Sunday, 25 January 2009

More


The roof is done together with all the doors with the exception of one sliding panel.
This has been promised for Monday, again!
It a relief to know that I don't have to be working high off the ground, I know I will need to do some final touches but they are minor projects compared to the last effort.

Monday, 19 January 2009

The Doors (Not Jim Morrison)




By popular demand I have included the antique french doors, that we have been restoring, they are almost 3 meters tall and weigh a ton.
They still need some more work on them and a lot more wax and elbow grease - wax on, wax off!




The sitting-room area has been turned into a builders workshop, Oscar has just rescued some poor defenceless plastic bag and now expects a biscuit.

Sunday, 18 January 2009

Design Feature

As we have gone as far as we can go until the doors are delivered - promised tomorrow which is a local holiday! so don't expect them until the middle of the week.
To fill in time we have been repairing (restoring) our very old antique doors and sanding back the old railway sleeper that we will be using as a mantelpiece.
Dust and more dust the whole site was coated, little red eyes but the doors are now looking great.
I had to make some major repairs to the jambs replacing damaged and termite eaten timber, we have oiled and waxed the timber to get it back it's natural patina.

Thursday, 15 January 2009

Slow Progress

Although I have been working full time there doesn't seem to be much visible progress, the cladding has gone as far as it can, until the doors are fitted this task cannot be ticked off.
The cladding gets nailed at 150mm centers so it's a bit of a challenge to make sure you dont stick a nail through a power cable or water pipe.
To date I have managed to spear one water pipe and one cable, luckily no power or water was connected so was able to repair quite easily, I getting a bit paranoid about doing it agian and have drawn a layout of the cables and pipes on the outside walls.

Monday, 5 January 2009

Progress



The roof is now on, we only have a few tidy-up things to have it complete - what a mission.

I would not have been able to do it without Mrs DIY who overcame her fear of heights.

We were able to get the new kitchen working for Xmas Day, so we were able to cook the turkey, it was a little like camping but it was better than cooking on the BBQ.
Although all the windows are in, we have only one of the big doors installed, this was a exciting event, after the joinery company fitted it, we were standing discussing the locking system and the middle section fell out! gulp!!
Luckily no breakage, only a bent steel bracket (the fixers hadn't tightened it correctly)