In this month's magazine (May issue, out 4 April), we have a quick look at things you can check and inspect yourself when buying a new house. This is not intended to replace a professional inspection, but rather to eliminate those houses that have too much wrong with them to be in contention.

This reminded me of when we bought our house. It was down to two, but this place was great, like a tiny holiday cottage in the bush with potential. We walked in, and due to the previous owner's dogs, we couldn't even see half the house - dogs rule! After a 10-minute inspection, we signed on the dotted line.

However, when we moved in we found out that the half-house-kennel was a cover for an interior motorcycle workshop in the third bedroom, complete with oil puddles on the floor. By that time they seemed dryish, so we cleaned them up as best as we could. It has since been carpeted, but I suppose the stain is still there.

Speaking of oil, Rover, my 30+ year old lawn mower took offence at being mentioned without permission in this blog a few months ago and promptly collapsed. He basically turned into a 3.5hp 4 stroke bulldozer, or one of those machines that Jason Hodges uses to turn perfectly good, low-maintenance grass into a high maintenance vegie patch. Turf cutter, I think they're called.

Fixing it looked too hard with stripped threads and so forth, so, to cut a short story long, after 30 years, the decision was made to buy a new mower. Just a simple one. I don't need or use a catcher, but it does need to be able to be wheeled up and down steps to reach the vast areas or verdant lawn (green stuff you can mow).

After a FULL day of visiting hardware stores and lawnmower outlets, it would seem that no-one else has steps, as all the mowers shown to me would either take out the nose of the steps, or the back of the mower. They had metal and plastic bits (technical term) sticking out behind the back wheels.

So with wallet just as heavy (except for a half a tank of fuel), I put Rover on saw horses, took off the wheels, swapped some slightly longer bolts from the front for the stripped one at the back, and added another 30 years of life to the good old boy. I even gave him a small drink of engine oil, but stopped short of a service - don't want to spoil him you know.

Time spent looking for a new mower = most of a day.

Time to fix old mower = 3/4 hour.

Time to realise the DIYers can do anything ... I'll try to remember next time.

Dieter

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