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!