We had a huge response of questions for our resident Building and DIY Editor Dieter Mylius! Here he answers your questions on how to prepare timber, presenting your home for sale, painting your driveway, waterproofing and cracks in your walls!

Thank you to everyone who submitted their questions for answering. See below for details on submitting your questions for our gardening guru's next month.

Question: We built a timber path about 6 months ago. The place where we got it from said to let it stand for a while before we stain it. The problem we have now is that the timber has gone grey and not the red it was supposed to be. Is there a product that would restore the timber? Barbara.

Answer: Many timbers, especially oily hardwoods, are best left to stand for a few months before oiling. When you are ready to oil them, clean first with a timber decking cleaner, made by companies such as Cabots (available at most paint and hardware stores), then when dry, use a pigmented oil in the colour of the timber to coat the deck. For instance, if you have a Merbau or Balau deck, use an oil of that colour. By the way, over time the deck will turn grey unless you coat it regularly. This is just the surface pigment of the timber being affected by sunlight and is a natural process. Each time you oil the deck with a pigmented stain, you will leave a little pigment on the surface which will protect the timber from sunlight and add colour.

Question: We want our small brick home to present better for resale. We have a horrible porch spanning the front of the house with cement and aged lattice. How can we improve the front porch to change the presentation of the house? Simone.

Answer: Lattice in poor condition always looks tired, so my suggestion would be to remove the lattice, patch the cement render as best you can and paint it to suit the home.

Both you and Brett (next question below) could replace the lattice by supporting two rails between posts (rendered brick, metal or timber) by using brackets. Then use timber slats or pickets, cut to the correct length, nailed to the rails with a space between the pickets about half the picket width. It is not difficult. A tip when building these sort of fences or balustrades is to paint the parts first - its a lot easier and quicker then painting them afterwards!

Question: I want to remove unsightly lattice and build stained horizontal wood panels on our front porch. Is it easy? How do I do this? Brett.

Answer: Please see paragraph two of answer above.

Question: My current hot water system is dripping at the joint between the unit and the pipe. Is this repairable? If not, would you please recommend a hot water system. Is there a hot water system that allows simultaneous hot taps to be turned? Mary.

Answer: Unfortunately, I can't answer this question as I can't review the unit. My suggestion is to contact your local plumber to see if it is a joint that is leaking or indeed a problem with the tank. If the tank is at fault and cannot be repaired, find a tank replacement service in your area that will replace the tank and take away the old one. All hot water systems, as far as I know, have the problem of when using one hot tap and another is turned on, that the reduction in flow will affect the amount of hot water at each tap unless you have a dedicated hot water heater for a particular tap similar to the instantaneous units.  However, there may be a manufacturer out there who claims their system does this less than others.

Page 2

Next month, our gardening guru's Adam Woodhams and Roger Fox answer your most-asked gardening questions.

If you have a question to ask one of our editors, please email us at: bhgproducer@pacificmags.com.au

While we may not be able to respond to each question, we'll do our best to answer a broad range in order to assist as many people as possible.

Click here to see our Decorating and Craft Editor Dora Papas, answering your pressing questions on where to start when decorating, how to fold a fitted sheet and top tips for stretching your decorating budget.