Help Yourself

Sun Herald

Sunday July 29, 2007

Jodie Thomson

Can't afford a professional? Well don't just sit there, Jodie Thomson writes.

YOU'VE scrimped for years to buy your dream home but, after a long hunt, you've ended up with a staggeringly high mortgage and a house that's big on potential, but short on style and home comforts.

Sound familiar? For so many home owners these days, the huge cost of buying a home in any condition means there's precious little cash left for improvements. Serious renovations are often years away. So how do you get your home looking good and functioning well in the meantime? Easy. It's called DIY. If the very thought has you running screaming, take a moment to think about the many quick updates you can do yourself without too much trouble.

You can add new flooring (think carpet tiles or easy-cut lino), update existing floors (say, a new stain for old timber floors), change taps and even paint over ugly laminate cupboards or bathroom tiles. For that matter, simple tiling jobs, such as adding a kitchen splashback or new wall of bathroom tiles, are definitely possible if you're prepared to put in the time.

Realm of possibility

Clever new products offer all sorts of ways to add glamour and style to your home without serious construction: for example, outdoor decking tiles that simply click together or textured natural fibre cladding to cover ugly fences.

The secret to successful DIY is to work out what you can realistically do yourself, and what you'll be better paying an expert to do. Larger jobs are best left to the experts if you're after a professional finish. Smaller jobs or updates you need only in the short term, until you do a major renovation, are more sensible options for amateurs.

"Never touch electrical work and be aware of buildings that may contain asbestos or lead-based paints," warns Debbie Williams, a renovating expert and lecturer with the Property School.

And, most importantly, it pays to thoroughly research any project. Scour the internet, bookshops and hardware stores for information and ask handy friends for their tips and expert advice.

"You've got to put in the time in preparation, in measuring and making sure it's all right," says professional handyman Leo Christopher, of Aussie Handyman. "Go slowly, measure as you go, double-check and triple-check before you start."

Breaking new ground

Worn-out, daggy floors let down the look of any room and new flooring can be an expensive option. But there are ways to add new-look floors without the big price tag. Resanding and polishing large expanses of floor is a tricky job best left to the experts, because it can take a while to get the hang of wielding large sanding machines. But for small rooms, sections of worn floor or halls, you can make a big difference.

Small electric sanders are cheap to buy. Then you just need to prepare the floor by removing any nails or tacks and fill any cracks or holes in the timber with putty.

"Floor sanding is a very messy business, so you've got to hang sheets on all the doorways to protect the rest of the house from the dust," Christopher says.

Once sanded, you can add a gloss sealer such as tung-oil or polyurethane, or try a stain or limewash for a different look. A limewash finish, such as those available at Porter's Paints, will give floors a lighter, more relaxed, yet modern finish. If the floors are stained or marked, try finishing them in a dark timber stain such as Feast Watson's almost-black Black Japan.

If your existing floors are just plain ugly, an inexpensive DIY option for covering them up is carpet tiles, which you can easily lay yourself. Just remove the old flooring covering, ensuring the surface is clean and even, and glue them into place.

Likewise, linoleum and vinyl flooring is available in tiles, which are simpler for the amateur to lay in smaller areas.

Raising the colours

We've all seen the difference a coat of paint can make. In fact, a lick of paint is probably one of the more radical transformations you can achieve with relatively little expense.

So consider the difference you can make with a paintbrush and specialised paints designed to be used on a range of surfaces, such as laminate cupboards or tiled walls. White Knight's laminate and tile paints can be applied with a regular paintbrush or roller, so it's a simple DIY job that offers enormous improvements. They also offer a hard-wearing finish that will cope with the rigours of regular kitchen or bathroom use. Just think, those '80s salmon-pink laminate kitchen cupboards can be painted clean white for an instant transformation. Or those orange and white '60s bathroom tiles can be toned down with some white tile paint. White Knight recommends you use its Tile & Laminate Cleaner, then Tile & Laminate Primer, before applying several coats of the paint.

On the tiles

Big tiling jobs, such as floors, require expert knowledge for a professional finish. But if you're just wanting to add tiles to a small space, such as a kitchen splashback or bathroom wall, or even repair a broken tile, you can definitely give this a go yourself.

Take the time to plan and prepare the job properly to avoid expensive and messy mistakes. Measure the space carefully and draw your plan on graph paper. When ordering tiles, always go for at least 5 per cent more than you need to cover any breakages. And lay them out on the floor before you start, to ensure you get the pattern right.

When you start laying, Christopher recommends you lay a few rows at a time, rather than attempt a whole wall in one day, as the tiling experts would.

"Do two or three rows then let it dry," Christopher says. "Do it slowly to make sure it's properly dry."

Got a broken tile that needs replacing? If you've got a spare tile, just drill a hole in the centre of the old tile, place a chisel in the hole and hammer gently until the tile cracks completely. Chip out the broken pieces, scrape away the old adhesive, then add the replacement tile.Dapper taps

Add some beauty to your kitchen and bathroom with new taps. It's a relatively simple DIY job if you're working with similar tap fittings.

"Taps are really easy to do, it's not rocket science," Williams says. "You can even get taps in a kit with step-by-step instructions on how to do it."

Where you need to be careful, however, is in removing the old tap and ensuring the water is turned off. If the old tap and nuts are rusted, apply some penetrating oil to loosen them up and work gently so you don't risk breaking off the whole pipe. And always double-check the water's off before you start.

"Sometimes the whole main won't turn off properly, and if you spring a leak, you can have a flood on your hands," Christopher says.

Shelf life

Is your home short on storage? Wall shelves are a quick way to build in efficient storage, plus add an attractive display spot on a bare wall. And they're more space friendly than a freestanding bookcase or shelving unit, especially floating shelves, with their lack of brackets. But is this something you can tackle yourself? Sure thing.

"People seldom get this right, but it just comes down to having a bit of knowledge about what's needed to hold the weight, and talking to the hardware people to buy the right fixtures," Williams says.

The secret is using the correct attachment for the wall material you're fixing the shelf to, so it will support the weight properly. In a brick wall, you'll need a masonry bit for your drill. In an interior wall, ideally you want to fix a shelf to the timber wall studs behind the gyprock. Use a stud finder (electronic or magnetic) to pinpoint the studs. If you can't access the studs, use wall anchors to hang firmly to the gyprock. It's then a case of measuring carefully and using a level to make sure your shelf is balanced.Great outdoors

There's a lot you can do to make your outdoor space more user-friendly and attractive. Look out for some of the clever products on offer that will bring you outdoor style without any major construction.

A deck creates an instant outdoor room and a focal point for your garden. Building one from scratch may be outside your DIY capabilities, but you can lay down a stretch of interlocking decking tiles with very little effort. Freedom's hardwood decking tiles can be installed over all sorts of surfaces, from timber or tiles to concrete or gravel laid over grass. The 50 x 50-centimetre tiles can be fixed together fairly simply (with the help of a utility knife, handsaw, Phillips screwdriver and tape measure). A pack of four tiles costs $74.95 and covers one square metre, and you'll also need a joiner pack, which comes as a set of six for $16.95.

Got an unattractive outdoor fence or wall that you'd like to get rid of? Save yourself the cost of building a new one, and disguise the old one with something beautiful and textured, such as Natureed cladding that you simply clip to a stretch of galvanised wire.

Another garden improvement that doesn't require a professional is solar lighting. You can buy solar light packs from major hardware stores, or single lights from lighting specialists. Add some night-time drama to your garden with simple path lights that you just plunge into the ground, no wiring needed.

Tool-kit essentials

Whether you're doing some serious DIY or just minor repairs, every home owner needs a basic tool kit to cope with anything that needs fixing. Here are a few essentials you should have:

* Tape measure.

* Screwdriver set, at least 14 pieces.

* Shifting spanner. Should adjust to fit most sized nuts.

* Level. For horizontal and vertical levels.

* Multigrip. To grip round pipes, nuts and bolts, and act as pliers.

* Tradesman's saw.

* Stanley knife.

* Chisel set.

* Hammer.

* Safety glasses or goggles to wear when using power tools, sanding or chiselling overhead.

* Ear protectors to wear when using noisy power tools for long periods.

* Face mask to wear when sanding, sawing or using substances with toxic fumes.