We’ve just completed a pre-settlement inspection and have noticed blue liquid in the indoor fuse box, and coming out of a few electrical points in the bathroom (light switch and hot water cylinder switch). Any thoughts on how dangerous this really is and what work is going to be needed to fix it? Price estimates? It’s a 1970s build and the leaking points look to be original. Builders report didn’t pick this up or mention anything about it. Really hoping it’s minor and doesn’t require a full re-wire… however Google is telling me otherwise. Thanks!

Are these thermally broken double glazed windows? I’m pretty sure they’re double glazed, but I’m not sure about the thermally broken part.

Honestly looking at the prices i'm struggling to see a downside. Heat pump hot water with electric assist, so even if the heat pump side of dies so long as the electric element keeps working I'm no worse off than buying a normal brand plain electric outdoor cylinder since they all seem to be close to $2k anyway.

Every other heat pump hot water system starts at $4k+ without install, and frankly I can't see that they every pay themselves off in a low hot water usage household like ours.

Reposting as I think some people missed a couple of details in my original post!

We’re in Upper Hutt and want to replace the left-hand window only with a set of double doors. There’s a structural beam close by on the right, so we’re not looking to open up the entire area.

We already have the door, so we’re wanting to know what people would expect to pay for the building work and installation.

The job would involve removing the existing window, modifying the opening as required, installing the doors, and finishing the interior and exterior properly.

For anyone who has had a similar job done, what did you pay? And for builders, what would you roughly charge for this sort of job in the Wellington region?

We understand every house is different, but we’re just trying to get a realistic idea of costs before getting quotes.

Thanks!

Hey all!

We have been replacing all our door jobs in the house with some new ones. Sylvan, so should be decent quality.

Most are fine, but I’m having issues with the dummy knob on one of the closets.

The previous one was the older style where it bolts right through the back. It has a roller catch thingy. That bolt was great, because it is really strong. It seems nigh on impossible to find that style in modern knobs now. So we went for ones that screw in the front.

However, this particular door gets stuck sometimes. If you pull too hard, the new knob comes apart. I can’t figure a way around it!

Ive attached pictures with the pieces that seem to break.

Does anyone have any ideas for how to fix this? We’ve spent a fair bit of cash on a house load of new knobs and I don’t know what to do since this is just one of them!

Hi all, hoping for some help from a fellow Kent fire place owner - in short, the dampener doesn’t appear to be functioning, I’ve checked inside and it looks like all the parts are moving but it’s stuck open and won’t pull in / out and when you try to turn it, it will unscrew the dampener handle all together (actual handle long gone pre us!).

I have tried the obvious paths like CRC, working the levers and trying to find a manual but the models don’t seem to match what I can see… just wanting to give it a go to fix myself as the repairer said they don’t stock parts that old and they’ll have to make something custom after a call out… which sounds expensive in this economy!

So my questions are, if you have a similar fireplace to that pictured - what is the desired action to adjust the dampener AND for bonus points, what’s the movement internally when you use it?! All and any tips welcome 🙏

Hey everyone,
Looking for some local feedback and cost sanity checks on adding smart exterior lighting to my two-storey weatherboard home in Auckland. Because it’s a two-storey house, I have absolutely no access to the roof eaves, so everything needs to be mounted flat to the cladding. I want full colour-changing capabilities controlled via Amazon Alexa.
I'm currently weighing up two completely different directions and would love to hear your thoughts or what you paid:

Option 1: The Cheap DIY LED Strip Route (~$100)
Tucking a waterproof LED strip completely flat up underneath the horizontal overlapping lip of the weatherboards so they face straight down. This completely hides the strip during the day and washes the wall downward at night.
Option 2: The Tradie-Installed E27 Up/Down Lights
Buying three standard IP65-rated up/down wall pillars, throwing in some smart Alexa-compatible E27 multi-colour globes (like Tapo or Philips Hue), and paying a sparky to hardwire it. There is already a 230V mains-powered security camera sitting right on that wall, so the electrician should be able to intercept that active feed rather than running a brand-new cable back to the main switchboard.

For anyone who has done Option 2 recently: How much did it cost you to get a sparky out for a job like this? Am I looking at a few hundred bucks for a quick interception/daisy-chain, or is it going to run into the thousands?
Keen to hear any local brand recommendations or advice on which path is worth it long-term.
Cheers!

Thought I’d post again. Thanks for the advice on my other thread. We managed to get some plumbers in to disconnect the laundry tub and bathroom basin. Still managed to keep the washing machine attached for now. Getting a builder in next week to assess the damage - we are mostly worried about the floor joists and framing. We have pulled away the gib we can so far and will be working more on it today. Any builders able to talk $$$$ wise how much we might be looking at (I know my photos don’t show a lot of detail)

Reasonable quote?

Hey guys, i have a run of bottom boards that are all angled and possibly didn’t get enough nails in them when installed. Anyway they have split and then the ends have dropped down. What’s the fix? What do i seal the cracks with? Figured I’d ask for advice before I nail and silicone lol.

We are going to build an outdoor washdown area, with sink bench, shower also used as dogwash/bootwash. Drainlayer/plumber will do all the restricted work.

It will be within a concrete area, and the washdown will have a floor grate over a set down concrete pit with fall, to a silt trap sump connected with a trap to the drain. The sink could drain straight to the pit, with the drainage trap after the silt trap.

Mainly it will be used for removing mud, hence the silt trap, but at times we would like to be able to divert the washdown water so that if we need to wash or rinse off chemicals that would be harmful to the septic system, we can send it to to an adjacent garden area instead. It would be best to divert before the silt trap, so that doesn't need cleaning out each time the diverter is used, and there shouldn't be mud involved in those sort of rinses.

Is there an easy way to set up such a drain diversion that will not be fiddly to change back and forth?

if the silt trap is in the concrete pit, I can only picture this working with some sort of cover over the silt trap, which would require removing the floor grate to put in place/remove. That would need to be done to empty the silt trap anyway, so we would want to make that fairly easy to lift out, probably by having several panels of grate to make them lighter to lift.

Any suggestions on a good way to do this diversion?

We are wanting to build a roughly ~30m2 or less self contained cabin on our property. Me and a mate want to do the mahi ourselves and have a LBP who is happy to oversee and sign off. What I would like is some cheap plans, or standard kit set ideally with a material list to make things go smoother. I’m not looking for anything fancy, just a basic rectangular structure with a single internal wall for a bathroom. Is there anywhere that sells standard plans? I considered versatile but their markup on materials is way too high.

Found fibrous inclusions in the plaster board. Is that asbestos?

1975 house

Hey, the instructions for the new curtain tracks I bought reccomends using some kind of oil/lubricant on them. Any suggestions for what is best to use?

Thanks!

Im pretty ok installing window film, are there any places selling diy films (not bunnings please, pillar film delaminated after 3 years)

Wanting some name brand stuff, solargard, llumar, 3m. Thanks!

I'm trying to track down where I could buy a replacement for these plastic clip things that secure my curtain rail (aluminum) to their wall brackets. These are plastic, and they clip in and then you twist them at a right angle to lock the rail to the bracket. You can see the bracket, the railing, and the clip thing with the bobble sticking through the bracket and extending to the right along the rail.

I have no idea what they're called so can't find any replacements on Google! Does anyone happen to know what they are called or where to find them?

Thanks so much in advance.

Home built 2 years ago, and a few months in I noticed the underside of the bench overhang and wet wiped it off.

Fast forward 2 years and I've discovered it's all over the undersides of the bench where exposed in the cupboards and drawers too.

Joiner said stone top is cleaned when it leaves the factory, but I can't see what else it could be. Decorators had finished by time it was installed, and it's not on any other hidden parts of the joinery, so I'm doubting that it's plaster.

Is this likely silica dust?

Hey! A plumber recently put in new taps in my laundry and the hot tub tap worked fine the first weekend I used it, but the following weekend it no longer worked - turns fine, nothing comes out. But water comes out of the hot machine tap fine.

Any idea what I should try before having to call the plumber back?

Thanks!

Hi fellow kiwis.

Weve just got a 21k plumbing bill for our bathroom renovation. They have include 111 hours of labour.

This included new heat pump hot water cylinder, amd change over to mains pressure system.

New shower installation, replaced bath, vanity, toilet.they did take old fixtures out but didnt have to dispose of them.

This was just the plumbing cost. Hubby did all the building, payed for fixtures separately.

This is much more than we expected. Is it reasonable or not?

DIYNZ,

How do I repair this hairline crack on the benchtop? I've seen a couple of videos, but none of them are from New Zealand, so I thought I'd ask here for advice on how to hide it or make it less visible. Replacing the whole benchtop isn't something I am looking at right now, and any sustainable way of repairing it would be really helpful.

Thank you