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.

13 January 2013

On Monday I went to buy a "weedeater" to trim the edges of the grass. The first one wouldn't work so I took it back and got another. I must admit, tie section looks much better now with the edges trimmed.

I managed to clean the old paint off the Northern wall, and primed and painted it, in short sessions to avoid the heat. That is, only the top half of the wall. It is to  make it easier when we get around to the veranda.

You will notice, I start many jobs, and finish few. That is because we have so much to do, and to avoid boredom.

Wednesday was very hot, and I decided to work inside. There is a rumor going around that insurance will refuse to  pay a claim in case of a fire if there is any scrim (hessian) on the walls. So I tackled the last room and the passageway.  Just wondering why we didn't do it long ago. It looks so much better now. While I was at it, I removed some sarking boards in the area  where we plan to extend the kirchen. See, another new job started!!

Thursday was a day off, we visited James and Wendy. We had a lovely time. Friday we made our regular visit to the good Doctor for the next three months medicine. Just imagine how shocked I was! The cost of a prescription has gone up. It is now $5 instead of the regular $3. Thank God we are living in a country that supports is old and sick people.

Well, that is all I can report on, see you again next week
 

6 January 2013

The first week of the new year is gone, and with it all my new year's resolutions.

We had REALLY high temperatures, up to 27 deg! And I got a bug, the Holiday Bug. Nothing much happened. We visited friends, and visited friends, and visited friends, and just tinkered along,

I did manage to complete the building of the shelves in the new store room. Now I can move all of the stuff over. The walls are not completed though. If we get rain, some of it will get wet. I did manage to get some sheets of iron from Barry (Barco) and must really get around to fitting it. We are fortunate that we are allowed to build storage huts up to 10 sq m without a permit, and, in my case, only on the ground, no posts or concrete allowed.

I did call the scrap metal dealers, but they only start on Monday, so nothing happened on that front.

30 December 2012

It seems this will be the last post of the year. To all and everybody: We wish you a Happy New Year and the grace to do well with it.

Obviously, with the holidays around, I didn't do as much as I should. I have changed my mind as to work schedule. What is the use of having a mind if you can't change it!!

It must have been two months ago that I built the framing for another storage room. I just got fed up not being able to find my stuff. So I started work on the storage room. I put the roof up, and some of the iron sheets for the walls, but I think I ran out of iron, so I continued with the floor (plywood that was given to me)
 With the floor done I started assembling shelves that I have saved from our move from Cambridge. Most of the shelves are up now, and I have moved most of the stuff out of the small (2 m by 2 m) storage room. I also managed to move stuff out of the cookhouse which is my workshop. The stuff I am talking about are bolts and nuts, hinges, doorknobs, plumbing fittings and everything that is not classified as tools. Because i use screws and nails so often, they will remain in the cook house.

Ever since we moved here, my power tools have been lying on the floor, for a lack of shelving. Now I managed to build proper shelves for all the tools. I think the whole of the next week will be spent on sorting stuff and tidying up. I also plan on visiting the scrap metal dealers to get more iron.

Have a lovely New Year!!