Category: Home Renovations

2 August 2021

Viewsonic Touch Screen for Home Assistant Display

Use of a pretty old Viewsonic All-in-One computer as a home automation display. I picked a couple of these up for around NZ$40 each, however found the touch screen didn’t work out of the box as drivers were missing from Linux.

Categories Electronics/Home Automation/Home Renovations/IT & Networking/Projects/Technology Comments: 0

27 July 2021

Home Automation of Rinnai Gas Heater

Our Rinnai heater is a wall mounted/flued gas fire. Current control is via a large LCD remote control that also acts as the temperature sensor, and thermostat. It has some auto timing capability via way of programming the remote, but it is a bit clunky and not intuitive. The goal was to enable a better PID control of the temperature, and switch off/on control (occupancy, remotely before arrival, voice control, better scheduling etc). This shows how I connected to it with Home Assistant.

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11 June 2020

Secure the Chocolate: Simple Cupboard Security

We have created a self contained area of our house that we still use a lot ourselves, and part of the need is to be able to store and use spaces for our own stuff… without guests having access. One of the bedrooms and a full sized cupboard can be locked with a key when needed, but what do you...

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11 June 2020

Bike Cover Sail

Photos of a simple cover made to protect bikes stored outside.

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9 December 2019

Outdoor Pool Area

This was an overhaul of outdoor space. At one stage it was a manky grass area but we dug that up and put stones down with a pergola, concrete pavers and stones. The pergola was a ‘Briscoes 50% off sale special’ and some Bunnings trellis screens were screwed together in a frame. The pergola fabric may not last, but it...

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6 December 2019

Large TV Recessed Mounting

This was a setup in our rumpus room to house a TV. I made the recess etc probably 8 months before I even thought about getting a TV for it, and I sort of ‘estimated’ the size I’d need. The back of the recess is 12mm MDF and it is set 100mm back from the Gib. There was heaps of room behind this wall due to how this area under the house is constructed. Using a sheet of MDF meant I didn’t need to worry about what I was going to do with a TV bracket later – it could be screwed anywhere.

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5 December 2019

Over Stair TV Cabinet + Hall Storage

Because I hate unused space… I decided to plan a storage unit for above where our stairs go from our lounge to the lower level. There is decent ceiling height here, and the back of the area is accessible from the hallway. We thought of the concept when we were renovating the hall about 12 months previous, and so cut...

Categories DIY Projects/Entertainment/Home Renovations Comments: 0

8 July 2019

Conversion of Ceiling Attic to Storage

In 2019 I converted a ceiling space atticin our current house to storage (on a budget). You can never have enough home storage. This is the 5th type of install I’ve done like this (Similar in 4 previous houses), and as well as being useful, home buyers love it (if done well).

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12 May 2019

Lachco Front Door Lock for Home Automation

I researched, bought and installed an electronic front door lock to go with the home automation & security system for under NZ$200 in 2017. I looked for one with these features specifically as it was a free egress handle, would lock on door close (not a deadlock) and had a wireless RF remote… which is an easy way to connect...

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7 March 2019

Dog Motel

We just got a new and decided it needed a place to hang out outside… and somewhere to poop as we had no grass area. The area was an existing pebble garden that we cleared and put down a scoria base. We built a picket fence around the edge and laid some astroturf. The gate will mainly remain open as...

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19 May 2018

Tips: Get Your Cabling in Tricky Places

Do you have an existing house or structure and trying to get a cable into a tricky place?  Here are a few tips from methods I have used over the years. Conduit Sucker There is nothing more annoying than finding a broken cable in a conduit or pipe and having nothing to pull the replacement wire though.  it is especially...

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8 November 2017

Set up a Cheap Home Surveillance System

You can spend a lot on home security and surveillance.  Obviously, better quality, higher resolution digital systems are great and can be set up for more money, but as digital systems have become more common, analogue systems have become dirt cheap. In my opinion, more lower resolution cameras is as good or better than just a few of high resolution,...

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6 May 2016

Solid Trestle Craft Table

We had seen ideas for making trestle tables, and we wanted something that would perfectly fit a nook area for sewing, craft etc. I wanted to make it for as little money as possible, so we found an old heavy commercial work surface someone had on trademe for about $20 and cut it to suit for the top (where was...

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6 July 2015

Simple TV Wall Mounting with Cupboard

Back in 2015 I looked for a way to mount our 55″ TV on the wall tidily. This is the solution I came up with. As can be seen, I cut a hole behind the TV, and made a thin replacement cover from chipboard – but with spaces for the metal parts for a flat TV bracket. I wanted to...

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5 August 2014

Ceiling Kids Loft

The roof in this basic ’80s 3 bed townhouse was a triple pitch design, and I found about a 1m width and 5m wide area that had no cross bracing. I used this spare space to build a kids’ ceiling loft.

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6 February 2014

Castle Bed and Princess Bedroom

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