The Home Improvement Thread

[Frosty]

Other projects I'm busy with:

 

Paving along our bedrooms - about 25m to go. Alternating light grey 30x30 pavers with a dark grey 15x15 paver and filling the spaces with white pebbles.

 

Converting an unused Jacuzzi into a vegetable patch. Already moved it out the house.

 

Soundproofing the wall between my nanny's room and my kids room with Soundlite boards - will glue them on with foam.

 

Completed DIY projects:

Putting in new irrigation pipes / sprinklers and fully automated the irrigation with a 6-phase rainbird. Covered about 100m of piping underneath my driveway, under a pathway etc.. I'll also extend it to my vegetable patch.

Painted the house and bedroom roofs - I got someone to do this for me.

Painted many of our rooms

Plastering and fixed flooring around my new UPVC doors and windows

Installed Pool heating panels - also got someone in

Fitted a 500kg magnet to my one arm swing gate - got someone in to do electrical part

Installed a climbing wall for my son

 

With two small kids and cycling I'll probably need to get someone to assist else it will take too long to complete.

paving along the house is often an eye-sore, but keeps water away from the house/foundations.

 

That should be a compulsory installation/requirement when building a house.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

paving along the house is often an eye-sore, but keeps water away from the house/foundations.

 

That should be a compulsory installation/requirement when building a house.

Not with the way our paving was done. Sheesh. 

[Frosty]

No. No floor likes moisture underneath, but due to the average thickness of an epoxy flooring solution if the underlying material (substrate) isn't bone dry and properly prepared, it WILL fail.

 

Same as floating cement over an existing floor that hasn't been keyed. Or re-plastering a wall that hasn't been properly cleaned and keyed... Or laying wooden flooring directly onto concrete, without any waterproof membrane and lining.

 

Of all the things, proper surface prep is KEY.

 

Used to walk around job sites with my dad back when he was a national waterproofing ^ epoxy rep for ABE back in the day. Epoxy is strong enough to withstand molasses - IF the underfloor is prepped properly, and the contractor laid the floor correctly. One liiiittle gap, and it's tits up

in cycling terms it's called base training. Before attempting intervals, endurance, sprints, etc., a good base is required.

[Eddy Gordo]

No, the stupid builder built the walls for the garage without any cavity, and thus, there are no ventilation holes either. So we have basically a double row of bricks, connected through the mortar. Also, the north-facing wall has no gutters, and thus no water run-off. Also, it is on the neighbour's side, as the wall is part of the boundary, so there is nothing I can do about the drainage on that side. As you are also aware, the north wall will get the most rain when the North Wester is blowing during a normal Cape winter storm.  So I have to look at the best way to fix this situation.

Then you can try this

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/how-to/brickwork/install-an-air-brick

 

This should help to some extent.

I am busy fitting one to a room with rising damp issues. The weepholes are either blocked with dirt or blocked by the paving. An over sight when I paved a few years back and next year I am gonna pave on the other side of the room.

Need to get some air circulation in there to dry it out.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Eddy Gordo

[Frosty]

Not with the way our paving was done. Sheesh.

The engineer that signed off my 2013 extensions (foundations and compaction before the concrete was allowed to be cast), couldn't believe the **** the previous engineer, builder and inspector were allowed to sign off.

 

Waste pipes (basins) are all at different heights from the floor, meaning visible pipes from the bottle trap to the outlet through the wall.

 

Plugs points are supposed to be from the floor up (in a straight line perpendicular to the floor).

 

Steel I-beam was never installed across the middle of the garage to support the load bearing wall above. Difficult to explain, but the concrete reinforced slab has bowed under the pressure resulting in a crack (not hairline) spanning the entire corner of the bedroom above. Some industrial grade foam sorted the problem, but that wouldn't have happened if they did it right the first time.

 

Paving (driveway) collapsed due to poor/rushed preparation.

 

Exterior (side, boundary) walls didn't have any damp course when they built it. Damp problems galore - but fixable by camouflaged vegetation.

 

There's plenty more, but some of it just poor decision making on our part - finishes.

 

I wish I knew back then what I know today. I guess that's how one gets experience.

[Eddy Gordo]

As for the floor.........

I had some wet patches on my garage floor some years ago(probably around 8 years), well after the floor was layed.

Anyways, I went to LT paints in woodstock. The guy gave me some powder to block the damp. Almost like a cement mixture. Mix with water and painted it on. 

After that was dry, I painted an Epoxy coating for concrete over it.

No more damp issues, but have some cracks. Apparently they are settling cracks, whatever..... As long as the walls dont fall in I suppose and the floor doesnt crumble. For now its all good.

[Eddy Gordo]

The engineer that signed off my 2013 extensions (foundations and compaction before the concrete was allowed to be cast), couldn't believe the **** the previous engineer, builder and inspector were allowed to sign off.

 

Waste pipes (basins) are all at different heights from the floor, meaning visible pipes from the bottle trap to the outlet through the wall.

 

Plugs points are supposed to be from the floor up (in a straight line perpendicular to the floor).

 

Steel I-beam was never installed across the middle of the garage to support the load bearing wall above. Difficult to explain, but the concrete reinforced slab has bowed under the pressure resulting in a crack (not hairline) spanning the entire corner of the bedroom above. Some industrial grade foam sorted the problem, but that wouldn't have happened if they did it right the first time.

 

Paving (driveway) collapsed due to poor/rushed preparation.

 

Exterior (side, boundary) walls didn't have any damp course when they built it. Damp problems galore - but fixable by camouflaged vegetation.

 

There's plenty more, but some of it just poor decision making on our part - finishes.

 

I wish I knew back then what I know today. I guess that's how one gets experience.

Yeah, unfortunately most builders like to pull a fast one and do stuff they actually cannot do. It helps if you know whats going on and can point out to them the mistakes etc. Of course this wont make you popular.

 

When I do alterations, I use a bricklayer for laying the bricks and not to plaster the walls either. You will find that some of them can but also cant. 

Also main reason for using different guys for different stuff is to get them of my property as soon as one part of the job is done and cycle in new people. Over the years I have come to know a very good painter. Lately I have discovered he is actually a builder and does some decent brick work. His plaster work is ok, but at least He is someone that can be trusted.

[Frosty]

Yeah, unfortunately most builders like to pull a fast one and do stuff they actually cannot do. It helps if you know whats going on and can point out to them the mistakes etc. Of course this wont make you popular.

 

When I do alterations, I use a bricklayer for laying the bricks and not to plaster the walls either. You will find that some of them can but also cant.

Also main reason for using different guys for different stuff is to get them of my property as soon as one part of the job is done and cycle in new people. Over the years I have come to know a very good painter. Lately I have discovered he is actually a builder and does some decent brick work. His plaster work is ok, but at least He is someone that can be trusted.

I did the same for the extensions and will do so for every project going forward.

 

Having said that, the first round of guys I got in thought they could help themselves to stuff in the garage... MTB and golf shoes, camelback, and who knows what else I don't know off.

[dev null]

There is no permanent solution but if you chip off the plaster and apply some dampcrete or dampsure and skim over it once its dry it will reduce the rising moisture for a good 5 years or more. Of course this means doing both sides of the wall for it to be effective.

 

It's facebrick. 

[dev null]

Currently I am only looking for a solution that will work for 10 years.  I plan to be out of this house in 10 years time, and the next owner will probably only park his cars in the garage, instead of building stuff in his garage workshop like me.

 

When looking for my next home, I will make sure the garage is sound, or that there is enough space on the property for me to build my dream shop.

 

PS: Me and the wife chatted, and we are probably going to be moving to the platteland once the last kid leaves the nest.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Moridin

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I had a similar problem when I lived in Midrand Moriden, I had a number of people out to look and the general consensus was its not possible to repair permanently unless you dig it all up and start again, at best its always going to be a temporary fix. 

 

I eventually had a company who specialises in damp proofing come in and they laid a special waterproof matting and threw a new floor then coated it with an epoxy. I was told I would need to re-epoxy it every three to four years as it would eventually start to bubble due to moisture.

 

It did work and I only re coated it once before we moved, might be worth thinking about.

 

Generally I think its just a sign of the poor workmanship we see today, corners are cut everywhere and this is the result. 

[Flemish Lion]

paving along the house is often an eye-sore, but keeps water away from the house/foundations.

 

That should be a compulsory installation/requirement when building a house.

 

True - hence the reason I did it myself to ensure the water flows away from the house.

 

I would love to outsource some of my projects but I just don't feel like re-doing it all. Even if you pay good money the quality often matches the cheaper guys!

 

I grew-up in construction in Belgium working with my dad who is a perfectionist. The things you see here are incredible. Finishing is often poor, how many skew walls I've seen...

 

Re water proofing the floor is a short term solution. Find the route cause else the problem will just move to the walls, etc.

[mon-goose]

I've got a couple of things I want to do around the house and am looking for:

 

350 Bricks: can be used or new but preferable not in need of loads of work to clean. Going to be used for a small flower bed wall and will be plastered so doesn't need to be fancy

 

cement slabs. I need about 20 concrete slabs around 450x450

 

I'm in edgemead cape town. Please let me know if you have anything to sell and what you would like for it

Edited August 16, 2016 by mon-goose

[Eddy Gordo]

It's facebrick. 

I heard of people spraying diesel or old oil ( not too sure) onto facebrick to seal it

[dev null]

My garage remodelling is coming along, but I must seriously get myself an SDS drill. A cordless 18V drill with hammer action just don't quite cut it to drill a hundred or so holes into brick. 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

My garage remodelling is coming along, but I must seriously get myself an SDS drill. A cordless 18V drill with hammer action just don't quite cut it to drill a hundred or so holes into brick.

Hire one from hire our tools or something. Couple of hundred bucks and you're sorted...