CUTTING CORNERS = SAVING MONEY.
TRUE or FALSE?

In my experience the answer is FALSE. Having said that, there are some exceptions.
When it comes to skimping on product and or time, it will always come back to bite you.

There is a big difference between spending a small amount of time and money making something look better, and cutting corners where you just shouldn't. A prime example is a bathroom renovation.

Most older bathrooms are generally beyond a quick makeover and need to be totally renovated. That means completely removing everything from the room and starting again.
In some cases, an old bathroom can still be in reasonably good condition, so it may not require total demolition, particularly if there are no leaks in the shower or bath area and vanity unit.

Here are some low cost solutions you can do to give your tired old bathroom a brand new look.

1. Remove the old grout from the wall and floor tiles and re-grout. While this is a tedious and time consuming job, it will be worth while. You must be very careful not to chip any tiles while doing this. There are various tools that you can use to do this.

2. Remove all existing mould and silicon sealant from around the shower or bath perimeter.
Clean and dry these areas thoroughly and apply new sealant. This must be done neatly or the finished job will look worse than what you had started with.

3. A new paint job will make a huge difference and this can usually be done without too much trouble or expense if you do it yourself. Most professional painters don't charge very much but finding one that will do the smaller jobs can prove to be difficult sometimes.

4. After the new paint job, it definitely pays to change any fixtures and fittings in the room such as power point and light switch covers, towel rails, shelving and alike. Once the room has a fresh coat of paint, it makes all of the old fittings stand out.

5. Change any tap ware that looks old or scratched. In a lot of cases, chrome plated tap ware and fittings only need to be cleaned. If the chrome plating is not chipped or peeling, just use some detergent and some steel wool to bring them back to life.

6. If you have a glass shower screen, then the glass will more than likely have a build up of scum on it. This is caused from the type of water and personal cleaning products that you are using. Soaps and conditioners can cause a build up that can actually eat into the glass itself and can be impossible to remove. Most standard framed shower screens aren't that expensive to replace should the old ones be beyond repair.

7. Sometimes vanity units are still in reasonable condition if they have not been subjected to constant water and if they were of a good quality when they were originally installed. If the top itself is still ok, but the doors and draws are in need of some attention, than there are a few ways to fix them. The first is to make a new set, but this can be a little expensive so most times they can be covered with a new material. There are many products that can be used for this and can be bought from most home improvement centres.

8. Finally, the addition of some plants, pictures or wall ornaments can really lift the room.
Vibrant towels and floor mats will definitely improve the look. These things can always be changed if and when you would like a new theme for your bathroom.

Just remember, smoking over your bathroom, as I like to call it, is only ever a good idea if there are no real water leak problems and is in a reasonable condition to start with.

Happy Renovating!

Want to save Money?

I am compelled to write this article, not just because my best mate owns the business, but honestly, this type of rubbish removal system works really well for me and does save me money.

 
Over the last 30 odd years in the building game, I had always used the metal skip bins. One of the biggest problems that I had with these was site access and being able to place the bin where I needed it.

A lot of the time the only place that the steel bin could fit was in the front yard of the property or out towards the footpath. This presented a couple of major problems. The first was encroaching on the council footpath caused workplace, health and safety issues. The second was that everyone in the neighbourhood would throw their own rubbish into my bins. It not only filled the bin, but it meant that I would have to get extra bins and that I was paying for other people’s rubbish. Sorry, but I am not that generous. The extra costs were huge.

 

Finally, the skip bags came onto the scene and let me tell you, they are the best things to use for rubbish. With the smaller truck, access is not a problem which means that I can place the bags exactly where I want them. I am able to put them closer to the job which means less time wasted carrying the rubbish from the job to the bag. Also the other big winner is no cost of taking other people’s rubbish to the dumpsite.

Excellent Site Access

 

Easily Lifting

 

Long Reach

While I think that the original steel skip bins would work a little better on the larger building sites, the skip bags are definitely far easier to use when doing renovations, bathrooms and decks etc. They are also easier to collect and are great for your green waste and ordinary household rubbish. There is no time limit on the bag. You own it so you can take as long as you like to fill it. Once it's full, just book a collection time and it's gone. There a many of these small franchises operating around the country.

Click this link to take you to my friends website and see for yourself.

 http://www.localsearch.com.au/Mackay,QLD/Aussie-SkipBags-Mackay/profile/XKnA

 

As always you can subscribe to my blog and I will keep you informed on how to save money and other helpful hints.

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Cheers Everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WASTE NOT
After all my years in the building industry, I am still amazed at the amount of waste that appears even on the smallest of projects. This is not earth shattering news I know, but I would like to show you how in some cases that some of the waste can be used and actually save you heaps of money.

Here is a prime example of this. I am currently working on a small renovation to a very old and very small house situated at one of our many glorious beach side housing estates. It has a concrete patio floor all around with a 2 meter wide roof over it. I am constructing 3 walls under the existing patio roof to form a new bathroom. A section of the concrete floor needs to be removed, 4 meters by 2 meters, to allow for the new under-slab plumbing for the toilet, shower and vanity wastes.

The room goes where the plumber is sitting.

Normally we would use an excavator with a rock breaker attachment to break the slab into small pieces and then take it to the nearest dumping facility. In this case, there is only 2 meters of clearance from the ground to the underside of the roof, so basically no room for the larger machine. So with a diamond blade concrete saw, I ran a series of cuts right through the full depth of the concrete floor so it resembled a block of chocolate like so.

Saw cuts 1 meter x1 meter.

We then used a smaller excavator (BobCat) to grab the sections and stack them neatly in one corner of the yard. With the right set out plus a few decorative stones, the owner now has an excellent pathway to her house. The cost of hiring the cutter plus my labour was far less than using the larger excavator plus the dumping fees. The budget also allowed for the placing of the blocks to form her new pathway. Needless to say she was extremely happy.

So whenever you are renovating or even just doing some needed maintenance, always take the time to see what is left over. Who knows, you might even save some money!

Cheers!
By the way, if you would like to subscribe to my blog, you will receive my new posts as I publish them. You can also send me your questions by using the contact form.