Trev also found some borer in a bearer (say that 10 times really fast I dare you!) which wasn't seen by the pest inspector or the re-blockers so I'm glad that it has been fixed up now also.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Flooring in the front rooms...
We have decided to pull up the floor boards and put down yellow tongue in the front part of the house. I really struggled with this decision because I wanted to leave them untouched, but from an insulating point of view we are better off to do this. It's much easier to insulate from the top, the thicker floor helps insulate better as well and as a bonus the floor will be firmer with the yellow tongue. We need to remove the split and borer affected boards anyway so now we can pick through the best ones, replace them and put them back on top ready for polishing.
Trev also found some borer in a bearer (say that 10 times really fast I dare you!) which wasn't seen by the pest inspector or the re-blockers so I'm glad that it has been fixed up now also.
Trev also found some borer in a bearer (say that 10 times really fast I dare you!) which wasn't seen by the pest inspector or the re-blockers so I'm glad that it has been fixed up now also.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Another productive day!
With Scooby in creche for the day, I was able to put in some quality time up at the house! I decided I was going to strip paint off the front door while J worked on the pergola roof and Trev pulled the ceiling out of the lounge.
I used a heat gun and unfortunately scorched the door a few times :( It looks worse in the photo and should come off with a light sand. I thought it came off really easily though and much better than a chemical stripper. Less messy and I don't like how the chemical stripper makes the timber feel damp! The timber under the paint is in really good condition and all the panelling is nice and straight. I was worried that it was dinted or had been chipped and painted over, but it was actually the layers of paint that must have made it look like that. There was so many...green, yellow, red, blue, yellow again and pink but I think the pink was the first undercoat.
The gas mask really doesn't do much to reduce the fumes from the paint either. Kinda sexy don't ya think ;)
Still got a bit to do and will be back into it on my next Scooby free day! I feel a bit sad that I can't spend more time up there helping but for safety reasons I can't be working while the girl runs about.
So while removing the ceiling linings from the lounge, Trev discovered that the marks on the ceiling were probably from rat pee and not water. Mostly all this grass is from rats and the evidence was many little dehydrated rat carcasses. There was some birds nests up there too, lived in by our little friends from this post but most evidence pointed to rats.
I am most grateful to our ratty friends for insulating our home with their nests, and I thank them for their consideration ;)
I used a heat gun and unfortunately scorched the door a few times :( It looks worse in the photo and should come off with a light sand. I thought it came off really easily though and much better than a chemical stripper. Less messy and I don't like how the chemical stripper makes the timber feel damp! The timber under the paint is in really good condition and all the panelling is nice and straight. I was worried that it was dinted or had been chipped and painted over, but it was actually the layers of paint that must have made it look like that. There was so many...green, yellow, red, blue, yellow again and pink but I think the pink was the first undercoat.
The gas mask really doesn't do much to reduce the fumes from the paint either. Kinda sexy don't ya think ;)
Still got a bit to do and will be back into it on my next Scooby free day! I feel a bit sad that I can't spend more time up there helping but for safety reasons I can't be working while the girl runs about.
So while removing the ceiling linings from the lounge, Trev discovered that the marks on the ceiling were probably from rat pee and not water. Mostly all this grass is from rats and the evidence was many little dehydrated rat carcasses. There was some birds nests up there too, lived in by our little friends from this post but most evidence pointed to rats.
I am most grateful to our ratty friends for insulating our home with their nests, and I thank them for their consideration ;)
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Hanging out and thinking...
Today I decided to hang about up at the house on my own and think about stuff.
I sat on my new deck (oh yeah we have deck!) and thought about my kitchen design and if I really was happy with it. In an act of pure femaleness, I got a tape measure and a pencil and drew my kitchen on the floor. Then I thought about how I could change it (you know...cos a girl can change her mind and all) so I started to draw my new ideas on the floor too.
I am limited by a couple of things.
1. I have already purchased my oven and need to work around that. My oven will not be returned because it is beautiful and magnificent. Because of that IT will be the focal point of the kitchen and needs to have pride of place.
2. We have a window in the pantry which could be moved BUT seeing as J has already braced the wall, that would need to be moved also and I'm not sure I want to pay for that and things are adding up. As I'm sure you can tell.
So I've had a good hard think and I'm happy enough to keep our kitchen plan as it is. I really needed to get my doubts out of my head though and this was a great way to do that :)
My next thing to do was to have a really good look at the newspaper that was under the lining on the passage wall!
I sat on my new deck (oh yeah we have deck!) and thought about my kitchen design and if I really was happy with it. In an act of pure femaleness, I got a tape measure and a pencil and drew my kitchen on the floor. Then I thought about how I could change it (you know...cos a girl can change her mind and all) so I started to draw my new ideas on the floor too.
I am limited by a couple of things.
1. I have already purchased my oven and need to work around that. My oven will not be returned because it is beautiful and magnificent. Because of that IT will be the focal point of the kitchen and needs to have pride of place.
2. We have a window in the pantry which could be moved BUT seeing as J has already braced the wall, that would need to be moved also and I'm not sure I want to pay for that and things are adding up. As I'm sure you can tell.
So I've had a good hard think and I'm happy enough to keep our kitchen plan as it is. I really needed to get my doubts out of my head though and this was a great way to do that :)
My next thing to do was to have a really good look at the newspaper that was under the lining on the passage wall!
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Frames!
The flooring was finished early enough to start moving the rest of the frames up onto it.
And seeing as the frames were up on the floor, why not stand some of them...
And seeing as the frames were up on the floor, why not stand some of them...
A rare pic of me ;)
Seeing as I'm always the one taking the photos, I'm never actually in them. Trev took this photo of me hard at work cutting out insulation for the floor and looking ever so stylish in my flanny shirt and camo hat.
Back view with a few of the wall frames moved up onto the floor ready to go!
And now for something a bit different...rats nest that was in my bedroom wall. Complete with dried out rat carcasses. (didn't take photos of that yukkiness)
And here I was all this time complaining there was no insulation! I had no idea the ratties has crammed the walls full of grass. How thoughtful of them!
Back view with a few of the wall frames moved up onto the floor ready to go!
And now for something a bit different...rats nest that was in my bedroom wall. Complete with dried out rat carcasses. (didn't take photos of that yukkiness)
And here I was all this time complaining there was no insulation! I had no idea the ratties has crammed the walls full of grass. How thoughtful of them!
Friday, February 8, 2013
What's this being dropped over the back fence?
Wall frames woo hoo!
I thought this pic shows a good view looking through the old house frames, over the floor of the extension and to the joists for the deck. Wall frames are piled up over the back.
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