24 June 2012
Nothing much happened this week. I had a cold and the energy levels were low.
Mieke arrived Sunday night, and we are spending time with her. I also had to do our tax return. Spent a lot of time sorting through my "box files"
Then Elna tripped on the stairs/ steps between the living room and kitchen. I decided now is a good time to install the ramp we had in mind. It ended up 600 mm high, 2.2 mm long and only 600 mm wide. That was the size of a kitchen top I had lying around. Stuck an offcut of carpet on it an all is fine. (Forgot to say, I had to go under the floor to support the threshold which was a little bit wobbly.)
Hope we will have more to report next week.
Sunday
17 June 2012
I just checked, the work on the front room started on 14 April. We finished yesterday, that makes it 9 weeks. We are finally finished. Now that is using brother Ben's advice not to do the floors now. We did clean away the polish on the edges where the skirting board goes, and the centre part is fairly clean, I think it will be an easy job cleaning all of it. Since Mieke is arriving tonight, we left the floor to clean it properly and oil it when she is gone, using Tung oil. Tung oil does not make it tacky and dark as Linseed oil does.
We decided not to move in ourselves, but to let Mieke use the room, since she will be working odd hours. The room is far away from the living areas. If I may say so, I think we did an excellent job. The room is clean and tidy, and most of all, warm. No draughts.
The next few weeks I will spend on tidying up the section a bit. We have material lying around everywhere. I will also start on putting horizontal beams/joists against the wall in anticipation of putting the verandas back.
I just checked, the work on the front room started on 14 April. We finished yesterday, that makes it 9 weeks. We are finally finished. Now that is using brother Ben's advice not to do the floors now. We did clean away the polish on the edges where the skirting board goes, and the centre part is fairly clean, I think it will be an easy job cleaning all of it. Since Mieke is arriving tonight, we left the floor to clean it properly and oil it when she is gone, using Tung oil. Tung oil does not make it tacky and dark as Linseed oil does.
We decided not to move in ourselves, but to let Mieke use the room, since she will be working odd hours. The room is far away from the living areas. If I may say so, I think we did an excellent job. The room is clean and tidy, and most of all, warm. No draughts.
The next few weeks I will spend on tidying up the section a bit. We have material lying around everywhere. I will also start on putting horizontal beams/joists against the wall in anticipation of putting the verandas back.
10 June 2012
A very slow week last week. I have managed to break two panes of glass out of the eight. I dropped one of the sashes, and then dropped a beam through the other. I had to visit a glazier to cut some of the glass I had stashed away. Thank goodness, he charged only $5!! We did also replace a pane of glass that has been broken on the street side. Next door neighbour said he has been living there for 28 years, and it has been patched all that time. I am still working on the architraves. I did manage to pull the wiring for the plugs we want to fit, but tomorrow I will need to crawl under the floor again to staple the wire. Friday was a half day, we had business in Hamilton, and Saturday we did no work.
We just might make it in time for Marike's visit.
Fingers crossed.
A very slow week last week. I have managed to break two panes of glass out of the eight. I dropped one of the sashes, and then dropped a beam through the other. I had to visit a glazier to cut some of the glass I had stashed away. Thank goodness, he charged only $5!! We did also replace a pane of glass that has been broken on the street side. Next door neighbour said he has been living there for 28 years, and it has been patched all that time. I am still working on the architraves. I did manage to pull the wiring for the plugs we want to fit, but tomorrow I will need to crawl under the floor again to staple the wire. Friday was a half day, we had business in Hamilton, and Saturday we did no work.
We just might make it in time for Marike's visit.
Fingers crossed.
Saturday
2 June 2012
Tomorrow we will be in Auckland, so you are getting this one early.
As stated, the sheep needed a fence. Now that took us two days, adding wires to the fence and putting chicken wire against the fence.Thank goodness we have bought a trailer load of fencing wire a while ago at $2.50!!
We removed the broken glass from the sash, and managed to cut a new pane from the others we had. Problem. The new glass would not fit, although the dimension was right. I learned that the glass was not square, so I had to trim the frame to suit. It turned out to be a big job at my age. Bottom line is that the window is complete now, and all works well. now we will need to remake some of the architraves, they just broke into a thousand pieces. At least we managed to seal that window from draughts. The other window in the same room is fairly rotted out as well. We might just patch it, but it might need remanufacturing as well. Will see next week.
We also refitted the cornices which we have removed when we fitted the plasterboard. We have stripped and revarnished them and had to jack them in position because they were so warped.
We have got two weeks left before Marike comes for her visit. If all goes well, we just might finish that room in time.
I forgot to say, we were given seven sheets of used ply. We used that and some other to line our existing bedroom. It goes only to 2.4m where the wall is 3.4m, but it already makes a marked difference to the temperature. We are experiencing a very mild winter to date, frost only two days or so.
See you next week
G
Tomorrow we will be in Auckland, so you are getting this one early.
As stated, the sheep needed a fence. Now that took us two days, adding wires to the fence and putting chicken wire against the fence.Thank goodness we have bought a trailer load of fencing wire a while ago at $2.50!!
We removed the broken glass from the sash, and managed to cut a new pane from the others we had. Problem. The new glass would not fit, although the dimension was right. I learned that the glass was not square, so I had to trim the frame to suit. It turned out to be a big job at my age. Bottom line is that the window is complete now, and all works well. now we will need to remake some of the architraves, they just broke into a thousand pieces. At least we managed to seal that window from draughts. The other window in the same room is fairly rotted out as well. We might just patch it, but it might need remanufacturing as well. Will see next week.
We also refitted the cornices which we have removed when we fitted the plasterboard. We have stripped and revarnished them and had to jack them in position because they were so warped.
We have got two weeks left before Marike comes for her visit. If all goes well, we just might finish that room in time.
I forgot to say, we were given seven sheets of used ply. We used that and some other to line our existing bedroom. It goes only to 2.4m where the wall is 3.4m, but it already makes a marked difference to the temperature. We are experiencing a very mild winter to date, frost only two days or so.
See you next week
G
Sunday
27 May 2012.
What happened just now reminds me of the joke about the computer user who had a problem. She called in a technician and he sorted it in a few seconds. She wanted to know what the problem has been? He replied:"It was an ID ten T error". She wrote it down to tell her friends: "ID10T" I nearly had my post finished, and accidentally touched a wrong key somewhere, and lost it all.
Now where were I?
Last week I said the window was nearly finished. We have removed the rotten frame and built a new frame, leaving the windowsill in place. Every night we put the sliding sashes back in to close the big hole. We had some broken or cracked panes of glass in the sashes, which obviously needed replacing. If bought new, they cost $ 57.
When we first saw the house in 2009, there were windows lying on the deck. In 2006 they installed one in place of a rotten one in the western wall. When we bought the place, the other was still lying there, with pieces of the rotted one as well. We put them in storage. Beginning to work on the windows, we learnt that the original ones were 40 inches, as opposed to 34 for the replacement ones. We also learnt that two panes could possibly be salvaged from the sashes that was thrown out. Now, my rate of success in removing old glass from wooden frames is nearly zero. But I have seen an tool advertised on TV which cuts with a vibrating action, like they used to remove plaster casts in the old days. These tools cost up to $ 260, but I bought a cheap one at $ 60. I managed to remove two panes from the old sashes, and all the broken and cracked ones from our window. In lifting one glass out of the frame, it just shattered in my hands. Well, one was still in the sash, and we had three more.
We sanded the sashes down, and repainted them all. Sometimes the humidity was too high outside, and we had to put them in the house and put a heater on. I fitted the new/old glass. We also installed the new sash cords.
As we had to refit the sashes every night, I learned that my frame was too narrow at the top. Luckily it was screwed together. I quickly removed the screws and refitted it a bit wider. Now it turned out it was too wide, and the frame was too tall. We would have a nice draught over the top. Next day I measured again, and cut back where necessary and reassembled the frame. Nice fit now.
At last we could start with the final assembly. We first fitted the top or outside sash, and it worked just fine. Next was the bottom one. I put it in position, and asked Elna to look for the weights while I went outside to fetch something. I heard a big crash. A gust of wind had blown the sash out, breaking tie only pane of glass that was not replaced. We stuck a piece of perspex over it, and installed the weights. Next we sealed all the air gaps between the timber architraves. Much better now.
I have been buying aluminium windows on Trademe to salvage the glass and try and cut it down About 50% success rate. On Friday I won an auction for two windows at $ 15.50. We went to pick it up yesterday, and it turned out it was a group of people converting a house into a church. When I explained what I was doing, the guy said they had a lot of glass, I could help myself. I got two more sheets of glass. I gave them $ 20, thus $5 each. The window is still not finished, but we are getting there, slowly.
Our two sheep were complaining about their grass. Totally unjustified, but they were bleating a lot. On Saturday afternoon we decided to put them each on a chain. It worked for about 30 minutes, they broke their collars, bad leather. Now they were running free in the yard. I have been planning to repair the street fence, since there is only three steel wires. Now it became a necessity. We put chicken fence against the wire, as a temporary measure. Tomorrow I will be doing some fencing again.We have a nice steel farm gate that should fit. We will not be moving over this week.
Never a dull moment
Bye
G&E
What happened just now reminds me of the joke about the computer user who had a problem. She called in a technician and he sorted it in a few seconds. She wanted to know what the problem has been? He replied:"It was an ID ten T error". She wrote it down to tell her friends: "ID10T" I nearly had my post finished, and accidentally touched a wrong key somewhere, and lost it all.
Now where were I?
Last week I said the window was nearly finished. We have removed the rotten frame and built a new frame, leaving the windowsill in place. Every night we put the sliding sashes back in to close the big hole. We had some broken or cracked panes of glass in the sashes, which obviously needed replacing. If bought new, they cost $ 57.
When we first saw the house in 2009, there were windows lying on the deck. In 2006 they installed one in place of a rotten one in the western wall. When we bought the place, the other was still lying there, with pieces of the rotted one as well. We put them in storage. Beginning to work on the windows, we learnt that the original ones were 40 inches, as opposed to 34 for the replacement ones. We also learnt that two panes could possibly be salvaged from the sashes that was thrown out. Now, my rate of success in removing old glass from wooden frames is nearly zero. But I have seen an tool advertised on TV which cuts with a vibrating action, like they used to remove plaster casts in the old days. These tools cost up to $ 260, but I bought a cheap one at $ 60. I managed to remove two panes from the old sashes, and all the broken and cracked ones from our window. In lifting one glass out of the frame, it just shattered in my hands. Well, one was still in the sash, and we had three more.
We sanded the sashes down, and repainted them all. Sometimes the humidity was too high outside, and we had to put them in the house and put a heater on. I fitted the new/old glass. We also installed the new sash cords.
As we had to refit the sashes every night, I learned that my frame was too narrow at the top. Luckily it was screwed together. I quickly removed the screws and refitted it a bit wider. Now it turned out it was too wide, and the frame was too tall. We would have a nice draught over the top. Next day I measured again, and cut back where necessary and reassembled the frame. Nice fit now.
At last we could start with the final assembly. We first fitted the top or outside sash, and it worked just fine. Next was the bottom one. I put it in position, and asked Elna to look for the weights while I went outside to fetch something. I heard a big crash. A gust of wind had blown the sash out, breaking tie only pane of glass that was not replaced. We stuck a piece of perspex over it, and installed the weights. Next we sealed all the air gaps between the timber architraves. Much better now.
I have been buying aluminium windows on Trademe to salvage the glass and try and cut it down About 50% success rate. On Friday I won an auction for two windows at $ 15.50. We went to pick it up yesterday, and it turned out it was a group of people converting a house into a church. When I explained what I was doing, the guy said they had a lot of glass, I could help myself. I got two more sheets of glass. I gave them $ 20, thus $5 each. The window is still not finished, but we are getting there, slowly.
Our two sheep were complaining about their grass. Totally unjustified, but they were bleating a lot. On Saturday afternoon we decided to put them each on a chain. It worked for about 30 minutes, they broke their collars, bad leather. Now they were running free in the yard. I have been planning to repair the street fence, since there is only three steel wires. Now it became a necessity. We put chicken fence against the wire, as a temporary measure. Tomorrow I will be doing some fencing again.We have a nice steel farm gate that should fit. We will not be moving over this week.
Never a dull moment
Bye
G&E
20 May 2012
Tomorrow it will be one year since we took possession of the house. Our first night in the house was a few days later. Now, we had a target of one room every six months, disregarding or forgetting about the outside. We have nearly achieved that.
Our front room is sooo nearly finished. We finished painting the walls and now we are working on draught proofing the windows. We learned that the bay was definitely installed at a later stage. They re-used the original window and added two narrower windows, one on either side. Now, the original window was made of Kauri, and was riddled with borer. As soft as Weet Bix and broke in several places. It had to be repaired / replaced. The sliding sashes are OK, why I don't know. So I set out to remake the surrounding frame. Not as easy as it seems. I am more of a carpenter than a joiner, so everything takes a lot of time. Hopefully it will be finished some time this week. We have a forecast for the coming week of clear sunny days and frosty nights. I want to move over as soon as possible.
Marike notified us that she is coming to visit us in June, for a month. We need another bedroom. No pressure.
Just joking. she has slept in an Ice Hotel in Norway, so the Waikato climate should not be too bad.
Tomorrow it will be one year since we took possession of the house. Our first night in the house was a few days later. Now, we had a target of one room every six months, disregarding or forgetting about the outside. We have nearly achieved that.
Our front room is sooo nearly finished. We finished painting the walls and now we are working on draught proofing the windows. We learned that the bay was definitely installed at a later stage. They re-used the original window and added two narrower windows, one on either side. Now, the original window was made of Kauri, and was riddled with borer. As soft as Weet Bix and broke in several places. It had to be repaired / replaced. The sliding sashes are OK, why I don't know. So I set out to remake the surrounding frame. Not as easy as it seems. I am more of a carpenter than a joiner, so everything takes a lot of time. Hopefully it will be finished some time this week. We have a forecast for the coming week of clear sunny days and frosty nights. I want to move over as soon as possible.
Marike notified us that she is coming to visit us in June, for a month. We need another bedroom. No pressure.
Just joking. she has slept in an Ice Hotel in Norway, so the Waikato climate should not be too bad.
6 May 2012
The previous week, we had to do some repairs and maintenance to our Cambridge property. We replaced the bathroom ceiling. That was quite an effort. We cut the gib panels to size, and pre-painted them. On Wednesday Barco offered to help, and we managed to put the panels up. A little akward to move between the bath, vanity and toilet, but we made it. Then gibstopping, and gibstopping. and eventually painting the new ceiling. Finished at five on Friday and the new tenant started moving in at six. Thank God for the new tenant.
This week we had more gibstopping, in the bay room this time. We tried contacting two different gibstoppers, without success. Eventually I started doing it myself. The first layer is done, and on Saturday I started on the second layer. Obviously it first has to dry properly, then it has to be sanded before the next layer can be put on. If I hold the plastering trowel with two hands, I manage a sort of finish, because of my shaking. Will see if we eventually will need four or five sandings. The previous week we also managed to buy curtain rails and a curtain on a roll. The Ruffelette is already sewn on, and you buy it by the meter. We selected a plain pale green curtain with a gold speck in it. We had a minimum requirement of 9 meters, but the roll had 9.8, so we took it all. That is 2.4 m high. Will just fit.
We have a lovely fireplace in the room, dating from about 1920. We tested it by burning newspaper, and it seems to work. It is really intended for coal, because it is narrow, but we will be using wood. Imagine how nice it will be to lie in bed with a fire going next to us.
Till next time
The previous week, we had to do some repairs and maintenance to our Cambridge property. We replaced the bathroom ceiling. That was quite an effort. We cut the gib panels to size, and pre-painted them. On Wednesday Barco offered to help, and we managed to put the panels up. A little akward to move between the bath, vanity and toilet, but we made it. Then gibstopping, and gibstopping. and eventually painting the new ceiling. Finished at five on Friday and the new tenant started moving in at six. Thank God for the new tenant.
This week we had more gibstopping, in the bay room this time. We tried contacting two different gibstoppers, without success. Eventually I started doing it myself. The first layer is done, and on Saturday I started on the second layer. Obviously it first has to dry properly, then it has to be sanded before the next layer can be put on. If I hold the plastering trowel with two hands, I manage a sort of finish, because of my shaking. Will see if we eventually will need four or five sandings. The previous week we also managed to buy curtain rails and a curtain on a roll. The Ruffelette is already sewn on, and you buy it by the meter. We selected a plain pale green curtain with a gold speck in it. We had a minimum requirement of 9 meters, but the roll had 9.8, so we took it all. That is 2.4 m high. Will just fit.
We have a lovely fireplace in the room, dating from about 1920. We tested it by burning newspaper, and it seems to work. It is really intended for coal, because it is narrow, but we will be using wood. Imagine how nice it will be to lie in bed with a fire going next to us.
Till next time
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