25 March 2012
We calculated that we need 23 or 25 posts for the veranda. I got all the old ones together and started cleaning them. Sanded all the old paint off, and repaired the broken ones. Seven had the tops broken off, and three more were rotted at the bottom. By the end of the week I had all repaired, but now it will need smoothing with the belt sander. Then we will need to paint them all. Also, we will need to dig the lintols, or horizontal beams from under the floor and cut and join them some will need replacing.
We also discovered another oddity. The previous builder had started work on the deck, but the heights did not match up, it is 50 mm lower than the original. It will require a serious investigation and maybe tweaking to make them meet.
Saturday I decided to add a shelf in the kitchen, but, because I am using recycled timber, it needed sanding down. Painting lies ahead.
Have a nice week!
Sunday
18 March 2012
This week we were real pensioners.
I did manage to finish the lean to on the cookhouse, but nothing much more.
I turned a new bush for my electric chainsaw. I have borrowed my son's for how long now, but at long last that is repaired now. On Wednesday we took somebody to Hamilton to introduce her to the wonders of buying from the recycle shop (asgat) Thursday it was a visit to the doctor for a renewal of my regular pills. It seems it is getting more every time. Saturday we went to Tokoroa to pick up a kitchen sink we bought through Trademe. It is a modern one that fits into the top, but it has got two run offs, which I haven't seen before. That put bust to our budget for the month, but it is worth it.
With the lean to completed, the schedule is to sand down the rails and posts for the veranda. If I am not mistaken, I started with that beginning of December, or it might even have been in November. Will keep you posted.
Till next time
This week we were real pensioners.
I did manage to finish the lean to on the cookhouse, but nothing much more.
I turned a new bush for my electric chainsaw. I have borrowed my son's for how long now, but at long last that is repaired now. On Wednesday we took somebody to Hamilton to introduce her to the wonders of buying from the recycle shop (asgat) Thursday it was a visit to the doctor for a renewal of my regular pills. It seems it is getting more every time. Saturday we went to Tokoroa to pick up a kitchen sink we bought through Trademe. It is a modern one that fits into the top, but it has got two run offs, which I haven't seen before. That put bust to our budget for the month, but it is worth it.
With the lean to completed, the schedule is to sand down the rails and posts for the veranda. If I am not mistaken, I started with that beginning of December, or it might even have been in November. Will keep you posted.
Till next time
11 March 2012
This has been a slooow week, with not much to report.
I started work on the roof of the lean to, but it is far from finished. The beam I mounted on the wall for the roof turned out to be to high up, and I could not reach in to insert screws in the roofing sheets. So I was forced to add another one to the first one to make it wider. It will work nicely now. Maybe better luck next week.
I also spent time on those little jobs that never get done, fitted a curtain rail in the living room, and some architraves that were missed out in December. I must admit it is looking much better now. Also sorted some of the bolts and nuts that has been lying around everywhere. It seems I have too little shelf space.
We had a power cut on Friday, maintenance on the lines. It is amazing how much we rely on power. Nothing works, I cannot grind anything, or drill a hole or use the power saw.
I also spent some time on our car, little niggly things that got left behind
On Saturday, we had a very pleasant surprise. The people from our Afrikaans church group came over for a "working bee". It could also be called "mucking in" A whole bunch of people turned up and wanted to know what to do. I put them on the "too hard basket" jobs, everything I knew needed doing but which I tended to avoid.
They removed the last of the plants growing on the cookhouse roof. Unfortunately the chimney stack did not make it. It just fell apart, no mortar between the bricks, just sand. We demolished it down to three courses. Eventually I will need to dismantle all of it and rebuild. I knew it was coming, but tried to ignore it. They also cleared the whole section of rubbish and plant matter, and mowed all the lawns (grass rather). For the first time since we moved in everything is tidy now. They even removed five trailer loads of rubbish. At lunchtime we had a nice barbie(braai) of boerewors and mieliepap, and as homage to our new country, also bangers and buns. We had the nicest weather and it was a very enjoyable day . Thanks to everybody involved.
This has been a slooow week, with not much to report.
I started work on the roof of the lean to, but it is far from finished. The beam I mounted on the wall for the roof turned out to be to high up, and I could not reach in to insert screws in the roofing sheets. So I was forced to add another one to the first one to make it wider. It will work nicely now. Maybe better luck next week.
I also spent time on those little jobs that never get done, fitted a curtain rail in the living room, and some architraves that were missed out in December. I must admit it is looking much better now. Also sorted some of the bolts and nuts that has been lying around everywhere. It seems I have too little shelf space.
We had a power cut on Friday, maintenance on the lines. It is amazing how much we rely on power. Nothing works, I cannot grind anything, or drill a hole or use the power saw.
I also spent some time on our car, little niggly things that got left behind
On Saturday, we had a very pleasant surprise. The people from our Afrikaans church group came over for a "working bee". It could also be called "mucking in" A whole bunch of people turned up and wanted to know what to do. I put them on the "too hard basket" jobs, everything I knew needed doing but which I tended to avoid.
They removed the last of the plants growing on the cookhouse roof. Unfortunately the chimney stack did not make it. It just fell apart, no mortar between the bricks, just sand. We demolished it down to three courses. Eventually I will need to dismantle all of it and rebuild. I knew it was coming, but tried to ignore it. They also cleared the whole section of rubbish and plant matter, and mowed all the lawns (grass rather). For the first time since we moved in everything is tidy now. They even removed five trailer loads of rubbish. At lunchtime we had a nice barbie(braai) of boerewors and mieliepap, and as homage to our new country, also bangers and buns. We had the nicest weather and it was a very enjoyable day . Thanks to everybody involved.
4 March 2012
We finished painting the wall in the back yard. We were lucky in that we had some paint and some were given to us. I also improved both doors. looks much better now. Next we will want to repair the weatherboard and paint the cookhouse. The wall was completed at no cost.
Next we started building a lean to on the cookhouse. Remember we are not allowed to dig any holes, so I used pipes as posts and hammered them 800 mm in the ground. I didn't hear any crunching from artefacts being broken, so I hope it is OK. Seems this area was used as a veggie patch anyway. I started sanding some of the lintols (horizontal beams) from the veranda, being scrap. It turned out the quality of the Rimu which is 100 years old is still at par with new pine, so I saved those for the veranda and fitted a new beam. Still a work in progress. Saturday we had severe storm warnings, but it turned out much lighter than expected.
So I took Saturday off. Right? Never! At one pm I was watching TV and Elna was washing the bathroom floor. I said:"Why now?" She responded: "It is Saturday, a working day" I also got told about the glazing of the bathroom window. It is a largish window on the Northern side, and had three panes of coloured glass, and one piece of Hardboard from when we moved in. When Ben was here, we cut one pane, but it was decided to get rid of the coloured glass as well. So a few weeks back I cut the glass, but never got around to finishing the job. And guess what I did on Saturday afternoon? Right, I took all the glass out of the frame and re puttied everything. Job done. Now Elna can clean the glass. It was one of those "Round Tuit" jobs.
See ya!
We finished painting the wall in the back yard. We were lucky in that we had some paint and some were given to us. I also improved both doors. looks much better now. Next we will want to repair the weatherboard and paint the cookhouse. The wall was completed at no cost.
Next we started building a lean to on the cookhouse. Remember we are not allowed to dig any holes, so I used pipes as posts and hammered them 800 mm in the ground. I didn't hear any crunching from artefacts being broken, so I hope it is OK. Seems this area was used as a veggie patch anyway. I started sanding some of the lintols (horizontal beams) from the veranda, being scrap. It turned out the quality of the Rimu which is 100 years old is still at par with new pine, so I saved those for the veranda and fitted a new beam. Still a work in progress. Saturday we had severe storm warnings, but it turned out much lighter than expected.
So I took Saturday off. Right? Never! At one pm I was watching TV and Elna was washing the bathroom floor. I said:"Why now?" She responded: "It is Saturday, a working day" I also got told about the glazing of the bathroom window. It is a largish window on the Northern side, and had three panes of coloured glass, and one piece of Hardboard from when we moved in. When Ben was here, we cut one pane, but it was decided to get rid of the coloured glass as well. So a few weeks back I cut the glass, but never got around to finishing the job. And guess what I did on Saturday afternoon? Right, I took all the glass out of the frame and re puttied everything. Job done. Now Elna can clean the glass. It was one of those "Round Tuit" jobs.
See ya!
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