Forum Replies Created
Hi Red_Rogue,
Currently in the middle of converting a games room into part of the lounge room. At the moment its two rooms about 5x4m each (lounge and games) with access to the games only via going out into the courtyard and through another door.
Our place looks like a complete bombsite due to demo of double brick walls, raising lintels, installing glass sliding doors, plastering, painting and floorboards! Only repairs in this lot are those that I have make after stuffing up a job myself, so far so good!
House valued $650k
Cost of work $5k max
New valuation – will have to wait and see!!House bought originally for $360k so pretty good increase in value mostly through land value (Perth skyrocket!!) but have also built a huge deck, paved, grassed, painted, floorboards and new fence. Did everything myself so no labour costs and material cost around $10k.
Pretty happy all in all!
I know what you mean!! Think you should be safe with a ground floor unit!
Hey Doondoon,
I am a big advocate of floor boards but it may be a good idea to first check with the strata body. I was renting a place a while back which had wooden floors and apparantly the owner went through hell with the owner of the place underneath due to noise. In the end they could keep the timber floor but they almost went to court over it.
Just something I would check before you install!
Hey Hihopes,
Am sure this could be a potentially hot topic!
I know what you mean, I am the partner in this respect who pays the support and it can be a killer. I use the CSA formula for the simple reason that we would not be able to agree what is fair and reasonable. Like your situation, the ex would quite happily take 100% and feels the formula is unfair. I pay the ammount willingly as I want to support my kids as best as I can but supporting two families (now remarried) is hard, both on me and my new wife.
I havn’t ventured down the investment path as far as you but so far the names on documents are seperate in our case. We prefer to keep extraordinary items in her name. This takes significant trust on both our parts as I believe she would take all if we seperated but then she would liable for those as well. We actually don’t have much anyway but will change in the near future.
I truly hate the family court as I have found it to be extremely biased but unfortunately in some circumstances, this is the only option. As for financial advice, I have a financial planner who is sympathetic, understanding and realistic so maybe a good start for you. You could talk to family lawyers but can be expensive. The free legal services can be ok but limited in their advice.
Anywho, hope this may be of some assistance and good luck!
I have been using one called Sketchup which I find ok. It’s basically a 3D application and takes a bit to get into but like everything, once you get into it, becomes easier. I have used it to make up potential improvements to my place.
Just got an update yesterday and they have put a free version affiliated with Google on the net. They also can link with Google-Earth which is an interesting twist but havn’t tried that yet.
worth a look!
Hey DD,
As this one looks like a PPOR, I don’t think this applies unless it is classified as a home office for deduction purposes!
As for other comments, I agree with not going down the laminate path for a PPOR. I did mine and regret the decision.
cheers
Jan
Hi Jessica,
Lots of “depends on’s” with this question. First of all, is it an IP or PPOR? This may determine what quality and maintrenance you will require. Second, what sort of budget? Third, how handy are you on the tools?
There are many choices, all have pros and cons. You could go, solid timber planking, bamboo strip style, laminate, vinyl etc. The solid timber, unless you are pretty handy, would suggest you get someone in. Laminate is pretty simple to do and is hard wearing, vinyl – don’t know but probably professional for the best result.
In terms of product, solid timber boards look fantastic but will require maintenance. Laminate can look ok, don’t require much maintenance but can look cheap. Have seen some great jobs with vinyl but will come down to personal choice.
As for costs, Dave mentioned $60 per meter for timber which is probably about right. Laminate can be sourced for about $15 to $35 per meter and vinyl, don’t know.
hoper this helps.
Jan
Hey CD, we did ours in Jamie Durie style, bright blue. Goes well with a semi tropical style!!
Hi Mal,
That technique also applies to painting brickwork! Both bricks and cement sheeting are thirsty and I believe the wetting before painting reduces the amount of pain you require, as well as getting rid of any dust from the surface. Not sure about applying a thin coat after wetting but do know it is a common practice!
Jan
Amazing what a few beers and snags can do!!
No reason in particular for the thatch, personally not a fan of the look.
Off the top of my head, used the following:
Timber decking used Indonesian Hardwood called Balau and sourced from Perth Timber in Forrestfield (owner by the name of Brett was helpful),
Paving used Blok Pave and bought seconds quite cheaply (Not too concerned about seconds as it was all pedestrian traffic only and chucked the ones of poor quality),
Bamboo screening – went to both WA Salvage and Spotlight, pretty cheap.
Plants – Mostly from Trees-A-Green in Wattle Grove but got Agapanthas from a verge pickup and family – gotta love the freebies!!
Timber Sleepers – Gunns in Welshpool, these were Jarrah seconds and so-so in quality but perfect for what I needed.
Grass – WA Turf Supplier (I think) and went for Winter Green but in hindsight would wait for Buffalo.
Sand, topsoil and mulch just went to Soils Aint Soils but could probably find cheaper as I did it by the trailer load.
Corrugated Sheeting – Used this as garden beds using steel pipe for uprights. Sounds a bit funny but looks great. That was my wifes initiative and I was pretty impressed!
Apart from that, Bunnings were a constant source of odds and sods but wouldn’t go there for anything major aside from cheap tools.Think I have some before and after shots at home so will email them over.
Got to agree with all of the above. Done floors myself and Scott, have put a belt sander through a wall myself!!!!! Admitedly, not my fault as the handle was faulty from the hire mob but I looked pretty funny standing there with the handle is my hand looking through a hole in the wall!
This is one area where the professionals should be called in. For the time, effort and finish, these guys do it every day and the cost is not that much more!
Apart from the thatch, sounds like what I did in my backyard.
Built a low deck, bamboo over the aesbestos sheeting, tropical plants, paving and timber sleepers. Designed it myself and took about 12 months of doing it on weekends but the old sand patch now looks pretty good now. I,m in WA as well so can tell you where I bought materials if it helps.
How big is the space and whats your budget?
Hi Ben,
When I completed my Engineering degree, I was looking at interesting and unusal topics for my thesis. One that I scrapped is as follows and you will see for obvious reasons. I was watching The Sopranos and got to thinking about Mobsters tendancies to hide bodies in mass concrete footings during construction. I got to thinking from an Engineering perspective, what effect would this have on the strength of the concrete and are building over in Chicago etc likely to be impaired.
Ultimately, I went on to do my thesis on Demand Management Strategies for water supply, predominantly in greywater reuse. Not as cool a topic but ultimately a lot more palatable!!
I still think water supply alternatives to the residential market is something which deserves more attention. Maybe a topic on retrofitting water conservation mechanisms to existing residential properties.
Hey Paris,
The only reason I have any vague idea about this is because I work as an Engineer for a reinforcing supplier. I would think this really is an unusal case for investing so don’t be too hard on yourself!
What have you decided? Going to go for it or not?
Hi Paris,
Ok, a well bonded topping probably means you will have to scabble the concrete surface (roughen it up so you can get a good connection). Normally for a topping you would use a self levelling cement mix like Ardit.
What he is trying to achieve is increasing the cover of concrete so that moisture won’t get to the reinforcing as concrete is porous. All seems to make sense and believe it should solve the problem
Not sure on costs to do this but your builder should be able to give a guesstimate.
Hey Paris,
My immediate reaction would be it spells trouble. If th reinforcing was exposed through polishing it could throw into question how much concrete cover they provided to begin with, and when they polished how much concrete did they take off. Also, how long ago did they do the polishing?
Failure of reinforced concrete can occur when moisture has access to the steel. This in turn rusts the steel and reduces it strength over time. Can also cause concrete to spall (pops out blocks of concrete causing craters.)
Like I said, immediate thought would be concern, however having said that, I would have to see it first. Sorry, based in Perth so bit of a long haul to check it out. A builder should be able to give you a quick assessment.
As for the current rust, not a big issue as the brown residue dosn’t sound structural. Can certainly lead to more strucutal issues though.
Hi Paris,
Can you give me a few more facts. Is it internal or external (balcony or inside the unit), is ist exposed because concrete is missing, ie a crater in the concrete so the reinforcing is exposed. How rusty are we talking about, a bit of brown flakey dust or is the steel pitted (looks like the steel has been eaten)? What City are you in out of curiosity?
All depends on circumstances really. If the cover to reinforcement was inadequate and the concrete is spalling, could have an issue but hard to say without more info.
If you don’t consider strata bylaws and the like, why would this issue be any different from tenants with pets? Same deal effectively, smell throughout and degredation of the property as a conequence. [cigar]
Hey Wayne,
Where in the Northern Suburbs are we talking? How steep is the block and any idea of what type of ground conditions? I assume its going to partly sand, partly limestone but could be wrong depending on the slope and area.
As for septic, any plans for the area to connect to sewer in the near future?
Personally, I love the sloping blocks and if I can offer any assistance, let me know or PM me.
cheers
Jan
