# Forum Forum Help Desk Introduce Yourself  Gidday Gidday from Brisbane

## wolfdogg

Hey how ya garn? 
Have just purchased my first home, a tired but charming post-war (circa early 50's) asbestos manor on Brisbane's inner southside. It's a smallish 3 bed, 1 bath, elevated timber house on concrete stumps with 9.5 foot ceilings, nice old decorative cornice, thin strips of hardwood flooring (probably brushbox, nice but a bit worn), a small rear deck that seems 10yo, casement windows that are mostly 3-panel, and to top it all off it has a beautiful asbestos "feature" roof. The house is clad in I dunno, some fake wood paneling (hopefully not asbestos) over original asbestos. There's a nice little front porch built right up to the floor bearers with besser blocks (so the termites don't feel left out), and a downstairs 'not-quite-legal-height' laundry built-in with most-likely-but-i-hope-not asbestos to provide a consistent style. The kitchen, finished in a timeless peach coloured aged laminex, features nice shallow cupboards to conserve space and prevent storage of those horrible larger modern-era pots, pans and plates that only contribute to the obesity epidemic. The toilet is separate from the tiny shower-only bathroom which contains a large patch of redundant space in the corner, an ode to the old bath that once would have graced the space.  
I'd like to rejuvenate this house and bring back some of the glory of it's era combined with some modern comforts, but preserve as much character as I can. I've just been able to afford this place, so will be attempting to do as much of the work as realistically possible and be resourceful with contacts, purchases and hired help. I've a young family so it may be slow going and my plan is to to at least restore the living room and bedrooms before we move in.  
My current dilemma is dealing with restoring the old horsehair/sisal plasterboard walls of the living room, hallway and bedrooms. The living room and hall probably need to have the walls and ceiling re-sheeted as there are body patch jobs everywhere, many cracks and the ceiling is bobbly and you can see the old nail tacks everywhere. I'm just not sure it's worth the effort to try to skim and fill and smooth over everything, I don't think the end result will look to flat or hold too long before cracks appear. I was contemplating doing this solo but after many hours on youtube watching plasterers, I concede the skill of the trade is beyond what I'd optimistically be able to do, especially given the level of quality I'd live to achieve. I luckily will have the help of a good old mate who was a plasterer for many years to guide me on this work.  
On the asbestos, I'm learning quickly how it seriously increases the complexity and cost of renovation, as well as slow everything down. I wanted to rip off all the plaster walls and ceilings in the living and hall but speaking to an asbestos removalist, he said having an asbestos roof means the ceiling/roof cavity is considered contaminated so I can't pull the ceiling down without first having the roof space professionally decontaminated, which also means loosing all the insulation in the roof. Costs literally go through the roof. So now I think next best option is to resheet over the existing ceiling (and walls?). 
Look forward to talking with you all on here and thanks in advance to all the experts and people that will be sharing their time and knowledge, it's so amazing this community exists. I'll hopefully be able to contribute once I've gained some insights from my experiences, or if any of you need help with abstract and difficult software problems - I'm just a mouse clicker by trade, completely out of my depth on this home reno caper although I was mad on crafting stuff out of wood over 15 years ago so I'm that counts for something. 
Cheers, 
Wolfdogg

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## old1955

Welcome to the forum Wolfdogg.

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## ringtail

Welcome mate. Sounds like your house is a Moorooka/Salisbury special  :Biggrin:

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## wolfdogg

> Welcome mate. Sounds like your house is a Moorooka/Salisbury special

  You know it!

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## ringtail

Indeed. :Biggrin:

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