renovators, furniture makers, tradies, etc come talk here...........

[jacobsmith01]

One of my greatest passions outside of collecting Basketball cards is working with my hands. Since I was a kid ive been making furniture and working with timber and over the last few years have renovated a house in Vic and I am about to do another one in Northern NSW. Im an Architectural Draftsman by trade so im in the building industry so to speak and know houses inside out but drawing houses compared to actually building them can be worlds apart and there are alot of skills that need to be learnt along the way.

So I move into my new house up here near Byron bay this Sunday morning and will be getting stuck into reno's straight away. The place is 120 years old and needs alot of restoration so it will keep me busy on weekends for the next few years but it has the potential to make us alot of money in years to come.

So if you have built anything from a coffee table to a house or you have done some renovations or are in any of the building trades please come and share a story & photo's or share some of your handy trade tips

I would like to talk to a plumber about roofing if there is one out there

 

[jared_davey]

not a plumber, im a sparky if you ever have an questions.. lol

im the same mate..

i did woodwork/metal work/tech drawing in school..

really like my work exp as an electrician.

so i got an apprenticeship as one.

not a silly house basher, **** that.

i work for simplot, we make all the frozen fish/potato products for birds eye and I&J..

its sweet.. but yeah, im a handsy type of guy too

 

[jacobsmith01]

not a plumber, im a sparky if you ever have an questions.. lol

im the same mate..

i did woodwork/metal work/tech drawing in school..

really like my work exp as an electrician.

so i got an apprenticeship as one.

not a silly house basher, **** that.

i work for simplot, we make all the frozen fish/potato products for birds eye and I&J..

its sweet.. but yeah, im a handsy type of guy too

Cool man. I did some sparky work myself at our last house. Shhhh dont tell anyone . Was only to move a power point and light fitting but still............i shouldnt have .

I will need a sparky for the new house at some stage. Yeah I did woodwork & metal work at school to. Wish I knew how to weld cause it would be handy, its one thing ive never really done. Give me any other power tool and I will know how to use it.
Its nice to have the confidence to be able to do things yourself.

Im thinking there might not be many people in trades on Ozcard so this thread might slip to the bottom very quick. Will soon find out

 

[phantom78]

not a tradie but just finished a reno

the main thing i learnt from it is painting has to be the worst job known to man. i'd rather dig a trench for 10 hours a day in 40 degree heat than paint a house again.

 

[kiwi_in_melb]

What do you need to know about roofing i work for a roofing company in the office now but when i was in nz i did 2/3 of a roofing apprenticeship was good but to cold haha so now estimate things down here in melbourne hopefully i might be able to help you out

 

[jared_davey]

Cool man. I did some sparky work myself at our last house. Shhhh dont tell anyone . Was only to move a power point and light fitting but still............i shouldnt have .

I will need a sparky for the new house at some stage. Yeah I did woodwork & metal work at school to. Wish I knew how to weld cause it would be handy, its one thing ive never really done. Give me any other power tool and I will know how to use it.
Its nice to have the confidence to be able to do things yourself.

Im thinking there might not be many people in trades on Ozcard so this thread might slip to the bottom very quick. Will soon find out

yeah i dont think there are too many either

yeah i have had to learn how to weld, i do a lot of fitting at work too, so its kinda a nessessity..

 

[aussiemjfreak]

Love doing House reno's also done a couple of cars! Learnt to weld when I was about 9 Old man use to weld Shipping containers back in the day and he use to do a lot of stuff around home and he had a small arc welder and taught me as much as he could for my age back then! Have worked as a welder while making parts for Holdens and have welded up 3 entire engine bays and various other things including a small add on to the Father in Laws shed!

We are buying the house we are living in at the moment in a couple of months, owned by the Father In Law, and Ive been doing stuff to it ever since we confirmed we were going to buy it! Ive done the front yard so far, plus repainted all of the kids rooms (3) and will be doing flooting floors in those 3 rooms and carpets in the Dining/Lounge room. About to embark on doing up the family room for the kids, re paint, Hang the LCD on the wall and help a mate thats a sparky by trade put in a couple of fixtures and re do some of the lighting to!

Can't wait to get stuck into the flooring here and once Ive finished off the front yard I'll be doing the Shed/Carport. Concreting it myself, enclosing it, adding lighting and opening up the smaller carport into the new big one for extra space!!

 

[jacobsmith01]

not a tradie but just finished a reno

the main thing i learnt from it is painting has to be the worst job known to man. i'd rather dig a trench for 10 hours a day in 40 degree heat than paint a house again.

yeah i hear you mate. My misses does most the painting for us so im lucky to get out of it mostly but it can be a very painfull job but can brighten up a room so much!

---------- Post added 12-05-2011 at 08:42 PM ----------

What do you need to know about roofing i work for a roofing company in the office now but when i was in nz i did 2/3 of a roofing apprenticeship was good but to cold haha so now estimate things down here in melbourne hopefully i might be able to help you out

Well my new house which is 120 years old still has the original tin which was nailed down in those days and it needs replacing with new colorbond. Was looking at doing it with my dad cause he knows a bit about doing roofs and i have been doing research on how to do the special cuts for ridge capping etc.

Any tips for laying a new roof?

I just bought myself some electric shears to make cutting the hips and valleys a bit easier. I was quoted buy bluescope steel about $17per sqm for new colorbond. Dad rekons thats a bit expensive cause he only paid $11 per sqm in VIC. Do you know if its a good price or bad?

---------- Post added 12-05-2011 at 08:49 PM ----------

Love doing House reno's also done a couple of cars! Learnt to weld when I was about 9 Old man use to weld Shipping containers back in the day and he use to do a lot of stuff around home and he had a small arc welder and taught me as much as he could for my age back then! Have worked as a welder while making parts for Holdens and have welded up 3 entire engine bays and various other things including a small add on to the Father in Laws shed!

We are buying the house we are living in at the moment in a couple of months, owned by the Father In Law, and Ive been doing stuff to it ever since we confirmed we were going to buy it! Ive done the front yard so far, plus repainted all of the kids rooms (3) and will be doing flooting floors in those 3 rooms and carpets in the Dining/Lounge room. About to embark on doing up the family room for the kids, re paint, Hang the LCD on the wall and help a mate thats a sparky by trade put in a couple of fixtures and re do some of the lighting to!

Can't wait to get stuck into the flooring here and once Ive finished off the front yard I'll be doing the Shed/Carport. Concreting it myself, enclosing it, adding lighting and opening up the smaller carport into the new big one for extra space!!

Nice one mate sounds like you know a how to do a few things . Front yard you mean landscaping etc?
I love doing up the yards to, planting trees and building new fences etc. makes a place look a million bucks if you do it right. So you can concrete? bit of an art getting that smooth finish to a slab ey. Need that good slurry mix on top. Suppose you will need to order reo for the slab. Go for some SL82 or SL92 trench mesh. That can handle car weight on the slab and I use it when drawing up concrete garage slabs and carport slabs etc. Good luck with it all mate

 

[aussiemjfreak]

Yeah had a bit of practise with concreting...not a whole heap though, got a mate thats a Bricky and does a bit of concreting and brick work on the side so he'll help me with the finer stuff ie the finish and so on! Helped the FIL do the driveway and some house surronds here, helps when he has his own cement mixer! By front yard I did mean landscaping. Re did a big arse garden bed out the front with 70mm rock, by hand with a wheel barrow over xmas while it was hot... won't do it at that time of the year ever again!! hahahahah! In the process of doing a smaller garden bed off to the side of the house, still probably 2m x 8msq, but going to put in a pond and hopefully a rock water full! Thanks for the tips on the reo steel, was going to start enquiring about that soon, saved me the trouble!! Once I've done the shed going to start a new car project from ground up, so want to get stuck into it quickly! ahah

 

[CAN'T FLY]

There are prob more builders on here like myself but after catching up on the games each day(bummer on Boston), usually crash out not long after. The one thing im not, and will prob never get used to is the early starts- im just not a morning person.

I started my carpentry apprenticeship after enjoying wood and metal work as well but soon found out its not like turning something nice on a lathe, also found out i should have paid attention at maths while i was in school as i had to learn pythagoras theorem in tech!!!! I finished my apprenticeship in 2000 and set off working for myself and really enjoyed my job. After a couple of years i joined a mate and we have been together for almost 10 yrs now doing residential renovations and additions.

Near the end of 2005, i took an 8 meter skydiving lesson off some scaffolding landing hands first on a concrete driveway. After around 13 operations, a year off work and as much metal inserted in my hands/wrists as robocop, i had the time to find this place and this is the reason for my name. I was told to give up basketball, skateboarding and the worse bit- my job as i would prob not be able to move my left hand much and my right would not be much better. After alot of physio and recovery, i decided that i wanted to give building a go as its what i love and all i know.

Im now realizing why my surgeon told me to find a new career- even more so in the cold so im going to have to give it away soon, i just enjoy being on the tools and using my hands too much. I dont think i will ever stop making/fixing things as the satisfaction you get from doing something yourself is one of the best feelings.

I too had to learn how to weld as i have a love of classic cars and took on a 51 Morris Minor ute(dont laugh, it has a escort 1600 not a morry engine) but it also does not get the attention it deserves since my accident. Welding has come in handy as we use alot more steel in building these days as well.

So i can give any advice you need on residential work and especially on safety matters- now. So the moral of this story kids is to always look after your hands and SAFETY FIRST!!!!!

---------- Post added 12-05-2011 at 10:26 PM ----------

Any tips for laying a new roof?


Spend more time at the start getting the first sheet square otherwise you will spend the whole time fighting to correct it, and it will be noticable! Put in extra batterns to take the weight of people walking alll over it or you will get kinks and waves. Hip and valley cuts and pretty easy once you have a beval, but on a 120 yr old house- get used to things not lining up. The 'good ol days' did mean alot of doing it by eye!!!

 

[jacobsmith01]

There are prob more builders on here like myself but after catching up on the games each day(bummer on Boston), usually crash out not long after. The one thing im not, and will prob never get used to is the early starts- im just not a morning person.

I started my carpentry apprenticeship after enjoying wood and metal work as well but soon found out its not like turning something nice on a lathe, also found out i should have paid attention at maths while i was in school as i had to learn pythagoras theorem in tech!!!! I finished my apprenticeship in 2000 and set off working for myself and really enjoyed my job. After a couple of years i joined a mate and we have been together for almost 10 yrs now doing residential renovations and additions.

Near the end of 2005, i took an 8 meter skydiving lesson off some scaffolding landing hands first on a concrete driveway. After around 13 operations, a year off work and as much metal inserted in my hands/wrists as robocop, i had the time to find this place and this is the reason for my name. I was told to give up basketball, skateboarding and the worse bit- my job as i would prob not be able to move my left hand much and my right would not be much better. After alot of physio and recovery, i decided that i wanted to give building a go as its what i love and all i know.

Im now realizing why my surgeon told me to find a new career- even more so in the cold so im going to have to give it away soon, i just enjoy being on the tools and using my hands too much. I dont think i will ever stop making/fixing things as the satisfaction you get from doing something yourself is one of the best feelings.

I too had to learn how to weld as i have a love of classic cars and took on a 51 Morris Minor ute(dont laugh, it has a escort 1600 not a morry engine) but it also does not get the attention it deserves since my accident. Welding has come in handy as we use alot more steel in building these days as well.

So i can give any advice you need on residential work and especially on safety matters- now. So the moral of this story kids is to always look after your hands and SAFETY FIRST!!!!!

---------- Post added 12-05-2011 at 10:26 PM ----------

Any tips for laying a new roof?


Spend more time at the start getting the first sheet square otherwise you will spend the whole time fighting to correct it, and it will be noticable! Put in extra batterns to take the weight of people walking alll over it or you will get kinks and waves. Hip and valley cuts and pretty easy once you have a beval, but on a 120 yr old house- get used to things not lining up. The 'good ol days' did mean alot of doing it by eye!!!

Wow mate amazing story there. How the hell you survived an 8m fall beats me. Thanks for the roof tips mate, will remember those when we do it . Yeah was a bit different in the old imperial days and doing things by eye Still but they did a good job considering they didnt have the tools like we have today, nail guns, lazer levels etc

oh and yeah I agree with you.....SAFETY FIRST!