[Giddaymate]

Hi rc,
If it was me I would use non slip floor tiles on your Stoop, especially if you have stairs leading up to your stoop. Pavers or stone can raise the height of you stoop to high and you can end up tripping on the last step. Tiles are a lot thinner than pavers so you wont have that problem.

Also it would look great if you choose tiles that complement your 1920’s resident. If you like the look of terracotta pavers you can buy floor tiles that give you the same look.

Below are some sites to give you idea’s on what style of tile to look at. Plus have fun doing it and to get really creative with colours and tile patterns.

http://www.handcrafttile.com/StairpageThano.shtml

http://www.idealtile.com/EternityNavalEnlg.htm

http://www.handcrafttile.com/Floorpage_Reception.shtml

Regards Noelene

from Sydney Downunder

[Giddaymate]

Hi
Check out these sites. They sell pre-made bull nose corner blocks.

http://www.trim-tex.com/installation/951install.htm

http://www.woodgrid.com/images/corner3.gif

Or you could buy just one of them and that will give you a good template to follow.

regards from Noelene

[Giddaymate]

Hi Linden
How is the house renovations going? I have been doing diy work on my house for what feels like I started centuries ago, when I finish one job there aways seem to be another one to start.

I remembered seeing your post on ventilating a room in the middle of your home and had an after thought, that you could replace the old room door for new louvered door and face the door so can’t see into the room but the person in the room can see out.

The good thing with louvered doors is they let air pass though them and give you privacy.

http://www.extraordinarydoors.com/images/door16.jpg

Hope this idea helps you out

regards Noelene

from Sydney Downunder

[Giddaymate]

Hi Rodo01,
There is no need to allow a gap between the sheets of drywall for expansion. The factory edge on the drywall which is beveled is meant to be butted together. They call this “butt-joint.”

Speaking from my own experience I found it better to use drywall screws than drywall nails. There is less chance of movement against the wall if you lean on it.

When I used drywall nails on one of my walls after a while I noticed the nails pushing out the drywall filler and you could see it quiet clearly so then had to replace the nails for screws.

If you decide to use nails buy some liquid nails and squeezes some on each stud about 30cm apart so the drywall will stick the stud and you wont get any movement like I did.

This site below is worth taking a look at.

http://www.hometime.com/Howto/projects/drywall/drwl_4.htm

Hope this helps you out

regards from Noelene

[Giddaymate]

Hi Sue,
It’s not hard to tile over your old tiles as long the existing tiles are soundly bonded to the wall. Tiling over tiles is a very common thing to do.

I did it in my kitchen and it looks great. Because you’re tiling over old tiles the new tiles sit out a little bit so when you come to the top row halfway up the bathroom wall take the top row slightly higher than the old tiles and back fill it with grout. When you do that, all it looks like is that you used a slightly thicker tile when in fact it tile over tile.

If you are not sure that you are going to like the thicker look you can add a row of boarder tiles to the top row. When you buy the tiles let them know you are tiling over tile and they will sell you the correct adhesive

Hope this is helpful for you.

Regards from Noelene .

[Giddaymate]

Hi Linden,
Fill the gaps using Shoe Moulding. The sites below will show you how they work.

http://www.woodfloorsonline.com/techtalk/moldings.html
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/h00036.asp
http://www.easy2diy.com/cm/easy/diy_ht_index.asp?page_id=35720328

Regards Noelene

[Giddaymate]

Hi,
I hired a drum sander to redo my floor bourds here where I live now and the last place I owned. And I found I had no problems using that type of sander. I also hired an edge sander to get right up close to the baseboards and used a triangular sander for the corners.

http://www.americansanders.com/Products.php?Brand=Sanders&Pro=80
http://www.americansanders.com/Products.php?Brand=Sanders&Cat=11
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.aspx?itemnumber=G9907

regards Noelene
from Sydney Downunder

[Giddaymate]

Hi Danni
First start off in the corner, pull back a section of the carpet using pliers. Then release the rest of the carpet from the tack strips. Then start cutting the carpet into sections of about 1 metre square using a utility knife to make it easier to remove.

If there is carpet underlay remove it the same way. If it’s been stapled down the easiest way I find to remove the staples is pop the staples up using a 3 mm chisel or a screw driverto get under and lift the staples, then pull the staples out with pliers, If it’s glue down use mineral spirits to soften the glue and a paint scrapper.

To remove the tack strips pry them up with a pry bar but be careful they are very sharp and can easily hurt you. When you have removed the carpet and underlay you may need to give it a light sanding to make it smooth for tiling.

To remove the urine smell go to the Vet or an Animal Hospital and buy either urine-off or Urine Gone. Both of these products contain an enzyme that dissolve’s the uric acid crystals that’s in urine. It’s the uric acid crystals in urine that cause the smell and stains on things.
http://www.urinegone.com/
http://www.urine-off.com/

regards from Noelene

[Giddaymate]

Hi,
I wouldn’t recommend using propane torch to strip paint of your timber kitchen cabinets because you run the risk of burning the timber.

There are other ways to remove paint from timber.

1. Heat Gun
2. Paint Stripper
3. Dip and Strip
4. Sanding

If there is a chance there is lead in the paint the safest and by far the easiest way to remove the paint is to take the kitchen cabinets to a firm that dips the timber into a large tub of paint stripper and removes all of the paint.

Using a heat gun can be good but it depends on the type of paint pervasively used. Some types of paint seem to melt and go sticky like glue and is impossible to remove and others come of no problem at all.

Paint stripper can get very messy and burn your skin if you are not careful but it does work and sanding can take hours to finish.

Here is a site that shows you before and after photos of Dip and Strip method.

http://www.dipnstrip.com.au/beforeafter.html

Regards from Noelene

[Giddaymate]

Hi Jasper,
Hope you’re up and about soon and look forward for your return so we can have a few more laughs at some of the silly things I ask.

Take care Jasper
From your Aussie Mate Noelene

[Giddaymate]

Hi ginny15,
Before the concrete is poured take a look to see if the concrete slab is going to cover any sub floor ventilation vents or any other type of wall vents. If so keep in mind you will need to put some new vents in somewhere else nearby.

Below are 3 sites showing form work and concrete pouring.
http://gardens.intonowhere.com/journal/new_patio.html
http://www.hanfordreadymix.com/photos/Forming-1.jpg
http://www.pouring-concrete-form-cement-slabs.com/

If it a large concrete slab you are having poured it should have steel reinforcing placed in it for strength as seen in 2 of the 3 sites.

regards from Noelene

[Giddaymate]

Hi Riverhawk,

I hope to install the velux Sun Tunnel this week if the weather holds out. First the weather has been was to hot to get on the roof. So hot I could cook an egg on it to go with my tater tots.

Now is keeps raining on the coast where I live. Sadly not in our Dam where we need it.

Thanks mate for your reply.

regards from Noelene

[Giddaymate]

Hi Jasper,

When I read what riverhawk wrote.
“you need to put tater tots on your roof ….probably the last several inches should do..”
I thought.. GREAT… riverhawk maybe onto something here, then when I saw what tater tots where I kept thinking riverhawk must have spelt it wrong.

Then I kept on thinking how funny it would look if I cooked a batch of Tater Tots, and as I’m climbing the ladder I would first have to fend off my 3 kids, then when I got on the roof I would need a tennis racket to fight off the birds and if it happened to rain hard watching all these Tater Tots land on my neighbors roof.

Signing off with what a very popular Australian female comedian would say, using a very strong Greek accent.

“How Embarrassment”

PS. we call Tater Tots, Potatoe Gems made by Birds Eye

[Giddaymate]

Hi Riverhawk,
I have the same problem as Unregistered-Bill and would like to slow the water flow to stop it overshooting the gutter. I looked up tater tots to see what they look like so I could buy some but this is what I found…….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tater_Tots

I know this is not what you meant. Can you please give me more details as to what they are and look like.

Regards from Noelene

[Giddaymate]

Hi Joanna,
Cinder block walls look ok in basements and garages but look awful in bedrooms and living rooms. I don’t blame you for looking for ideas on what to do with the walls.

These are some of the things I would think about doing if I had cinder block walls.

1. Place drywall over the blocks.
2. Cement rendering or cement bagging
3. Tile the walls

Drywall is not hard the install, but when I did it I needed someone to help me hold the sheets of drywall because they were too large for me to manage by myself.
I found a site were someone else covered there wall with drywall.

http://www.wendychao.com/chaohaus/brick.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4143_hang-drywall-wall.html

Cement rendering or cement bagging looks great but it takes a bit of practice to get the correct application on the wall. Bagging involves using a piece of folded wet hessian/hession with water to give an effect on the wall while you are applying the cement. Bagging walls is very popular here in Australia. To see how it’s done go to the site below and click on (I Accept)

http://www.mitre10.com.au/mitreplans/view.aspx?id=59&catid=4

The other thing to do is tile your walls. Your living room would especially look good if you did that to make it a feature wall. Some of the things you could use are Slate or Stone Veneer.

http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2004/03/11/110830/OSP_Feature_Wall.jpg

http://www.karrathastone.com.au/vertfinishes/1.html

Hope this helps you out

Regards from Noelene

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