A Labour of love on your house
A three-day break means you have no excuses to tackle these household jobs. Natalia Didovich reports.
It feels like an age since we had our last long weekend, but now that it’s finally arrived it can be difficult to determine which household chores to prioritise. Co-founder of Builderscrack.co.nz, Jeremy Wyn-Harris, said Labour Day weekend was the perfect time to get your home ready for summer.
So without further ado, here’s a list of project ideas for the long weekend.
Prepare the lawn
Put off mowing the lawn for most of spring? Labour Weekend was the obvious time to drag out the mower and give your lawn a bit of TLC.
‘‘A lot of people are itching to just slam the lawn and hedge with the lawnmower and hedge cutter, which can tidy up things in a short time but is not really doing it full justice,’’ Mitre 10’s Stan Scott said.
Now was ideal for spraying for weeds and ensuring your lawn was treated with the ‘‘right fertiliser’’ to give it a boost.
‘‘You could also take this time to set up the irrigation system for your garden by laying the pipe work and sprinklers,’’ Wyn-Harris said.
Appliance checks
Those appliances that served you well all winter should get a check to make sure they do the same next year.
Gas fires, heat pumps, chimneys all needed to be checked or cleaned annually and doing that now would prevent being caught out in an early cold snap next winter.
‘‘This is also a good time to fix taps that have been leaking all winter,’’ Wyn-Harris said.
DIY Projects
Not all long weekend chores have to be boring. Wyn-Harris said it was rewarding to work on something that your family could get lots of use out of in the years to come.
One of his long-weekend DIY project suggestions was building a pizza oven or barbecue out of bricks.
‘‘I grew up with a homemade barbecue in the backyard. It was awesome,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s a lot of work and might take a few weekends to complete, but it will be worth it for summer barbecues.’’
You could also build or paint a fence, make a rose bed (‘‘Though be careful to use untreated timber,’’ Wyn-Harris warned), a compost bin or even a worm farm. ‘‘One of my colleagues uses his worm farm to capture the worm excrement (or castings). From there he dilutes it with water and sprays it on his weeds.’’
What if it rains?
Does your long weekend look set to be a rainy one? Just because it’s wet outside, doesn’t mean your time off can’t be put to good use.
Wyn-Harris said there were still plenty of practical indoor activities if the weather took a turn for the worse.
Squeaky hinges might be fun for Halloween but they’re otherwise annoying.
Simply apply oil or a lubricant to the problem hinge and enjoy silent door openings and closings. For troublesome hinges, remove the pins and soak them in oil before re-attaching them.
Alternatively, you could use the break to patch small holes and scratches in walls by using joint compound and a putty knife to fill in or sand down any imperfections.
There’s also time for a room makeover, courtesy of a paint job.
‘‘There is some technique involved but it is fairly simple to learn and a wet weekend is the perfect opportunity to start the paint job you’ve been putting off,’’ Wyn-Harris said.
If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, opt for a slightly bolder colour than you’d typically go for and create a feature wall.
Get the whole family involved
Many hands make light work, so make your weekend chores a breeze by enlisting the help of the entire family. Even less-thanenthusiastic teenagers can be put to good use.
Wyn-Harris said spending some time doing DIY projects on a long weekend was a great way for a family to bond, even if some family members were more difficult to engage than others.
Get teenagers involved by ‘‘pitching the project as a family commitment’’ or get them motivated by ‘‘enlisting them to help out on projects you think they will get use out of’’.
‘‘Rather than just telling your kids what the plan is, ask them for their input and engage them
in the whole process,’’ he said. ‘‘For example, get their help with designing the pizza oven and ask their opinion on which colour to paint the fence.’’
If your kids feel like their opinion is being heard, they would be more interested in being involved with whatever project you’re working on. If all else fails, you could resort to wi-fi blackmail.
‘‘Change the wi-fi password and leave a note next to the router saying ‘We will unlock the wi-fi once you send us a photo of that job done’,’’ WynHarris said.
‘‘Change the wi-fi password and leave a note next to the router saying ‘We will unlock the wi-fi once you send us a photo of that job done’.’’
Jeremy Wyn-Harris