I can use stored rain water for this. Currently I am supplementing the grey water with rain water which does seem to help with the water quality.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

What water do you collect from the kitchen that don't originate from the dishwasher/ kitchen sink - laundry only?

Edited March 30, 2017 by Zatopek

[GLuvsMtb]

What water do you collect from the kitchen that don't originate from the dishwasher/ kitchen sink - laundry only?

Yes.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Bloukrans]

Eddie Adams. Retired gent out of Retreat area. Charges R 100 callout fee. Will PM you his contact details.

Thanks Myles - contacted Eddie, job done and dusted - I'm a happy customer!

[Bloukrans]

Any recommendations where to buy pool covers / bubble wrap pool covers in

the southern suburbs

[LazyTrailRider]

Its a double-mesh filter. Hopefully you are not recycling dish washer / kitchen sink water as it contains too a high consecration of debris. My gardener cleans the double mesh weekly, and I am due to give the tank and pump a good pressure wash and rinse with a good degreaser. I'll do that when we receive the next bout of good rains. Then I can use stored rain water for this. Currently I am supplementing the grey water with rain water which does seem to help with the water quality.

 

OK, was wondering whether it was mesh-based, there are quite a few esoteric (read "green") filter options out there once one starts doing serious research. My sieve works well, it's only really a problem at the moment because there are two inlets, one from the shower and the other from the bath/basin. The bath/basin one doesn't run through the sieve and decreases the water quality enough to cause clogging on a weekly basis.

 

Kitchen water is generally (as you'll know) classifed as black water, due to this I have a separate pump set up on the washing machine which feeds a single flower bed via a drip line. It's manual so doesn't catch all the water, I still need to set up a float switch. The problem is that my wife washes the guinea pigs' bedding in the washing machine, so there's quite a lot of hair which obviously destroys any pump at a rapid pace...

Edited March 30, 2017 by Martin Hattingh

[popcorn_skollie]

Any recommendations where to buy pool covers / bubble wrap pool covers in

the southern suburbs

 

Same boat. Been fishing around I'll stick some contacts I came across here shortly.

[V12man]

Hi all,

 

First question - I'm looking to repair water damaged (read:peeling) paint. What do I do? Do I scrape all the paint off the walls, and then what? What paint do I use in a bathroom?

 

Second question - My garage gets very dusty very quickly. What I've noticed is that there are gaps between the wall and the slating tiles. What can I do to keep the dust out? Do I stuff each individual hole with a rag, or do something more permanent like a ceiling? I once saw a silver looking bubble wrap in a friends garage with looks like it could hold the dust at bay.

 

Third question - previous owner clearly had no idea how to mount a towel rail to the wall. The hole left behind is easily 50mm deep and has destroyed all the paint around it. What do I do? Do I strip the paint off this wall too, replaster the wall, and re-paint?

 

Fourth question - Very stubborn marks on shower door - any suggestions how to get it off? Window cleaner doesn't help much. 

 

Thanks guys!

Q1 - already answered

Q2 - Seal the gaps - easy and quick but expensive - spray foam - cheap but time consuming - plaster....

Q3 - Plaster repair - do it at the same time as Q2 (get a good plasterer)

Q4 - Get some citric acid powder and a white scrubby - mix up the citric acid in hot water and apply with the scrubby repeatedly - you can test this initially with lemon juice concentrate to see if it will work - but citric acid powder is much cheaper (don't be in a hurry - it has to dissolve calcium deposits that are mixed with soap residue) - you might also want to protect the floor from splashes and drips - some tiles and grouts mark fairly easily.

[Flemish Lion]

His name is Roeloff du Plessis

082 7887 421

www.pool-guard.co.za

 

These guys came highly recommended for CT.

[MTBeer]

Same boat. Been fishing around I'll stick some contacts I came across here shortly.

Power Plastics?

[BaGearA]

bath tub is pulling away from the whiteish sealent against the wall , what is it called and can I just reaply some with A scraper ?

 

 

We have A two tiles coming off the wall on the farm , like the grout (not sure if thats the correct term) is slowly flacking away. Its a tile against the wall not the floor. Solutions ?