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Prolific Workshop contributor Dave Moore is an electrician by trade but has enjoyed a wide variety of different roles in his career. He uses his wide experience to help Workshop members on the site almost every day.
Dave completed an apprenticeship at the coal loader in Wollongong before working on navy ships at Sydney’s Garden Island and then jobs at Telstra. Now in his late 50s, he has worked at The University of Wollongong for 23 years in a number of different roles.
“I used to worry about titles, but it makes no difference to what I do. Just do it well! So I generally get jobs that they don’t know who should do it. Jack of all trades is what I think of myself as.”
Problem solving skills
Known on Bunnings Workshop as Dave-1, Dave brings enthusiasm, problem solving skills and inherent curiousity to every post he makes. He has helped thousands of Workshop community members with his practical solutions to home improvement problems.
Dave has been on the tools since he started building cubby houses as a kid, and the lessons he learnt as an apprentice have also provided invaluable throughout all his D.I.Y. projects.
“I never think of anything I do as a skill though, usually it’s just a means to complete something.”
Dave discovered the Bunnings Workshop community when browing the Bunnings website. “I had a question and was searching for an answer and my eyes went wide!” he explains. “I saw people had the same questions as mine and it really made things easier to deal with when I realised others have the same type of issues.”
Dave always approaches problems believing an answer can be found. “The best advice I was ever told is that ‘someone else has probably had the same issue, and if they have had it then its probably been sorted’. Knowing that it can be solved has been the thing that makes it easy to work out for myself.”
Passion for recycling
Since joining the community, recycling has become Dave’s passion and he has completed many projects at his home near Wollongong (south of Sydney) that utilise recycled materials.
“If I can use a resource in such a way that allows me to reuse it again without losing the resource - that is gold! I got into it from realising if I did it myself then I could get more out of my money than if I bought ready made.
“I remember when I could either afford a bookcase or a circular saw, but not both. I realised if I built the bookcase using the circular saw then bingo! I still have the Ryobi circular saw and still have the bookcase.”
Projects Dave has shared with the community include a large gabion retaining wall, a built-in library featuring towering bookcases created by converting a garage, an outdoor timber lounge and pool decking and privacy screening.
“My favourite project is a toss up between the Gabion walls across the front yard and the library retrofit of the garage.
“The Gabions were to replace the old Besser block retaining wall that had no footing and only mortar holding the blocks together. I got to reuse the broken up concrete from my side path.
“The library (is a favourite) because the sketch that I did before I started really turned to real life.”
Upcoming projects
Dave is contemplating building a dedicated workshop by excavating underneath his home, but is more excited about his “Dutch spa” concept.
“It’s an alternative way of heating a spa with a stainless steel pipe coil via fire inside the coil. This is to go down the side of the house. The small area may curtail a wood fired heater, so the secondary idea is to reuse some solar panels to heat the water.”
Other ideas ruminating around Dave’s head include adding concertina-style doors to his sunroom and a galley-style kitchen renovation with stainless steel fittings.
Dave says his favourite tools include a shovel, hammer, crowbar, mallet and drill. “I do a lot of digging in my projects as well as gardening. So a flat blade shovel is first on my list. As I live where the ground is pretty much clay then the crowbar comes into effect as well.”
The heart of a poet
Away from the tools, Dave is something of a poet.
“I write odes, not quite poetry,” he explains. “The idea of odes is that you should be able to describe a scene, feeling, emotions in such a way that others can close their eyes and feel it as well. It’s not a huge thing but I enjoy it as usually it makes me appreciate things.”
Dave is currently happily single, saying “heartache is not something I want to go through again”, but admits he would be prepared to make the leap again if he found the right person.
He also loves visiting cafés and enjoying a good coffee. “Just get out of the house and break the pattern. Road trips are another thing that I enjoy.
“I also like to read, mainly science fiction, though I joined a book club to expand my range of genres.”
To make sure he can enjoy life and keep finishing projects, Dave says he has a simple rule: “One back yard project at a time, one front yard project at a time, and one inside project for when it rains. Otherwise nothing would get finished!”
