30 June 2013

I read a piece in the local paper about a "Heritage Fund Grant" to assist in restoring heritage buildings. We got the necessary quotations for the veranda and deck, and submitted our application. We have no indication of how long it will take. Fingers crossed that we get all or at least something.

Willie van Zijl is an old friend from our Stellenbosch days and we have kept in contact through the years. He is in New Zealand now, and we enticed him to visit and advise on the patio doors we want to install in the dining room. We had a lot of catching up to do. The work is secondary.

When brother Ben was here 18 months ago, I already had the patio door in mind, but put it on the back burner.

What we have achieved so far was to retrieve Rimu beams from storage under the floor, cut it to the desired size and plane it. The frame is pre assembled now. It would be impossible to move if we do not take it apart again. The next step will be to fit the hinges to the doors and get everything together. Because it is our rainy season, I will need to build a temporary roof over the work area. Then only can we remove the existing door and window and prepare the opening for the frame.

The Rimu frame looks so nice, we are planning to keep it natural wood. The doors we have bought two years ago on Trademe.  They are made of Kauri. If sanded down it will look lovely. The frame is 2 m wide and 2.4 m high or tall. The height corresponds with all our window frames.

Sorry, at the rate we are working now, it should take another four to six weeks. We will keep you posted. No pictures yet.