Loose Ends

It's been a mixed bag recently, with three jobs making significant progress after years of procrastination.

In a spirit of tidying up I decided to mix some more of my local sand & lime putty mix for pointing; then I thought I would do some pointing myself, and my daughter visited and did some more!  So the stone wall which I built last year is almost fully pointed at last (right).

Thus encouraged, I then went back to pointing the side wall of the house which I did a couple of years ago (plus a bit last year) under the new window which I fitted.  Beside that window is the downpipe which had a large hole about 9 feet up; the water gushing through this caused severe damage to the wall as it had been happening over a long period of time.  I only realised how bad it was when clearing the gaps out before filling - in one place I could get my flat hand into the hole, and then curl my fingers up in the void.  There were also some bits where some idiot had smeared a thin coat of cement over the wall, which can only hold moisture in, rather than stop it getting in!  I've now re-pointed a good deal of the worst bits on this wall, mindful of the general rule to not re-point unless absolutely necessary; this is good advice, not just for the integrity of the house but also because it really is a tedious job.  I'm quite pleased with the result!

Having done that pointing, I could now attach the shoe on the bottom of the downpipe.  When we took the ground level down in 2011, I had been left with an annoying gap of about 4 inches at the bottom.  I really didn't want to spend £65 on a new 6 ft length, just for that, and I found a shoe which was longer than usual, but it was still a bit high above the drain.  To bring it down I have used a spare elbow with a collar, and cut the bent bit off, so now there are two collars at the bottom (photo left), and it is a perfect fit (although the groundworkers always seem to attach the gully too close to the wall...).

Then I was urged by 'Er Indoors to do the last bit of skirting board in the lounge; it's one of those bits with a right angle that fits beside the chimney breast, and the old one was rotten; when I had a go a while back, it all went wrong because I didn't cut good 45 degree mitres and so the result was awful.  That was pretty discouraging, spending a couple of hours and achieving absolutely nothing, so I left it.

Anyway, today I had another go and not only cut the two pieces successfully but also fitted the result in place AND painted it (photo right).  Once again, I'm pleased that I can choose a job for the day and do it completely without having to go and buy anything at all.

The third job was the drilling of the hole for the vent in the kitchen (left).  This was not done when the kitchen was fitted (errr... two years ago!) as they intended to chain drill a rectangular hole through 18 inches of stone! I was not impressed as I am sure that this would have caused immense damage to the remaining wall.  Today Pete (who did the brickwork on the extension in late 2011) came and drilled it with his 110mm cutter on an SDS drill, which took him about an hour and a half. It's one of those jobs that perhaps I could do myself but really I am quite happy to pay someone who knows what he's doing.

Now that the hole is done I can purchase the necessary bits to duct the extractor over the hob outside instead of re-circulating it - perhaps I will have done that by Christmas?

Doing Things Again

There are lots of things on this house that I did myself, and I had to learn a lot on the job.  Now, two years since we moved in, I have found that in some cases there were clearly things that I did not appreciate or understand at the time, and so some things are having to be re-done.

The first of these is my back gate; it is actually an old ledged and braced back door.  This was made redundant when we re-built the extension as there was no point in having two back doors.  I had a vision of re-using it as half of my back gates, and was delighted to acquire a partner as a swap for some old glass.  Both were the same hand, so all I had to do was to change the braces on my old one and sort out the surface finish.  They came up a treat with some gloss black which matches the front door, and now provide some security by solidly blocking the way to any passing ne'er-do-well (see photos here).

However, late last year I saw that some of the paint was flaking off my old door, on what used to be the inside. Now, it is looking very sad indeed, and clearly needs attention.  Noticeably, the paint is not flaking where I replaced the braces (the slanting bits) - they were old bits of bare floor board and are still looking good with their coats of primer, undercoat and topcoat.  The problem is with the old ledges (the horizontal bits).  I suspect that, despite my best intentions, the door was not fully dried out when I re-painted it, so at some stage soon I shall have to strip that side and start again.  I really didn't want to have to do things like this again.

Another similar example was sort of my fault where I was misled by the term "transit primer" which was the only finish available on the new bits of soil pipe which I bought (see here).  I happily applied black Hammerite on the top before we installed them, and 18 months later I saw it was all flaking.  So this time, up a ladder, I have removed all the old paint and this grotty primer using a wire brush and Stanley knife; then I coated them with red oxide before adding more black Hammerite.  Hopefully this lot will last longer!

Then there's my kitchen worktop. We bought a new kitchen from W----s, and chose an interesting bamboo worktop (see photos at this entry) which requires occasional recoating.  There's nothing in the literature to warn about any possible problems but 'Er Indoors has recently demonstrated the corrosive properties of caustic soda.  She did not realize that some had been splashed onto the worktop near the sink; we only noticed these spots when wiping the worktop and seeing spots appear before our eyes, as the water from the cloth sank into the wood and darkened it!  I have tried sanding and re-applying the coating but the problem is still there.  Now all I can do is to find a way of neutralizing the alkali (with some acid, I guess) and then re-apply the coating after sanding the whole lot.  Another waste of time.

Now there are some more doors: the specially-made (i.e. expensive) 2 inch thick pine front door replaced an older, rotting one, also in pine.  I paid extra for kiln-dried wood but even so it has warped and at some times of the year becomes difficult to open; I have not been able to use the mortise lock since March.  In the same way, the cheaper internal door to the loo in the rebuilt extension has warped - at least that only cost £50; bl---dy W----s!  Finally, the external door in the rebuilt extension is rejecting its paint and starting to look mottles and streaky.  I can only presume that the undercoat did not like the stuff that T----- P's supplier had covered it with, but what do I use now to fix it?

On their own, none of these are going to cause me huge grief, but taken together, when I still have plenty of work to do, I really could do without this additional workload.  What really gets me is that one of my deliberate philosophies in doing this rebuild was that I expect to be here for 10, 20 or more years, so I wanted to spend that bit more and get things right first time; I did NOT want to be in exactly this position in that time, and certainly did not expect it in such a short timescale.

Reflections on the Last Two Years

Now that I have a bit more time for activities other than building work, I've been thinking about what has been acheived in the last two years and two months.  Specifically, I've been thinking about two aspects of the work, namely the things I've done which have really pleased me, and the things that I would rather had been done differently.

Under the latter heading come a few things which still bug me:

• The attitude of the Conservation Officer - this relationship seemed to have gone wrong near the start, but I still don't really know why, other than because (just possibly) the CO really IS an unhelpful person.
• The fact that Highways at the County Council told me that I could not widen the existing gateway to make a single driveway entrance for both houses as it was too close to a junction, but then (after I had made an entrance in the old wall) they allowed my new neighbour to make a new entrance even closer to the junction!
• A newly laid slate has slipped from the roof to the gutter, but the roofer has yet to come and fix it.
• The new kitchen sash window is four over four, not two over two as the rest of the windows.
• There is still no vent to the kitchen...
• Thames Water fitted an external meter in the pavement and this has been found to be a joint supply. Now we have to get an internal meter fitted, but that would have been so much easier if done before the new kitchen was fitted, as I intended.
• My new loft hatch is not quite square, because the joists were not parallel!
• The new extension is not exactly as intended - the roof is higher, the chimney lower and the plasterer gave me incorrect answers to two clear questions, with the result that the internal work I did is not perfect; one window cill has thicker render than he said, so it's almost level with the top of the lower window frame, and a plastered stud wall is thinner than the rendered blocks that it rests on.

Looking at the good side, there are lots of things which make me smile:

• The stone wall where I filled in the bottom of the old doorway
• The wall which I lime-plastered myself (the stone wall which is the join between the old house and new-build extension)
• The new 6' stone wall beside the front door, and the attached gates
• The new sash window which cost just £95 from a reclamation yard
• The front room floor where I replaced bits of joists and re-laid most of the boards plus some reclaimed ones
• The stud wardrobe frontage which I built for the master bedroom
• The wood-burning stove in the kitchen, in the alcove which I "found" by removing the old tiled fireplace
• The recently fitted secondary glazing (we are cosy, and it is quieter now)
• The limecrete/black limestone floor in the kitchen (laid by Chris, Shane and me)
• The black limestone floor in the new extension which I laid entirely by myself (on concrete...)
• The extension roof on which I laid over half the slates in just over a day on my own, much to Chris's surprise
• The casement window in the new extension which I salvaged from the old extension and did a major repair job
• The 1800+ Imperial bricks from the old extension which Jane and I salvaged and were re-used in the new extension (I only had to buy about 200 more)
• All the other little bits and pieces from the old building which I laboriously removed, kept and re-used
• Buying my own mixer, instead of hiring one
• Deciding that I would manage the entire process myself, instead of paying a builder to project manage it

Actually, the whole place makes me smile - it just feels so safe, solid and secure, just as a home should feel.

Slight Progress Again

I've been enjoying the last few weeks, in a lazy fashion.  Planning for the "service wing" re-build is still a major pre-occupation; sorting out the contractors is now almost second nature, and quite easy when you use the same ones!  (I must have done something right the first time as they are all happy to do another job for me.)

However, there is still a planning issue with the County Council's archaeologist who is interested in our footings.  I think we can get round all that, but it means that we will, after all, have to pay for a professional archaeologist - another thousand or more down the drain.  I should point out that Jane is actually quite excited by the thought of an archaeological dig on our own property.  I think I would be as well, were it not for the expense and the delay (as winter is rapidly approaching).
 
Recent work has been slight; the fireplace people came back to install our woodburning stove (left), with which we are very pleased (although of course we haven't actually lit it yet!).  The whole thing is a huge improvement over the fire and floor which used to be there (below right, obviously, although it didn't actually slope).  They have also just fitted a cowl on the chimney above the decorative arch fire which they fitted in the lounge; this had to wait until the bird's nest was empty.  They did NOT have much fun clearing it - there had been a considerable effort by the big black things (I was never exactly sure whether they were crows or what) in completely blocking up a chimney which was swept only last November.

In preparation for emptying the "service wing" for demolition repair, I have purchased and erected a small (7' x 5') garden shed with a pent roof (i.e. a single slope, not an apex).  The next task will be to fill this!  NB I have it on good authority that, although we have no "Permitted Development Rights" in this conservation area, this is still legal as it is less than 10 cubic metres in volume, so we don't need any permission.

Apart from finishing off around our new double sash window, I have also been tiling in the kitchen, using 10cm square tiles.  If you've never used these, they are quite tedious to put up, being so small; I much prefer the 25cm x 33 cm ones we've used in the bathroom as you cover the space so much quicker.  Another disadvantage of the small ones is that it is very easy to get out of square, especially on uneven lime plaster.  (I must hasten to point out that I am not criticizing the plasterer's work, but rather just pointing out a fact of life in old buildings.)

We're Moving In!

It really seems odd after eight months of work, with numerous contractors and much personal effort, to realise that we can actually move in next week.  It's a sort of end-of-term feeling - relief and deep satisfaction mixed with a kind of hollowness.  Note that I'm NOT saying that the house is finished, merely that things are done sufficiently to allow us to move in (so long as the boiler is commissioned on Monday!).  This pair of photos shows how the public view of the house has changed in the last eight months:

I still have plenty to do as there are many remaining tasks, such as refurbishing the sash windows, finishing the decorating and rebuilding the old "service wing", plus most of the garden/driveway tasks.  For ages I have been giving priority to tasks that get us out of our rented house and into our own place (with no mortgage!).

The last major task was the installation of the newly-made window cill for the new kitchen window.  Chris cast the new cill in cement and did a remarkable job of making a colour which matches the Cotswold stone and pointing.  Although it should have been done before the installation of the window, circumstances dictated otherwise (i.e. Chris broke the first cill, then he broke his foot...)!  It was VERY heavy but it was lifted up by four strong people and slid into place without too much difficulty, leaving me with the task of making good the stonework and pointing around it.  It was a great feeling to realise that this was the last major task and that the house was now effectively finished and secure.  Jane became quite emotional when she saw it - surprising that a cement object could actually be a thing of beauty!
 
The window above used to look like this (below): 

I think that the new wall filling in the bottom of the old door is the thing of which I am most proud of having done with my own hands on this project.

I'm still in progress with my wardrobe which is a major bit of woodwork, and there is still decorating to be done.  However, this week I was helped by Wayne (not Wayne the kitchen fitter, but the brother of Neil the electrician) who has done a sterling job at some of the tasks which I found really tedious like sanding and painting skirting board.

I was visited this week by my son, daughter-in-law and grandson, who last visited only three weeks ago.  Their amazed reaction on seeing what had been accomplished since their last visit has given me a yardstick to show just how busy that time has been.  The list is quite long: front garden cleared, dropped kerb and driveway laid, 30 tons of hardcore cleared, kitchen units, kitchen appliances and two new windows fitted, kitchen floor grouted, bathroom tiled and fitted out, electrics finished, fireplace installed and painted, and lots of decoration done.  Finally, I fitted a net curtain in the new lounge window which made it look as though the house was occupied.

One fundamental thing that is missing at the moment is a toilet seat.  This was an oversight on our part as the soft close type we wanted was about to be introduced when we ordered our bathroom fittings and we forgot to go back in May and order it when it became available.  There's always something that catches you out!

Edit - I'm adding here a few extra photos of the house:

Suddenly, we're nearly finished

The Scent of the Past?

I had my first slightly spooky experience in the house this week. I was stripping the thick layers of paint on the window cill in the main bedroom with my heat gun and favourite scraper.  The window was open and suddenly there was a really strong smell of perfume, as though someone wearing half a bottle had walked past the first floor window.  Then it happened again and it seemed that the smell was actually coming from the paint!  Was I really disturbing the accumulated smell of perfume bottles set on the window cill by the spinsters (first Miss Coleman and then Miss Dealey) who lived here from 1925 until 1984?  I'd just love to know what perfume they wore!

Nearly Finished

It seems strange after so many months work to realise that we are mere days from being able to move in.  Of course, it won't be finished then, just liveable, but moving in will be a great step forward, of course.  Many jobs have been prioritised on the basis of whether they assist the moving-in day, so refurbishment of the sash windows, for instance, has taken a back seat, as has the rebuild of the Victorian "service wing" (as the conservation officer calls it), which has a roof still covered in green tarpaulin and a brick wall in danger of collapse.

The last two weeks have seen huge leaps forward, with many tasks coming good in quick succession; I reckon that 14 different tradesmen have worked in the house in that fortnight. After the driveway (see last week's entry), we have seen the delivery and installation of two new windows, the fitting of the kitchen units, delivery and fitting of the kitchen appliances, installation of the gas boiler, installation of the lounge fireplace and mantel, and the fitting of the bathroom units, not to mention the rest (almost) of the second fix electrics and plumbing.  In that time I myself have tiled and grouted the bathroom (mostly), grouted half the kitchen floor, repaired mortar around the soil pipe, and sanded/painted doors, skirting boards etc, not to mention continuous tidying up!

The one failure was the installation of the new cill for the kitchen window. First, Chris dropped and broke the newly cast cill, then he broke his own foot in a small motor bike accident.  Hopefully, we can muster enough muscle to fit the new cill in a few days, as it lets the draught in under the newly installed window (left) which at least is already a huge improvement on the old galvanised steel door and windows (right).

 The kitchen looks wonderful; the two excellent fitters worked hard and most skilfully, although it did take them from Monday until Friday morning to turn the packs (left) into the finished article (right).  It looks even better with the range installed (below).

I like our new decorative arch on the fireplace in the lounge; this is how it has progressed from horrible (as bought) to great with an intermediate step this week:

My list of tasks is still quite large - it includes making a wardrobe (before we can lay carpets), as well as lots of decorating and tiling.  So, we're on course to move in early in July (and this is June 24th!); then we can start on the service wing, for which we are putting in the necessary applications very soon.

Finally, I was much amused by the fact that our new range has a dog chain.  Honestly.  Apparently it is to ensure that the range does not fall forward when the heavy doors are all opened.  Presumably this has happened to someone and I feel sorry for them.  I guess that someone then at the major range manufacturer has decreed that, to avoid a similar event, a chain should be attached at the back of the range.  However, commonsense has been lost along the way: this range does not have heavy cast iron doors, but rather its doors are light, similar to an oven, and the chain is totally redundant!  Another stupidity done in the name of Health and Safety!

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!