The Year is half over

It seems hardly possible that we are now in the second half of the year. How time flies! How the world has changed so much in a short time! How much have I done to the house? What more will I achieve in the remainder of the year?

We've now been here for five years, and that hardly seems credible either. I first saw this house at the start of August 2010, and it immediately spoke to me. Moreover, I knew that it would speak to my other half as well - she has the vision (so often lacking in those TV property programmes!) to look past the defects and the undergrowth, and to see what a place could be. We never had any real doubt that this was the place for us, and I can still recall the evening of the day we moved in - we shared a wonderful sense of peace and satisfaction that this was OUR HOME, in every sense of the phrase (despite the boxes, mess and work still outstanding).

Back to my questions above. Firstly, I have been mentioning about the internal doors since 2012 (when I did the door from the kitchen to the new extension); in 2013 I started on the three doors in the hall (filter on "decorating" or "doors" to find these posts) These are the original doors with four recessed rectangles, the upper pair being slightly larger; the doors were covered with some revolting brown stuff which gummed up sandpaper in two strokes and was eventually removed with a three handed operation involving a hot air gun, a scraper and a Stanley knife; the knife had to be used after every stroke to remove the molten globule from the scraper, otherwise the next stroke would leave as much as it removed. I managed this by holding both the heat gun and the Stanley knife in my left hand, at the expense of a slight strain to the thumb!

Compounding the difficulty of the brown gunk, both sides of the lounge door and one side of the kitchen door have a moulding around each of the four rectangles, which made removal of the gunk even more onerous. There was also the architrave around both sides of the kitchen door - I confess that in 2015 I gave in and replaced the architrave around the lounge door (which had been split on one side in earlier works although I forget exactly how).

Anyway, I stuck at the removal task and had done the two main doors by last autumn. Remaining was the door to the cupboard under the stairs, which I did in February this year. The nice touch on this one was to add a bit of architrave above it, which has improved the look considerably. They are finished in eggshell eau-de-nil which looks really good with the gentle yellow of the claypaint walls.

Secondly, I determined that there were some jobs for which I just had to bite the bullet, namely the sash windows. I did one (the largest and most complicated!) last year, and soon I'll post a detailed report on the ones I have done this year. Once again, my choice of window was thwarted - t'other half wanted me to start with the other bedrooms, and I wanted to do the bathroom small pair at the front. Anyway, the pretty large sash in both bedrooms is now complete and they really do look better. I estimated last year that the first one took me 60 hours; both these are not quite as large and have one glazing bar less, and took me about 40 hours each.

I have also built a second wood store outside, and have tackled a few of those little jobs that one puts off, like the bit of stone on the front corner which was missing (as someone had indented a bit of wood from the gate frame into the wall! WHY?). There remains for this year the two small sash windows in the bathroom, some lime plastering around two recessed windows and a new wardrobe in the second bedroom; that will leave just two sashes for next year. Perhaps then I will have to find new ways of enjoying my retirement!

Another Year

Another year starts and so it's time to review what I've done on the house and what I intend to do this year!

I did do a couple of things not listed in the last progress update last June or the end of year update immediately below this entry:

a. The hall landing and stairs were painted in the Earthborn claypaint and look lovely - I do recommend this stuff, but to get the best result you need to roll it rather than brush it.
b. I stripped, repaired and repainted one half of the back gates - as they are from different sources they wear differently, and the one half that I had renovated in 2011 was looking quite poorly.  I think this was because it wasn't actually as dry as I thought then.

Now, in the coming year, there are a few big-ish jobs left:

1.  The big question is how many sash windows I will renovate.  My plan is to do at least the narrow pair in the bathroom, followed by the one in the hall.  That will leave one in the kitchen and two in the back bedrooms.

2. There is also some plastering to do: the window recess in the front bedroom is some of the last original plaster left, and it doesn't sound good.  Having done the window last year, it makes sense to tackle this tricky bit of work.

3.  In painting the hall I found that the plaster in the top of the hall window recess was dropping down and so needs to be re-done as well, with lime plaster.  It would make sense to do both 2 and 3 at the same time but that will make a mess in two places at the same time, and the job will want three or four coats with drying time between.

4.  The wardobe in the front bedroom needs plastering (modern stuff - it's panelled with plasterboard).

5.  I want to install a wardrobe in the second bedroom, but that means that I have to sort out a full four drawer filing cabinet and other stuff...

6.  I'd like to put fire black on some fireplaces - I've never done that before and feel that it could be messy!

7.  Then there's more decorating and other internal jobs, plus more tidying in the garden - but these all count as maintenance.

Other than those, we have a cruise holiday booked in March and we're going to a square dance convention for three days in July.  Moreover the church is not doing any major work this year as our current grant application is for 2017, so it might be a more relaxed year!

http://www.heyfordhoofers.org.uk/ 

Well, it's Progress, but not much!

I have been busy this year - honestly.  Much of this year's progress is based on the recent acquisition of my own angle grinder as a birthday present!  However, I don't feel I have much to show for my effort because the list of achievments is largely small jobs, or larger jobs which have been going on for too long.

This year so far, other than normal maintenance, I have:

a. Cut several large coping stones in half lengthways in order to make them a sensible size to cap a 4" thick brick wall.
b. Finished the dry stone wall which forms the fascia to the block/brick wall which holds the garden back, as it is higher than the house floor level.
c. Cut and fitted various items of stone flooring to make the wall lining to go beside the steps up to the lawn.
d. Cut and fitted yet more left-over flagstone into suitable sizes in order to act as coping stone on another low brick wall; these will allow people to sit on them fairly comfortably when we hold a barbecue on the patio!
e. Removed the remaining gunk from two doors and the panelling to the kitchen (the wall is 17" thick) using heat gun plus scraper, then a Stanley knife scraper then sander or just sandpaper, in order to enable painting of the surface. This was a nightmare job.
f. Painted both hall doors (to lounge and kitchen) plus the above mentioned panelling to the kitchen plus the inside of the front door, all in Laura Ashley Eau-de-Nil; although I didn't choose the colour, I am very pleased with the choice and the overall effect.
g. Chosen the shade of Earthborn claypaint for the walls of the hall, stairs and landing, as we finally decided that the yellow limewash done in 2011 was a bit too bright.
h. Painted the back and one side of the shed (see earlier) which I did in early March as I couldn't paint last year because it is too close to a lot of undergrowth.
i. Fitted the bath panel properly (at last!!)
j. Cleared the rubbish (an empty one tonne bag, some old bricks, various tubs of stuff and a rotting pallet) from the area beside the back window.
k. Laid some setts at the end of the paving to hold it away from the wall below the back window, as it's a bit high compared to the floor inside, and laid the last of the paving on sand to fill the gap.

The last of the jobs above to be done was the completion of the wall (b. above); having finished it a couple of days ago, I realise how this interesting but tedious job has been hanging over me for 32 months since I laid the foundations.  Perhaps I do feel that I have something to show for my hard work after all!

Now I have to finish plaster repairs in the hall (these are partly done so not listed above), then paint the hall, stairs and landing with the claypaint.  Then there's a widening of the drive, which will provide some earth to do the last of the landscaping in the back garden, to be followed by some more turf which will effectively complete the back.  Finally in the front I need to build one wall end with lime mortar in place of the present dry construction which was temporarily done in 2012. Then it'll be a few internal details like a new wardrobe and clearing the second bedroom, plus finishing the 2011 wardrobe in our bedroom and a lot of decorating!

I'll put some new pictures up when I've been able to buy some batteries for my camera...

Now you see it, now you don't

They've gone and changed their minds; the operation is deferred for ages (even 12 months possibly), so I will after all be able to get on with the tasks that I want to do this summer.  When I said it was bad timing, I honestly didn't really want this to happen.

All I need now is some half decent weather to let me make a start outside.  The walls, pointing, edge setts and flagstones will all take ages, and I'd like to tidy up and sow some grass seed as well.  Then there's refurbishing sash windows - perhaps I'll get a couple done if I'm lucky this year - and repairing some stucco work at the front (although it's actually cement so shouldn't be too difficult).

In the meantime there is some decorating inside to be done, but that's a job I hate - removing the black gunge that the doors are coated with.  Sanding it just gums up the sandpaper in 15 or 20 seconds, and a heat gun requires three hands as you get these sticky dead slugs on your scraper which have to removed with a sharp knife or else all you do is to spread it around.  The other hassle with the heat gun is having to remove the smoke detectors as they tend to get set off by it.  I've never had much luck with paint remover but perhaps I'll give it another go. 

Doing Things Wrongly

I do hate doing things wrongly.  I always have [Edit - I mean "I've always hated doing things wrongly", not "I've always done things wrongly"!].  In particular, on this house I have wanted to "do it right" and, mostly, I think I have succeeded.  I'm going to live in this house for years and I hate the idea of continuously seeing something I did wrongly and thinking "I wish I'd done that better".  There have been one or two places where it's not perfect and I've persuaded myself to live with them as they "add character" (great excuse for old buildings).

Now, I've just painted something wrongly.  I've been using satin finish paint on the woodwork in the new extension and it looks very nice.  It's a cream colour which is basically the colour of the old woodwork and it sets the doors off nicely against the white of the plaster.  I've done both sides and the frame of the door from the kitchen into the extension (see previous picture) and I had done one and a half sides of the door into the utility when I ran out of paint.  So, on Tuesday at a local well-known store, I bought a second tin after some considerable searching for the right type; I returned home with my prize and continued the task, finishing off the first coat on the half finished door, and then doing a second coat on the side I'd already done as it looked a bit thin.  For good measure I did the door frame and also some touch up in a few places on another door frame.  All seemed well until I went to wash the brushes; I was sure that satin finish paint is washed in warm soapy water but, to my horror, I found that nothing happened apart from a mess of globules.  Check the tin - "clean brushes in white spirit" - so, out with the white spirit and still I didn't catch on. 

Later, I checked my work and found that it hadn't dried.  This was odd as satin finish is quite quick drying.  Looking at the door I suddenly realized.  It was still glossy.  With a sinking heart I checked the tin.  "Full Gloss." All is explained.  B****r!

I could leave the one side in gloss but I just don't like gloss paint internally; if I do leave it, then I'll forever look at it and be reminded of my own stupidity.  There seems nowhere else to go but back to the store and buy a tin of the correct stuff, and then forget that Tuesday ever happened. Apart from wasting my time and £11 for the paint, I still have the issue of whether I have any use for that paint and, if not, what do I do with it?

More Stripping and Plastering

Firstly, a quick update on my health - the expected all clear on the biopsy came, so there's no excuse now and it's back to work with a vengeance.

When we did the extension last November, we had replaced the lintel above this kitchen door as we found that the old one had rotted at one end, thanks to the poor flashing on the old extension roof.  This photo shows the door (before it was turned round) after the demolition of the old extension, and the rotten lintel is clearly visible.   This rot was a shame as the lintel was made of three bits (to give 16 inches wall thickness) of four inch pitch pine which still smelt wonderful.  This unexpected work meant that some of the plaster already done inside was removed, and then the rest of the plaster around the door became loosened when the door frame was done.  So, it was back to stripping plaster on Thursday, followed by some more lime plastering for the scratch coat on Friday.  

We have a lot of old doors in the house, most of which were covered in a sort of brown varnish which clogs sandpaper very easily.  At first I didn't like them as I thought they were probably the 1920s version of those horrible cheap panelled white things you get in all new houses and refurbishments these days.  That's probably a bit unfair as, despite the varnish, I've come to appreciate them - an example of why you should never make changes in a rush on an old house unless absolutely essential.  They have four panels with the upper pair being larger than the lower ones; most have a simple right angle recess, but in the lounge and the hall side of the kitchen door they have a bit of ogee architrave (which of course makes stripping more difficult!).  These doors are also different sizes - I discovered this last November when I thought about changing the hinge side of the kitchen to extension door, and measured them all to see if I could swap them around.  "Never assume - check" was the flight safety mantra when I was in the RAF, and it's true for old houses as well.

Since the door frame was being completely replaced, it seemed sensible to turn the door round, rather than cut new hinge recesses etc.  However, the horrible rough white-ish finish now on the kitchen side meant that I knew I would have to do some serious stripping and restoration before too long, as it just looked so bad every time you went in the kitchen.  Mind you, the side on the extension was brown paint and didn't look much better.

Anyway, just after Easter I decided that now was the time and I've done the complete thing over the last two weeks (i.e. slowly).  The old paint was ghastly and probably toxic, so when I used the heat gun and a scraper, I made sure there was plenty of ventilation.  It was possibly half a millimetre thick in places and came off as a nasty goo on the scraper which itself had to be scraped off before the next go.  After that the rest was a doddle and yesterday I applied the final coat (see photo left) which is always the best bit - it's so satisfying, as opposed to the scraping, sanding, filling, priming and undercoat which are all just boring

The result is that it all looks much better and Jane loves it, even though I have yet to finish the remaining coats of plaster. 

The End of the Old Extension

 
Well, a week is a long time in building.  It's Friday and the last eight days have been most productive, as it was only the previous Friday that we demolished the old extension (above and right).  My trusty friend Chris came to do this task, accompanied by Dwayne (or Duane?), as Shane has broken his leg quite badly in a motorbike accident.  NB The brickie (see below) is called Shaun so I'm in danger of getting confused by these young men - well, I reckon they are young as they are half my age.

After all the hassle about our proposed new extension, everything has been refused and I just want to repair rebuild the old one "as is".  My original intention was to leave a large part of one wall including the chimney, although this would have made the foundations a bit difficult.  Having unintentionally got permission to demolish the whole extension, I decided to do it as per the permission as that would make the whole task much easier.  However, this meant that Chris had to demolish the tall chimney, which proved to be quite well built.  I won't post the photos of this as it would only generate a lot of comments about health and safety.  Suffice it to say that he did it safely and we were most relieved.


The rest of the extension was in a worse condition than we realised, and it took less than seven hours to reduce the whole thing to separate piles of bricks and wood (photos above).  Jane and I then spent the whole of Saturday sorting, burning and tidying as the apparently spacious garden had quickly assumed the role of an untidy and very crowded building site.

On Monday the groundworkers Colin and Ryan arrived with the digger (right) and dumper to clear the site and reduce the level of the topsoil and concrete which has been the Achilles heel of this property for decades.  When we first saw this house, there were two distinct problems: the water falling on the house and the water coming in through the high ground all around it.  We tackled the roof first, but now almost a year later it was great to see a start being made to rectify the high ground issue (caused largely by adding layers of concrete up to the side of the house!).

Huge amounts of soil and rubble were removed, piled in the front of the house and taken away by the 18 ton grab lorry (left). This did five trips over the next four days, so it was probably almost 90 tons removed.  This is hugely more cost effective than using skips.

Tuesday was a special day - the (expensive) archaeologist was coming at 8.00am to observe the digging of the foundation trenches.  She hoped to find a mediaeval grave or two, while I stood beside her hoping for exactly the opposite.  I'm pleased to say that I won!  I had also booked the Building Control Officer (BCO) to come at some stage to agree on the required depth so the whole process was a bit fraught but it all turned out OK.  Then to my surprise the ready mix concrete turned up that afternoon and we poured the foundations as well (photo right)!  Colin does not hang around.

On Wednesday the oversite brick and block work was done (i.e. up to damp proof course level), and more soil was removed; on Thursday the base and Celotex was laid for the floor, the old drains along the side of the house were removed (plus the soil on top!) and new plastic pipe was laid up to the existing inspection cover near the front.  The old soil drain is just visible in the photo left, running up beside the new block wall.  Getting rid of this was a nasty smelly job as there was not much fall on the foul drain...  Lastly, on Friday morning, more ready mix arrived for the floor, and the job was done, although the lowering of the inspection cover near the front will wait until we have finished the extension.

NB I wrote most of this on Friday but didn't post it until Sunday, partly because on Friday I fell asleep watching TV at 6.45pm!

It's getting stressful

I suppose it had to get stressful somewhen, and in many ways I have done well to avoid the stress for seven months.  However, we plan to move in by July 8th (and this is June 11th), there is still so much to do in four weeks, and the stress is now getting to me.  I've just been let down by a contractor who was going to clear the front garden for the driveway, so I'm overcoming the stress of that by doing it myself and saving the money.  I've written before about people who have tight project plans which cause them extra stress as well as costing them extra money, and it was my deliberate policy to try to avoid a similar situation. So much for that idea!

The photo (left) shows some electrical switches and sockets.  Not just any switches and sockets, but OUR switches and sockets, which are all now live!  On Friday I had the pleasure of plugging my electrical tools into the proper socket - away with the long extension leads, just plug it in!  It is surprising how tidying up the loose wires coming out from every wall makes the whole place seem so much more completed.

Also, the kitchen has arrived (photo right).  Looking at the huge pile of boxes, I am really glad that I am not fitting it all myself. 

I'd like to think that all remaining work is organised with contractors planned to come along and do their bit at the right moment, but I know that life is not like that.  Every time that I have had even two contractors at the same time, it has been quite a strain with their conflicting requirements, but over the next two weeks I expect to have seven different contractors working, so I anticipate some severe conflict.  The other work to be done is completion of the second fix plumbing and electrics, installation of a newly made window cill, fitting the kitchen sash window, fitting the lounge fire, doing the driveway (with a dropped kerb) and (significantly) fitting the entire kitchen.  Additionally, I have to do certain tasks myself such as grouting the kitchen floor, painting the kitchen walls and finishing the bathroom tiling; then, before moving in, I also have to finish the decorating upstairs and make a wardrobe for the main bedroom, plus then get a couple of carpets fitted.  There is also a slight worry about whether we actually have space for everything, and so I'm wondering if I should buy a large shed or even a big tent!

Decorating with Limewash

Our (my) intention was always to have internal plaster which was fit to be limewashed.  At that early stage I had not researched exactly what was involved; this has only become apparent recently when I realised that I just had to get on with choosing materials and some colours as (obviously) we want most of the decoration done before we move in - and that isn't very long!

Before I start talking about limewash, I have remembered that there was another matter mentioned in my deleted blog entry which deserves repetition: the electricity supply company came at last and sorted the array of cables to the pair of houses!  This is worthy of mention because the front of the house looks so much better, and I want to pass on my grateful thanks to Elaine at the Southern Electric call centre for taking ownership of this issue which had been outstanding since early January.  This is how the house looks now, without loose cables:

Other tasks are moving on gently, with increasing urgency.  The bath is in place and I am now tiling the bathroom so that the plumbers can install the basin and loo.  The floorboards are all back in place, and I am working sporadically on the skirting, as well as starting to sand the woodwork.  Unfortunately the doors all seem to be done in some sort of shellac (I think) which clogs sandpaper in 20 seconds; I eventually found that it comes off as a nasty hot goo with a heat gun and scraper, after which it can be sanded.  If you think that sounds laborious, it is!  I have also found a contractor to install our dropped kerb, for which I now have permission.  This should get done in a couple of weeks, and then he'll prepare the driveway as well.

Back to limewash: having worked for so long on the plaster, the last part of the process almost took me by surprise when I realised that it was time to choose some colours for all the walls.  We bought a lot of sample pots which were tested on inconspicuous places like the wall behind yet-to-be-fitted kitchen cupboards.  My first impressions were that this wasn't going to work, as it looked awful when I was applying the first coat.  It improved considerably when it dried, which encouraged me to apply a second coat the next day.  This looked even more awful when wet, but as it dried the full depth of colour started to appear, and I knew we had a winner (even before applying the third coat).  TOP TIP- when testing limewash colours, leave a bit of the area with just one coat, so that you have something to compare to (and you can be impressed!).

We then had more long discussions on the colours, with plenty of mind-changing - some colours did not work at all, and others were used in alternative places after being deemed unsuitable where we planned them.  Finally, I bit the bullet and ordered my limewash from Mike Wye which duly arrived two days later (with the final load of mortar and plaster for the kitchen wall).  Limewash comes in 10 litre or 20 litre containers, and my calculations showed that I needed more than 10 litres of each colour, so I had to order it in 20 litre containers.  Sadly, no-one else was present so I had to unload the entire one ton pallet (five 20 litre containers as well as 34 ten litre tubs of mortar/plaster) by myself.  TOP TIP - plan deliveries for when you have a helpful contractor present!

Applying limewash is an interesting experience.  It's not really like any sort of paint that I had previously encountered, being a suspension of lime putty, water and pigment; limewash settles out VERY quickly so an essential tool is a mixing paddle to attach to a drill.  It must be well mixed before use, and you even have to be careful that it doesn't separate while you are using it.  Also, you mustn't overbrush it; if you do, it goes all stiff and basically gives you a build-up of lime putty and hence the patchy finish which I had observed with my samples.  So, after a quick visit to my local DIY store for a paddle, I decided to make a start and do the first coat of yellow in the hall; Jane was coming down on Friday at lunchtime and so I was able to do most of the stairs and landing as well before she arrived.  She then spent the afternoon doing the lounge (in pale green), and Phil the Spread spent the same time doing both back bedrooms - one in a different yellow and the other in mint green (this has a yellow tinge which should mask the occasional yellow stains of old dampness in the plaster).

This week the limewash was applied by myself, Phil and Jaye in every spare minute.  I also tackled the ceilings which have been done in a matt white breathable (NOT vinyl etc) emulsion.  The Regency plaster looked white until I painted it!

We managed two major errors: firstly we bought everything in 20 litre tubs.  This was because we were told that a litre covered between 3 and 6 square metres depending on the porosity.  At the last count we seemed to be covering over 12 square metres with every litre, probably because the surface plaster is so fine; the result is that I have lots of unused limewash!  Secondly we bought a colour which we then decided that we didn't like, so I have almost 20 litres of that going spare.

We are delighted with the results.  Photos do not do it justice.