Dawn of the McManor House

According to an SBS News report, under the Australian Government's planned tax changes, knocking down a house and putting up a duplex, or a block of flats gets you a 50% capital gains tax (CGT) discount. But will converting a McMansion into a duplex, or manor house, count as a "new build"? This would require an extensive rebuild. to convert one home into two three, or four, so I suggest should be allowed.

This could be a way to rapidly, cheaply & environmentally, increase the housing stock. It could include converting useless space in existing homes (studies, media rooms & garages full of junk), into useful living space. Built in garages could be replaced with carports having a roof made of solar panels, with space for batteries, car chargers & storage hot water systems.

We might see companies specialize in this form of home conversion. Most Australian households are 1 or 2 people. Rebuilding our hosing stock could provide homes better suited to this & eliminate the housing shortage.

A McManor house could be useful for a family as it grows and shrinks. However, this might need further tax reform. For example, reducing the current tax exemption on the family home, to an exemption on the average priced family home. There is no reason why someone with a $10M home should be able to sell it tax free. The median Australian home value is about $1M, with Sydney nearer $2M. So a limit on tax concessions could be set at $2M nation wide, or regionally at $1M to $2M.

Remove the cylinder from a screen door lock

Locking Handle
for Screen Door

There are many videos showing how to remove the cylinder 
from a

European Profile Cylinder

Locking Handle for a Screen Door,  However, I found the the cam would not turn upwards on my European Profile Cylinder. There are suggestions to use a paperclip, blade or other thin implement.

self-retracting tape measure

But I did not have anything thin enough, so I cut a 100mm length off a small metal self-retracting tape measure and then cut that in half longitudinally. The result is a thin strip of metal 100mm x 5 mm, which has a curve matching the lock cylinder. I was able to slip between the cylinder and lock, then lever the cam up. Be careful as the metal strip was sharp where it was cut.

Having got the cylinder out, my next problem was that rather than being screwed to the door it was riveted. I used a Dremel type Rotary Tool with a miniature grinding disk to remove the heads of the rivets.