The Home Improvements Thread (2)

[WAslayer]

Hi guys.. Had my place tiled a few months ago.. As a novice I chose light Grey grout and didn't have the tiler add a dealer to the grout..

FTFY.. although your tiler should have known/suggested a sealer..

Chances are the brown water has soaked into the grout and you are unlikely to get it clean again, without scratching off the very top layer of grout, very lightly.. once you do get it clean, get a sealer to seal the grout, there is one available from TFC I think the brand is called..

 

[The_Mowgs]

FTFY.. although your tiler should have known/suggested a sealer..

Chances are the brown water has soaked into the grout and you are unlikely to get it clean again, without scratching off the very top layer of grout, very lightly.. once you do get it clean, get a sealer to seal the grout, there is one available from TFC I think the brand is called..

What dealer would you suggest? Crack?

 

[xrapidx]

Been smelling something dead in our bedroom for a few weeks, unable to trace it. Finally today I gave in and removed the bed side plug - a decomposing mouse had stepped on the live wire, he was oozing out over everything and pretty well bound to the actual plug. So cleaned up, and replaced the plug. How the **** he got in is beyond me.

Anyway, random question - but with the mouse being permanently attached to the live wire, would nothing have happened besides his death? i.e. cooking him over weeks.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Been smelling something dead in our bedroom for a few weeks, unable to trace it. Finally today I gave in and removed the bed side plug - a decomposing mouse had stepped on the live wire, he was oozing out over everything and pretty well bound to the actual plug. So cleaned up, and replaced the plug. How the **** he got in is beyond me.

Anyway, random question - but with the mouse being permanently attached to the live wire, would nothing have happened besides his death? i.e. cooking him over weeks.

Nope just clean it as best you can. You may have to remove the actual socket, open it up and check if it needs to be cleaned.

And next time when you're busy, try not to expose your crack and send the mice running for the plugs...

 

[PhreakBoy]

Any recommendations for someone to install a driveway on the East Rand. Either paving or screed cement.

Bonus question: do I need council approval to remove the sidewalk / pavement blocks on the road?

 

[WAslayer]

Been smelling something dead in our bedroom for a few weeks, unable to trace it. Finally today I gave in and removed the bed side plug - a decomposing mouse had stepped on the live wire, he was oozing out over everything and pretty well bound to the actual plug. So cleaned up, and replaced the plug. How the **** he got in is beyond me.

Anyway, random question - but with the mouse being permanently attached to the live wire, would nothing have happened besides his death? i.e. cooking him over weeks.

Crawled down the conduit from inside the roof..

 

[xrapidx]

Nope just clean it as best you can. You may have to remove the actual socket, open it up and check if it needs to be cleaned.

And next time when you're busy, try not to expose your crack and send the mice running for the plugs...

Bastard was on the inside, how he got there is beyond me

 

[Tinuva]

Bastard was on the inside, how he got there is beyond me

View attachment 1249860

just, wow.

 

[xrapidx]

Crawled down the conduit from inside the roof..

My guess as well, but - conduits come from down under.

 

[xrapidx]

just, wow.

Been a very unpleasant week or so sleeping next to that, and was a real mess cleaning up - you can sort of see some of the decomposing body dripping down on the concrete in the middle of the picture.

Wife said I'm off nappy duty for awhile.

 

[piranha786]

I'm looking for a 1800x800 build in bath (Cape Town) Prices are crazy. (R3500 - R5500) for a "normal" bath
I see a lot of people remove their baths, and sell it cheap. Any places that refurbish baths, cause I think of buying a 2nd hand 1 and refurbish it will still cost less.

 

[I.am.Sam]

Is this to top up your pool? If so, that filter will be expended by the time you’ve topped up your pool 3 or 4 times. If this is to drink your borehole water, I’d definitely double check the water by a reputable lab - bacteria can easily pass through those filters. As I mentioned, these filters can be expended and then pretty much it’s a matter of **** in **** out.

what you mean expand

yes i use the borehole pump into a tank and let it stand and then pass it through a filter into the pool

 

[I.am.Sam]

Do a test and post it here, hold the strip next to the container.

What is happening in your pool is the algae just keeps on blooming. You can swim in the water, wont do anything except maybe stain lighter coloured swimming clothes.

Ensure levels are correct. Backwash, rinse and put pump on filter. Add hth sparkle it ( white ) cube in weir. Add 6 cups of chlorine and switch pump on for 12hours. After 12 hours add another 6 cups of chlorine and keep pump on filter for another 12 hours.

Backwash and rinse again for 1min each, add 3 cups of chlorine and continue with normal pump hours.

added sparkle it and saturday morning pool was shining

 

[spiff]

added sparkle it and saturday morning pool was shining

@I.am.Sam

Once a pool is set up correctly it should not be a hassle maintaining it.

this is what my fiberglass pool looked like after I left it untouched with a shade clothe cover on since the drought! The original salt water chlorinator was broken even before the drought / the pool cleaner & pipes just rotted away. Lucky for me the pump was still working.

in the pic below I had already added shocker so I could see what was lying in waiting at the bottom otherwise the water will just be a solid green / black colour.



So a few months back I had to revive the pool as my GF wanted to swim. So I began to sweep the bottom to waste, add flock and top up water level everyday for a week so I could see what was left at the bottom. once all the sediment at the bottom was out, I corrected the chemical levels, bought a new pool cleaner / added 10 bags of salt, ripped out the old salt water chlorinator and installed a new salt water chlorinator.



I also added an inline leaf catcher to the pool cleaner pipes as my neighbours tree does drop leaves everyday.

now the pool is perfect again and requires minimum maintenance - every 2nd week I check PH / salt / clean inline leaf catcher / backwash filter etc.

the heat we had over the last few weeks made it all worth it - GF is happy too

 

[I.am.Sam]

how much is a new salt chlorinator

i have one but the cell is broken

is it better to have one than maintaining using chlorine and other stuff

cos i looked at the cost HTH and other stuff isnt too bad

but if i invest in the chlorinator is it a better option

 

[spiff]

how much is a new salt chlorinator

i have one but the cell is broken

is it better to have one than maintaining using chlorine and other stuff

cos i looked at the cost HTH and other stuff isnt too bad

but if i invest in the chlorinator is it a better option

@I.am.Sam

some people don't like them - I prefer a chlorinator - no need to worry about or check your chlorine as often. I used to travel a lot and would be away for 2 months at a time - so I chose the chlorinator as it does not require any input from me once set - it just works.

chlorinators are expensive but once setup they do the job! you can fine adjust the amount of chlorine in your pool easier than with dry granular chlorine afaik.

My 1st chlorinator cell lasted 7yrs - even the pool shop in Durbanville didn't believe me until he crossed check the serial number on the cell. so you can work out how much that saved me in monthly HTH costs over a 7yr period.

 

[I.am.Sam]

@I.am.Sam

some people don't like them - I prefer a chlorinator - no need to worry about or check your chlorine as often. I used to travel a lot and would be away for 2 months at a time - so I chose the chlorinator as it does not require any input from me once set - it just works.

chlorinators are expensive but once setup they do the job! you can fine adjust the amount of chlorine in your pool easier than with dry granular chlorine afaik.

My 1st chlorinator cell lasted 7yrs - even the pool shop in Durbanville didn't believe me until he crossed check the serial number on the cell. so you can work out how much that saved me in monthly HTH costs over a 7yr period.

i use a cup a week currently so not much in terms of hth and i have a big 15kg so give or take that can last a year and was around R500 for it

 

[Aeryn23]

Whats the recommend place to buy bathroom hardware? Things like toilets, bath, taps, mixers etc - standard stuff not fancy free standing baths and stuff like that. I'm not necessarily looking for top of the range quality. I'm trying to balance affordability and quality.

 

[maumau]

Beware of Bathroom Bizarre they give hassles if you try to return stuff.

 

[I.am.Sam]

Whats the recommend place to buy bathroom hardware? Things like toilets, bath, taps, mixers etc - standard stuff not fancy free standing baths and stuff like that. I'm not necessarily looking for top of the range quality. I'm trying to balance affordability and quality.

where you based ...in CPT there are few places that have budget range stuff

but one thing i learnt about budget taps is they will break

rather spend the extra if you can on the taps