25 December 2011
It is Christmas day!! What a wonderful time of the year. To remind us of what He has done for us!!!
My brother Ben came for a visit. He arrived on Sunday 18th, and will be here for a full month. What a joy. He has been drawn in to help. (Working holiday, see) Before he came we had a list of things to do. We succeeded in completing some of it, but then we moved the goalposts, we want to do it before Christmas. Well, we managed most of it. Small tasks like getting rid of rubbish in the section, mowing grass, clearing the last workshop stuff out of the house, install a missing part of the weatherboard, etc, etc.
This last week Ben did the rebuild of the front deck. I sat down on the timber to hold it in place, and he nailed or bolted it down. I can't understand why he was so tired at night, I felt OK. We managed to rebuild the existing part of the deck and install the main outer joist for the part that has disappeared. The idea is to install a new top beam on the old verandah posts, and then to reinstall the old curved roofing sheets, just to get the verandah up again. The deck itself will come at a later stage.
I must take care not to load too much work on Ben, he might run away. Fingers crossed.
Sunday
11 December 2011
We missed a week. The week was busy, but not "Jackson House" related.
Last week I went to Hamilton on two occasions. Coming back on the Thursday, I back ended a car in front of me. My fault. Our trusty old Mitsi was still driveable, but it turned out, beyond economic repair. Hopefully
the insurance will pay out in this coming week. So I spent time fixing the Toyota Corsa I bought more than a year ago. In the meantime we are using our daughter, Mieke's car. I also developed a flu and had to visit the Doctor. Much better now, but work time lost.
Developments on the house? We finally removed the last of my junk that has been stored in the third bedroom, and set it up as a bedroom. My brother Ben will be visiting us from the 18th, and we need another room for Anneke and Matt (our other daughter). We don't know how much work will get done , we'll see.
Our lawnmower finally packed up, now the grass is getting out of control. The sheep cannot beat it. Wish I had the money for a Ride On.
We also got hold of some fibreglass roofing sheet, to replace the verandah roof by the living room. Not done yet.
We missed a week. The week was busy, but not "Jackson House" related.
Last week I went to Hamilton on two occasions. Coming back on the Thursday, I back ended a car in front of me. My fault. Our trusty old Mitsi was still driveable, but it turned out, beyond economic repair. Hopefully
the insurance will pay out in this coming week. So I spent time fixing the Toyota Corsa I bought more than a year ago. In the meantime we are using our daughter, Mieke's car. I also developed a flu and had to visit the Doctor. Much better now, but work time lost.
Developments on the house? We finally removed the last of my junk that has been stored in the third bedroom, and set it up as a bedroom. My brother Ben will be visiting us from the 18th, and we need another room for Anneke and Matt (our other daughter). We don't know how much work will get done , we'll see.
Our lawnmower finally packed up, now the grass is getting out of control. The sheep cannot beat it. Wish I had the money for a Ride On.
We also got hold of some fibreglass roofing sheet, to replace the verandah roof by the living room. Not done yet.
27 November 2011
Not much to report this week. We worked on the outside where the verandah roof is supposed to be. Used some paint given to us, actually mixed two cans and now have 15l of green paint. After the gable was painted, Elna decided she actually likes the colour. Will see. I Also started sanding the verandah posts down, with the belt sander. The Rimu timber is in a remarkably good condition. The bottom ends are somewhat rotten, but i will splice it together with a short replacement piece. Thursday was rainy, and I started working on the electrics inside. Remember the old rubber insulated wires? They have been replaced now, and cabling for TV into the other bedroom done. Now the grandkids can watch their cartoon TV while the other people have a quiet chat. We also did a external light by the back door, and a hand bell we bought when we got the house.
Not much to report this week. We worked on the outside where the verandah roof is supposed to be. Used some paint given to us, actually mixed two cans and now have 15l of green paint. After the gable was painted, Elna decided she actually likes the colour. Will see. I Also started sanding the verandah posts down, with the belt sander. The Rimu timber is in a remarkably good condition. The bottom ends are somewhat rotten, but i will splice it together with a short replacement piece. Thursday was rainy, and I started working on the electrics inside. Remember the old rubber insulated wires? They have been replaced now, and cabling for TV into the other bedroom done. Now the grandkids can watch their cartoon TV while the other people have a quiet chat. We also did a external light by the back door, and a hand bell we bought when we got the house.
20 November 2011
We finished the gibbing in the living room. It makes a big difference. It feels like a room now, and the draughts will be much less. But, and there is always a but, I have not done the gib stopping (polyfilla) or any of the painting yet. I was too eager to start work outside.
We did get a relpy from NZHPT (Historical people) about our request to demolish the second bathroom and install large French doors. They have no problem with that, provided we do not dig any trenches for the sewer lines for the new bathroom. I told them that the new pipes will be suspended from the floor joists. All approved, but first things first.
Next on the agenda is securing the outside. We got the scaffolding pipes from the neighbour, but it is 6 m lengths and very awkward to handle. In the end I removed it all and put a sheet of ply over the bay window roof. It works. Yesterday I got up there and started scraping at the old paint. No luck. It is too hard. Then I got my baby angle grinder with a sanding disc. Perfect. I can grind through the flaking paint until I get to good timber. I removed about 80% of the old paint. It will need smoothing out, but for that I will use the belt sander. It will now give us a solid base to start painting on. We were given two cans of wall paint, in any odd colour. That will be good enough for a base coat. Once we have the western and southern walls done, and if we have the money, we will start painting the final colour. First of all, our big priority is to make it secure and rebuild the verandah.
We finished the gibbing in the living room. It makes a big difference. It feels like a room now, and the draughts will be much less. But, and there is always a but, I have not done the gib stopping (polyfilla) or any of the painting yet. I was too eager to start work outside.
We did get a relpy from NZHPT (Historical people) about our request to demolish the second bathroom and install large French doors. They have no problem with that, provided we do not dig any trenches for the sewer lines for the new bathroom. I told them that the new pipes will be suspended from the floor joists. All approved, but first things first.
Next on the agenda is securing the outside. We got the scaffolding pipes from the neighbour, but it is 6 m lengths and very awkward to handle. In the end I removed it all and put a sheet of ply over the bay window roof. It works. Yesterday I got up there and started scraping at the old paint. No luck. It is too hard. Then I got my baby angle grinder with a sanding disc. Perfect. I can grind through the flaking paint until I get to good timber. I removed about 80% of the old paint. It will need smoothing out, but for that I will use the belt sander. It will now give us a solid base to start painting on. We were given two cans of wall paint, in any odd colour. That will be good enough for a base coat. Once we have the western and southern walls done, and if we have the money, we will start painting the final colour. First of all, our big priority is to make it secure and rebuild the verandah.
13 November 2011
We have finished the work on the walls, and also spent a lot of time repairing the sliding sash window. It turned out that the window frames are in a sad state, and will eventually need to be remade. In the meantime, we want to move on and ignore the problem. Next week we will install the last of the gib on the opposite wall.
I am getting impatient to start work on the outside walls. We have managed to borrow some scaffolding pipes from our neighbour. We also found clamps and fittings when we moved in here. Hopefully we will be able to build some decent scaffolds. We plan to clean the weatherboards, fill holes and apply a base coat of paint. It will not be the final colour, but having done that, we will be in a position to reinstate the verandah at least partially.
The grass is growing, and we had to move the sheep. They are not very happy, but they need to earn their keep. We had started a veggie patch, but the lambs got in there and mad a clean sweep of all our seedlings. Now we will have to put up a proper fence before we can try veggies again.
We have finished the work on the walls, and also spent a lot of time repairing the sliding sash window. It turned out that the window frames are in a sad state, and will eventually need to be remade. In the meantime, we want to move on and ignore the problem. Next week we will install the last of the gib on the opposite wall.
I am getting impatient to start work on the outside walls. We have managed to borrow some scaffolding pipes from our neighbour. We also found clamps and fittings when we moved in here. Hopefully we will be able to build some decent scaffolds. We plan to clean the weatherboards, fill holes and apply a base coat of paint. It will not be the final colour, but having done that, we will be in a position to reinstate the verandah at least partially.
The grass is growing, and we had to move the sheep. They are not very happy, but they need to earn their keep. We had started a veggie patch, but the lambs got in there and mad a clean sweep of all our seedlings. Now we will have to put up a proper fence before we can try veggies again.
Monday
7 November 2011
We did however achieve some during the week. We removed the fire surround on the Northern wall, next to where we have been working, and covered the air gaps and put insulation there as well. We discovered some very interesting history. The fireplace is back to back, but it seems that, originally, we had an external fireplace there. A kitchen has been added at a later stage and the fireplace was extended. We even discovered weatherboard with original lime paint. The picture was taken with the camera held in the cavity. We started relining as before, using recycled boards.
Today, Monday was chosen to mow the grass on the sidewalk (it is not a lawn) After the grass was cut, I proceeded to clear the ivy growing on our Rimu tree by the entrance. Hopefully the ivy in the tree will die now. We will still have to kill the roots.
The house in the background still looks terrible, but at least we know that we are making progress. Once the inside lining is completed where we are working now, we plan to remove the verandah roof on the outside and repair the weatherboards on the outside. Only after that we will start working on the verandah on the main entrance side. That is, provided we do not decide to do something completely different.
Missed Sunday again!! Sorry.
Last week was a short one. On Monday I had to go to Hamilton, no work done. Friday I had a runny tummy, no work done.
The house in the background still looks terrible, but at least we know that we are making progress. Once the inside lining is completed where we are working now, we plan to remove the verandah roof on the outside and repair the weatherboards on the outside. Only after that we will start working on the verandah on the main entrance side. That is, provided we do not decide to do something completely different.
Sunday
30 October
On Monday we were given a pet lamb. She is 3 months old and was used in a school project. She is very tame and still drinks from a bottle. The other two would not accept her initially, but we put them in two adjoining larger pens and later removed the partition. She is adapting well. We did have another problem though, Anne, the first lamb, got used to stick her head through the fence with the neighbour (the grass on the other side?) Yesterday I added more battens (droppers for non-kiwis) but last night she got through again. I will have to add more wires. As a temporary measure she got a hook around the neck. It works.
Tuesday I didn't feel like work, so I spent most of the day writing a motivation to demolish the little room with the existing second bathroom and fit french doors instead. The bathroom will then be moved into another room. I will submit that to the Historical Places Trust.
The original sarking (lining) of the living room was match lining in Kauri. That is tongue and groove boards. One part of the sarking has been replaced at some stage, and the replacement was in Rimu and not tongue and groove. We stripped that part on Wednesday. We repaired some damaged studs and installed insulation. Then we proceeded to install Kauri boards. Because it is recycled boards (from where we removed the other wall) it is warped and does not fit together easily. I put in a request with Barco to come and help. Sorry for the Starling's nest that has been in the wall. If we can manage to install insulation to all of the wall, we intend to paint the timber, without gibbing it. It might mean that we will have to remove some of the outside weatherboards to install the insulation.
The young guy from next door mowed our grass on the sidewalk on Saturday. He did not do a very good job, so I will be forced to use my lawnmower on that as well. I also cleared the ivy on the gatepost by the entrance. Another job on my "round tuit" list is to cut the concrete on the driveway entrance, it is a little high and sometimes our car scratches when we drive in or out.
Next door they are finishing off the new house, with a timber fence going up between us. Looking good.
On Monday we were given a pet lamb. She is 3 months old and was used in a school project. She is very tame and still drinks from a bottle. The other two would not accept her initially, but we put them in two adjoining larger pens and later removed the partition. She is adapting well. We did have another problem though, Anne, the first lamb, got used to stick her head through the fence with the neighbour (the grass on the other side?) Yesterday I added more battens (droppers for non-kiwis) but last night she got through again. I will have to add more wires. As a temporary measure she got a hook around the neck. It works.
Tuesday I didn't feel like work, so I spent most of the day writing a motivation to demolish the little room with the existing second bathroom and fit french doors instead. The bathroom will then be moved into another room. I will submit that to the Historical Places Trust.
The original sarking (lining) of the living room was match lining in Kauri. That is tongue and groove boards. One part of the sarking has been replaced at some stage, and the replacement was in Rimu and not tongue and groove. We stripped that part on Wednesday. We repaired some damaged studs and installed insulation. Then we proceeded to install Kauri boards. Because it is recycled boards (from where we removed the other wall) it is warped and does not fit together easily. I put in a request with Barco to come and help. Sorry for the Starling's nest that has been in the wall. If we can manage to install insulation to all of the wall, we intend to paint the timber, without gibbing it. It might mean that we will have to remove some of the outside weatherboards to install the insulation.
The young guy from next door mowed our grass on the sidewalk on Saturday. He did not do a very good job, so I will be forced to use my lawnmower on that as well. I also cleared the ivy on the gatepost by the entrance. Another job on my "round tuit" list is to cut the concrete on the driveway entrance, it is a little high and sometimes our car scratches when we drive in or out.
Next door they are finishing off the new house, with a timber fence going up between us. Looking good.
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