The Home Improvements Thread (2)

[ToxicBunny]

Hey chaps

Not particularly a 'home improvements' question but one that I am sure one of you will have a great solution to.

We recently bought a house that has a panhandle house behind it, neighbours to each side and one across the road from us. Our house has one of those garbage bag holders on our wall/gate which seems to be used by the neighbours that are in the panhandle behind us. Which I don't mind; they have nowhere else to put their trash except on our verge as that is where their driveway comes out.

Now we have met the neighbours and all of them seem like older couples with kids already out the house, except for the ones across the road from us. The ones across the road have a toddler, and it seems like they are also putting their bags on our verge because I can usually see disposable nappies through the transparent bags.

I would normally have no gripe with this except that our garbage collection day is Friday and as of today (Wednesday), there are already 5 bags in the holder and on the grass around it. This is an issue because dogs and vagrants keep on rummaging through the bags if they are put out too early and then I have to go up every weekend and pick up beer bottles, vrot food, filthy nappies and God knows what else.

Last week we put a note in the postbox of the neighbours across the road politely requesting them to stop putting their bags on our lawn and to keep it on their side. This morning, I see another bag of theirs on our lawn again and it's been torn open and all their kak is lying on our verge.

Short of chucking their bags over their wall, what other option do I have? I am done playing nice with these r-souls.

Other than asking them nicely to keep the bags on their property until rubbish collection day, your only real option is to return the bags to their side of the road when you notice them on your side pretty much.

I won't lie I find it strange that people are putting out rubbish throughout the week, thats just asking for the stuff to be strewn across the verges and having a messy neighbourhood.

**EDIT** What does piss on my battery though is the muncipalities inability to keep to even a vague schedule on rubbish collection day. 1 day they roll through at 1pm, the next week 3pm, the next week 8am etc etc.. makes it fscking difficult to get the rubbish out on time but not leave it out too long for the rubbish pickers to cause chaos.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Okay so painting is one thing but please tell me why we have to take out second mortgages for new kitchen cupboards

Technically you don't if you box clever with kitchen cupboards actually.

If you keep things standard and all that, you can actually do a really nice kitchen for decent(ish) money.

 

[ElixirCoder]

I have contemplated this, believe me. I don't want to make enemies but why go through all the effort to put your bags on someone else's lawn? It's inconsiderate especially if they can see that after the vagrants have been, it's 99% their rubbish strewn all over my verge.



They blast their music through their open windows all hours of the day so I doubt they are the type of neighbour I would want to be associated with anyway - still, it would have been nice not to have to resort to these measures in the first place. I have tried getting his attention the first time it happened but the guy ignores me like a stop street in Bellville. Pretends I don't exist for some reason.



This is also true. I think that the best course of action is to place his rubbish back on his verge. If this guy is playing dirty and pretending that our verge is his rubbish dump then so be it.

Off-topic, but last weekend I went and cleaned up our verge, the pavement gutters, everything because our municipality haven't been cleaning the streets for a few weeks now - some sort of deadlock between suppliers and tenders or something to that effect. Managed to clean up 6 black bags full of old leaves, grass, sand, bottles, nappies, vrot bananas and apples and avodacos, old takeaway packets - and our verge is only 14m long as our property is in a sort of triangle shape where it's narrow by the street but wide towards the back.

Yeah municipalities are sleg everywhere. I live in the souther suburbs and the pavements are always full of litter and kak

 

[ElixirCoder]

Had a chap that came out to do a leak test in my yard and said that Polycop is not SABS approved for residential pressure systems anymore? Suggested I use Unitwist as replacement for all future plumbing.

Yeah, my plumber said the same, apparently it’s been a while now

 

[ElixirCoder]

Okay so painting is one thing but please tell me why we have to take out second mortgages for new kitchen cupboards

Kitchen cupboards is big business. In real estate there’s a saying: kitchens sell houses.

however, as with most things, there’s a few tiers: diy the whole job yourself, partly diy, get the cheapo dude with a bakkie and some tools to do it or do it professionally with guarantees of workmanship and materials.

Unfortunately, you can have a high or low quality finish with all of those options, and ultimately good labor ain’t cheap.

I am capable of DIY as I have many years experience as a hobbyist carpenter, but not everyone has the skills, willpower or sometimes the confidence to DIY

 

[Smokey mcpot]

Okay so painting is one thing but please tell me why we have to take out second mortgages for new kitchen cupboards

Hahaha... so kitchen cupboards (all cupboards) are not really my thing and I do get someone to do it for clients and definitely make my clients aware that I have a guy whom I use all the time.

With kitchen cupboards it all depends on the finishes you want. A big cost is always the tops which become quite pricey. So if you're happy with a basic melamine wood and post form tops then it shouldn't be a sacrifice on a mountain to afford it lol.

 

[ChuckNorris]

Had a chap that came out to do a leak test in my yard and said that Polycop is not SABS approved for residential pressure systems anymore? Suggested I use Unitwist as replacement for all future plumbing.

This is a good move, the placed we moved in had the polycop pipe around the outside of the house to an external tap. Heard a strange noise one night and the pipe burst from the sun hitting it. Hopefully this is not to expensive. The poly is about 1/5 the price of going copper rather.

 

[Smokey mcpot]

Had a chap that came out to do a leak test in my yard and said that Polycop is not SABS approved for residential pressure systems anymore? Suggested I use Unitwist as replacement for all future plumbing.

The problem with poly pipes is that it is a seamed pipe. Over time the pressure places too much stress on the seams and they tend to start opening and you end up with leaks.

 

[Steamy Tom]

Had a chap that came out to do a leak test in my yard and said that Polycop is not SABS approved for residential pressure systems anymore? Suggested I use Unitwist as replacement for all future plumbing.

looks to be true, to be honest just at a glance they look very similar must just be a slightly different material.

to be honest though i have had fairly good experience with polycop

 

[Smokey mcpot]

This is a good move, the placed we moved in had the polycop pipe around the outside of the house to an external tap. Heard a strange noise one night and the pipe burst from the sun hitting it. Hopefully this is not to expensive. The poly is about 1/5 the price of going copper rather.

Replace with pex pipe. One guy was redoing his bathroom and we noticed he had the poly pipes in the walls. We replaced all of them with pex pipe before doing the walls.
Imagine he had done his bathroom and then under a year later a leak develops and all tiles need to come off to replace.

 

[Steamy Tom]

Replace with pex pipe. One guy was redoing his bathroom and we noticed he had the poly pipes in the walls. We replaced all of them with pex pipe before doing the walls.
Imagine he had done his bathroom and then under a year later a leak develops and all tiles need to come off to replace.

oof, in walls i would only ever do copper, but yeah pex in walls is better than poly

 

[PhireSide]

Case in point:

Rubbish collection day is Friday for our area. There are so many bags in our little receptacle that I can't even put my bags in if I wanted to-

 

[Steamy Tom]

Case in point:

Rubbish collection day is Friday for our area. There are so many bags in our little receptacle that I can't even put my bags in if I wanted to-

View attachment 1059111

make a hinged rounded "lid" on it and lock it until you use it, unlock, put your bags in, when collected lock it again

 

[ElixirCoder]

Case in point:

Rubbish collection day is Friday for our area. There are so many bags in our little receptacle that I can't even put my bags in if I wanted to-

View attachment 1059111

LOOOOL. I reckon your neighbours are taking the piss. Do they have similar containers? Maybe just take yours down, or rig it so you can unclip it until you use it

 

[Steamy Tom]

LOOOOL. I reckon your neighbours are taking the piss. Do they have similar containers? Maybe just take yours down, or rig it so you can unclip it until you use it

true that it looks removable, take it off until you use it

 

[Koorsblaar]

Case in point:

Rubbish collection day is Friday for our area. There are so many bags in our little receptacle that I can't even put my bags in if I wanted to-

View attachment 1059111

Does your area not have the trolley bins?

I didn't realise there are still areas that put out bags.

 

[PhireSide]

Same thing here with dirt on our verge... people are fkn disgusting. It's such a pain as well when walking my dog as I have to make sure she doesn't eat chicken bones and things while we walk.

Who tf eats a piece of chicken while walking down the street?

We have had to do the same on how many occasions. And our one pavement special is so quick, that her snout is no sooner on the ground and then there's a bone or a piece of old meat in her throat. So we are on watch for her when we walk her. The absolute worst is people who walk down the road eating their chicken or whatever and then chuck the bones over the walls. We've found plenty of bones in the beddings here, and it makes one wonder as to the average carelessness of people walking by.

Other than asking them nicely to keep the bags on their property until rubbish collection day, your only real option is to return the bags to their side of the road when you notice them on your side pretty much.

I won't lie I find it strange that people are putting out rubbish throughout the week, thats just asking for the stuff to be strewn across the verges and having a messy neighbourhood.

**EDIT** What does piss on my battery though is the muncipalities inability to keep to even a vague schedule on rubbish collection day. 1 day they roll through at 1pm, the next week 3pm, the next week 8am etc etc.. makes it fscking difficult to get the rubbish out on time but not leave it out too long for the rubbish pickers to cause chaos.

I think I am going to be doing this. I am not employed by the city to keep the verges clean and I certainly am not here to clean up other people's trash for them.

Here they are quite on schedule, usually within 10 minutes each time. I hear the lorries pull up to our sidewalk around 6AM on Fridays, which of course means that by Thursday evening that little receptacle is overflowing...

Yeah municipalities are sleg everywhere. I live in the souther suburbs and the pavements are always full of litter and kak

I feel like I shouldn't have to sweep the street and pavement in front of our place but honestly it looks so untidy that I would rather do that since the municipal services are so unreliable. And then you have to pay through your nose for the 'privilege' of having their services with rates and taxes each month.

 

[SAguy]

Case in point:

Rubbish collection day is Friday for our area. There are so many bags in our little receptacle that I can't even put my bags in if I wanted to-

View attachment 1059111

Ok now that's ridiculous.
I'd put their dirt back on their side... just set up a camera so you're 100% sure it's theirs

 

[Smokey mcpot]

Need to catch those neighbors in the act of bringing there rubbish and then discuss it with them right there and then. Explain the issue to them and if they are decent people they shouldn't have a problem keeping their rubbish on their side.

My issue was not exactly the same, but my neighbour has some vines coming off his wall and some plants and trees in front of it. The guys who scratch in the bins always damaged his plants. He politely asked me if he could put his bin in front of my wall on bin days to avoid this. Of course I didn't have an issue with it, but even if I did have a problem it would have went alot better with him asking instead of just doing.

 

[Mista_Mobsta]

The problem with poly pipes is that it is a seamed pipe. Over time the pressure places too much stress on the seams and they tend to start opening and you end up with leaks.

Well damn - Just had a plumber replace an old galvanised pipe from the main into our yard with a piece of polycop - will have to tell him to dig it back up and replace with something a bit more sturdy!