Journal Entries
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About time too
Posted Jun 25, 2013
Well as it has been so long since I've written anything quite a lot has happened.
To start off the house has been done for some time now (sort of) though there are always jobs needing doing.
I've was made redundant at the end of June last year from the medical equipment suppliers after 10 years of work.
I won't go into my feelings about the management (both nationally and internationally) of that company.
Since then I have struggled to find any similar type of work so ended up temping doing warehouse work.
I even ended up doing night work which was the only local work I could find.
The money was good but I hated the work and doing night work was a slow death in itself.
After a particularly bad night shift I had a look on the job sites, it was the first time I had in ages and only did so out of desperation and there it was, a job delivering medical equipment and within a week I was back doing what I love (making a difference and doing worthwhile work).
It is still temp work but with luck it will turn permanent, it's also not as local as I would like but then if it does go permanent a house move wouldn't be out of the question.
All in all I'm fairly content at this time, it's a shame really as I should be ecstatic but then as so often happens the good news is mixed with sad (or bad) and I lost someone close recently and that has tempered my joy.
Discuss this Journal entry [3]
Latest reply: Jun 25, 2013
Getting there
Posted Nov 28, 2006
It's been a while since I've done an entry so I thought I'd get things up to date.
My living/dining room is looking much better these days as it has a floor for one thing and the walls and ceiling help also
The underfloor heating works a treat, the fire surround (hand carved mahogany) which reputedly costs £2.5k to buy (I didn't pay that much for it) looks absolutely fantastic. The dado rail was going to be oak but funds ran out and is pine with an oak stain (took a lot of elbow grease to do that ) which looks a treat. I have a nice levelled and bump free ceiling (papered) and the walls are mostly papered (lining paper) also, I say mostly as I can't paper the lower half of the walls as yet.
I also have the luxury of stairs at last
(the ladder has been relegated to the garage)
There's still a big to do list:
Paint ceiling
Paint walls above dado
Lay oak flooring (enginered boards because of the floor heating)
Fit skirting boards (also oak stained pine)
Paper the walls below dado
Paint walls below dado
Done in that order so as to do the least amount with the flooring layed down.
The stairs need finishing as I have purposely not fitted the banister rail as yet so as to keep it as clean as can be before putting a finish on the stairs.
I have toyed with a few ideas of how to finish the stairs, carpetting them was just one of them but as I like the look of wood (you'd never guess would you) I'll give them a wax finish. I was going to stain them with the oak stain but I think there'd be much too much oak about and have decided to just give them a clear waxing, as they are piranha pine they look good anyway and will give the room a nice mix of wood shades with oak, pine and mahogany.
I still need to decide on what paint colours to use which for me is always the difficult part as my artistic talent (if there is any) lies in other areas.
I wish I hadn't started this entry as I now realise just how much there's still to do
I was happy and excited thinking the place was looking good for a moment there
Discuss this Journal entry [5]
Latest reply: Nov 28, 2006
The House of No Ending Work
Posted Jul 27, 2006
Right,
At this precise moment in time I have no floor!
Well, when I say no floor I mean that there is a sub floor and the rest of it is sitting in the garden waiting for me to lay it.
For various reasons I decided to dig out the floor that was there, the main one being that it didn't have a damp course under it. While it was out I thought it was a good idea to put in under floor heating (causing a delay in work so I could source what I needed)of which the heating kit is in the garage and the insulation is sitting in the garden. While I was at it I also thought it would be a good idea to remove an unused chimney breast which I thought wouldn't be too technicaly challenging as it didn't support the main stack.
This caused yet another delay as I had to get the council building reg's people in to get the go-ahead. The chimney breast was removed without too much fuss but with a lot of toil and even more sweat. I do not reccomend working in your loft in the middle of summer with a light that gives off so much heat that it burns you every time you go near it. The temperature difference between the loft and the rest of the house must have been at least 10 degrees celsius hotter and it must have been nearly 30 outside.
So far what with digging out the floor and removing the chimney and some render I am on my fourth 8 yard skip and have plenty of useable bricks stacked up in the garden but I'm trying not to think of something to use them for at this time.
Hopefully this weekend I'll make good the walls and floor/ceilings where the chimney breast used to be get the building reg's man back to sign it off (sometime next week)and then I might even get around to putting a ground floor floor in, sometime this year, 
maybe.
Then I might even be able to put some stairs in (it's hard work using a ladder all the time)
The moral of this story folks, is when you start a job don't go having ideas half way through 'cause they only cause delays!
Discuss this Journal entry [5]
Latest reply: Jul 27, 2006
I've been mugged by my kitchen
Posted Mar 5, 2006
It started simple enough!!
THE PLAN
Just take down that single wall cupboard move the double one across then cut through the work surface so I can get my fridge freezer over there in the corner
While I'm at it I'll give the place a lick of paint as I didn't like the colour anyway (still smiling)
SHOPPING LIST
One tin of wall paint
One tub of PVA
DISCOVERIES
There's no floor tiles under the base units
The work surface isn't sealed to the wall which now has damp so can't paint until cleaned and treated
The ceiling isn't even sealed to the walls 
(I wondered where those drafts were comming from)
The window bay is 1" deeper on one side than the other and is at an angle so needs building out
The door surrounds are too slim and have been thickened with 
strips of wood
THE UPSHOT
I now at this moment have a very empty kitchen as the only unit left in place is the sink which doesn't even sit squarely in front of the window
All walls have been scraped (except behind the sink) even the tiles are off, ready for treatment and re-covering and ceiling is now sealed to walls.
REVISED PLAN
Turn mains water off (drain system) fit valves to water pipes so then can remove sink and unit then lift existing floor tiles and replace. Make good round window bay then treat paint and tile walls as appropriate. Refit some wall and base cupboards replacing sink and unit with new ones in a more sensible possition.
Door surrounds will have to be stripped of paint sorted then re-painted.
REVISED SHOPPING LIST
Floor tiles
Wall tiles
Floor tile adhesive
Wall tile adhesive
Left hand drain sink
Base unit for sink
Tin of wall paint
Tub of PVA
Tin of wood paint
Couple of valves
Bag of browning (plaster)
Bag of finish/filler(plaster)
And a load of silicon sealant
There's got to be more, I'm just too cream crackered to think straight right now and I'm definitely not smiling now
THE MORAL OF THIS STORY
Never, ever, ever, ever do any small DIY jobs that you think will only take a day to do as they always turn into big ones that take a lot longer and cost a small fortune to get right and you always end up living in a building site!!!
I'm just gonna go and have a nice quiet nervous breakdown now
Discuss this Journal entry [10]
Latest reply: Mar 5, 2006
Satisfaction
Posted Oct 23, 2005
Well, it's been about a month now since I moved into my "new" house.
All of the weekends I've spent out in the back garden trying to tidy it up. Next weekend I'm working (a blessing in disguise I think) so I'll not get a chance to do any more out there for a fortnight now.
The main reason for spending so much time and effort out there was to fell a tree at the bottom of the garden which was well past it's use by date and was posing a threat to the tree next to it.
The tree itself was a bit of a monster having seven large trunks sprouting from near the ground (which one was the main trunk was hard to tell)and going about twenty feet at it's highest. After a lot of effort and plenty of tea breaks I managed (with a lot of help from my brother) to get it down.
Apart from that I managed to clear most of the growth (mostly Ivy) from the bottom of the garden which was growing through at least four different chain link fences that had been erected over the years. that was not an easy job to get them out.
Apart from the obvious danger of getting tangled in the fencing and falling over a few times (had a nice soft landing on each occasion luckily) there is a huge apple tree in the property to the rear of mine and every now and then we heard a thud as an apple fell. The only problem being that a lot of them hang over my garden and I was expecting one to smack me on the head at any minute, luckily for the apple it never happened.
It still needs some work to be done down there, the ground needs levelling and a new fence needs to be erected but the hard part is now over (I hope, 
s to the gods of mischance).
Now apart from feeling absolutely cream crackered, I feel a huge sense of achievement and satisfaction and on top of that I have plenty of wood for the fire over winter
.
Now I think I'll go and have a good long soothing soak in the bath for a week or two
Discuss this Journal entry [31]
Latest reply: Oct 23, 2005
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Bedwilldo
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