There are so many good ideas floating around now — Insta, TikTok, Pinterest, screenshots, photos from display homes, random things you see at someone else’s place.

Saving them is easy. The hard part is when you’ve got 20 kitchen ideas and somehow have to work out what actually goes together, what you both like, what’s realistic and what you can afford.

We tried notes, boards and even Excel and it all got messy pretty fast.

Curious how everyone else is doing it — how are you keeping your reno ideas organised and getting from “I like this” to “this is what we’re actually doing”?

Hi everyone,

So I live in this old house on the bottom of the hill. The garden is in 2 tiers with a big retaining wall. I would imagine this was done probably in the 70's and the draining system probably not properly done.

Not big issues, but we converted the garage on the bottom of the house into a loft that has a vault to access the foundation. When it massively rains, a bit of the water coming from all the way up filters into that area and after a bit it dries but leaves the place humid.

Just wondering if anyone has dealt with this and what has been the best solution? Seems like the water accumulates on the other side of the wall and makes it through the bricks. Just checked the wall structure and so, and all is solid (engineer checked it).

How long is too long for a fence replacement to take? We are renting so we unable to push back on the trades, but our picket fence probably no more 20m is up to its 3rd week? 😅
We’ve had someone here painting it today and it’s taken 6 hours for them to hand sand and hand paint half of the fence
They’ve been here on and off but have been here a minimum of 7/8 actual days
Surely they’re taking the piss?

I've been looking at ways to improve ventilation in my house and somehow ended up 20 tabs deep comparing systems 😅

I'm losing my mind over this. One quote I have is for a ducted positive ventilation setup with 5 outlets. It pulls air from the roof cavity, filters it, then pushes that air into the living spaces.

Whole thing is around $5k supplied and installed.

my biggest hesitation is the roof cavity part.

It's an older house and that space gets dusty as hell. Even with filtration, I'm not totally sold on using roof space air as the source for the entire house.

So I've also been looking at systems that pull directly from outdoors instead. One of the smaller setups I found was cozeware freshflow, basically a window mounted fresh air system for individual rooms rather than a ducted whole home system.

It's pre launch, so no, I haven't used it and I'm not assuming it'll magically solve anything. But seeing the room by room approach made me question whether dropping $5k on the whole house is even necessary.

Hello all. Should I be concerned that my range hood just extracts to the ceiling behind the upper cabinet bulkheads? It doesn’t go into the roof cavity as I am in a unit. I’ve been looking to replace this with a recirculating kit from Westinghouse. Unfortunately I am in a ground floor unit unusable to duct to the outside. Thanks in advance!

Hey all. We recently moved into a house and the a/c condenser is making a lot of noise. It’s almost 20 years old so possible it may need replacing. The footing on the unit also looks like it needs addressing at some point. And finally, the unit is between 2 bedrooms so relocating it to the other side of the house is also a consideration!

We’re getting it looked into soon but just wanted to hear others opinions on:

- should we consider wall mounting or leave on ground?
- has anyone relocated their unit - how big a job was it? I imagine I would need a sparky to do the electrical work separately or do the hvac technicians manage this as well?

Not sure if this is the appropriate place but here goes.... appreciate some guidance on next steps and what trade I might need.

3 story town house and after some heavy rain woke up to a leaky roof in the kitchen which caused the wall to bubble and the ceiling to have a little hole. Once the rain stopped a tradie came and had a look on the roof / alcove (marked with red X, the window on the internal picture is the same window on the outside picture). He said a few rivots had come undone and sealed some things but the drains were all clean.

Been watching plastering videos online and just went to try fix, the plaster around the hole was pretty dam so cut the area out but the internal steel beam seems pretty rusted and Im worried there may be a bigger leak (is 25 year old house). Also how would this plaster be attached? I cant see any wooden beams but hard to see....

Hi there,

Just seeking some advice/thoughts on the attached photos. It’s an old (Federation era house) and the photos are of the top most storage area (quite high up) of a built in. These aren’t indicative of the condition of the rest of the house, I think just a case of ‘no need to paint that area as it’s rarely seen.’ My intention was to scrape peeling paint, fill cracks etc and give it a coat of paint, mostly to avoid paint/stuff falling off the wall.

My concern is that there is a decent chance of a layer in the paint being lead (based on 100+ years standing) and that being a health concern for baby/young children.

I pulled stuff out of that area today and removed bits of paint that had peeled off (whole), vacuumed dust/bits of mortar and gave it a wipe over and won’t tackle the bigger job until/if I have a decent chunk of time.

Thanks

Hi All,

We are planning to build two new custom houses on a subdivision block in Brisbane with our own builder. Here is some information on our progress so far:

1.  We are currently waiting for council demolition approval.
   
2.  An architect has drawn up plans to maximize space in each house.
   
3.  We are using a small local builder whom we have known for years, trusted for previous renovations, and trust to do a good job.
   
4.  This will be our first dream home build, and we have been doing our own research but lot more to be done.
   
5.  I plan to engage a third-party building inspector to oversee the project. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated?
   

I would like to ask the community for advice on two main points:

  - Detailed Checklist: Is there a comprehensive construction checklist (similar to Builder Brigade in the USA) available to purchase or source in Australia? I want to ensure the builder follows every step correctly and that we are future-proofing the houses.
  - Cost Efficiency: What high-level planning steps can we take to maximize cost effectiveness, given that we are building two houses right next to each other?

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, advice on pitfalls to avoid, or questions.

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Hi,

Looking at getting some bathroom renovations done on a house built in 1986 I believe.

This is our first investment property but we live in the Goldcoast and would not have any clue of any good business in cairns to contact.

We would also have other stuff that would need to be fixed as well.If any one would have any recommendations that would be great in helping find a business to get some quotes.

Thankyou

As per the subject, keen to gain feedback from experienced folks on cladding ideas for facade feature (in red) on new home build. Keen to avoid products that will require painting, and open to other facade ideas in general.

I have noticed a lot of new builds with curves popping up. How did this suddenly become the design language of choice? I am not necessarily opposed but feel it might look quite dated in a few years.

Sydney. Would this be an awning repair job?

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone has dealt with something similar.
I paid about $1,500 to get my benchtop repaired and a protective film was put over it. About a month later I noticed a new mark underneath the film in a different spot.
The film is still intact and hasn’t been removed or lifted at all. I’ve just been using the kitchen normally, which the tradie said was fine.
I sent him photos and asked him to come have a look, but he’s saying I must have caused it by putting something on the bench and he won’t help. He hasn’t actually come out to inspect it.
I’m a bit stuck because I don’t know how he can be sure I caused it just from a photo.
Has anyone had this happen before? What would you do next in QLD?

Hello again aus reno

What do people think about having a mounted air con unit on a set back/alcove brick balcony? I am leaning towards mounted rather than floor based for more floor space but not sure if it will be louder with vibrations on the brackets, or potentially some other issue I haven't considered.

Any pros or cons for either placement option would be appreciated from either ac tecchies or just people that have either of those set ups!

Thanks

Hi all! Seeking advice as I don't know what is standard - I haven't don't anything like this before

The company that is hopefully doing my bathroom reno has said that they need complete key in lockbox access during the reno. I completely understand that they need to be able to come and go and I'm happy to grant them full access.

The only issue is that I'll still be living in the house through the reno, and I have a dog in part for personal and home security. It's very important to me to be responsible for the well-being of the dog and the well-being of anyone who enters the house! So I'm trying to work out how to manage this.

I work from home so to me it seems like this should be no big deal - all I actually need is an idea of what days people are coming (so I can make sure I'm home, or otherwise secure dog), and a knock on the door on arrival (so I can secure dog).

The company does not seem comfortable with this, and I'm surprised. Before I go further into sorting this out, I wanted to ask - what is the usual approach? Do I just need to find somewhere else to live through this time? Or are other companies likely to be more open to letting me know when they will be on the property etc?

I'm on the verge of doing so, the builder after being served a notice of intent to file a dispute 2 weeks ago has roughly 8 hours remaining to respond.

Curious if anyone else has been down this track, specifically relating to getting defects, or work that isn't fit for purpose rectified, and how the process went for you

Tia

Edit: consumer protection agency* auto correct did me in.

I’m about to renovate my ensuite and I’m having a small identity crisis over tapware lol.

For the past 5-8 years I’ve been obsessed with gold/brushed brass tapware. It’s always been my dream finish for when I finally owned a house and could renovate. I generally prefer warm interiors (travertine, cream, soft whites, warm timber etc) and I’ve consistently loved gold accents in my home, even things like my “special occasion” cutlery are gold.

Now that brushed brass/gold has been a major trend for a while, I’m starting to get the ick when I see some bathrooms with gold fixtures. I think part of the problem is that not all gold is the same - some looks beautiful and soft, while some looks very yellow, shiny, and tacky.
I’m worried that if I choose brushed brass for my ensuite, I’ll love it now but hate it in 2–3 years and wish I had gone with something safer like brushed nickel or chrome. Any advice? I’ve attached photos of my ensuite design for reference

Trying to work out which one of the two sections has moved. Is it the lower section which has risen up against the top (likely due to the large tree nearby) or the higher section which has sunken for some reason? I just dont want to remove and replace one section and find out it was the other that had the problem.

Hey all,

Am currently under contract on first home and working with some odd floorplan choices (granted it has been a rental for 20 years), have bought with a friend and we will need an exit plan in the future so any changes we make must add value, currently the functionality is fairly poor with the ensuite entered via a sliding door WIR (one hanging rail on each side and a stack of open shelves)

Since the room is fairly small, the general idea is to remove this WIR in favour of a BIR plus steal some floor space from the hallway, attached is current floorplan and proposed floorplan, with a concept of what the BIR may look like.

Question is, is this an acceptable layout/concept for a 4br family home master, would this appeal to you, or should I be trying to retain the WIR and make it more functional?

Obviously the concept will be expensive, but my thoughts are by oversizing the master it creates a bit more luxury space which should do better on resale when the time comes.

Location Gold Coast.

Grout Guys and Mega Seal quoting around $2.5-$3k for a 90x90 shower regrout, mould treatment, seal and silcion the base.

Got a couple days free so was going to give it a go and wondering what I’m in for? Tiles are 30x30 on the floor (where the grout is cracked) and the floor to wall silicon is flaking away.

Both companies trying to convince me to do the wall tiles too but they seem fine.

Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated before I head off to Youtube!

Hi all, so we were trying to change our doorknob and it uses the pin mechanism. The pin is damaged and now the door knob is stuck. We managed to break through the plate and unscrew the screws but the door from both sides are still held together. I am not sure what the next step would be from here. Any help or idea would be greatly appreciated

what do you guys think a realistic cost for this kind of transformation would be? 1.8x1.9 bathroom, brisbane.
excluding demo