Noob Lord paints an interior door

What do you need to do the job

1. Oil based enamel paint (Gloss or Semi Gloss. Matt enamel doesn't exist.)
2. Water based undercoat paint.
3. Brushes. (Finishing brush)
4. Turpentine for cleaning up the oil based enamel.
5. Saw horse to rest the door on.
6. Sandpaper (80 up to 240ish grit)
7. Sander.
8. Tweezers.
9. Roller with vinyl sleeve.

What paint to use:

You should use enamel paint for the final coat because it's harder wearing than the other paints and more scrub-able than other paints.
You can get water based enamel. Then you can clean up with water, but the trade brands don't do it so it will cost more if you get water based enamel, although you will save on buying turps and extra brushes. I've read online that oil based enamel is harder wearing than water based enamel.
Personally I'd buy Walpamur or Taubmans Tradex oil based enamel because it's about half the cost of the other brands. I'd buy in 4L because you'll end up needing it and they only sell it in 4L.
You will want to also buy a water based undercoat paint.
I have tried Dulux Aqua-enamel and it was no better than Oil based on getting a nice finish. But I've not tried "Taubmans Ultra Enamel". Both of them are almost double the price of the trade paint. 

What to do:

1. Thoroughly sand the door with 80 grit to get a flat surface. (Assuming the door isn't in great shape when you start.)
2. Apply undercoat, let dry and sand with 200 grit. Then repeat till you have a really smooth surface.
3. Roll on enamel paint, then finish with a "finishing" brush. The finishing brush is more to wipe off pain than apply paint and it's to remove the stipple marks left by the roller.

Things I've learnt:

1. You need a lot of time. It takes 12 hours or more for enamel to dry and so it will take days to finish the job
2. It's very important you start with a good surface to the door. So sand it thoroughly before you start with 80 to 120 grit wet sand paper.
3. Always use wet sand paper. Because a. otherwise the dust goes everywhere including your lungs. b. dry sandpaper clogs, even the 'no-clog' sand paper clogs. c. then the paint clogs rip the paint.
4. Dilute the paint to make it flow better. Turps or water depending.
5. You need to do this job inside where you can stop dust blowing on to the paint while it dries.
6. If it's cold and wet it takes longer to dry.
7. Then paint with undercoat, and when paint is dry then sand till you get a nice surface. You want to do this with undercoat because it's cheaper paint, and dries faster and can clean up with water. (I am assuming you have a door without a great surface to start with.)
8. You can use a roller which is great in that it shows no brush marks. But it creates a stipple pattern. (Both the vinyl and micro-fiber sleeves leave a stipple pattern.) The stipple pattern looks OK to me but if you have to scrub the door then where you scrub you can scrub the stipple pattern flat. This then sticks out like a sore thumb. So if you are going to use a roller you should finish with a finishing brush. You should mainly only be using rollers.
9. Use a nice wide 750mm brush and you are going to use the very tip to 'tip off'.
10. Then paint with the enamel and do at least 2 coats of enamel.
11. You can use a roller then a 'finishing brush'. The finishing brush is designed to take paint off. It's a very wide brush and you brush the rolled door to give the door a brush finish. It gives the speed of a roller, with a brush finish.
12. Too much paint and it will drip off your brush leaving blobs so going crazy with the paint doesn't work great. You can also have a problem where the paint on top hardens and the paint underneath is still soft. Then if you push with your finger it leaves a finger print, if you try and sand the paint on top will sand through then you are sanding wet paint. Yuck.
13. Dulux paint is double the price of trade and not worth it. But you might want o use a paint additive and also dilute.
14. The door you are painting is probably very uneven and this will cause all sorts of problems if you think you can sand it flat. Don't try it doesn't work. You can't. And you can't get a flat finish on an uneven door. You can still get a very nice finish though, just don't try and sand it flat.
15. Keep the paint tub sealed. Bits get in otherwise. Just take out what you need from the tin, otherwise you'll get bits in the tin if you put pain back in.
16. I used a draft excluder to 'tip off' and allowed me to do a perfect 1 direction tip off.

Tips I read online:

1. Sand with 240 grit paper.

2. Only use gloss.

3. add penetrol to anything oil based 

4. use a foam roller, top to bottom then tip off, if you have insufficient paint or too thick paint you get drag marks.

5. bang nails in to the bottom and top of the door so you can pain one side, flip and the door rests on the nails and you can paint the other side. But you'll need someone to help and a way to make sure the door doesn't slip. I didn't do this.

This is the best article I've seen with a load of tips.
https://www.familyhandyman.com/painting/techniques/painting-doors/

Noob Lord chooses which paint to use in the house

Why write this?

Because buying paint at Bunnings is super confusing. Buying the wrong paint costs you time and money. I have definitely bought the wrong paint before.

Buying paint at Bunnings is confusing:

Find out what you need before you go to Bunnings.
In Australia you'll probably be buying at Bunnings. If you go down to Bunnings there are rows of expensive paints and the paint you want is probably hidden in a very small section furthest from the paint counter. I think they purposely make it confusing to try and get you to buy expensive paint. If you ask for help you will be shown expensive paint and other expensive paint and be asked to make a choice!
The main problem is instead of organising the store by paint product type it is organised by Brand which is crazy. Bunnings don't do this with anything else. I am certain they do this to push the expensive paint.

Brands are confusing:

Bunnings sell Dulux, British Paint, Walpamur, Taubmans, and Spring. But Dulux, British Paint, and Walpamur are all owned by Dulux! I don't know who owns Spring. Dulux advertises British Paints and Dulux but there's no website for Walpamur. I don't think Dulux wants you to know they own all of them. Taubmans have different brands but they are all marked as Taubmans. For example they have Taubmans Tradex and Taubmans Trade Pro. You will find that 90% of the floor space is set aside for the expensive Dulux, British Paints and Taubmans non-trade brands. They also seem to price match each other, so when you compare British Paints, Dulux and Taubmans the prices are all the same. 
Not only do they have multiple main brands, but then the expensive brands have sub brands for example Dulux for ceilings have 3 brands, Dulux Ceiling White + PLUS Kitchen & Bathroom, Dulux Ceiling White Never Miss and Dulux Ceiling White. 
So it's just a massive sea of brands. This is another reason to stick to the Trade brands because the trade brands have just one paint per paint type.
Bunnings hide the value paints in a small section all together furthest from the paint till. You will have to look around to find it. You'll probably find Walpamur, Tradex and Spring together.
Why do they have all these brands? It's to make it confusing because they don't want to compete on price. As you can see below there's a big difference. If we take for example ceiling paint:

Brand	Price per litre in AUD
Dulux Ceiling White 4L	12.50
British Paints Ceiling White 4L	11.25
Taubmans Easy Coat Ceilings 4L	11.63
Taubmans Ceiling Paint 6L	4.50
Taubmans Trade Pro Celing	7.25
Walpamur Ceiling Paint 4L	7.25

Paint types:  

When you know there are only 4 paint types it all becomes super easy.

Interior wall
Ceiling
Undercoat
Enamel (Water based or Oil based)

Enamel is used for doors and skirting boards because it dries hard and should be scrubable. Which normal wall paint is not. This can be confusing because Dulux sell "Wash & Wear" paint, which is actually for walls and not really scrub-able. Enamel only comes in Gloss or Semi-Gloss. So you can't paint a door Matt!

Enamel comes in Water and Oil based. Water based allows you to wash your brushes up with water but only the expensive brands do it. The trade brands only do oil based enamel.

Water-based enamel paint	Oil-based enamel paint
Does not yellow over time	Will yellow with the absence of UV light (sunlight)
Offers a full range of colours	Offers a limited range of colours
Not always suitable for areas subject to harsh treatment. In my experience it dries soft. So it's easy to dig in a nail and muck up the finish. I think it's the reason you can't buy water based enamel trade paints. For this reason I'd avoid it.	Great resistance to harsh wear and tear, as oil-based paints are harder and abrasion-resistant
Comes in gloss and semi-gloss finishes	Comes in gloss and semi-gloss finishes
Not able to produce a brilliant gloss	Able to produce a brilliant gloss and extremely smooth finish
Not suitable for all window frames, as it can stick	Suitable on all window frames, as it will not stick

https://kraudeltpainting.com.au/water-based-vs-oil-based-enamel-paints/

It says that with water based enamels it dries faster and a second coat can be applied in 2 hours. That is not my experience and I had to leave the water based enamel for a day, but it was cold and damp.

Noob Lord changes the oil on his Honda Jazz

How to change your car oil

















Should you do it?
YES - if you have somewhere to store the stuff you need, or someone to borrow it off. It's hard the first time. Easy the second time. Real men should be able to change the oil in their car themselves. It will save you time and money in the long run.

How long does it take?
30 minutes when you know what you are doing and have the things you need. 2 hours for your first time.

What do you need?
1. New oil.
2. New oil filter.
3. Oil filter wrench.
4. Oil pan.
5. New sump nut washer.
6. New sump nut. (Optional.) (I think I need 14mm washer - need to confirm)
7. Wrench and socket set. (Probably metric.)
8. Big mouth funnel.
9. Rag.
10. A way to lift the front of your car up safely.
11. Old empty milk bottles.

Quick Steps
1. Lift the front of the car
2. Get under with a wrench and take off the sump nut.
3. Place the oil pan under the car and wait for the oil to run out.
4. Use the filter wrench to take off the oil filter, and wait for more oil to run out.
5. Put the new oil filter on and the sump nut in.
6. Pour new oil in to the top of the engine, checking the dipstick to the right level.
7. Use the rag to clean the sump nut and the oil filter. Go for a drive and see if you have any leaking. If you do tighten up the sump nut and filter.

All the things I learned:
1. Drive the car around a bit before changing the oil. It will heat up the oil and make sure you get all the oil out. But be careful because now you have hot oil coming out.

2. Lifting the front of the car is the hardest bit. You need to get some force on the sump nut to both undo and tighten properly, so you need space under the car to get force on the wrench. You can try and put the car up on wood blocks but you'll probably not get the height you need.
You will be best off with a couple of car ramps. They are about $100 AUD per ramp per wheel. You just need 2 to get the front of the car up.
Alternatively get a jack ($60) and stands ($50). With a jack you have to make sure you jack the car up in the right place. Try lifting the car from the wrong point and you can damage the car. Also you have to be on concrete or similar solid ground in case the stands slip. If they slip and you are under the car you can die.

3. Use a socket wrench for the sump nut. Make sure you have the right socket for the sump nut. If you have imperial inches on a metric sump nut and you bur the nut you are in a lot of pain because you'll not be able to get the nut off and you are screwed. So make sure you absolutely have the right socket. Get a socket set with a nice long handle as you need to put some force in to the nut.

4. Get an oil pan that has litre markings so you know how much has come out. Make sure it has a spout for emptying. Ideally it should have a spike on it so you can put the old oil filter on the spike to drain in to the pan. It should be shallow to fit under the car and wide so it covers both the filter and the sump nut.

5. When you take off the sump nut check the sump nut washer. Some washers are copper and made so they deform when you tighten them to make a good seal. That type can't be re-used.

6. When putting on the new oil filter, check the oil filter, it should tell you how tight it should go back on. My one was hand tight then a half turn. Before putting the new oil filter on, wipe some oil around the seal, so that when you tighten the filter the seal doesn't stick too early and rip the seal.

7. When you buy the new oil, see if you can get a can of oil that has litre markings on it to help work out how much to put back in. Use a funnel to pour in the oil. A big mouth funnel or it will take ages. Wrap a rag around the base of the funnel and around. You do not want to accidentally pour oil on to the alternator or anything else, it could cause a lot of problems.

8. Keep checking the oil level from the dipstick. It's a litre of oil from the bottom dipstick marker to the top. Over filling the engine with oil causes problems.

9. Pour the old oil in to the milk bottles and stick in the basement until you can dispose of it. Our council lets you dispose of old chemicals once a year for free.