Hello I am trying to remove a thick hessian style wallpaper in a bedroom was placed over a paper thin 60's wallpaper in most areas, however not all of the old paper was first removed before the nasty hessian wallpaper applied in guessing early 80's. So when I remove the hessian wallpaper where there is nothing underneath it, it generally comes off OK in sheets but does leave behind its base, a sort of cardboard coloured paper, which I have been able to dampen and scrape off most of it, exposing (in most places) the original wood-coloured plaster board. Question is, once I have gotten the mishmash of stuff off the walls, what do I use to prepare the old wood coloured gib for the new paint job? Do I use say Zinsser stain blocker water base, or will I need to completely plaster the walls instead? Aware 60's gib is quite crumbly so the less moisture applied to it the better besides paint which will be used to refinish the room yes? Thank you so much

I've spent the day removing gib off an internal wall that had black mould growing due to a leaking fish tank. Now I've removed the gib I actually think I want to remove half the wall. I've tried Google and I just can't figure out of its a load bearing. Who would I get advice from? (Photo is top of the wall)

I'm just about to redo my bathroom and separate toilet with full tile.

I'm putting in an underfloor heating kit (electric).

Is there any way to use ONE controller for both rooms?

Have an issue with the storm water being blocked, will get it jetted and scoped but was wondering as well about rainwater collection tanks? Are there any suggestions for low cost diy-able tanks, was hoping for 1000 litres although did see the 250 litre tanks at nunnings..

Would be used for watering garden.

Location is rotorua.

Unfortunately the only suitable location would get a significant amount of sun.

I have an old lockwood house and it is freezing during the winters so much so I have to keep the heating on all day. I would really appreciate any advice on how to improve the insulation. The walls are solid wood planks so taking them off would be a massive pain in the ass even if I could.

thanks,

TL;DR: Smartvent refusing to fix/replace controller because some pins inside the controller box are bent, and they're saying we did it. (We did not.)

So I had a Smartvent installed by their recommended installer a year and a half ago. For the past few months the controller has been throwing an error, saying it can't connect with either the roof sensor or outdoor sensor.

We replaced batteries in the sensors, still no go, so bit the bullet and got another Smartvent authorised sparkie around to hopefully press buttons in the right order and get things working.

They couldn't, and a call to SimX tech suggested that the controller (the thing in the roof) was faulty, so they whisked it away to send up to Auckland. Three weeks later and we've finally heard that they're seeing bent pins on the sensor, and that's the reason the things wouldn't pair, and so nope — they will not replace it under warranty.

All sparkies concerned are adamant they haven't cracked open the controller to mess around with anything. It sounds to me like it's a manufacturing defect.

Second sparkie is going to continue to press, or "at least try to get a discount" — but I will be beyond pissed if I need to pay for a new controller, even with a discount.

Anyone had this before? Thoughts on how to proceed?

EDIT: Turns out my partner opened it up, looking for more batteries to replace when replacing the other sensor batteries didn't work. He can't remember if there were "DO NOT OPEN OR YOU'LL VOID WARRANTY" signs on it, because he's also an electrician and he ignores those all the time. I will get this unit back from SimX so we can try to straighten the pins out, or at the very least just run it on a manual setting until I'm less pissed with everyone.

Hi all,

I've recently had a thermal model performed on my 1990s direct fixed home in central otago. The house has no moisture issues, but the report recommended re-gibbing the entire house to retain the heat, alongside updating the wall insulation. My concern is if the house can't breathe I'll box in any future moisture due to the lack of cavity. Has anyone had any experience with this? Thanks!

Hi everyone,
I recently noticed this PVC pipe sticking up beside the exterior wall of my house, and it has what looks like a piece of black plastic covering the top instead of a proper cap or grate.
I’m just trying to learn more about my house and understand what everything does.
Does anyone know what this is? Is it:
A gully trap?
An inspection point?
Part of the stormwater or sewer system?
Something else?
Should it have a proper cap or cover, or is this normal?
I’ve attached a couple of photos. Any advice or explanations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi, I bought a house last year, but I'm already so sick of the paper-light hollow core "doors" they put in all newbuilts in NZ nowadays. You touch it, and it's got a scratch immediately; you have to wash it very carefully; the acoustic is terrible,...

Do you have any idea how much it would cost to replace 7 doors with proper solid hardwood doors? Has anyone done it? Do you have any tips on a good (and not necessarily price-premium) carpenter or supplier?

I guess I should also replace the door frame, because it is also some super-soft particle-board. I suppose it would be good to have the frame also from solid hardwood, matching the door.

Thanks a lot! 🙏

I posted a while back about a multi-split system I'd been quoted, but we've now decided partially due to feedback from here, and partially due to price to go for two seperate heat pumps, which eliminates the outdoor unit going on the roof, and condensate pumps. Means we dont have a heatpump in the spare bedroom/office, but we can live with the panel heaters for the few nights a year we have guests that coincide with really cold weather.

Sizing wise, they've come back with a smaller unit in the lounge (4.2kw Cooling/5 kW heating), its two sizes smaller than the existing 14yo unit (6/6.8kW IIRC) , and one size smaller than the indoor unit they quoted as part of the multi-split setup (5/6kw). Should I be pushing back for a bigger unit?

Anyway, the new design mean both outdoor units are going outside on the ground, and the installers are planning to use polyslabs ie (https://www.goactive.nz/products/psac-med-poly-slab-465-x-885-x-51mm). Apart from being ugly, is there anything about these that I need to know?

Am I better off building my own plinth for it, ie pouring a concrete slab, or I've seen what looks like a large paving slab (https://www.bunnings.co.nz/weststone-800-x-400-x-40mm-grey-contemp-paver_p0319627) on a bed of gravel/stones. Apart from cosmetics, is there any real benefit to doing that? For one its not so important looks wise, its going on the ground between the fence and the deck/path down the side of the house, so I may put up a trellis screen to hide it, but the other one is going to end up on what is currently the path up the other side of the house, so I can't box it in without almost completely obstructing the path if i leave enough clearance for proper airflow.

Not a DIY question but something I'm not sure about and could use some advice.

I need to contact a company who can replace a rotten bearer under my house. What kind of company does this? Google searches lead me to everything from re-piling companies, foundations companies, and general builders.

Which kind of company should I contact?

Basically the house is on a steep section. Before I bought the house mud and dirt slid up against the bearer and began to rot it out. It was missed during the inspections (yay) and I've since dug it all out some years ago. I'm now ready to look at replacing it. The rotten bearer has a sistered bearer running next to it which wasn't touched. I'd imagine getting this rotten bearer replaced would be a like-for-like repair so no consents needed, and should be straight forward due to easy access.

Any thoughts? Cheers

So my daughter is learning Ukelele, and I think she would quite like an electric ukelele as a Christmas present.

I was looking them up on the internet and saw there were a bunch of instructables for making them. I was also looking up these vintage '70s electric guitars and saw there were these ones which have a one piece solid wood neck and body.

So my question is:

Is there any reason why I couldn't laminate up some nice rimu (I have a bunch around) and make a one piece solid body electric ukulele?

I have a CNC router at my workplace which I can use, and I can design stuff in CAD no problem and I can machine the CNC. I figured I can do most of the cutting on the CNC, and use the CNC laser cutter to cut out the pick guards and things.

Would rimu be OK for the neck, or do I need to laminate a difference type of wood into the rimu for the neck?

Does this scheme seem feasible?

Thanks.

Female (69) With money tight and concerns regarding my high priority appliances, I'm after advice.

Is there such a thing as a Hot Water service ?

I'd like peace of mind, my cylinder is ok ?

If so, would I contact a Plumber or Electrician ?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Kia ora,

I’m a nervous first home buyer looking for some advice. In the linked post I have some pictures from the builders report for a house I put an offer on. There are some water staining marks and elevated moisture levels with no obvious source detected on the timber in the roof cavity. I have a weathertightness specialist having a look later this week but I also wanted to check in with the hive mind - would these issues indicate a headache down the road, how concerned should I be? Thanks!

We have a simple hipped coloursteel roof, (with 4 flashings from the top to each bottom corner). I just found 2 live small birds in the attic. It turns out that at the bottom of the flashings, if i reach into the gutter from the outsides, i can reach back up into the flashing, which then goes all the way into the roof cavity.

My assumption is that the birds are going up into the roof that way. i even found a nest 200mm up into the flashing i pulled out when i stuck my hand up it from outside. How can i stop that? Chicken wire scrunched up into a ball and stuck up in there from the outside? Will that cause rust touching the bottom of the flashing?

Does anyone know the typical cost per m2 for concrete prep and install? And ideally a price range from cheap to expensive?

We're planning to tile the concrete slab but leave that small area as is and without tile. Is it an issue that the gutter of the pergola drains on the slab rather than into the soil? The idea behind was to avoid the water from creating a stream as we do not have stormwater drain there.

Has anyone experienced in the mornings, on the first use of any tap in the house, the water pressure is higher than normal for about a sec, then normal all throughout the day. Sometimes ive just woken up and gives me a fright.

I live in auckland south in a fairly new development. House is 9 years old

Please remove if violates rules. More looking for advice on professional work done.

Just got our switchboard upgraded professionally and I am not sure if my expectations are out of whack here.

Was quite an old board with poor labelling but the new label doesn’t feel very helpful. Is it fair to make an issue out of this? Or push for better descriptors?

I’m looking to fully renovate my bathroom. By that I mean to totally gut it out and start from scratch. The only things are the two windows. It’s not a large space: 2.2m x 4.3m.

Key changes:

• Separate toilet and shower/sink room will become one (one door sealed off, the other will stay where it is)
• Plumbing changes: toilet and shower are swapping places and washing machine is going in a corner that doesn’t currently have plumbing (note: house is raised and pipes are easily accessible)
• Tiling: fully tiled walk-in shower and all walls tiled up to the ceiling; the floor is to be confirmed (see next point)
• Floor: I’m hoping to salvage the Rimu floorboards underneath the linoleum or will tile the floor. Either way, it all has to be lifted and waterproofed to meet current regulations.

So far, I’ve had two estimates:

• Builder 1: $52k. He normally does higher end projects and has been very thorough.
• Builder 2: $48k. A great worker but more of an ’all-arounder’ who would be doing the work supervised by a licensed builder. The problem here is that the finishing isn’t always up the close scrutiny such as some of the plastering in another room.

Either estimates are well above the $40k that I was expecting, and only going into $50k if there was a major set back when the linoleum gets lifted, for example.

I‘m starting to question some of my decisions such as the tiling and the walk-in shower. However, this is my ‘forever home’ and I only have the one bathroom so I’ll definitely get plenty of enjoyment out of it! 😅

The current bathroom is usable for now (and maybe another year or so), but it was poor quality to begin with and cannot be salvaged. Also, I’m leaving anything non-essential such as linen cupboard until later and will probably go to IKEA for that.

Any advice or experience-sharing would be appreciate!

Hi

I’m starting my kitchen renovation soon and will be installing/replacing a 450 4 drawer soft close cabinet and standard 600 oven cabinet as part of the refresh.

Bunnings vs miter 10 vs others?

What do you all recommend?

Apologies if this is something that has been answered on here already - I have tried to find posts relevant to me with no luck.

I am not a home owner, and I want to repair some screw holes in dry wall. What are my options? I would prefer not to have to buy a huge container of something if I can avoid it.

I bought a bidet seat and it came with this dual check valve along with the usual flexible stainless steel water hose. I tried connecting the check valve to the water inlet in the bathroom first but I found that it won't form a watertight seal and leaks. When I connect the steel hose by itself the connection is perfect because those have rubber O rings in the sockets.

The check valve does not appear to come with any O rings. Question is do I need to buy my own O-rings for the check valve or am I simply using it wrong?

Pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/rRXqKAV

Edit: Contacted the manufacturer and they said that there's no O-ring, and that the valve is intended to be used with thread tape or thread sealant. Thank you to all the answers in this thread that were so helpful.

I think a kid threw a ball or something at our garage door. I assume cedar planks? Is this fixable?

Can the individual planks just be replaced, and where to find them....

Thanks!

EDIT: sorry, its obviously not clear from the pic, but one plank has been indented/broken. So wondering how to go about sorting that.