DIY 4

A very long time since I wrote so here is a catch-up.

Washroom door bricked up - looks very nice if I say so myself; all electrics moved and working; all plumbing moved and working; washroom plastered waiting for painting; new washroom door installed waiting for final coat of paint; new ceiling in the pantry and plasterboard on the walls waiting to be skimmed. Doesn't sound an awful lot but believe me, it was! I decided to skim the washroom on what was possibly the hottest day of the year so far! During the work, Joan had to mop the sweat from my eyes as it was stinking so much!

What's left to do? Constructing a hatch in the pantry ceiling (for access to the electrics), skim the walls, dig out the floors and concrete, put skirting board in, erect kitchen paneling, order units and install, tiling and finishing off. Yep, I think that's it!

If you've read the DIY blogs you might think that it's taken so much time that I might as well have got someone in and I would agree, it would have been quicker, but I do like to do it myself as I find it relaxing and fulfilling. I know J wanted it done well before now but she knows it will get done and be done to a very high standard besides, it has had a very beneficial effect on my waste line!

More when I have time.

DIY 3

A long lay-off between the last post and this as I've not only being doing lots of work but been back at work too.

As we left it, I had the first 3 courses of blocks done, the wall is now finished and, if I say so myself, a pretty damn fine job I made of it - you know when something is right and the attention I paid to the first course means I am pretty chuffed with the result.

The next thing to tackle was electrics - now, a word to the wise: if you need electrics installing you must get a qualified sparks to do it and provide you with a certificate otherwise you contravene building regulations. The fact that you may think you know what you're doing (I've been doing electrical work for over 30 years) does not mean you can keep on doing it however, the regulations say that if you are moving or replacing like-for-like then you can do this without certification: that's what I'm doing, just moving existing electrics to different parts of walls, even so, I checked the latest regulations so I could be confident that what I was doing would stand up to scrutiny.

So, channel the walls, run the cable, fix the sockets - sorted. I do need to put in a new feed for a garden socket so I checked on a reputable forum and was advised to get a sparks advice. So this is what I intend to do - get an expert and get it certificated - I could do it myself but I want a professional in as I believe in complying with the law.

Next thing to do was insulate the roof both in the utility room and the pantry. For this I used polystyrene blocks which fit between the rafters - a very easy but messy job (cutting the polystyrene). Then it was up with the new plaster board ceiling and also start to put plaster board on the walls. The technique I used was to screw the ceiling boards to the rafters but buy some plaster board adhesive, mix it with water and splodge it on the walls then, press the board (after being cut to size) onto this and support for 30 minutes. I was a bit dubious about this method but was surprised how easy it was and I would recommend using this method if you need to put up plaster board, it's a bit messy but very effective.

Sunday 13th March 2011

The next major work to be carried out was to remove the brick wall that I erected 26 years ago, blocking the old outside toilet door, as I need to put the new door here and block up where the existing door is, effectively, swapping them over. This came down nicely and with the bricks cleaned as I went, I have little to do when I use them in the existing opening.

That's it for now. We're caught up with the work so far.

DIY 2

Well, just had two weeks off work to get the kitchen completed...what do they say? The best laid plans...... well, it didn't quite go as planned! First we found our lovely rabbit Penny was ill and so between visits to the vet and syringe feeding her every couple of hours, it held things up. All in vain in the end though as we lost her in the second week, which was devastating to both me and Joan as Pen was a rescue rabbit and grew from this very timid little underfed thing to a busy loving little bright spark with a great personality. I know its sounds sentimental but she really bought us a lot of pleasure - RIP Pen!

Anyway, back to the kitchen. The wall between the pantry and washroom was duly tackled and although the first few bricks were a little tough, after they'd been removed the rest came down like the Berlin wall - little resistance with continued pressure (and some swearing!), and a big "Woo Hoo" when done! The condition of the mortar was such that a quick knock with the bolster (that's a kind of chisel for you uninitiated) cleaned the brick lovely and all I had to do was stack them in a nice pile on the path. Cleaning each one as it came off the wall took a bit longer than just knocking them down in one go but was definitely worth it as there was little to do except clearing up the mortar debris.

So with the wall down and the rubble cleared I set to work digging the trench. Now, on the face of it, this looked an easy task but plunging the spade into the soft clay immediately brought a jarring pain to my arm - the clay was only half an inch thick on top of a layer of bricks...time for tea and a fag! Back to digging out again, which was finished with great relief (and gusto)!

Next stage was to mix the muck (technical term for concrete or mortar). Now, I hadn't done this for many a year and shit, it didn't 'alf hurt me back - this is when you realise that the passage of time really does affect your ability to do what you used to do without thinking about it! Anyway, muck mixed, in the trench, it was time for tea and a fag.

The next day was simply getting three layers of blue bricks laid as a damp course. These needed to be left to set before laying the blocks as, blue brick being dense, doesn't allow the mortar to go off as quickly as normal brick and if built on would result in the mortar oozing too much.

Next day however, all was set so I got to work laying the blocks. Now the trick here is not only to get the first block level but, most importantly, vertical. If you don't get this first block vertical you not only get a bad looking wall but it is difficult to correct with subsequent blocks and, if not corrected, will leave the wall leaning and possibly dangerous! In any case, you won't get a vertical corner and the blocks going at right angles will never be square so, get it right at the start even if you have to start again!

I managed to do three courses before I was knackered! Doesn't sound a lot but when you're short of practice and are being extra careful, it's enough. With the amount of attention I was paying to getting a good finish it was a long job - time for tea and a fag!

DIY

After a very long break from doing anything heavy or really meaningful, I finally decided to tackle the kitchen. That is, decorate it but also make a change to the layout, not a big change but one that should make a big difference to its functioning and make it a bit smarter (it was last refurbished 25+ years ago!).

I should firstly explain the layout so you can follow what I mean. The kitchen consists of 2 distinct areas: the kitchen itself and a pantry. They are divided by a bring wall which happens to be the gable end of the house. Ideally, we would like to take this out but this would require building consent and I really can't be asked to go through it all! At the back of the pantry is an old outside toilet and coal hole. These were both turned into a single washroom some years ago, still containing the toilet but also the washing machine and tumble dryer and various bits of junk!

The image below shows the existing layout:

As can be seen, the freezer, which is shoulder high, restricts access into the pantry, putting it at the back of the pantry isn't an option as it stops access to the boiler for maintenance, putting it into the washroom would also mean we had to go outside everytime we wanted something out of it.

The solution was to cut back the wall between the pantry and the washroom at the same width as the pantry access and to then set the freezer back. Yes, this takes away room in the washroom but it is room that is not used for anything. The day-to-day use of the pantry is more important than the loss of a bit of space elsewhere.

So, I designed the changes, ordered the materials and started......running updates to follow!