hi Paul, yes you can use spray cans, but you have put a second coat on in a certain amount of time if needed, remember to shake the can.


hi CMF, great to have you on this post, is it for brick, timber or hardiplank, please let me know. Geoff.

Hi Geoff,

i used it for my metal letterbox. It sits in my picket fence and was a different colour so I was advised to buy this tin of liquid which adheres the paint to the metal. Guess you could use it for gutters, roves and spouting too.

Cmf

hi CMF, to be honest, I don't know, maybe it could be PVA, I would ask the paint store, but please let me know. Geoff.

Hi Geoff,

I would love to hear your tips on repainting a weatherboard cottage, it's on our list to do this year.

Thanks heaps 🌻birdy

hi Birdy, I remember many years ago I got the contract to paint an old weatherboard house that hadn't been looked after for a long time, so I started sanding and scrapping the boards on the 4 walls, it took a lot of hard work, dollars on sandpaper and many days till I got to the point where it had to be washed down before I could start painting.

I went down to the paint store and hired their 'high pressured water cleaner' well what this did was take off more loose/bad paint than what I had scrapped off for many days, all in an instant, so instead of sanding scrapping for days on end, go and hire a high pressured water cleaner, all I needed it for was for half a day to go around the 4 walls plus the window frames.

It saved me time and money and only wish I knew this before I wasted days in the heat scrapping, sanding and getting sore knuckles.

Do you have to do the roof? Geoff.

Thanks Geoff, top tip 👍

The roof is only a couple of years old, so no.

There is a new fence that abutts the house, it's treated pine and was errcted about 6 months ago, is it ok to paint that yet or too early?

Thanks again Geoff 🌻birdy

hi Birdy, 6 months should be long enough so you can paint it, the wood needs time to dry out and you can tell by noticing any cracks in the timber.

You can always give it another coat after 2 hours or after winter, are you using fence paint or solid paint, that is the same colour as your house is or is going to be.

Fence paint will fade quicker than solid paint, but you can keep recoating it with a brush, roller or small spray gun.

Fence paint is cheaper and can be put on freely without much care in the world, while the solid paint is expensive and has to used carefully on a fence. Geoff.

Thanks so much Geoff for your great advice, i will use fence paint if they can tint it to match house.

Thanks again 🌻birdy

Hey Geoff

what is the right paint to use under the eaves.....just a flat white?...

I have no idea...any help would be appreciated and thankyou

hi Paul, nice to see you back, absolutely nothing else but flat paint, if you use any shiny paint all the undulation of the eaves will show and it looks terrible.

Do you have a broomstick you can attach to your roller, this saves you having to get up and down a ladder because that tires you out quicker than you would think.

Just screw the broom handle into the end of the roller, do this a few times so that it will form its own groove, then it won't make the roller fall off, then you can stand on the ground fill the roller with paint and paint the eaves on the ground, it's much quicker.

Good luck it doesn't matter if you are a rubber shovel, you can do it. Geoff.

Hi Geoff

I have a quick question. One of my doors isn’t latching properly each time. My hubby screwed a screw back in tighter but I think it only works it’s way loose again. I’m not really sure if it’s the handle bit or the bit on the door frame that’s wonky. I think I read somewhere years ago that I could hammer a match into the loose hole then screw the screw in again & it would be tighter. Would that work?

Just for your interest my hubby is/was a carpenter so that explains why nothing gets fixed here lol. He hammers screws in - can you believe??!!

No rush to reply Geoff. Thanks in advance, Lyn.

hi Lyn, the screws become loose because there is a problem with the door where it's sticking somewhere, although the sticking may have been rectified by weather conditions, such as in summer the timber dries out, making everything work, but in winter time the wood swells, which will make it difficult to close the door, putting pressure on the screws.

You can put a match into the hole so the screw will tighten up, that will work, but if the latch on the door won't connect with the hole in the door jamb, then you can do something else.

Have a look on the door jamb and see if there are any scratch marks on the door or on the door jamb and let me know if there are.

Put something on the door latch, like some butter, then try and close the door, see where the butter is on the door jamb and let me know.

Please let me know if you can't understand what I have said, sometimes it is difficult. Geoff.

Hi Geoff,

Thanks so much for your reply. There are scratches on the door latch & jamb. There are so many scratches the jamb is worn smooth. (The unit is about 30 years old). I checked all the doors & they’re all scratched to some extent but this one is the worst.

I did the butter test. I put it on the latch & shut the door & all the butter was on the door frame before it even got to the jamb part.

So Geoff I will await further instructions.

Thanks again,

Butter fingers, Lyn 😀

hi Lyn, when you try and shut the door is there a wide space between the door and the jamb at the top or the bottom, if there is then the bottom hinge can be packed out using cardboard.

Another query is whether all the doors have slowly been doing the same over a period of time, doors sticking, latches not going into the hole in the jamb and not been able to shut.

Are there any cracks in the ceiling or the cornices, what these are is when the wall goes up to the ceiling, sometimes if there are, then we may have to do a couple of other things.

To add to this what do you have on the floor beside carpet, lino, tiles, a floating floor, please let me know. Geoff.

Hi Geoff

Paragraph 1 - I’m not sure how to explain this one. I think the answer is no. But my hubby (God bless his little cotton socks!) has just shown me that when you close the door, the door hits the back of the frame before it’s fully into the jamb. So because it’s not fully caught in the jamb it often pops back open again. I asked him how to fix that & he said maybe you can move the jamb forward a bit but .... blah, blah, blah (that’s code for he’s not going to do that lol!).

Paragraph 2 - no the other doors seem fine.

Paragraph 3 - no cracks in the ceiling or cornices

Paragraph 4 - ceramic tiles on one side of the door; carpet on the other. No rugs, mats or anything.

I don’t know if any of that helps Geoff. Please don’t feel obliged to keep answering. Look after yourself first & foremost. I’ll miss seeing you around but I’ll imagine you enjoying your life with new & interesting pursuits.

Cheers, Lyn.

hi Lyn, thanks for that, check to make sure the screws are tight if they keep turning around and won't tighten then get a matchstick or a little piece of wood and put it in the hole, then try and screw it back in or you can use a larger screw instead.

Another option is to get a piece of wood 3'' by 2'' and only a size that fits into your hand and place it up against the door jamb and hit it with a hammer, it may move or not.

The stick plate is where the hole in the jamb is, a thin metal plate.

The strick plate on the door jamb needs to be moved up or down, so try and close the door and have a look where the door latch is compared to where the strick plate is on the jamb.

The bottom hinge needs to go deeper into it is now, this is trial and error so only take out a little bit of timber each time.

Get a long piece of timber and hold it against the door to see if the door has warped and if so then maybe the door needs to be replaced.

Keep asking me no problem at all. Geoff.

Hi Goeff, Back to my brick wall. I have finished my kitchen including fitting new cupboards & oven where the old oven sat in its brick tower. Looks so much better. Thanks for the advice.

Now I want to paint the brick walls in the lounge. Hate the dark brown. There is a hole where I imagine a heater once sat. It's hidden by my settee. I need to fill it in otherwise it will stick out like a sore thumb if I rearrange the room. I presume I need to knock out the half bricks so I can fit whole bricks so it matches the rest of the wall. What is the easiest way to do this? Any hints of how to make the brick laying easy. I think I've got enough bricks left from smashing down the brick oven tower.

There is a metal bar at the top of the hole supporting the bricks above. It is resting on half bricks so i presume I can't remove the bricks to match the rest of the brickwork.

Any hints for making the process as esy as poss appreciated

hi Elizabeth, the metal bar is to support the bricks above it so that an opening can be made, such as to install a heater or an opening for a fire place.

At the moment the bricks are painted a dark brown, probably mission brown, everything was painted that colour ages ago, windows, fences, doors etc. it was fashion back then.

Can I ask what colour you are going to paint it?

The gas pipe and/or the electrical connection have to be terminated depending on whether it was a gas or electric heater.

Is the hole not the size of the heater but rather a few inches long and a half that in height, that would be handy to know.

What are you going to do about the missing carpet?

Hope to hear back from you. Geoff.

The heater has long gone so the flooring is not an issue. I'm just assuming the hole was from a heater because of its size. The hole in the wall is 700mm X 800mm so about 3 bricks wide & 8 bricks high. I don#t want to disturb the metal bar as I don't want the wall above crashing down. I will either paint the bricks white or the same as the rest of the walls =probably a creamy yellow. I painted the bricks in the kitchen which act as a splashback to check how it looked. I used 2 coats of a good undercoat & 2 top coats. The bricks are not currently painted. They are just a very dark brown similar to mission brown.

hi Elizabeth, you have described it well and I will get back to you tomorrow morning. Geoff.

Hi Geoff, Just wanted to say you are a wonder for doing this. No questions just heaps of praise.Cath

Hi A2D2........You are spot on with your heartfelt post above about Geoff......Nice1

Paul

hi Elizabeth, I'm back, you can buy mortar mix from a large retailer, it comes in already mixed up bags so all you have to do is add the water, on the ground or in a wheelbarrow, otherwise if you want to you can mix it yourself using 1 part cement, 1 part lime and 6 parts sand.

Nobody going to really notice what the wall looks like when it is finished and painted, only you.

Do you have an angle grinder or electric hand saw if so attach a masonry blade to it and then cut out the mortar to free or loosen the half brick so that you can pull it out.

You hit it out but this may loosen other bricks, doesn't matter you can correct the existing bricks and fill in any gaps.

What you could do is leave the half brick and break another brick so that you have 2 half bricks, no one is going to criticise you for having 2 half bricks because it's going to be painted.

Mix the mortar not too wet but a consistency like a slug, but only make enough for about an hour's use, then trowel it on making a bed of mortar, one trick you can do is to get some wood/plastic the size of the existing mortar bed and place them on the mortar at both ends where the brick will sit, this will make it easier for the brick to sit level.

You will probably need a bed of mortar on the ground first.

If the mortar between the bricks doesn't seem to fill all the holes don't worry, you can then push into the gaps.

Leave the new brickwork for about a month so it can cure. Geoff.

hi Cath, thanks so much for your lovely comment, it's well appreciated and thankyou. Geoff.

hi Elizabeth, how are you going with the brickwork. Geoff.

Sorry Geoff I should have wrote to you earlier. Things have been a bit hectic starting with a tree falling onto our fence & needed dealing with urgently because it was overhanging the footpath so there was a risk of it falling on passers by if the fence collapsed. Then I had to babysit on 2 days for 2 different sets of grandkids. I also ended up feeling unwell pain & lack of sleep left me exhausted. Now my husband has decided its his turn. Go back to the GP tomorrow to find the results of the multiple tests.

I appreciated your advice re the bricks but the more I thought about it the more overwhelmed I felt. I was worried about making a big mess of the job & possibly dropping morter on the floor & having more work. I decided to use chipboard to fill it in. There was a wooden box thing filling the space but it had canite on it so I removed the canite. Then adjusted the packers in the hole so the box was in the correct position & then screwed the chipboard in place so it fitted flush with the bricks & the corrects size for the hole. I then used paintable gap filler the seal it completely & ensure it couldn't move out of place. I've undercoated the bricks & board & done one top coat so it blends in more. It sits behind a seat so it isn't normally seen.

Thanks for your advice. Knowing what I needed to do allowed me to make an informed decision.

hi Elizabeth, that's great, what you could do is draw bricks to fall in line with the other bricks, once the final coat has been applied.

I'm sorry about the tree, but you can leave the branches cut up or not cut up on the nature strip and someone with a fireplace will pick it up for themselves. Geoff.

Hi Everyone, does anyone have a flywire screen that needs replacing?

It could be on the front/back screen door or for a window screen and needs to change it, caused by a cat or a dog or just being old from wear and tear.

How about one wall that has to be painted so that you can get your bond money back, there are tricks to do this. Geoff.

Hi Geoff

Another paint question for you if thats okay

Timber window frames - (outside) - The paint is 28 year old Berger exterior high quality

The paint is peeling on the north facing windows and my small hand sander wont get make a dent in the remaining paint....there is some exposed Meranti timber starting to show

What is the best way to sand off the old paint so I can start to repaint before the frames start to rot?

Only when you get the time. Paul

Hi Paul, sorry it's taken me a couple of days to reply back to you, that makes the paint 28 years and 2 days, wow that's a long time and it will contain toxic material such as lead, so you may choose to wear a mask and goggles.

You could use 'paint stripper' but it's too messy

Or a heat gun- makes you burn the timber and again messy, however there is 'silent paint remover' which uses 'infra-strip' and can be hired, either from a paint store or a general hire place.

There are metal scrappers you can buy which may help

Buy some 40 to 60 grade sandpaper, these are very coarse and once you break the paint then you maybe able to scrap it off, then work your way up by using 120, 180 to get it smooth.

Just a reminder that the very coarse sandpaper will bite into your wood so only use on the old paint

To continue. Geoff.