24 January 2013

This week is not really about the house, but I thought you would be interested.

On Monday our friends had their stuff moved from their house, they are moving to Wellington. At about 4 pm. Louis called, they cannot get everything in the truck, can we help please? We started moving surplus stuff to our place, and also removed all rubbish that was left over from Friday. I was fortunate, two young friends turned up at our place at the right moment, and they were commandeered into service. At 8 pm everything was cleared (the sun is still shining then). The new owners would be moving in on Tuesday.

Tuesday was spent to sort through the stuff, and cutting up timber for firewood. I also took a load of scrap to the dump.

Wednesday we took the day off for a visit to Hamilton, and doing some shopping. The rest of the week just disappeared, nothing to report.

Now we get to Saturday, the interesting day.

When we moved in here, there was a hole in the ground outside the back door, which we filled in for safety sake. The next door neighbours told us that is where a well has been. We also planted an Olive tree and some shrubs. Sometime in the week, somebody opened both our outside taps, we suspect young guys doing it for the kick. Well, the hose was by the Olive tree where Elna has watered the garden. It got very wet. The next day we had a sinkhole, 500 to 600 mm deep, with the tree and shrubs considerably shorter. I decided the proper solution would be to lift the tree back up and backfill it. Saturday I made three legs for a tripod, and Barry (Barco) has a star that he has made just for that purpose. I called on Barry for help, we assembled the tripod and pulled the tree and shrubs up. Then we filled the hole and replanted the tree and shrubs.

17 February 2013

This week we started work on the roof of the storeroom. We have learnt that the curvature of the sheets we have bought long ago was to steep. When we put the first sheet on, the water didn't run off. That meant that I have returned the paint we have bought a month ago, and we contacted the people who curve sheets for round barns. They were most helpful, and we left there with six sheets curved to the original curvature of the veranda. More will follow.

Elna also painted the little bit of that room facing east. It makes such a big difference to the looks of the house.

We started installing the new sheets, but was that a mission! I was standing on the scaffold trying to position the iron, and Elna was pushing upward with a broom. Suddenly the head of our neighbour, Alan popped up, he saw our dilemma and came to help. Thanks Alan.. We managed to position the sheets facing towards the street, also cutting as required for the corner. They are not properly secured yet, as the rafters are very flimsy, but that will be tackled next week. I have also temporarily removed the flashing between the house walls ans the veranda roof.

Friday was spent on helping a friend clear out his back yard, and on Saturday I got rid of some of my own junk. It does help to get rid of some of my hoarding from time to time.

10 February 2013

Remember that wall we built last week? Well, we built another one as well. Sorry, the light was not kind. We have now enlarged this little blob by one meter. The Historical people said we can remove it, but we felt the locals all knew the house with it, so we respect that. You will notice that the deck is narrower than the room. In the olden days, part of  the deck was wider than the rest. So we leave it at that.There will be a step in the roof and also in the deck.

It is also clear from the picture that the roof of the room is higher than my ring beam for the veranda. Well, we considered extending the posts to bring them on one level, but we discovered that the curved sheets we have, is too hollow, the water will not run off at that height. (5 m radius) So I tried reusing some of the old iron sheets, but they are beyond saving. It will mean that I will have to have sheets curved to my spec (6 m radius). In the meantime that is on hold.

Elna did a great job of painting the latest wall.

Well, this coming week we will negotiate to have the sheets curved.

In the week we also managed to buy a swing leg table and four colonial chairs which fits better with the style of the house. Only two chairs are useable now, but we have other chairs. The chairs we bought before we got married belongs to Anneke now. Did I mention all of these will eventually require restoration? Well, it will mean that I will never get bored.

Bye for now

3 February 2013

Boy, has this been a hectic week!
I started work on a cabinet for the handbasin in the new bathroom. I have got some lovely Kauri timber, and was working on that. After a day I admitted defeat: My work is not up to standard for nice joinery.

On the south eastern corner of the house, there is a small storage area under the veranda. I started cleaning the old paint of those walls. See the right hand end of the second picture. Then I decided that I have loads of Kauri boards that will fit in better with the character of the house than the (1920) Rimu that they have used. So I removed the old boards and started replacing it. In the process, we also extended it a bit. In the meantime Elna got hold of a paintbrush, and started painting the walls that I have already cleaned. The end result is that we (mostly she) has painted most of the outside walls now, including the part where we replaced the boards.(Excluding the kitchen and bathroom extension.)  She also tackled the walls on the rear deck, on the eastern side. Because that has always been under a veranda, the old paint was in a good condition, and didn't require much preparation. The first picture was taken in bright light, but the colour is the same all around.

For a while now, the people from our church group has been talking about another work bee. I decided that I cannot put the rafters for the replacement veranda up myself, and waited for them to choose a day. Saturday they turned up. I had all the rafters pre made and prepainted  many moons ago, I have repaired the posts. Most of them had the bottom end rotten away. The solution was easy, just cut them all a bit shorter. In the meantime, we have decided to replace the veranda on the southern side as well, although the Historical people said we could do without it. When I started work on the storage area, I realised that I will have to keep the roofs at the same level. That means that all 27 of my pre painted posts will need to be extended by about 100 mm.

Well, the team turned up on Saturday morning, and by 11:30 we had all the rafters joined together and in position. I have put rafters from the house to hold it in place. It could also be added to to look like a pergola/prieel. That way it will be months before I am finished and hopefully will draw less attention from the building inspectors. The posts are not in their proper positions, they are just clamped on to the rafter.

We are impressed with the result. Now I have many months of work ahead of me, getting the framing ready and painting the curved iron sheets and cutting them to size. The paint has already been bought, but with the dry season we are experiencing, and the low humidity, the paint would dry too quickly and not adhere to the iron properly.