Wood Store Saturday 4.9.10

A weekend at home. A chance to get a few things done, weather permitting.

We need another wood store, as the little woodshed was too small last winter. All the wood stored outside was wet and took an age to dry, leaving us struggling for fuel at the coldest time of the year.

We need a simple roof to cover a 'wall' of wood - Alpine style.So here's the roof. having it's felt put on.

The brackets are sturdy and very simple.

It's well above head height and hopefully will keep the wood dry as it's a sheltered spot. We can always put on doors, or a tarp., if it doesn't offer enough protection. 

ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS MAKING THIS A ZERO CARBON HOUSE.

Lights On, At Last Saturday 14.8.10

Autumn is coming and with it, long dark evenings and short, cold days.

We decide to prep some of the house in readiness to begin the building work.

WINTER MEANS WORK.

MeWally decides to get to grips with the wiring. Not putting it in - yet. No. Ripping it out.

By taking away all this obsolete wiring, we can reinstall the middle floor's lighting circuit. 

SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN.

He got on with his task. We've had no lights on the top 2 floors for months. Not that it mattered over the summer, but it will matter in the winter. We still wont have lights on the top floor, but we can, and do, plug lamps into the wall sockets.

That job done, we double checked the new stair case and marked it's position on the walls.

Boy was I relieved to find everything fits!

I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER  : )

Stairs Arrival Thursday 22.7.10

It's been many weeks since we touched our RESTORATION PROJECT.  When dad went home at the end of May, it marked the beginning of summer and the birthday season.

What does that mean?

It meant we would be too busy to devote whole days to the project, so it's been on hold ever since. Apart, that is, from selecting a good local joiner and submitting the plans of the staircase (such as they are) to them.............................................

Yippeeeee

THE STAIRS ARE HERE!!!!

After many weeks of waiting they were delivered today. Very chunky, very plain. 

SIMPLE STAIRS FOR A SIMPLE COTTAGE.

SIMPLY PERFECT.

Made in Nailsworth by MEACO. What a blindin' team of CRAFTSMEN.

I know what you're thinking, and I'm not sure yet. I'll be doing a bit more more on the house over a couple of weeks in August; work schedule permitting, and definitely as from September. The stairs should be in and the floors made good, plus the lofts' floorboards relaid and its' insulation completed by Christmas..........Then we can run some wiring and partition off the shower room ready to fit out and tile before next summer. 

THAT'LL BE ONE WAY TO KEEP WARM OVER THE WINTER!!

Then it's FINAL FIX - MOVE DOWN ONE FLOOR - START ALL OVER AGAIN!

Light At The End Of The Tunnel - Sunday .23.5.10

Today is a red letter day in my tiny world of plaster boarding!!!!  


I'm finishing this bit of the task. I'll still have half the room to insulate, but, happily, I can't reach those bits of the room yet. Thank goodness.


MeWally deviated from the norm and went APLUMBING. The small, electric shower went belly up. After a mere 7 years, it's safety valve wouldn't reset, despite a good clean out. A plastic component had split. It would work, but for how long, and how safely? 

This one was taken off the wall.

HE BOUGHT A NEW ONE  


ASSEMBLED  HIS TOOLS

And fitted the NEW SHOWER, OOOO!

Mean while I set about making a couple of templates for the fiddly shapes of the loft walls. Later in the project I'll have to use these shapes again.

I backed the paper with cardboard.


Cutting plasterboard can be horribly messy. 

At last, after banging in 28 nails today, the five  8x4 sheets of plasterboard are down to this little pile of, mostly, rubbish: YIPPEE!!!!

Already our bedroom feels warmer. Could it be the weather, or the insulation!?

More Of The Same

For me there was only Sunday, which after the statutory lie in, followed by the essential Big Brekky, left very little time for house restoration, before the statutory time to down tools at 2PM.

MeWally decided to  carry on knocking the landing about and tidying up the area in readiness for the new stairs, which will arrive the week after next.

Dust sheeting; it doesn't really work, but makes us feel better, and I get to admire MeWally's tum!

He began with this on Sunday ..... and finished with 

THIS!

OUR FUTURE 'FAMILY'  BATHROOM 

and landing area.

AHHHHH; I CAN SEE IT ALL NOW!!

Meanwhile, I insulated yet more of our bedroom in the loft. Too boring for a photo. Maybe next weekend.  

JUST MAYBE.

Breast Is Best

More plaster board cutting for me this weekend while MeWally got stuck into the stair well. 


THE SKELETON UNDER THE STAIRS


There's the chimney breast under there crumbling away. It's OK though, it's flued. We've decided to keep it and point it with lime mortar and then limewash it. There is an option of demolishing it as there's nothing structural to cause problems.

It's a lovely curved shape and will look fantastic as feature on the new landing - rustic.

Meanwhile I did more insulating in the loft.

You can see the battening holding in the wadding. If the wadding covers the battening, the plaster board wont sit flat, so a little time has to be spent getting it right. What with that and the carving the plaster board for the sloping soffits, it takes ages to do each little bit. Added to that, we  don't start 'til lunch time and have to finish by 2pm  (noise wise), so we get about 4 hours work done over a weekend.

The small space over the lintel didn't have enough battening, so I glued 3 layers of polystyrene (polystyrene  is semi permeable) into the space and packed out any small gaps with wadding.  I then stuck plasterboard on top. 

Still less  than  half the room completed.

Insulation against inflation?

Managed to get some plasterboard onto the wall today. 

But first the insulation had to go in.

Before nailing the plasterboard in place, the insulation has to be cut around all battening.

Only did this bit today. By the time I get up and get on with it, there's only about  3 hours before 2pm arrives and the house turns into a pumpkin.