The Home Improvements Thread (2)

[Tongs of Destiny]

Out of interest, why such a specific colour?

it's just a very popular white paint for the interior of a house. Seems to be the one all people go to in the States, just can't find out how to mix that here.

 

[APoc184]

Anybody else use Activator D product for their swimming pool before?

We've been struggling to get and keep our pool nice and blue and clear with Blu52 for a month and also products recommended by The Pool Team shop.

Wife reached out on her Vleisboek for advice and quite a few people recommended Activator D.
So we got some on Saturday after work and emptied the 2 x bottles into the weir as instructed.
Ran the pump for about 6 hours before switching off.

Woke up and the pool looked a million times better. Ran the pump again for about 3 hours in the morning while we went shopping.
Best the pool has ever looked.

And can't explain it but the water feels softer. Even the kids saying the water feels different and no irritation to their eyes.

Here is hoping it will last the month they claim on the bottle.

Before and after.

View attachment 995976

View attachment 995978

Just a follow up to this post.

It has been three weeks now with Activator D.
LOTS AND LOTS of rain. Actually had to backwash to drop the level a bit because it was overflowing last week.
I have only run the pump every second or even third day for 4hrs at most.

Pool water is still close to perfect. With nothing else added at all. Only the monthly floater that has always been in the pool on the smallest setting.

Forgive the darkish spots on the bottom of the pool. Pool needs repainting. Hasn't been done in 15yrs.
Will tackle that baby in the winter.

 

[GrootBaas]

Thanks, will keep that in mind. Never occurred to me that that the valve can be the culprit. Doubt it's that though as I replaced that complete unit not too long ago. My issue also seems to occur even when the pump is not running and since the valve is much higher than the pool, that shouldn't be an issue.

That said, it's been something like 16 hours now and the water level dropped by 1cm. This is in a 8x4m pool so it's ~320liters?!?! BUT, the water level in the bucket dropped even more, so it could be evaporation. I took the solar blanket off for this test.

Only about 1cm to go before the water will fall below the weir entry, so going to keep it going for now.

And some feedback from my side. The water level dropped to below the weir so I've eliminated the weir as a possible leak. The bucket tests indicates to me that it's mostly evaporation though. So where I was previously 80% convinced it is a leak it's now only 30% and thinking evaporation can be more significant than I was hoping - even with a solar blanket on top of the water.

I've however decided to rather top the pool up again for now and not going to wait for it to reach the level of the jet seeing that I actually want to use the pool this week.

 

[Fcon_Vpro]

Just a follow up to this post.

It has been three weeks now with Activator D.
LOTS AND LOTS of rain. Actually had to backwash to drop the level a bit because it was overflowing last week.
I have only run the pump every second or even third day for 4hrs at most.

Pool water is still close to perfect. With nothing else added at all. Only the monthly floater that has always been in the pool on the smallest setting.

Forgive the darkish spots on the bottom of the pool. Pool needs repainting. Hasn't been done in 15yrs.
Will tackle that baby in the winter.

View attachment 1014534

My new houses pool also looking good but just corrected all the ph and chlorine levels so didn't need anything special outside of regular pool pump runs.
I've got the same marks on my pool floor and it's frustrating me so much because the rest of the pool is perfect.
I wanted to try stain lift from HTH but my multiport valve leaks if I'm not on the filter setting. So I can't circulate the water bypassing the filter.
I've also heard that hydrogen peroxide might work well for the stains/marks. Just hard to find solid info on what ratios to use.
Have you done any research regarding the marks?

 

[APoc184]

My new houses pool also looking good but just corrected all the ph and chlorine levels so didn't need anything special outside of regular pool pump runs.
I've got the same marks on my pool floor and it's frustrating me so much because the rest of the pool is perfect.
I wanted to try stain lift from HTH but my multiport valve leaks if I'm not on the filter setting. So I can't circulate the water bypassing the filter.
I've also heard that hydrogen peroxide might work well for the stains/marks. Just hard to find solid info on what ratios to use.
Have you done any research regarding the marks?

I have not really done too much research apart from the expert advice dished out by friends at every braai.

My options are pretty much to repaint with an epoxy paint and get about 5 years before fading/spots happen again. Or to re-marbelite the whole pool again. Or to do a fibre glass lining.

Paint obviously the cheaper option but no guarantee on how long it will last.

Will start doing some proper research and get quotes when the times gets closer.

 

[Steamy Tom]

I have not really done too much research apart from the expert advice dished out by friends at every braai.

My options are pretty much to repaint with an epoxy paint and get about 5 years before fading/spots happen again. Or to re-marbelite the whole pool again. Or to do a fibre glass lining.

Paint obviously the cheaper option but no guarantee on how long it will last.

Will start doing some proper research and get quotes when the times gets closer.

R40ish k to remarbelite that pool, R45-50ish k to fibreglass it - roughly based on my quote estiamates received

 

[Ecco]

Hi friends,

I want to get my house painted soon. I bought this place about 5 years ago. No major issues then, now we seeing some water damage and cracks etc.

I am looking at getting some quotes for painting. Attached some pics. A lot of water damage at the bottom of the walls.

I am being advised that the following need to be done to prepare the walls before paininting:

1. Open all the cracks, fill with plaster
2. Chip all the flaking paint, apply some bonding mix to the plaster for the bottom sections
3. Apply some sort of fibre seal to all the flat surfaces
4. Apply 1 coat plaster primer across the entire property (appears that a water based undercoat was used before)
5. Then paint

Does the above sound in order?

 

[ElixirCoder]

Hi friends,

I want to get my house painted soon. I bought this place about 5 years ago. No major issues then, now we seeing some water damage and cracks etc.

Painting contractors are generally quite good in CT and most of the legit ones offer warranties of some sort.

Re the steps you need to take, I would first try and source the cause of the water damage to the wall and fix that. You might need to dig around the wall and seal. If you don't do that, then the water damage will just continue, and may be even worse as it builds up inside the walls and cant escape with all the sealing you propose doing on the surface.

Edit: I assume you're in CT but if not, I'm sure there are reputable contractors wherever you are.

 

[Smokey mcpot]

Just one point since I’m in a rush and can post now. Don’t use plaster primer on the entire wall. Bonding liquid and undercoat should do fine.

nothing wrong with water based undercoat unless this was on raw plaster.

 

[Ecco]

Painting contractors are generally quite good in CT and most of the legit ones offer warranties of some sort.

Re the steps you need to take, I would first try and source the cause of the water damage to the wall and fix that. You might need to dig around the wall and seal. If you don't do that, then the water damage will just continue, and may be even worse as it builds up inside the walls and cant escape with all the sealing you propose doing on the surface.

Edit: I assume you're in CT but if not, I'm sure there are reputable contractors wherever you are.

I am on a slope, so the ground is higher on the other side of the boundry walls - dont know what i can do to fix that as its the neighbours property.

On the main building all round the bottom the paint and plaster is flaking - i presume just from the water in the ground.

 

[Ecco]

Just one point since I’m in a rush and can post now. Don’t use plaster primer on the entire wall. Bonding liquid and undercoat should do fine.

nothing wrong with water based undercoat unless this was on raw plaster.

Thank you

 

[RandomGeek]

Hi friends,

I want to get my house painted soon. I bought this place about 5 years ago. No major issues then, now we seeing some water damage and cracks etc.

I am looking at getting some quotes for painting. Attached some pics. A lot of water damage at the bottom of the walls.

I am being advised that the following need to be done to prepare the walls before paininting:

1. Open all the cracks, fill with plaster
2. Chip all the flaking paint, apply some bonding mix to the plaster for the bottom sections
3. Apply some sort of fibre seal to all the flat surfaces
4. Apply 1 coat plaster primer across the entire property (appears that a water based undercoat was used before)
5. Then paint

Does the above sound in order? View attachment 1018018

View attachment 1018014View attachment 1018016

Step 1 - don't use SAguy's builder

Also get proper paint - I have used Dulux Weatherguard recently and can recommend

 

[Smokey mcpot]

Personally a fan of weather guard and use it at my own home. Another paint I like is plascon wall seal. Some guys spread the wall seal too thin though and it doesn’t really get to do what’s its intended to

 

[SAguy]

Personally a fan of weather guard and use it at my own home. Another paint I like is plascon wall seal. Some guys spread the wall seal too thin though and it doesn’t really get to do what’s its intended to

I had my painter use wall seal on my garage wall of which the other side is my neighbour's boundary wall. Had him dig and paint pretty much to the foundation on the neighbours side, as my neighbour has a garden against the wall. So far no water ingress into the wall, so I'm happy with the product too.

 

[Smokey mcpot]

I had my painter use wall seal on my garage wall of which the other side is my neighbour's boundary wall. Had him dig and paint pretty much to the foundation on the neighbours side, as my neighbour has a garden against the wall. So far no water ingress into the wall, so I'm happy with the product too.

That’s what makes it so good. Great for actually sealing the walls.

 

[ShloshMalosh]

Just a follow up to this post.

It has been three weeks now with Activator D.
LOTS AND LOTS of rain. Actually had to backwash to drop the level a bit because it was overflowing last week.
I have only run the pump every second or even third day for 4hrs at most.

Pool water is still close to perfect. With nothing else added at all. Only the monthly floater that has always been in the pool on the smallest setting.

Forgive the darkish spots on the bottom of the pool. Pool needs repainting. Hasn't been done in 15yrs.
Will tackle that baby in the winter.

View attachment 1014534

Just out of interest?
ever think of converting to a natural swim pond/pool ?

 

[Breaker187]

So going to take on a small home improvement project in the form of a built in braai place. Already not looking great as out of the 5 people I've mailed and quoted starting on monday, only one has responded professionally and did a site visit today. What I would like to know is there any opinions on the built in braai products themselves? The makes available are homefires, megamaster & jetmaster. I believe i need to opt for the thicker steel ones ie 3mm but thats about all I know for now. Any recommendations and lessons learnt for taking on a "small" project like this?

 

[ElixirCoder]

So going to take on a small home improvement project in the form of a built in braai place. Already not looking great as out of the 5 people I've mailed and quoted starting on monday, only one has responded professionally and did a site visit today. What I would like to know is there any opinions on the built in braai products themselves? The makes available are homefires, megamaster & jetmaster. I believe i need to opt for the thicker steel ones ie 3mm but thats about all I know for now. Any recommendations and lessons learnt for taking on a "small" project like this?

Be prepared to have something redone at least once.

aim for a standard size, that way you can replace braai grids in the future. I have a custom built in and have had to have a replacement grill custom made at significant cost - I did opt for a stainless steel grid though but still a PITA

 

[SAguy]

So going to take on a small home improvement project in the form of a built in braai place. Already not looking great as out of the 5 people I've mailed and quoted starting on monday, only one has responded professionally and did a site visit today. What I would like to know is there any opinions on the built in braai products themselves? The makes available are homefires, megamaster & jetmaster. I believe i need to opt for the thicker steel ones ie 3mm but thats about all I know for now. Any recommendations and lessons learnt for taking on a "small" project like this?

You mention three brands... why those specifically? There are many other companies that manufacture braai inserts as well.

 

[xrapidx]

I start cleaning up,and preparing for my renovation starting 01 March this weekend - wish me luck Really hoping it goes well for a change. Already over budget - sitting at R62,000 vs R47,000 for the new office.