Home repair tips highlighted

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Rick Garrick/Wawatay News
Home improvement guru Jon Eakes shares some tips on repairing holes in drywall during the Home Owner Home Repair How-To workshop at the 11th Annual First Nations Northern Housing Conference.

Home repair tips and techniques were highlighted by home improvement guru Jon Eakes during the 11th Annual First Nations Northern Housing Conference.

“We see of lot of home maintenance issues — a lot of minor drywall repairs that need to be done, people hanging up pictures,” said Chris Price, technical services advisor with Bimose Tribal Council. “Storage is always an issue with homes nowadays, so by providing these simple little tips and techniques we were hoping to alleviate some of the issues that we are having with drywall repairs, drywall anchors.”

Eakes provided advice on a variety of drywall repairs, how to use different kinds of drywall anchors for hanging pictures and other objects, how to do a number of kitchen cabinet adjustments and repairs and information on the proper materials needed to build non-sag shelving units during the Home Owner Home Repair How-To workshop on the third day of the Feb. 12-14 housing conference, held at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay.

“I enjoy having Jon up here every year,” Price said. “He’s a great presenter; he knows his stuff backwards and forwards. He tries to get the audience involved every year and it’s great to have him.”

Eakes also hosted the Builders Challenge, on Feb. 13, which featured interior finishing techniques such as installing drywall, inside and outside corner finishing, cabinet hanging and fastening and installing a variety of baseboards, mouldings and trims.

“We taught them how to install drywall, trim, plumbing outlets and how to do mudding and taping,” Price said about the Builders Challenge. “So I said, ‘well, let’s take it to the next step’ (for the home repair tips session). We have (the interior finishing demonstration wall unit) in place, so let’s teach them how to repair it. So we knocked some holes in it, taught them different techniques and plastering.”

The Builders Challenge was split up into four different sessions, with four teams of two working on different tasks in each session. At the completion of each session, the workmanship of each team was graded.

“You got some prizes at the end of it, you got some hands-on experience,” Price said. “It’s a great approach for learning something rather than sitting here listening to someone talk for 90 minutes.”