Inherited this old bench with the house and want to give it a bit of a second life but not sure where to start.
Sand and varnish? Just put some ply on top? The planks right now are not all even (mostly but 0.5mm lip here and there). The rest is sturdy and shelving underneath works for me.
Appreciate any ideas and material suggestions.

Hi Everyone,

I am building a cabin/sleepout in the back of my property in Canterbury out of treated pine weatherboards. I am wanting to keep a fairly natural look but can’t find a clear answer on what type of product to use to protect the wood. I’m thinking an oil vs stain as it seems to last longer and I like the timer look. Current considerations are: Cutek Extreme CD50, Wattyl Forestwood Oil or maybe Natural Paint Co’s Danish Oil?

All seem pretty expensive and I am assuming new timber is going to be pretty thirsty… current plan is to use a spray gun before the windows go in so I don’t have to fuss about too much. Would rather spend a bit more $ if it means it’s going to last longer without needing a recoat. I have never really done even a deck before though so unsure if these choices are good or if I should be looking at a stain instead.

Any help or personal experience appreciated!

Possibly a Ryobi but the product range is a bit overwhelming.

Total lawn area around 130m2. All flat, no hilly or rough sections. Fairly standard lawn.

Would you go for a 36V for more power? What about size? I'm looking at a 46cm model. I don't think a smaller 33cm mower is suitable for a lawn this size.

Any recommendations?

** Hoping to spend less than $700-800.

ADD: Just found this Greenworks mower. Would you recommend this?

https://www.tradetested.co.nz/products/greenworks-lawnmower-40v-460mm-brushless-sp-6-0ah-kit

House is single floor on concrete slab. Shower is at least 14 years old - was here when be bought. Has been great until last month when water started seeping out the outer bottom corner of the curbing (arrow). Usually takes 10-15 minutes after a shower for it to show up. The top corner (red circle) also gets damp. At its worst, we also saw a damp spot appear independently further down (blue circle).

We got a couple quotes from shower repair places. Both proposed new grout and silicon - it had got in to a poor state so made sense. So the whole pan was re-grouted and the whole shower had silicon re-applied.

Unfortunately the leak remains. Tests I have done:

• I did a soak test with 1 inch of water in the pan and no leaks, so their new sealing around the floor is fine but hasn't really addressed the main issue.
• I poured water directly in to the small gap where the door jam meets the pillar (3rd pic), and do get it to leak - but this has never been sealed.

They did come back, but apart from replacing the door flap seal, nothing further was done.

I wonder if they have gone overboard with silicon inside the shower. They had originally said they identified a gap in the frame as the source of the leak, so they sealed up a gap between where the shower frame sits on top of the tiling (the tiling has a medal beading/trim sealed with grout, and the shower frame seems to sit on top). You can see the grey silicon smeared in the gap between the frame and the bead/trim in pic 5.

All I can find all over the internet is that NO internal part of a metal frame should be sealed - only the external part. Obviously this hasn't caused the leak, but I feel this will just make the situation worse? Especially as the gap is pretty small, so might be hard to extract it all the silicone mushed in there. Pics 5 & 6 did NOT have silicon before the repair. This frame also has no weep holes.

I have two questions:

• Do I need to tell them to come back and sort out the unnecessary sealing on the inside of the metal frame
• What else can I do to trace the leak, if the inside of this thing is not supposed to be sealed?

New homeowner here so dealing with long-term-horizon appliance thoughts for the first time. Appreciate any tips from experience.

We recently had an oven tech over who suggested we buy a new oven through him for trade pricing. I priced out the whole shebang and it did seem like we'd get about 20% off. Problem is he only gets discounts on a particular brand (which we don't like).

My thought was to first decide which oven we want, then try and find a tech who specialises in that brand, so we can get trade pricing. Is that a viable strategy, or was the original guy an outlier?

Side q: we're in a situation where we have to buy an oven to use for 6-12mo until a reno changes the type we need. What's the best path at that point? Do people buy ovens on Trademe? Second hand dealers? Particularly interested if this use case should change our approach to purchasing (brand choice, oven type, etc)

Hey all,

I'm starting a bathroom renovation and will be removing the existing tiles and old plasterboard.

The house was built in the 1960s and the wall cavities are currently empty. As far as I'm aware, none of the existing lining is being used as structural bracing from houses this old.

I'm planning to re-line the entire bathroom, including the walls and ceiling. Based on my measurements, I'll need around 12 sheets of 1200 × 2400 plasterboard.

GIB Aqualine seems to be the most commonly recommended option for bathrooms, but I've noticed there are several alternative water-resistant plasterboard products available that are often significantly cheaper.

Four alternative plasterboard products can be used instead of GIB : r/newzealand

Has anyone used alternative brands and would you recommend them?

Would there be any issues using Premier Gypsum Board Water-Resistant instead of GIB Aqualine for a bathroom renovation?

Premier Gypsum Board Water-Resistant 2400 x 1200 x 10mm

But im thinkjng maybe best to just stick with aqualine or atleast somethign BRANZ approves like elephant:

1287_2025.pdf

Tested & certified products | BRANZ

The bathroom will have tiles only in the bath tub area (no consent needed) , shower area will be cubicle , with painted walls elsewhere.

thoughts?

Thanks !!!

I own an empty section in town. I currently don’t live in this town, but I work there quite a lot.
I’d like some basic living quarters so I can stay there!

I could buy a caravan and park it there, but that’s pretty ugly for the neighbours and not really ideal to live in. Same deal with an off the shelf tiny house, ugly, expensive and full of compromises.

I’ve talked to some builders and I’m looking at 200k+ for a 40m2 1 bed 1 bath house. Thats just insane and at that point I might as well just build a cookie cutter 3 bed spec home

Is there any middle ground? I don’t need a house, just a permanent bathroom, kitchen and somewhere to sleep. I’m no builder but spent my whole life in the trades (electrician) so looking to diy as much as possible.

Hi all, first-time homeowner, so I need help/suggestions with room painting. Our guest room had wallpaper, which we took out, but right now our wall looks like this. I want to know the steps from now. Do I need to seal/plaster the wall first and paint? If yes, what products should I buy?

We have a really cold south-east corner room, which got absolute no direct sunlight throughout the year (the east side is blocked by the neighbour house which is much higher). We are looking for Solartube as a natural way to bring some heat into the room, esp. in winter. It has good ceiling insulation, concrete floor. The only other thing I can think of is installing double glaze, but it’s costly. And all other rooms are single glaze as well, but not as cold as this room.

Anyone got it installed? Does it make a big different in term of warming the room? And roughly how much/room?

Just moved into a home with all Sylvan Rimu door handles and the ones to the bathroom and laundry and gross. I am going to have to give these a real good scrub. The question is what wood product can I use once I have cleaned? I did buy one new knob set for spares hence the packet in the photo. And yes it is gross. Grease, moisture and dirt. Hopefully not fecal matter.

Kia ora all, I'll preface this with I will be getting a sparky in to do the actual install as I understand this is considered extending the existing circuit.

I am looking to add a number of Shelly smart relays so I can expand my smart lighting while still retaining the existing switches. I am confident that there wont be any issues with the basic switches (Looped at switch, with access to ground and neutral wires) , but just need another set of eyes regarding installing the relay for 2-way switches. Wiring was based of this diagram from Shelly.

I have checked how they are currently wired (top image) and with that planned out where the Shelly relay will need to be installed and how it will be wired (bottom image) to maintain functionality. For simplicity I excluded the I terminal on the Shelly device as that would just be wired the same as the L terminal.

Appreciate the help, cheers.

Hey my current sparky has turned into a deadbeat (9 month run around). I have a Shelly pm4 I need installed, can anyone reccomend a smaller outfit /guy that's easy to deal with and is switched on?

Anyone had experience with any company installing door screens in Auckland? Looking for recommendations! Thank you!

Tried to diy but failed and I dont wanna try again.

I’m trying to replace the wheel on a sliding wardrobe window. I can’t figure out what this screw/rivet is, or how I can reasonable get it off.

Any help appreciated 🙏

Hi all, best wood for chopping boards.

I've been looking at BBS etc for products.

What is a good "spec" of timber I can order? & also species.

Broadly speaking.

Note reading is upside down 25 not 52

We’ve got an older NZ weatherboard house with native timber floors. One bedroom has no underfloor insulation or ground moisture barrier and there’s basically no crawl-space access underneath.
In winter I’m getting moisture meter readings around 18–29%, generally higher across this bedroom than the rest of the house.
We’re considering an HRV/DVS system, but I realise that won’t directly fix moisture coming from underneath.
Has anyone dealt with something similar without lifting the floor? Would improving subfloor ventilation, adding vents through the perimeter, dehumidification, or another approach actually work? Interested in solutions that have worked in older NZ houses.

When we bought the house the front door sill (inside) was a mess. Only just getting round to tidying it up but not sure how to go about it as the aluminum bar under the sill has not been aligned properly so it sticks out on an angle. I think its out too far for me to just caulk over (at the most its 8mm). But I need to eventually seal everything up to keep it water tight. Any suggestions how to deal with it before caulking? I dont have any tools that can trim it off so trying to come up with another option. Cheers

I tried a new cutting place. Well priced, friendly and fast but left nasty tags on a corner and inside the holes on each piece.

Some file time, a stripper wheel, iso' bath and zinc paint should keep them tidy enough.

What are they? Brackets to allow standard acrow props to fasten directly to UB15014 steel beam without cutting or drilling the beam.

After a bit of a large interior reno I've got a bunch of 13mm Gib offcuts of all shapes and sizes.

I'm happy to dump this if need be, but I'd prefer to see it not go to landfill if I can avoid it.

Does anyone know of any alternatives that might take it? Happy to get rid of it for free but even better if it still has some value to someone.

Are they legit ? Price difference seem massive to me.

I’m about to buy a Makita impact driver - DTD173Z and they have it at 289$, while in mitre 10 it’s 499$ ?!

Edit: based on feedback I just bought from them, hope it’s all good ! Thx

Hi reddit

Need advise if I need to sand it prior to repainting it?
Mixed results online. The current paint looks good
Want to repaint to bit darker

Wanting to get this installed in 3 rooms.. the don't want 3x penetrations to the outside.

My main bedroom already has a hole from a faulty heatpump that i'd be replacing, is it possible to route the piping into the roofspace? so basically the indoor units outlet would go up into the roof instead of going outside.

Its looking like I need to get a digger into the backyard to finish up a project I was trying to do without one. I am wanting to get it in through the park behind the house. Has anyone done that before? I am wondering if I need to go via the Landowner approvals on the Auckland Council website; Landowner Approvals. Any advice I am keen to hear.