M'sian Shares How He Spent Less Than RM350 Upgrading His House Gate So It Looks Fancier
At first, he wanted to replace the gate but had second thoughts after finding out it would cost RM3,000 to RM4,000.
A man in Melaka recently took to Facebook to share a nifty life hack that can help you upgrade your house gate at a low cost
Kelab Kaki D.I.Y is a Facebook group with over 547,000 members.
A posting by fellow group member, Muhammad Faizal, recently garnered a lot of attention after he revealed that he spent less than RM350 upgrading his gate.
He wrote, "Alhamdulillah after three days, my DIY gate is finally done. At first, I wanted to replace the gate but had second thoughts after finding out it would cost RM3,000 to RM4,000."
"With help from skills I learned from 'Kemahiran Hidup' class in school, here are the results. It cost a little less than RM350. The main mission was to cover the gate so we'd have more privacy. It straight away looked like a RM3,000 gate."
"My wife smiled so wide."
The main aspect of the DIY gate is actually planks made out of a material called fibre-cement.
Fibre-cement has the durability of cement, is impervious to wood-boring insects, does not rot, and is resistant to deterioration from water, salt, and ultraviolet rays.
According to Muhammad Faizal, he bought 15 of these planks at only RM16 each. He also noted that they are resistant to heat and rain because they're made of cement and not metal or wood.
Here are the other things you will need for this project:
-1L of sealer
- 2L of water-based paint
- 1L of oil-based paint for metal
- A grinder
- G-clamps
- Metal screws
- A cordless drill
- A right-angle ruler
Muhammad Faizal added that the sealer he purchased was RM25, the water-based paint was RM35 per litre, and the oil-based paint was priced at RM30.
The process is fairly simple.
He painted his old gate a new colour and attached fibre-cement planks onto them using screws.
In the comments section of the post, Muhammad Faizal revealed that he used the tools listed in his post to measure the size of his gate and cut the planks accordingly using a grinder.
Then, he placed the planks onto the gate using G-clamps and drilled metal screws through the planks and into the metal frame.
As simple as ABC!
Another user shared that she used Muhammad Faizal's idea but hired a carpenter to do it for her.
In the end, she only spent RM900 for a 17ft gate.
She wrote, "Thank you so much for sharing with us, sir. I copied your idea for my gate, it was done in one day after hiring a carpenter. The cost was RM900 for a 17ft gate. Got my Hari Raya gate early. Hope you have a great time fasting."