Common Issues

Here are very common problems I fix. They are related mainly to one of these areas:

• Weather. External timber that is weather damaged due to heavy seasonal rain and baking summers. Timber coatings fail and peel and crack leaving a bleached timber face that leads to warping, splitting, and decay.
• White ant activity. Sometime difficult to detect early, these critters can chew through long lengths of timber with the layers of paint remaining virtually unaffected on the outside!
• Joinery. Windows and doors sticking or jamming, locks that won’t lock anymore, broken door handles and latches due to years of use.
• Water. Leaks and cracks and other forms of damage in wet areas leads to all sorts of complications.
• Unchecked regular maintenance. Gutters full of leaves, light bulbs, hedges growing through fences, decks that need re-coating.
• Age. Things just get old and break and need repairing or replacing. Light switches, mirrors, door bells, towel rails, kitchen taps, etc etc.

	Hardwood stair treads that have rotted at the ends and lost contact with the side stringer. These were all replaced with treated hardwood treads and grip-tape.
	Water damaged sub-floor underneath some poorly laid tiles in a laundry. The whole floor was removed and rebuilt and covered with waterproof lino by a 3rd party floor covering contractor.
	An example of an deck joist that has rotted out from moisture and fungal activity. The joists had to be replaced in several sections of this deck.
	This deck was age and weather affected. It was all removed and replaced with hardwood joists and merbau decking boards.
	An old power-point bracket that was broken beyond repair – replaced with a new double plug point.
	Gate latch that was destroyed from slamming. It had also rusted with age. A poor choice of screws was made leading to further rust problems and parts falling off. All replaced with new hot dipped galvanised gate hardware.
	Fence about to topple, notice the post completely rotted out at the bottom (a bit hard to see but there was nothing left). This is quite common at the ground line where water pools and dries over and over. The fence post was removed and replaced with 100×75 H3 treated fence post. The rest of the fence was straightened and made tidy.
	Tongue and groove flooring in a bad way. The original installation of this floor was appalling, so it needed a lot of repair. Finally, it was sanded and finished by professional floor polishers.
	Up the garden path with lots of rot. Most of this was replaced with a better choice of treated timber and secured in gravel beds to keep it clear of pooling water.
	Leaves in gutters! This was all cleaned out and the mango tree trimmed back.
	A broken mirror door frame from an antique silky oak wardrobe cabinet. This needed high strength wood glue and dowel pins to bring it back into square and aligned correctly with the glass.
	A drainage trench was required to save a downstairs bedroom from regular flooding from the ground water around it – generally after each rain event. A concrete sleeper wall was installed to hold the earth in place.