Saturday
15 August 2015
Nothing to report this week. I have spent a lot of time on the LED lights on the trailer, and then I picked up a cold. It took me some time to get over it. I stayed in the house all of Friday and today, Saturday. That is in spite of semi sunny days. It seems the weather is changing and hopefully most if our rain is something of the past. You will never know.
Sunday
9 August 2015
Now you can see what the inside walls look like. The first picture shows where the kitchen sink used to be. The second one is toward the outside wall where we had the fridges.
I must admit, since we opened the whole lot up, it has got much drier. And the rest of the house has got much colder. In some areas there are gaps of 8 mm between the weatherboards. I am still undecided about windows and doors. The latest line of thinking is to make a special sash window for the outer wall, but to make the lower sash only 100 to 200 mm high and to make it non opening. That will allow us to have a bed head underneath.
For the other side I intend to restore/ repair the old window that we took out where the large folding doors are now. I have done one in a worse condition before (in the bay window). One thing that I will definitely do is to box the weights in both windows, like I have done in Cambridge. It means a lot of work, but it means we wont need to rely on the architraves for weather tightness.
I had great aspirations to start building the floor, but that got delayed. With the new car we could not use the trailer (no tow bar) We went to Hamilton on Friday to pick up a new tow bar, and yesterday Hans sacrificed a whole day to look at our car and fit a tow bar. With the modern vehicles using LED's it took specialist knowledge to get that right. Now I am obliged to fit LED's to the trailer as well.
Never a dull moment!!!!
2 August 2015
Another week gone. We have managed to do the framing and insulation in front of the old fireplace. Then we routed the electrical wiring for five plugs. I don't want to run out of sockets. We have also fitted two sheets of plasterboard to that wall. Then we fitted the plasterboard against the internal wall, next to the door. It does not sound much, but there was a lot of work to get rid of rotten and unwanted timber.
I have also started work on a niche next to the fireplaces for the proposed gas water heater. That will take a lot of time. Currently I have only removed some short lengths of weatherboard. Now at least I have a crawlspace to get in there.
I have also started work on a niche next to the fireplaces for the proposed gas water heater. That will take a lot of time. Currently I have only removed some short lengths of weatherboard. Now at least I have a crawlspace to get in there.
This picture shows the wall between the original kitchen and the dining room The innsulation showing was fitted when we installed the large folding doors. The weatherboard showing was original and in the original colour.
From the last picture it is clear that the door to the old kitchen was cut from the original framing. I always had an idea that there has been a door originally. So we learn.
My rate of work has gone down a bit, I ascribe it to the wintry season.Elna is of invaluable help to me.
Sometimes I wonder if I am wasting my time. Only one person read the blog last week?
26 July 2015
The openings got closed, but what a job! The door sill had to be reinforced and then fitted. At the moment it creaks a little, but I will be able to put in a few more screws. At least we have a door between the old kitchen and the dining room.No more cold wind coming through!
We also had to tidy up outside. There was a pile of timber lying on the grass that has come from under the deck. By moving some other timber around, we managed to get all under cover. Elna helped a lot. That does not imply that we have processed all the old timber from the original deck. These have been lying on a pile next to the cookhouse for more than a year now. I am thinking to get a skip toe get rid if it. It takes a lot of time to cut up and store away as firewood.
I managed to remove the "sarking" boards from the western wall, de nailed them and put it away. Some time in future all of these can be used to replace the iron we have got on the Cookhouse.
This coming week I hope to build a recess next to the back to back fireplaces in which to eventually install a gas hot water unit. That will be a mess similar to the repair of the door frame.
We also had to tidy up outside. There was a pile of timber lying on the grass that has come from under the deck. By moving some other timber around, we managed to get all under cover. Elna helped a lot. That does not imply that we have processed all the old timber from the original deck. These have been lying on a pile next to the cookhouse for more than a year now. I am thinking to get a skip toe get rid if it. It takes a lot of time to cut up and store away as firewood.
I managed to remove the "sarking" boards from the western wall, de nailed them and put it away. Some time in future all of these can be used to replace the iron we have got on the Cookhouse.
This coming week I hope to build a recess next to the back to back fireplaces in which to eventually install a gas hot water unit. That will be a mess similar to the repair of the door frame.
19 July 2015
So it happened again. I had half a page of text and six pictures ready for publishing and lost it all.
Petrus did his last day on Thursday. He is taking up a new position. Without his help the kitchen would not nearly be to the standard it is now. We appreciate his voluntary work very much By special request, I include some more pictures of the kitchen
View of the corner pantry and fridge with the top of the centre island showing. We got nce roller blinds for the windows.
Petrus and myself started taking the old kitchen out. That was on Thursday. We also used the opportunity to buy some flooring boards and joists. The idea is to install a false floor 100 mm above the old kitchen floor with insulation to preserve heat.
Sorry, one picture should not have been there, but it shows a view from the dining room to the new kitchen before the last varnishing was done on the board dividing them.
We found that the door sill to the old kitchen was beyond repair, cracked and word. Petrus suggested replacing it. On Friday Jaco was here and we cut a perfect replacement, but just 500 mm too short. With the sill being 315 mm wide,it was difficult to find the right board. In the end I used a piece of oak and it looks well. When the old kitchen extension was made in the 1920's they didn't care much and we had to strip a lot of timber out to get to study timber. Now we have a hole of 350 by 850 mm wide to the under floor space, and we are also open to the cellar door frame. That will have to be closed in on Monday and insulation put in.
On Saturday we had a rain storm and it was impossible to walk to the sheds, so nothing much was done.
Petrus did his last day on Thursday. He is taking up a new position. Without his help the kitchen would not nearly be to the standard it is now. We appreciate his voluntary work very much By special request, I include some more pictures of the kitchen
Petrus and myself started taking the old kitchen out. That was on Thursday. We also used the opportunity to buy some flooring boards and joists. The idea is to install a false floor 100 mm above the old kitchen floor with insulation to preserve heat.
Sorry, one picture should not have been there, but it shows a view from the dining room to the new kitchen before the last varnishing was done on the board dividing them.
We found that the door sill to the old kitchen was beyond repair, cracked and word. Petrus suggested replacing it. On Friday Jaco was here and we cut a perfect replacement, but just 500 mm too short. With the sill being 315 mm wide,it was difficult to find the right board. In the end I used a piece of oak and it looks well. When the old kitchen extension was made in the 1920's they didn't care much and we had to strip a lot of timber out to get to study timber. Now we have a hole of 350 by 850 mm wide to the under floor space, and we are also open to the cellar door frame. That will have to be closed in on Monday and insulation put in.
On Saturday we had a rain storm and it was impossible to walk to the sheds, so nothing much was done.
12 July 2015
We had a roaring time. Marike came to visit for three weeks, and Anneke and Roger also came to visit. That was the main reason for moving the kitchen over.
I am proud to report that the kitchen is completed now, including splashbacks and a Kauri surround for the opening. Sealing that took a long time because I was afraid to make a mistake. Some of the pictures will still show the masking tape. Petrus did that in the week.
After Anneke and Roger have left, we tackled the fireplace. The front was done inm 1975 facebricks. We took most of it off, and decided to cover it up. Before we could do that, we had to put insulation on the dining room side . There are two fireplaces back to back.The old kitchen is very cold and we experienced a severe cold spell. I measured minus 1.7 outside last night
I decided that the door between the old kitchen and dining room is the highest priority, as the old kitchen is very drafty. We had some doors in storage, and suitably decided on the door we have removed from the new kitchen. Fitting it posed a bigger problem. not only was the door frame rotten, but the framing behind it as well. We have replaced both but it is unfinished at this stage. One of the panels of the door has been punched in, and I tried to follow expert advice: Remove the beading, take the panel out and glue together, refit. It turned out that the panel was recessed into the frame of the door. We had to cut it out with a Router and then glue it. The door has been hung but it will need removing to strip the paint and lacquer before final fit.
Next priority is to make a frame for the double doors that we had in storage. (Waar is Willie nou?)We have taken all the timber that was stored under the deck out and started cutting the timbers for the frame.
It seems I will have to change my priorities again, because I have nowhere to store the timber. I might need to fit a better roof to one of my sheds.
I do apologize for the long silence, but with family visiting and finger trouble on the computer to download pictures, things got out of hand
Fireplace in old kitchen
Elna working in the new kitchen
Bottom, "new" door to the old kitchen
I am proud to report that the kitchen is completed now, including splashbacks and a Kauri surround for the opening. Sealing that took a long time because I was afraid to make a mistake. Some of the pictures will still show the masking tape. Petrus did that in the week.
After Anneke and Roger have left, we tackled the fireplace. The front was done inm 1975 facebricks. We took most of it off, and decided to cover it up. Before we could do that, we had to put insulation on the dining room side . There are two fireplaces back to back.The old kitchen is very cold and we experienced a severe cold spell. I measured minus 1.7 outside last night
I decided that the door between the old kitchen and dining room is the highest priority, as the old kitchen is very drafty. We had some doors in storage, and suitably decided on the door we have removed from the new kitchen. Fitting it posed a bigger problem. not only was the door frame rotten, but the framing behind it as well. We have replaced both but it is unfinished at this stage. One of the panels of the door has been punched in, and I tried to follow expert advice: Remove the beading, take the panel out and glue together, refit. It turned out that the panel was recessed into the frame of the door. We had to cut it out with a Router and then glue it. The door has been hung but it will need removing to strip the paint and lacquer before final fit.
Next priority is to make a frame for the double doors that we had in storage. (Waar is Willie nou?)We have taken all the timber that was stored under the deck out and started cutting the timbers for the frame.
It seems I will have to change my priorities again, because I have nowhere to store the timber. I might need to fit a better roof to one of my sheds.
I do apologize for the long silence, but with family visiting and finger trouble on the computer to download pictures, things got out of hand
Fireplace in old kitchen
Elna working in the new kitchen
Bottom, "new" door to the old kitchen
Saturday
16 May 2015
Work has progressed well on the kitchen.We have moved over on Thursday. Now nobody can find anything. It is taking a while to get used to.
The electrics is connected, but I have not finished the gib stopping or the painting thereof. That also implies that we haven't stuck the splashback tiles to the wall. The glass splashback at the windows works fine, but also needs painting. The cover where we cut the wall will still take a while.
We have Marike visiting for three weeks and this weekend Anneke and Roger flew up to visit. Happy family and full house. It will be the first use of the old kitchen as a bedroom.
The electrics is connected, but I have not finished the gib stopping or the painting thereof. That also implies that we haven't stuck the splashback tiles to the wall. The glass splashback at the windows works fine, but also needs painting. The cover where we cut the wall will still take a while.
We have Marike visiting for three weeks and this weekend Anneke and Roger flew up to visit. Happy family and full house. It will be the first use of the old kitchen as a bedroom.
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