15 April 2012

What a week!

We finished painting the posts for the veranda. I also bought some timber for the horizontal beams and cut it to length. It is cut at an angle for better strength on the joint. We also cut the joist that goes against the wall. Those are all under our work veranda and clamped together so as not to warp.

We heard a rumour that our church group would be coming again on Saturday to do some work. So we decided, if it was raining on Saturday, we would find inside work. So I bought the plasterboard and insulation to do a full room, and we cleared the room and removed the skirting and architraves. That is the North Western room, the original lounge with the bay window. We will make that our bedroom for the time being. We have decided we don't want to experience another seriously cold winter in a drafty room.

Saturday turned up, a nice sunny day, as did our volunteers at 8:30. They even caught me before I was fully dressed! I decided on the spur of the moment that a warm bedroom is more important than a veranda, so we tackled the room. For those who don't know old New Zealand houses, the house is timber framed, with weatherboards outside. Efficient against rain, but with large gaps allowing wind to blow in and through the whole house. Large gaps in the flooring under the framing. The inside is lined with boards, (sarking) spaced about 10 mm apart, then there used to be scrim (hessian) and wall paper. That has been long removed. No insulation at all. We all pitched in and removed the sarking on the outside walls and most of the inside as well. I have decided to insulate the inside walls as well for sound proofing. First we made inserts to cover the gaps in the floor between the framing studs. Then we installed insulation (pink batts). All of these were big jobs. Then we proceeded to install the plasterboard. In some places 3,6 m long. Remember the ceiling height is 3.4 m. We managed to get all of the long boards up, except for one where the framework is rotten. That will need repair before the board can go up. By 6:30 we had a bunch of very tired volunteers, and two very happy residents. We don't see ourselves as owners, we are the current custodians of this old house.!!

We cannot begin to express our gratitude towards those families from our church group who so tirelessly and with good spirit worked so hard for our sake. Well done guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In this room we have the loveliest cast iron fireplace, with tile surround. We will have to make sure the chimney is on good repair before we start making a fire. I also did a temperature check, the "new" room is a full two and a half degrees warmer than the rest of the house. I must admit the sun is shining outside and there are no curtains.

Have a nice week.