Jerry's renovation blog

[Bruce Tuncks]

Sorry about the topic drift, Jerry. I really like your story about the renovation, it takes me back a long way.

[facthunter]

Bruce KNOWS what Reno's are.  Nev

[nomadpete]

Luckily  Reno's (the 750) are not heritage listed, otherwise we'd never have got rid of 'em!

[Jerry_Atrick]

Inching ever so slightly forward.

 

Thee was a hole in tewo of the facia panels where squirrels decided to make a home in the roof. They have now vacated and the holes patched; the builder lined the outer with lead to stop them gnawing at it again. The blocked drains seem to have centuries of soil down them, so another expensive bit of work digging up the ashphalt driveway as when they laid it they didn't think of leaving any covered holes to access the drains - smart thinking.

 

Also, we now have a pert controller coming to dispense with a couple of wasps nests in the roof of the house (yes - two were found - very unusual!

 

I am attacking the stidy this weekend - carpet and associated gumf coming up, sanding the floors and walls.. Hopefully even a first coat of lacquer - but that will be wishful thinking.

 

[nomadpete]

I bet it feels good to be making headway now.

[facthunter]

Watch out for that "pert" controller. Nev

[old man emu]

13 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

we now have a pert controller coming

Is that "pert" as in "of a girl or young woman) attractively lively or cheeky", or "The program evaluation and review technique (PERT) is a statistical tool used in project management"?

 

13 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Hopefully even a first coat of lacquer

If you have sanded wooden floors and are going to put something like a polyurethane on it, try diluting the first coat about 50-50 and following with 60-40 poly:solvent. I realise that it will extend the time to complete the job, but you should get a better finish. Test the process on an out-of-the-way spot.

[onetrack]

We had part of our sanded floors done initially, about 20-odd years ago, with a solvent-based lacquer. Either the solvent, or the lacquer itself, produced the most toxic fumes I've ever endured.

We slept in the house the first night after it was done, and we had wild nightmares from the fumes. We got out of the house the second and third nights, and slept at the stepdaughters place.

 

The floor sanders never even used any masks! - they should've been using air-wash helmets, IMO! I reckon the stuff contained iso-cyanates, that stuff is 100% carcinogenic, and the warnings on iso-cyanate labels and the MSDS's are lengthy.

 

The next lot of boards we had done a couple of years later, we specified an organic lacquer. The fumes from that lacquer were non-existent. The finish was slightly different to the solvent lacquer, a little different colour - but it's proved to be as durable as the solvent lacquer.

[facthunter]

Often you are better to apply the second coat within a specified time limit or you need to roughen the whole area up to get assured adhesion.  Nev

[old man emu]

It seems that paints and lacquers for use indoors are now water-based, which gets rid of the fumes. It also makes cleanup easier. Although the materials in the paint are not considered hazardous by the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200), I shudder to think of the amount of particulates that get washed into the sewer system by both professional and DIY users.  It does contain carcinogenic substances ( Titanium dioxide (aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm); 2-ethylhexyl acrylate), but based on available data, the classification criteria are not met.

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

you need to roughen the whole area up to get assured adhesion

Yep. A light sanding can improve adhesion between subsequent coats. Also, if the boards are bare after sanding, the first coat may raise fibres to create a "wooly" surface.

[red750]

6 hours ago, old man emu said:

"The program evaluation and review technique (PERT)

PERT is the package I used when co-ordinating the interation of Commercial Bank systems into BNSW systems.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Jerry, do you think that the level of regulation is excessive? I reckon it is excessive here in Australia, and that the UK is where some of the stuff came from. I would be pleased to be wrong about all this.

[facthunter]

OME an old finishers trick. (French polishing etc)  Wet the prepared surface and when dry sand lightly with the grain to remove the raised fibres.  Nev.

[old man emu]

I've noticed that a light sanding of the undercoat with a finer grade (320) results in a smoother finish of the colour coats when painting walls. But that might be because I am spraying the paint. not brushing or rolling.

[facthunter]

How do you cope with the 0verspray?.  Mask things?  Nev. 

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

Mask things? 

Blue painter's tape and a heaps of copies of the local newspaper for windows. Plastic sheeting for floors and immovables. I'm using one of these.

 

 

Under $50 and it's sufficient for walls. I was surprised at the lack of airborne particulates when I used it in the bathroom. No paint up my nose or in my hair.  I like to build up the depth of colour by applying several coats of paint that is diluted more than suggested. The recommendation for most water-based paints is 10%, but I've gone to 20% and got a good finish after three coats. It's not like I'm on the clock, so if it takes me a bit longer than a professional, who cares?

[facthunter]

 IF it's a low pressure one it's more suitable. The roller can be pretty good if you're used to them. Cleaning sprayguns is a pain.   Nev

[old man emu]

Cleaning rollers is a million times worse.

[Jerry_Atrick]

3 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Jerry, do you think that the level of regulation is excessive? I reckon it is excessive here in Australia, and that the UK is where some of the stuff came from. I would be pleased to be wrong about all this.

To be honest, I don't really know as I am not aware of the regs in Australia. However, I did notice when I moved to the UK, that Australia was far more heavily regulated on safety matters than the UK (we.. for state regulation, Victoria was). Sometimes you do need it for the Darwinian's protection, though. And while it is fair to say if people want to screw up their own lives, that is their business, the cost to the public heath system is astronomical.

 

Getting back to hazardous substances, I think the  reality is that there are many more people who know nothing about it, and also put their trust in the manufacturers not to sell stuff that is knowingly hazardous to health, partly bvecause of the famous case in 1932, Donahue v Stevenson, that cemented the law of negligence and manufacturers' liability. Also, as consumers, who are not expected to have advanced knoweldge of hazardous materials, it is right that this is the case.

 

What we take for rational regulation - such as helmets on bicycles, are staunchly resisted here as a breach of freedom. And, yeah, I do get it. Thankfully, though I continued to wear them here; I was riding my bicycle on a chilly but synny day through Richmond Park on 24th December when I hit black ice just  as I was pedalling harder in preparation for a hill. The bike flew out from beneath me and I was falling backwards flaty onto my back not being able to do a thing about it. When my shoulders hit the pavement, my head flung back with force and it is amazing how slow things happen, as I recalled this was it.. if I wasn't dead, I would never be the same again.

 

The helmet bore the brunt of the force and I could feel it dissipating the forces around the helmet - it was truly a surreal feeling. I laid there for a few seconds thinking it was going to hurt getting up. But, I didn't even have a headache. When I got back on the bike, I went to tighten the strap but couldn't as the helmet had split at one of the anchor points of the strap.

So, yeah, while I do get the argument for freedom to make one’s own decisions re risk, sometimes there has to be a balance. The inconvenience of wearing a bicycle helmet, to me, is very minor in comparison to the potential damage, and resultant costs to the public purse, which clearly (again, to me) is a lot more – and also reasonably probable, too.

 

With respect to hazardous chemicals available to the average consumer, I would support pretty tight regulations; licences can be obtained for handling more dangerous chemicals (after suitable training, of course).

 

 

[facthunter]

OME when the passages in a spray gun get seriously blocked  you can pretty well throw the gun away with some of the Paints in use these days. In the days of DUCO (Nitrocellulose Lacquer) thinners would soften the chemically unchanged paint easily. You could also paint part of the Panel and blend it in easily.  Nev

[onetrack]

Carburettor cleaner is one of the best paint spray gun cleaners I've ever tried and used. The Supercheap variety is good stuff, just make sure you use it in a well-ventilated area!

[old man emu]

I'm using acrylic paints which are water soluble. Also I make sure that I at least take out the needle and nozzle before I leave it for more than 5 minutes. Afterall, acrylic paints are touch dry in 30 minutes (less when the air temperature is high). Apart from tap water, I also have plenty of isopropyl alcohol which really shifts dried paint.

[spacesailor]

Over regulation .

LiCENCES !

TAKE your ' aircraft radio licence '  , simple & straight forward. 

Maybe , but " illegal " to use on the ground or sitting in your boat .without a written ' exemption ' for a particular event .

The same with ' marine radio licence ' illegal to use if marooned on a dessert island. 

Security radio , more bureaucratic tricks to get more revenue for each. & every frequency ,

They Will , expect another licence to be paid for  on each part of the radio spectrum .

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

OK.. Back to the reno.

 

Well, the first phase of the plumbing work is done. There were only two plumbers willing to take on the work, and strangley, their quotes were within a bee's dick of each other.. Neither wanted to simply drain and flush the system citing too old pipes, although one did concede the older pipes have thicker walls and if plumbed in proiperly should last for a century. I finally got one of the plumbers to agree to rip out the old gravity fed tank and passive hot water cylinder, and replace with a pressure hot water cylinder and run the cold direct from the mains; to put filtration on the boiler (the previious owners spent a vast wad of cash on the boiler but neglected to put a filter on it to prevent corrosion).  Then it wasd re-piping the boiler room, which had a craze of pipes criss-crossing the ceiling wity an array of neatened pipes than run the walls. The room, as you will see, is in need of plastering and decoration, but at least it is neat-ish.

 

They then pressuer tested the pipes and low and behold - one leak only across the system, which was fixed and savfed ourselves over £10K on getting new pipes. So, they flushged the system, then ran some cleaner through it, flushed it again, and have put inhibitor in it; and the rads are pumping out the heat. Phase 2 will see a replacement of the old rads with new ones, which will pay for themselves I am guessing in three years with the oil it they will save, as they really pump out the heat (we have three-bar rads.

 

Here's the new boiler room. I have the old, I hope on some old go-pro fototage I have yet to upload:

This is the original boiler, Poking out of it is the new filtet and the (red) pump. Note, the brown spot below the filter - it is where the plastic elbow joins leaked and have caused a rust hole.

 

This is the pressure hot water cylinder and filters for the water flow. For some reason, I didn't take a pick of the hot water expansion vessels.

 

We are still in decoration mode upstairs. During the plumbiong work we had the rads removed from the living and formal dining room. So, I have started to take down the wallpaper (quite easy in some places because of the damp. We want to go back to paint straight on plaster - this house is not one that should be subject to lining paper IMHO.

 

However, wherever we go, we find quite a lot of damaged plaster that we pull off the walls, so our plastering bill is going to get quite high. However, wer are lucky that the plasterer we have is reasonably priced and a true craftsman (he has  been recommended by someone who did a similar project and the finish was superb) :

 

On the below wall, you can see two different types of plaster I think this wall is going to have to be completely re-done. It was a wall that had to be rebuild when a tree came down oin the house before we bought it. As the owner wanted to sell, apparently she was always on the builder's backs to hurry up and complete the job and they sensed an opportunity to get away with short cuts, of which there have been many:

 

The study has hit a small delay in that the plumbers had to cut through the ceiling (and floor of the top floor) to integtrate their new pipework with the existing bathrooms. But we are back on that as well. .Photos to come.

 

[old man emu]

Good onya!

 

What are they putting the plaster onto? Is it put onto lathes? Don't they know about Gyprock over there?