Jerry's renovation blog

[Jerry_Atrick]

We went to a local kitchen supplier who does their own (so cabinet makers that also sell you worktops and othet things). They use sold wood for the carcasses and the front panels, and they were only a little more expensive than the bich chains that use MDF.

 

Just have to find a decent cabinet maker (unless you have the skills yourself, which I clearly don't have).

 

Come to think of it, I have a long-lost cousin in Queensland - used to be in the Bowen area who was a cabinet maker..

 

[onetrack]

Jerry, your girl has exceptionally long fingers, which makes her extremely artistic. Does she possess a great deal of artistic skill in any one area?

[Jerry_Atrick]

I have no idea where she gets then from... both partner and I have fat finger syndrome.

She is good at photography, but most of her "art" emanates from her mouth. Those fingers are for sneakily "lifting" things.. she is wearing my jumper in that photo

 

 

 

 

Edited September 11 by Jerry_Atrick

[Jerry_Atrick]

Sometimes, I do beleive in dog albitey. And as he or she knows that I don't believe in him or her, he sor she (or it) want's to make my life a pain..

 

Yesterday, the sparkies were due to come in and do the final work to allow us to finish the kitchen. Of course, I am in London Tuesday and Wednesdays, and as I didn't leave work until late (about 8pm, I wasn't home until after midnight.

 

I woke up this morning, expectng to see everything done in the kitchen electrically - lights fitted, power points fitted, light switches installed, etc. The builder was then going to work on the floor staining. I raced into the kitchen and it is exactly as it was in the photos I posted above.

 

In the village, we get the occasioanly power black out.. aseverywhere does. And yesterday, we had one. For the first time ever in the village, an agri hedge trimmer snipped through a pwoer cable at one of the properties on the edge of the village, and there was a power outage of the row of houses righ up to ours. The rest of the village was fine. It ook the hole day to restore power. The sparkies coudln't work because they needed their power tools.

 

You can only larf at this point.

[nomadpete]

Aaaagh....

 

Tha laird doth work in mysterious ways indeed.

[old man emu]

4 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

The sparkies coudln't work because they needed their power tools.

There are these new things called cordless tools. They are powered by batteries which tradies recharge at home each night.

[onetrack]

......And Man made Great Plans for Himself ...... and the Electricity God laughed.....

[Jerry_Atrick]

23 minutes ago, old man emu said:

There are these new things called cordless tools. They are powered by batteries which tradies recharge at home each night.

And they have them... and the lord said flatten them

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well, it has been slow going on the reno. The sparky was ill until yesterday (Friday). He came out and installed some backing plates and cabled to them, but not much else before he had to take off as he was still not 100% right. The builder is waiting for him to complete the re-wiring/installing before much else. Also, as I work from home a lot, the sparky needs the supply off for about a day and won't be back until Wednesday. 

 

My exams aren't until late October, and I have a mountain to do, and work, is extra busy at the moment..

 

Latest reno photo:

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well, not much has been happening on the reno front, still. My partner has done some painting of the open plan kitchen/diner, and the joiners have started making the windows and frames. The sparky was in last week for a day, but as he is fitting us in between other jobs, he coudn't come in this week. Hopefully he has a couple of days next week and is done. We had quotes for an alarm (need it for insurance) and the range was, well, bloody enornous.. from $2K  to about £8K for the same system and very similar configuratioin! It does pay to shop around.

 

I have two exams next week.. Tuesday and Tursday.. Both 1am my time (Aussie examinations). Once done, I will take a couple of days off and get into it. Plan to have the whole place done by mid November, and on the market.

[old man emu]

26 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Plan to have the whole place done by mid November, and on the market.

I wish you well!

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well, it has been slow going, but finally builder has been able to return to start staining the floor. Could have done it myself, but he is a dab hand at it.. Fumes are smelly though. It has just been applied to a portion of the floor so looks very sheen-ey.

 

Hopefully sparky is back on Friday, so the lights will go in properly and switches will be there, too.

 

Noe, you can see the radiators both sides of the door.. Place is (so far) toastie and warm, though is extremely mid at the moment.

 

Had my last exam last night, so need a day's break. In London on Friday, but the weekends and now the eves are mine to get cracking. More photos to come.

 

Edited October 23 by Jerry_Atrick

[willedoo]

Nice looking floor Jerry, it reminds me of hoop pine.

[Jerry_Atrick]

It is some sort of pine... Not sure what type to be honest. It is probably 50 years old, if not older.

 

[nomadpete]

Looking more like a home and less like a demolition site!

[facthunter]

It has to look like a successful investment project. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

No photos today, but here is the progress update:

• The kitchen floor hasn't moved as the builder has had emergency call outs non-stop. I have the back of a piano still in the kitchen area, and am making my own dolly to wheel it out. Once done, we will clean the floor, I will go over it with fine grain (240 ggrade) sandpaper and we will apply the stain outselves. There are some decent gaps between the boards, and we have got this filler tape that looks like it will do the trick.
• I have been sugar soaping walls today - what fun. My hands have never been so clean.
• Three tip runs in the XC90 yesterday and there is about 10 more to go, and we will still need to get an 8 yard skip.
• Washing machine gave up the ghost, as did the original wall oven and, in the Meeting House (separate cottage), so did the bathroom exhaust fan. Turns out the last peopel who stayed (family) decided to switch off the breaker and partner hadn't worked it out. As I was in London, I arranged for the sparky to check it out.. Literally flicked the switch and voilla!
• After spending literally enough to buy a very nice car on the plumbing, the boiler decides to chuck a hissy fit and the impellor fan beaing ate itself up. Can only get the sealed unit replaced for £300, or as part of a new burner, £500.. Getting the latter.

I should have just sold as is.

 

[facthunter]

Yes the extra you spend may not equal the rise in price you get,. It's easier to be wise after the fact. Nev

[spacesailor]

But , it will be nice . & the new owners will be happy .

No guilt about those hidden nasties either. 

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well, we have had to take matters into our own hands Bought a random orbital sander and got out the belt sander to do the vestibule floor.. I thought it was soft wood, but f! me, it is some hard wood. Have been  at it all afternoon and this is all I have got done:

 

 

 

I am thinking of just ripping it all up, planing it and putting it back, and have to buy new skirting boards

 

And to make matters worse, I can't find the dust bag for the belt sander, so there is sawdust everywhere.
 

 

Edited November 30 by Jerry_Atrick

[nomadpete]

Haven't you leant the most basic rule of renovating yet?

 

 

 

 

BEWARE of taking any 'simple job' into your own hands. Our simplest jobs are like big government projects - with similar cost and completion blowouts.

[onetrack]

Jerry, a random orbital sander is totally inadequate for floor sanding - you need a commercial/industrial floor sander, a real sanding beast that has the ability to cover a big area relatively rapidly, and which can deal with hardwood floors.

 

https://www.lagler.co.uk/lagler-machines/

 

https://www.hss.com/hire/p/floor-sander-240v

 

In our family business, we developed a "project policy" long ago, that seemed to be appropriate. It was "double the number, and go to the next highest unit", when commencing projects.

 

So ... a simple repair job, that looks like ten minutes work, usually develops into twenty hours of hard slog as the previously unseen problems develop.

A job that should take two hours, often runs in to four days, when the snafus are allowed for. You get my drift?

 

I'm helping a fencing associate at present. He gets a job installing handrails, on three sets of steps, at a new school. He says to me on Thursday, "I've got this job installing these handrails and posts at a school. They want it done pronto, and finished tomorrow (that was last Friday). Do you want to give me a hand for a quick grand? We can knock this over in a day, no worries!"

 

So, like a mug, I agree - mostly because the school is only about 30kms from home, and an easy drive. I get to the school site early Friday morning - then spend three-quarters of an hour figuring out what goes where, in a complex assortment of pipes, posts, brackets, screws and rivets.

Then we have to study the plans (marked Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3 - but no information on how the step numbering was done. All the steps and railings are slightly different in dimensions, so we have to measure the steps to figure out the numbering system.

 

Then we have to find water and power. But the power points are locked, and then we have to find who has the keys to the power points. Then, more work dragging in tools, hoses, power cables, and all the posts and railings. They're also, all bloody heavy!

Then my mate pulls out his big core drill - and promptly realises, the diamond core drill he's got fitted to the drill is too big for the post holes, at 150mm diameter. He needs an 80mm core drill, so he races off to buy one. I go on with handrail assembly, plan reading and measuring and marking, until he gets back. We get fired up with the new core drill, and within minutes (he's drilling into terrazzo concrete!), he finds that this stuff is HARD as the hobs of Hell!! (we're using constant water feed, too).

 

He's a solid build, my associate, but he takes over 45 minutes to drill just ONE post hole! - not helped by the fact that there's 6mm reinforcing bar in the concrete! We get 3 holes done by midday (there's 12 to be done in total), and next thing, the new core drill fractures, and two big chunks break off the teeth!! It's buggered!!

He has to go back to the drill store, and buy another one - a higher cost, better quality core drill! - which he should've done in the first place!

 

He gets back with a new drill after another hour, and on we go with drilling. Of course, by knock off time (3:30PM), we've only done 6 holes (half the total) and only got 4 posts grouted in!!

It means we have to go back tomorrow to finish the job - and I reckon it will take all of Monday to finish the job - provided no other snafus raise their ugly heads!! 

 

So, gain some comfort from the fact you're not alone in the accumulating problems of construction and building jobs!

 

(NOTE: - Re sanding sawdust - be aware that you should be wearing a good quality mask when sanding, as the fine sawdust from numerous wood types can be toxic, and potentially cause breathing and lung problems if ingested).

 

Edited December 1 by onetrack

[nomadpete]

I love your rule for job estimates.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I have a good quality mask with filters that were just replaced.. The crap on those boards probably includes all sorts of ship.

 

Like most things done by my predecessor, the original flooring is oak - old stuff, so quite hard. And she placed some pine in between when things needed to be repaired as it was cheap. I scratched the surface of the pine first, and then thought you beauty - easy peasy. Well, not quite..

 

The area is too small for a floor sander to do anything meaningful, so will probably belt sand it with 40 grit... and then 80 and then 120

 

 

[nomadpete]

How's the floors coming along?

 

Will you have them done by christmas?

 

It's a busy time of year - hard to fit in renovation work!