Yellow Fever Handyman community

I think there was a thread on the previous forum where people advertised for odd jobs around the place that they could do or needed doing, and we helped each other out for somewhere around minimal wage prices.  Obviously HN broke the previous forum, so I have no idea if it was successful or just became some kind of adult contacts thread where like minded people met in car parks for shenanigans.  Having moved back into my flat, there are a number of things that I need to do that my wife does not want me to attempt.  So far I have found the following:

* waste disposal needs to be fixed (wife scared I will lose fingers)

* shower head needs replacing (wife scared I will lose fingers, and we will be without a shower for a sustained period of time)

* kitchen sink tap needs replacing (wife scared I will lose fingers and she will end up washing dishes in the bath she is forced to have as there is no working shower).

Despite my wife's protests I will have a go at each of them, but any advice or offers for services would be appreciated.

So I managed to swap a shower head over without any major mishaps so feeling pretty good about myself. I mean, I'm overweight and unemployed but I managed to swap a shower head. Glass positively half full in my world. 

Had a go at the waste disposal unit but it is not looking good. So far I have tried plugging it in (the fact that it was unplugged was possibly my first mistake) and yelling at it. Any other advice from the remotely competent out there?  If not, anyone experienced or qualified want to come and fix my waste disposal unit?

you could try reseting the waste disposal .Sometimes there is a little red button under the main part of the disposal system try pushing  that

Just put 2 coats of oil stain onto our Jack and Jill chair!

#proud

#fuckyouBetterHomesandGardens

I see what you did there!!!

so mentioned to the wife last night that I will organise someone to come round and try to fix the waste disposal unit, and she informed me that the tenants we recently had in our place organised someone to come round and look at it a couple of months ago, and it was confirmed that it was dead, and unable to be resuscitated. 

So last night I learnt that I need to buy a new waste disposal unit, and that my wife doesn't bother telling me anything.

So I finally got round to buying a new waste disposal unit today.  Exciting times.

I have managed to get the old disposal unit out but I have been unable to get the new one in.  So far I have spent about 2 hours on this and I am now a little drunk.  Time to call in the professionals (or at least the slightly less incompetent).

If anyone is willing and able to fit in a disposal unit for me (for a cost of either money, beer or porn) let me know your email or mobile number and I will get in touch.

Ta

A return airfare from Brisbane plus $80 an hour and I'm yours?

The wife found somewhere that will do it for $58.00 per hour (+GST), so if anyone here wants to do it for $60 per hour cash just let me know.  I am sure that a slightly competent person will have the job done in about 20 minutes (and will be able to pad out the remaining 40 minutes talking football and drinking beer).

No takers by 6pm tonight and we go with the souless corporation.

alright, fuck you then.  Don't come bitching to me when all of your jobs have been taken by robots

Not really 'handyman' BUT

Are any of you/Do any of you Welly peeps have a Mrs who does hair/make-up.  With my arm in a cast I can't do my own and have a shindig on Saturday.  I don't fancy taking out a mortgage to get this done and so far the cheapest package I found is $100.

Chur

Requiring some advice.

Am about to move ino our new home in the next few weeks and we think our wooden dining table is too big for the house. Dont want to sell it so was thinking we could use it outside on our covered deck.

Would there be a lot of work involved in preparing it for the outdoors (ie sanding, staining etc)?

Make sure it is varnished and keep it covered or in shade when not in use to reduce the warping. You may still get it into your new house yet. Been there, done that with a couch 4 months ago.

More advice needed.

We need to install at least 2 new power sockets in our house. Any idea how much an electrician would charge for such a job? Should I find a few other things for him/her to do to make the job more worthwhile?

Thanks for the advice Patrick Lundy

If you want to save money, and know how to do it (or google it) you can buy the wire yourself (it's not cheap btw) and run it for them. Then they just have to connect the wire to the socket and the meter which will save a whole lot of time. I have actually done this myself once so it is doable, though that was when we were relining the walls so a lot easier.

P.S. Pretty proud of myself for putting together this woodshed before the weather hit this weekend. All from recycled material too (other than the nails).

that's top notch hlmphil

loving this thread by the way, f-mac's new waste disposal unit was a hoot

Did they see the wiring before the lining went up? Or did you take photos of this state, etc.

I'm taking the gib off the walls in a few rooms so interested in what the sparky wanted. Seems like a good idea your approach.

My brother's a sparky and I asked him to come up for a holiday with his tools. I'd pay his flights from Christchurch. He told me to fudge off as he doesn't do perk jobs for anyone. Twunt.

The sparky lives just a couple of doors down from me so he was really relaxed about it. It's just a cable running from the hotbox into the roof so there's not a lot to get wrong, but probably best to check that's they're happy for you to do it first. You just drill some holes through the dwangs and push it through. Once in the the roof you've just got to make sure that you attach the wire along the ceiling joists using clips, and don't let it go diagonally anywhere. He'll undoubtedly check the ceiling to make sure you have done it all correctly anyway.

Ahhhh, but did you have resource consent, planning permission and approval from Animal rights groups, environmentalists and the NIMBY's? ;)

We just do most of the electrical work ourselves, I've got a mate whos an electricion so get him to do the final sign off, I don't get him to do more than that because I see how many friends he has calling him out of the blue and asking for him to do perk jobs. Not the best career for someone who doesn't like to say no.

We hired a sparky to do some stuff when we first bought a place and they did some real dodgy crap, like removing a light and just taping up a live wire and leaving it in the wall. From then on we've decided that it's not worth paying people to fudge things up when we are perfectly capable of fudgeing things up by ourselves.

Wiring is one of the easiest DIY jobs you can do, although it can be fidgety, you don't need to re-line the walls either, you can cut holes in it and feed the wires through. Patching walls up isn't that hard. Plenty of information on the internet.

Excellent. Cheers for the heads up.

Have been given the details of a electrician who is a member at the golf club I belong to. Will get him in to do a quote

Going on a Home DIY binge this weekend before returning to work on monday.

Putting up new cupboards in laundry, a shelf in the nursery and fixing squeaky doors. 

Proper Blokey!

Nice wok. 

I've just been giving plastering a go today. A bit hit and miss, but I think it will turn out alright. Getting a mate who's a plasterer in to do the final coat though. Don't trust myself that much...

The trick for plastering as a diy'er is to put mud in the wall sparingly. Easier to add more than take stuff off !