DIY Advice

DIY guides for owner-builder work

The work most owner-builders take on themselves: wall prep, painting, flooring, retaining walls, paving and drainage. Practical step-by-step technique, written from a real Brisbane build.

11 guides, grouped by topic.

Walls, plastering and painting

Build Process

How to Drain a Retaining Wall

Drainage is what stops a retaining wall failing: the agi pipe, scoria, geotextile fabric and discharge point that carry water away before it loads the wall.

9 min read
Build Process

How to Patch a Plaster Wall

Step-by-step plaster repair: widen the crack, fill in layers, sand flush, prime. The technique that gives a flat finish under paint, not a visible scar.

6 min read

Flooring

Retaining walls, paving and drainage

Build Process

How to Drain a Retaining Wall

Drainage is what stops a retaining wall failing: the agi pipe, scoria, geotextile fabric and discharge point that carry water away before it loads the wall.

9 min read
Build Process

How to Lay a Base for Pavers

The road base, bedding sand and compaction sequence that keeps pavers level and stops them sinking, plus screed rails and the test before you lay.

8 min read
Build Process

How to Lay Pavers

Once the base is right, the pavers go down quickly. Layout, the mallet technique, the 3 mm joint gap, jointing sand and the final compaction pass.

8 min read
The finished downstairs media room: polished concrete and built-in joinery
The finished Coorparoo Queenslander.

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