17 September 2011

Sorry we missed last week.

Spent a few days making and repairing our fence with the neighbours to protect our sheep. I would love to see the underside of a dog after he passed over our barbed wire fence!!.

I also worked on a further shed, for storing timber. Framing is up, and we made a floor of pallets, but nothing further.

Next door neighbour, who is building a house, came on Monday to say that part of  our veranda has blown away. They have secured it temporarily. That was when I was working on the shed, they thought we were away. We had to take it down, and then found that we had rotten framing and weatherboard (we knew about it, but hoped  it would go away if we ignore it. It didn't.) We repaired the framing and replaced some weatherboard, then proceeded to fit a roof over the bay window. It had one ages ago, but it has disappeared, and relied on the veranda roof. Anyhow,  we installed insulation and fitted a roof. The veranda is not back yet.

We also started removing the sarking boards between the living room and the to be lounge. To save the old timber, I had to punch the nails right through the board, and take the board off. Yesterday we finished breaking the wall out. Made an enormous difference to the place, much lighter and much more spacious. We also removed the cast iron fireplace. We found a newspaper dated 1937 behind the mantle. This proved it was a later installation. We cleaned it out to original, and proceeded to cover it up with gib.(or plasterboard for the non Kiwis)

Being Saturday, we obviously could not finish the gibbing, but we cleaned all out and moved in. It makes an enormous difference, much more light and space. It was a good move..

The previous Saturday, we drove to Auckland to pick up six patio doors, or French doors we bought on Trademe. These are intended to be installed in the northern wall once we removed the silly little bathroom.We do not have a frame, but it allows us to plan a good layout.

We also closed the door from the passage with gib from the inside. We would never have used that door.

4 September 2011

Monday morning saw me clearing all the plants we have taken out on Saturday. After that, I decided the southern side of the house looks bad, and washed it with bleach to get rid of the mold, on the wall and the deck. Nice improvement. But, since we have done no work on that side yet, it needs a bit of a lean up.  Removed all the leftover rubbish and cut some of the broken deck boards down. Much safer now. Then I noticed the condition of the paint, peeling and flaking. Called the Resene helpline. (This is our local paint manufacturer) They recommended taking a sample for analysis. Guess what, I got on the ladder and it slipped from under me, whilst I had a nice sharp paint scraper in my hand. A cut in my forehead of 40 mm. In to Hamilton A&E and got eight stitches. Not Harry Potter, but Gary Potterer now. Healing nicely.

Had the paint analysed. It is a lead base. The reason for the flaking seems to be water penetration from the leaking roof before that was replaced. I have proven that the original colour was a sort of khaki paint, not the white that became the norm on Victorian villas some years later. It will take some convincing to get the local historian "experts" to accept that.

Most of the remainder of the week spent on the shed. That is done now, apart from the floor. The floor has to be clear of the ground. On Friday we moved the metal lathe and large saw table to the shed, but left it outside because of the floor. I didn't mention that the one side wall of the shed hinges up, forming a nice work area. The best thing of the shed it that I haven't spent a cent on it, all built from material I had saved up, or being given by friends.

Saturday was a lazy day, not much work done. Today we had the local children over and had a nice "potjie". Discussed all the nice "things we can do" with them. Nice to dream, even if you have no money.