The Home Improvements Thread (3)

[Mosgi]

Between you and the tiler please figure out what is the staircase and what is the railing and which of these need the "so called replacing"..

Ah right now I get you. Yes it’s the complete wooden balustrade - not the concrete treads and risers.

 

[Mannydefreitas]

Friend of mine is looking at changing his floor tiles along this staircase. Tiler has recommended that he should install a new staircase since this was will get damaged in the process (he got a quote for R90k for a new wooden staircase).

My knee - jerk is the tiler is likely too lazy to make the cuts required.

Could that photo have been less helpful?

Take a Pic of the steps please...

 

[WAslayer]

Ah right now I get you. Yes it’s the complete wooden balustrade - not the concrete treads and risers.

As mentioned above, if the balustrade can be removed without breaking it, that would be first prize and cheapest.. remove balustrade, demo tiles, lay new tiles and fit balustrade again..

 

[Mannydefreitas]

BTW I recently re~tiled a Staircase.

I just took the steel Bannister off and refitted it ~ much easier....

 

[TedLasso]

Question:

I needed to replace an external cold water tap yesterday.

Closed the main house valve
Opened the tap and most water came out and then sorta stopped
Unscrewed the tap (brass jobbie)
Then more water started coming out. My entire geyser emptied itself out. It was boiling hot.

So what caused this? I had an issue before where all the hot water ended up in the toilet when mains pressure was lost.

I am certain when the geyser element was replaced, the plumber told me he also installed a non return valve or something. Did he actually do it?

 

[Mosgi]

Question:

I needed to replace an external cold water tap yesterday.

Closed the main house valve
Opened the tap and most water came out and then sorta stopped
Unscrewed the tap (brass jobbie)
Then more water started coming out. My entire geyser emptied itself out. It was boiling hot.

So what caused this? I had an issue before where all the hot water ended up in the toilet when mains pressure was lost.

I am certain when the geyser element was replaced, the plumber told me he also installed a non return valve or something. Did he actually do it?

Could it be that your geyser inlet doesn’t have a non return valve. So basically when that main is off the geyser pressure pushes back into the rest of the system, since there is no longer pressure from the inlet pipe preventing that.

 

[krieg]

Could it be that your geyser inlet doesn’t have a non return valve. So basically when that main is off the geyser pressure pushes back into the rest of the system, since there is no longer pressure from the inlet pipe preventing that.

I'm not a plumber but a geyser can't push anything without pressure that's why you need to drain it by the drain cock when the mains are shut off.

 

[krieg]

Question:

I needed to replace an external cold water tap yesterday.

Closed the main house valve
Opened the tap and most water came out and then sorta stopped
Unscrewed the tap (brass jobbie)
Then more water started coming out. My entire geyser emptied itself out. It was boiling hot.

So what caused this? I had an issue before where all the hot water ended up in the toilet when mains pressure was lost.

I am certain when the geyser element was replaced, the plumber told me he also installed a non return valve or something. Did he actually do it?

Can you climb into the roof? If there is a non return valve it's not in the right place.

 

[deesef]

Friend of mine is looking at changing his floor tiles along this staircase. Tiler has recommended that he should install a new staircase since this was will get damaged in the process (he got a quote for R90k for a new wooden staircase).

My knee - jerk is the tiler is likely too lazy to make the cuts required.

Cheap and easy solution:

The first row of tiles on the right should be cut to align with one edge of the balustrade. Then it is easy to cut an "L" into the tile that fits underneath the balustrade. You can decide if the "L" should align to the left or right kant of the balustrade

This will drastically reduce the complexity of the cuts...

 

[kolaval]

This would be for normal single phase. You can either use two nice thick pieces of copper wire or buy a copper bus bar (the distances might not be correct though)

Please turn off the "mains" at the DB board and not just the "stove" breaker etc" in fact turn every breaker off to be 100% safe.

View attachment 1609500

Are those single plates each?
Mine cam with 3 between the two neutrals and none between the 3 lives

 

[maumau]

Cheap and easy solution:

The first row of tiles on the right should be cut to align with one edge of the balustrade. Then it is easy to cut an "L" into the tile that fits underneath the balustrade. You can decide if the "L" should align to the left or right kant of the balustrade

This will drastically reduce the complexity of the cuts...

That would look ugly though. A line of grout running down the side? Nah.

Spend the money, do it right.

Post #124

 

[deesef]

That would look ugly though. A line of grout running down the side? Nah.

Spend the money, do it right.

Post #124

When walking up and down the stairs, you won't even notice the grout line with that shadow that is conveniently thrown into the tiles - especially if the grout line is on the right-hand side. Anybody who crawls around the floors looking for "ugly" should be kicked in their raised behind!

 

[Mannydefreitas]

Question:

I needed to replace an external cold water tap yesterday.

Closed the main house valve
Opened the tap and most water came out and then sorta stopped
Unscrewed the tap (brass jobbie)
Then more water started coming out. My entire geyser emptied itself out. It was boiling hot.

So what caused this? I had an issue before where all the hot water ended up in the toilet when mains pressure was lost.

I am certain when the geyser element was replaced, the plumber told me he also installed a non return valve or something. Did he actually do it?

Non return valve is faulty...

 

[maumau]

When walking up and down the stairs, you won't even notice the grout line with that shadow that is conveniently thrown into the tiles - especially if the grout line is on the right-hand side. Anybody who crawls around the floors looking for "ugly" should be kicked in their raised behind!

Hmmm, wonder what tiles he's going for. I was thinking grout on white gets dirty but if he's redoing the flooring and new tiles aren't a flat colour you could be right.

 

[deesef]

Hmmm, wonder what tiles he's going for. I was thinking grout on white gets dirty but if he's redoing the flooring and new tiles aren't a flat colour you could be right.

I'm always right and my wife has given me permission to say that

 

[Gielie01]

Question:

I needed to replace an external cold water tap yesterday.

Closed the main house valve
Opened the tap and most water came out and then sorta stopped
Unscrewed the tap (brass jobbie)
Then more water started coming out. My entire geyser emptied itself out. It was boiling hot.

So what caused this? I had an issue before where all the hot water ended up in the toilet when mains pressure was lost.

I am certain when the geyser element was replaced, the plumber told me he also installed a non return valve or something. Did he actually do it?

I would take some photos of the plumbing around the geyser.
There are a number of things that apply to this scenario.

Firstly, a non return valve, if there is one fitted, where its fitted, and is it functional.
Secondly is the plumbing up to code and you have anti siphon loops on both sides of your geyser, if not chances are you just created a siphon for the hot water to drain, pre replacing my geyser i could open any cold water tap in the house with the mains off and drain my geyser.

 

[TedLasso]

I would take some photos of the plumbing around the geyser.
There are a number of things that apply to this scenario.

Firstly, a non return valve, if there is one fitted, where its fitted, and is it functional.
Secondly is the plumbing up to code and you have anti siphon loops on both sides of your geyser, if not chances are you just created a siphon for the hot water to drain, pre replacing my geyser i could open any cold water tap in the house with the mains off and drain my geyser.

Thanks will do that when I can get into the roof. Cheers for the tips and extra questions. We will need to redo two bathroom(s) in the next few months so when I get the plumber in I can ask those questions.

 

[leon.davibe]

Please assist with a tool to determine how many bricks are required for a building project and where it is best/cheapest to obtain rok bricks? Thanks in advance

Single wall 54 per square double 108 naturally

 

[leon.davibe]

Yeah, as I said, short of demolishing portions of the home, there is no long term fix

Many years ago i remember somebody had a similar problem

Drilled holes 100mm apart all along the wall and pumped water based silicone mix that would penetrate the walls and once dry it would form a barrier, for the life of me i don't know if it worked

Know of someone else that had a damp problem with a face brick home with no cavity on gables and applying this water based silicone mix prevented water ingress

 

[Tinuva]

Many years ago i remember somebody had a similar problem

Drilled holes 100mm apart all along the wall and pumped water based silicone mix that would penetrate the walls and once dry it would form a barrier, for the life of me i don't know if it worked

Know of someone else that had a damp problem with a face brick home with no cavity on gables and applying this water based silicone mix prevented water ingress

I saw something like this recently on youtube, from a guy in the UK.

The silicone is some mix that also dry out water, somehow it absorbs the water and it must be turning into something else to not be just water anymore. Looked like a lot of work, so I am sure there must be people or builders that know how to do this, as something you do on already built houses.

My understanding from the video was, you can't just do this, you also need a french drain system in the area outside the house and everything else that assists in keeping water away from the house.