YES! The grant for the deck has been paid out. We are very thankful to the Council and to our Lord. Everything worked out just fine.
We had a nice surprise on Thursday? Steve, a mate from Hamilton who we got to know through Peet, turned up to have a look at our progress. He follows the blog. It was nice to be able to show him around. And then he had a surprise for us. He had a lot of nails and screws and Rimu timber in surplus, and kindly gifted that to us. Thanks again Steve!
We had a lovely sunny week, and I realised that I have to clear grass in the garden. I spent two days spraying weedkiller in anticipation of cultivating the veggie patch. It has had very little attention during the last summer.
We have done some Gib stopping on the inside wall by the patio door, but it is not finished yet. We have decided to stain/varnish the Rimu door frame. That will have to be done before the architraves goes up.
Talking of the architraves, we have hunted around among our hoard and found (hopefully) enough to do the inside. We are in the process of cleaning it, with scrapers, heat gun, paint stripper. The final stage will be sandpaper before we stain/varnish them. On the outside we will be using smooth board.
We have been to Hamilton and bought the material for a roman blind behind the fancy curtains. That will help keeping the place warm in winter. We will be making that only after the other work is done.
Another week and we will be in our "new" house for three years now. It is VERY interesting to go back to the beginning and revisit where we started.
Sunday
25 May 2014
The most important news is that the people from council has been here on Friday, and they are happy with the work we have done. That implies we will be getting our grant in due time. Thank you Lord for all your mercies!.
Remember our camera failed, and we had to replace it. Some people could not wait for the latest pictures, so they had a sneak preview.
Both pictures were taken from the inside, the first one before all the glass was fitted. The white thing to the right is a light switch. The second picture gives an indication of the amount of light we are getting. Lovely.
The doors are double folding, and works very well. On the left hand from the inside, they fold flat against the wall, thanks to the parliament hinges we have used. On the other side it folds nicely against the opposing wall
Please!!!, don't think the job is done now, there is still a lot of work to be done. Last night we had a rainstorm with wind, and it is amazing the amount of wind that came in between the post on the right of the top picture and the wall. It will certainly need sealing. We also have to fit architraves on the inside and out. Did I mention that the glass was bedded in but not finished from the outside. The Gib stopping also awaits me.
On Friday afternoon we went to Hamilton to look for curtains. We will need them to cover 3.5 m wide and 2.6 m tall. Quite a hefty bill!! It has to be made on order and the making fee is twice that of the material.
Remember our camera failed, and we had to replace it. Some people could not wait for the latest pictures, so they had a sneak preview.
Both pictures were taken from the inside, the first one before all the glass was fitted. The white thing to the right is a light switch. The second picture gives an indication of the amount of light we are getting. Lovely.
The doors are double folding, and works very well. On the left hand from the inside, they fold flat against the wall, thanks to the parliament hinges we have used. On the other side it folds nicely against the opposing wall
Please!!!, don't think the job is done now, there is still a lot of work to be done. Last night we had a rainstorm with wind, and it is amazing the amount of wind that came in between the post on the right of the top picture and the wall. It will certainly need sealing. We also have to fit architraves on the inside and out. Did I mention that the glass was bedded in but not finished from the outside. The Gib stopping also awaits me.
On Friday afternoon we went to Hamilton to look for curtains. We will need them to cover 3.5 m wide and 2.6 m tall. Quite a hefty bill!! It has to be made on order and the making fee is twice that of the material.
18 May 2014
As suggested, I called in a favor and got the 3.5 m gib up. Then the two smaller pieces on either side followed. The finishing will follow after all the glass is fitted.
The weather was nice, and we decided to fit the doors without glass. That turned out to be a very good call, the doors were easily manhandled. All four doors were fitted with a bit of shimming here and there. And they fold back easily as planned, thank you. I got three "Necked bolts" (bolts with an offset as we have used in Cambridge as well) to be able to open only two doors if required, and obviously secure the inner ones as well.
Eventually I was forced to admit defeat and start glazing the doors. Up to Friday I have managed to finish 12 panes, with 7 more bedded and pinned down. Then we cut one of the hardboard sheets and tied the panels to the remaining doors so it can be opened and closed normally.
We tried taking a picture but the camera has died on me, so no pictures this week either. If we can manage to buy a new camera, I might add a photo during the week
The weather was nice, and we decided to fit the doors without glass. That turned out to be a very good call, the doors were easily manhandled. All four doors were fitted with a bit of shimming here and there. And they fold back easily as planned, thank you. I got three "Necked bolts" (bolts with an offset as we have used in Cambridge as well) to be able to open only two doors if required, and obviously secure the inner ones as well.
Eventually I was forced to admit defeat and start glazing the doors. Up to Friday I have managed to finish 12 panes, with 7 more bedded and pinned down. Then we cut one of the hardboard sheets and tied the panels to the remaining doors so it can be opened and closed normally.
We tried taking a picture but the camera has died on me, so no pictures this week either. If we can manage to buy a new camera, I might add a photo during the week
11 May 2014
We were out some time, so it was not a full week's progress.
We had a nice sunny week. That dictated that we do the door frame rather than glazing the doors. It made working outside a lot easier. I assembled the frame out on the deck. Elna happened to be out, so I decided to take the risk of lifting the frame upright by myself. I just managed. Shortly thereafter Elna came back. It took a lot of time to set the frame vertical and level. Eventually we had it all right. Then came the tricky part, to screw it on to the outside framing. That also took a lot of time, making spacers as we went along..
We also removed the jack post holding the lintel between the lounge and dining room, because at the time I used an old post and was not happy with the standard. We fitted a new post there and bolted it onto the outer frame.
Then came the surprise! The building is not true vertical any more, and we have to get the Gib board to fit around the door frame, but also to the house framing, and there were variations of over 10 mm. In the end we decided to use the door frame as reference, and made packers to fit onto the studs. Some turned out to be 1400 mm long, and taper down from 10 mm to 0 mm It was still sunny on Saturday and off I went to buy the Gib. The longest sheet being 3.6 m. That implies that we will need assistance from some friend(s) to put it up. With a ceiling height of 3.4 m, I am not going to take any chances.
We have also decided to fit the doors without glass, to make handling easier, then remove them and glaze them.
Sorry, no pictures this week.
We had a nice sunny week. That dictated that we do the door frame rather than glazing the doors. It made working outside a lot easier. I assembled the frame out on the deck. Elna happened to be out, so I decided to take the risk of lifting the frame upright by myself. I just managed. Shortly thereafter Elna came back. It took a lot of time to set the frame vertical and level. Eventually we had it all right. Then came the tricky part, to screw it on to the outside framing. That also took a lot of time, making spacers as we went along..
We also removed the jack post holding the lintel between the lounge and dining room, because at the time I used an old post and was not happy with the standard. We fitted a new post there and bolted it onto the outer frame.
Then came the surprise! The building is not true vertical any more, and we have to get the Gib board to fit around the door frame, but also to the house framing, and there were variations of over 10 mm. In the end we decided to use the door frame as reference, and made packers to fit onto the studs. Some turned out to be 1400 mm long, and taper down from 10 mm to 0 mm It was still sunny on Saturday and off I went to buy the Gib. The longest sheet being 3.6 m. That implies that we will need assistance from some friend(s) to put it up. With a ceiling height of 3.4 m, I am not going to take any chances.
We have also decided to fit the doors without glass, to make handling easier, then remove them and glaze them.
Sorry, no pictures this week.
4 May 2014
I was checking back on the blog. We (Willie and I ) started work on the patio doors in June. Then some other things popped up, and the doors were moved to the back burner. My biggest mistake was removing the glass panes, 4 doors, 10 panes per door, makes it 40 panes. Removing it was not so bad, but then I had to refit or replace the broken ones.
After finishing the veranda and deck, I decided that, if I ever want to have patio doors, I must get started NOW! Monday I started fitting glass, but with me being so shaky, it is a very tedious process. Then we saw the weather forecast for the week, which promised mostly sunshine, but at least no rain.
On Tuesday I started removing the offending window, and blocked the opening overnight. Then the big job started. Over the last 100 years plus, everybody did their piece. I basically had to strip all the studs down from the inside, and fit one jack post from timber I had in stock. Only on Friday I went to buy the lintel and more posts. All went on and we boarded up again overnight.
On Saturday we started work on positioning the thresh hold. Being 220 mm wide, it didn't sit properly on the floor joists, sticking out only 120 mm. In the end we resorted to joining pieces of timber to the joists,so the thresh hold sits properly now.
But wait! There is more! Through time the floor joists sagged, except for the middle one,which sits on the brick wall of the cellar. We have leveled the bed for the thresh hold, but now the height of our floorboards compared to the thresh hold, varies by up to 20 mm.
There is more work to be done, but at least we have got a start. Monday is supposed to be rainy, so we will go to Hamilton for some business.
My biggest worry is to get the glass fitted to the doors, but as they say: All good things come in time.
While working, we also uncovered some weatherboards that was still pained in the original colour, well, about 1920's. It will be good to show critics that the house did not start out as WHITE.
After finishing the veranda and deck, I decided that, if I ever want to have patio doors, I must get started NOW! Monday I started fitting glass, but with me being so shaky, it is a very tedious process. Then we saw the weather forecast for the week, which promised mostly sunshine, but at least no rain.
On Tuesday I started removing the offending window, and blocked the opening overnight. Then the big job started. Over the last 100 years plus, everybody did their piece. I basically had to strip all the studs down from the inside, and fit one jack post from timber I had in stock. Only on Friday I went to buy the lintel and more posts. All went on and we boarded up again overnight.
On Saturday we started work on positioning the thresh hold. Being 220 mm wide, it didn't sit properly on the floor joists, sticking out only 120 mm. In the end we resorted to joining pieces of timber to the joists,so the thresh hold sits properly now.
But wait! There is more! Through time the floor joists sagged, except for the middle one,which sits on the brick wall of the cellar. We have leveled the bed for the thresh hold, but now the height of our floorboards compared to the thresh hold, varies by up to 20 mm.
There is more work to be done, but at least we have got a start. Monday is supposed to be rainy, so we will go to Hamilton for some business.
My biggest worry is to get the glass fitted to the doors, but as they say: All good things come in time.
While working, we also uncovered some weatherboards that was still pained in the original colour, well, about 1920's. It will be good to show critics that the house did not start out as WHITE.
Saturday
26 April 2014
Today we can officially announce that we have finished the decks!! We started work four months ago!
With Easter and Anzac day, we lost two working days, but we have put the skirt on the old lady. All the gaps under the decks are closed now. Today was spent to fit the last of the posts, and secure the doubler over the extended deck. Sorry, we haven't painted that part of the wall yet, but that will have to wait fir the long awaited patio door to be installed. We also removed all our scrap and surplus material, an I even managed to mow the grass. We have had lovely rain since the beginning of April, and everything is green again.
With Easter and Anzac day, we lost two working days, but we have put the skirt on the old lady. All the gaps under the decks are closed now. Today was spent to fit the last of the posts, and secure the doubler over the extended deck. Sorry, we haven't painted that part of the wall yet, but that will have to wait fir the long awaited patio door to be installed. We also removed all our scrap and surplus material, an I even managed to mow the grass. We have had lovely rain since the beginning of April, and everything is green again.
Sunday
20 April 2014
The deck has been sealed, but there is a lot of work still to be done. Sorry, it is not a very good picture, it is a rainy day today. We have had 40 mm over the last week alone, and about that much again the previous week.
At the last section, towards the north, we initially put the veranda up over the original deck. When we rebuilt the deck, it did not end up at the same height, that means that the veranda height was out.. When I got up the ladder to work there, I found that we had a dip in the spouting, water was collecting there and did not run off properly. That meant that I had to cut the posts on that side to allow proper runoff. The last one, on the corner by the down pipe, was cut three times. Remember, although the posts are only bolted to the top beam, each of them has got an 8 mm rod inserted at the bottom to strengthen the original repair and also to locate them securely to the deck. That makes the cutting a bit tricky. After all is in place, I drill an additional 6 mm hole through the post into the bottom beam at an angle. Then a 6 mm rod gets hammered in. The combination of the two pins secures the post against wind It is looking good now.
We are planning to put a double beam over the extended deck, with only two heavy duty posts at the ends. Those are not finished yet. We are also planning to build a wind break to the western side, but that will be much later. That will replicate the original wind break. We also still need to cover the sides of the deck with fibre board.
We did receive the expected letter from Council. There were a lot of applications, but we were given 80% of our actual cost. Thank you Lord. Now we can breathe again.
At the last section, towards the north, we initially put the veranda up over the original deck. When we rebuilt the deck, it did not end up at the same height, that means that the veranda height was out.. When I got up the ladder to work there, I found that we had a dip in the spouting, water was collecting there and did not run off properly. That meant that I had to cut the posts on that side to allow proper runoff. The last one, on the corner by the down pipe, was cut three times. Remember, although the posts are only bolted to the top beam, each of them has got an 8 mm rod inserted at the bottom to strengthen the original repair and also to locate them securely to the deck. That makes the cutting a bit tricky. After all is in place, I drill an additional 6 mm hole through the post into the bottom beam at an angle. Then a 6 mm rod gets hammered in. The combination of the two pins secures the post against wind It is looking good now.
We are planning to put a double beam over the extended deck, with only two heavy duty posts at the ends. Those are not finished yet. We are also planning to build a wind break to the western side, but that will be much later. That will replicate the original wind break. We also still need to cover the sides of the deck with fibre board.
We did receive the expected letter from Council. There were a lot of applications, but we were given 80% of our actual cost. Thank you Lord. Now we can breathe again.
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