Lessons learnt:
- When you switch it on, pull down on the handle so the drum isn't on the floor. If you're not holding on tight, it'll run away from you
- Don't leave the sander in the same place for too long, it *will* cut a divot out of your floor!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Floor Sanding
That floor sander was a lot of fun - and incredibly effective. We got ours from Brandon Tool Hire. The guys there were very helpful, and even though they didn't have one at the centre I went to, they phoned round and found somewhere that did. When I got to the place to pick up the unit, they talked me through loading the belts on. The belts and dust bags are all sale or return, so it doesn't matter if you've not used one before and don't know how much you're going to need. The varnish we're using suggested using P120 sandpaper on the floor, so we got a bunch of belts at P120 grade, and some more at P80 for the more stubborn bits round the edges. You need to remove all the old varnish, and that can clog up the P120 belts really easily. The sander has three wheels, two at the back and the roller/sander at the front.
Lessons learnt:
Lessons learnt:
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Kitchens - revisited
With the screed now dry, it has become obvious that the pipes are leaking because the screed doesn't look dry under the pipes. They are also too close to the wall for the new units, which means when we finish installing the new units, the pipework will be behind the units. So I'm going to have to learn how to do soldering too. We're also going to have to do a little work in the electrics, move one of the points further up the wall so the fridge freezer can be powered, and a spur hanging off one of the other points so we can power the washing machine and dishwasher.
The units are coming along nicely. The plans Wickes gave us aren't quite right - they've sold us too many units. There's an annoying pillar in one corner of the kitchen. Wickes suggested a 800mm unit for that corner, and then cutting the corner out of the unit. On reflection, there are two better alternatives. It's a 600mm gap or there abouts. So you could put in a 600mm unit and have it flush with the wall, and hang a 400mm door off it. Or you can put a 400mm unit in the corner. As we don't have a spare 600mm unit with a 400mm door, but we do have 400mm unit - we're doing that. We're hoping we can return the 800mm unit Wickes sold us, and get some money back. They aren't cheap!
We've also noticed Wickes have sold us a larder door, which we think is supposed to go in the corner covering the electricity meter. But the door is clearly designed to go floor to ceiling. Does that mean we're going to have to cut the door in half? I don't think so.
We're going to have to put the kitchen on the back burner for a day though as we've still got the floor sander, but it's got to go back on Monday.
The units are coming along nicely. The plans Wickes gave us aren't quite right - they've sold us too many units. There's an annoying pillar in one corner of the kitchen. Wickes suggested a 800mm unit for that corner, and then cutting the corner out of the unit. On reflection, there are two better alternatives. It's a 600mm gap or there abouts. So you could put in a 600mm unit and have it flush with the wall, and hang a 400mm door off it. Or you can put a 400mm unit in the corner. As we don't have a spare 600mm unit with a 400mm door, but we do have 400mm unit - we're doing that. We're hoping we can return the 800mm unit Wickes sold us, and get some money back. They aren't cheap!
We've also noticed Wickes have sold us a larder door, which we think is supposed to go in the corner covering the electricity meter. But the door is clearly designed to go floor to ceiling. Does that mean we're going to have to cut the door in half? I don't think so.
We're going to have to put the kitchen on the back burner for a day though as we've still got the floor sander, but it's got to go back on Monday.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Screed, carpets and more helping hands
Thanks to my Father, who came down last night and helped out some more today. My parents have given us a carpet to go in one of the rooms.
With the kitchen floor now bare, there is a lot of dust and it's not at all level. There's still remnants of the old adhesive, and there are quite a lot of different levels to the floor. So last night we bought some screed/leveling compound to put on the floor. It's kinda like very liquid concrete. It's a non-newtonian liquid though so it's liquid until you put pressure on it, which makes spreading it more difficult but it will still flow into the nooks and crannies. I didn't buy enough though so my Father and Melody will have to add some more today. I wasn't sure how much to buy and at £7ish per bag, it's rather expensive. The second bag does mean we'll be able to finish the floor, and apply some more in one corner in particular. Hopefully by tomorrow we can lay the floor tiles. When it says on the bag to lay a small amount it really means it. I put far too much down and had trouble reaching to the back of the patch I was applying. And it was rather hard work on the wrist, as it is a non-newtonian liquid it becomes stiffer when you apply pressure on it. Hopefully we'll have some photos showing the finished product. Should look good and the finished product will make it easier to lay the tiles because it should be flatter!
My Father also laid the carpet in one of the bedrooms. We've already had to move boxes from one room to another. I think I'm going got have to finish the bedroom off just so we can move house. Lucky all I really need to do is plane/sand the floor and put three coats of varnish on it.
Today, my Father and Melody took delivery of the kitchen. The bathroom turned up seperately. I got a phone call around 7.45 this morning from a delivery man from Wickes. Turns out it was the bathroom, but as we've not moved in yet we weren't there to sign for it! At the time of writing, Melody has only unwrapped the sink as it's ceramic and easily damaged in transit. The rest of the units are awaiting unpacking and putting in place. With the carpet now fitted in the small bedroom, that leaves it available to put things in to clear the way for the new bathroom. That's going to be a major undertaking in of itself. I don't have any idea how to fit a bathroom. I've got some basic plumbing skills, but I've never even soldered a pipe joint before - limiting myself to the easy to fit and use, but expensive compression joints.
Compression joints are great! You measure up the pipe and get it in position. Put the nut over the pipe, followed by a 'olive' - a brass ring with a slight bulge. Then fit the rest of the threaded joint on and tighten the nut up. Water tight in minutes! This was very useful when I was taking the sink off the wall in the kitchen. I was able to usefully put a tap in under the sink - meaning I can turn off the water to the sink without having to drain the whole system.
(Oops - forgot to publish this. Should have gone out on the 13/11/08!)
With the kitchen floor now bare, there is a lot of dust and it's not at all level. There's still remnants of the old adhesive, and there are quite a lot of different levels to the floor. So last night we bought some screed/leveling compound to put on the floor. It's kinda like very liquid concrete. It's a non-newtonian liquid though so it's liquid until you put pressure on it, which makes spreading it more difficult but it will still flow into the nooks and crannies. I didn't buy enough though so my Father and Melody will have to add some more today. I wasn't sure how much to buy and at £7ish per bag, it's rather expensive. The second bag does mean we'll be able to finish the floor, and apply some more in one corner in particular. Hopefully by tomorrow we can lay the floor tiles. When it says on the bag to lay a small amount it really means it. I put far too much down and had trouble reaching to the back of the patch I was applying. And it was rather hard work on the wrist, as it is a non-newtonian liquid it becomes stiffer when you apply pressure on it. Hopefully we'll have some photos showing the finished product. Should look good and the finished product will make it easier to lay the tiles because it should be flatter!
My Father also laid the carpet in one of the bedrooms. We've already had to move boxes from one room to another. I think I'm going got have to finish the bedroom off just so we can move house. Lucky all I really need to do is plane/sand the floor and put three coats of varnish on it.
Today, my Father and Melody took delivery of the kitchen. The bathroom turned up seperately. I got a phone call around 7.45 this morning from a delivery man from Wickes. Turns out it was the bathroom, but as we've not moved in yet we weren't there to sign for it! At the time of writing, Melody has only unwrapped the sink as it's ceramic and easily damaged in transit. The rest of the units are awaiting unpacking and putting in place. With the carpet now fitted in the small bedroom, that leaves it available to put things in to clear the way for the new bathroom. That's going to be a major undertaking in of itself. I don't have any idea how to fit a bathroom. I've got some basic plumbing skills, but I've never even soldered a pipe joint before - limiting myself to the easy to fit and use, but expensive compression joints.
Compression joints are great! You measure up the pipe and get it in position. Put the nut over the pipe, followed by a 'olive' - a brass ring with a slight bulge. Then fit the rest of the threaded joint on and tighten the nut up. Water tight in minutes! This was very useful when I was taking the sink off the wall in the kitchen. I was able to usefully put a tap in under the sink - meaning I can turn off the water to the sink without having to drain the whole system.
(Oops - forgot to publish this. Should have gone out on the 13/11/08!)
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Biting of more than you can chew
With the imminent arrival of the kitchen, I decided to look at the tiles on the floor. Many of them were cracked, and some were loose. So I pulled one of the loose ones up, and had a look underneath. As I did so, one of the tiles that I thought was secure next to it came up too. Which opened a can of worms - and now we don't have any tiles on the floor because 90% of them turned out to be loose only held in place by the tile next to it and the 'grout'. The 'adhesive' (a term I use loosely here) wasn't put on thick enough, nor scared deep enough and was used as grout. To compound the problem, where the backdoor is warped and damaged by the rain, the water has leaked in and under the tiles. This has compounded the problem of the tiles being loose.
So we've stripped the old tiles off the floor, and the adhesive. We're a day behind on our schedule now. I'll be happier that I'm putting the kitchen in on a solid foundation. We're not going to use the existing grey tiles, as a couple of them got broken in the process - and anyway they don't cover the whole area. Damp had set in underneath the tiles because of the back door (which we're replacing) and the area under the sink wasn't covered in tiles and there was significant evidence of the pipes leaking under the sink. We do have some very nice black ones which are left over from another project - lets hope we've got enough of them!
So we've stripped the old tiles off the floor, and the adhesive. We're a day behind on our schedule now. I'll be happier that I'm putting the kitchen in on a solid foundation. We're not going to use the existing grey tiles, as a couple of them got broken in the process - and anyway they don't cover the whole area. Damp had set in underneath the tiles because of the back door (which we're replacing) and the area under the sink wasn't covered in tiles and there was significant evidence of the pipes leaking under the sink. We do have some very nice black ones which are left over from another project - lets hope we've got enough of them!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Many small jobs
With a Saturday night shift to do, we decided to do as many small light jobs as possible. Melody was working Saturday so I was left to get on with it.
Put a lock on the front door. I still need to work on the bottom lock as the door has to be left partially open to lock it. Not only is that not very secure, it also allows a rather hefty draft through! The trouble is the frame is made of glass re-enforced plastic. It's horrible to work with because it chips off too easily. Eventually we're going to have to replace it when we have some money, but it'll do for now.
Put the first coat of paint on the top half new stable door for the back door. We're both rather excited by the idea of a stable door actually. In a sense it's one of those 'living in the country' feels we're looking for. It's very slow going through. The panes of glass are quite intricate at the top and the surface is rather rough and seems to repell the paint. The bottom half will be much easier as there's no glass in that half. I hate seeing sloppy paint work on glass so I'm taking my time with it. We'll need to put a coat of paint on the front door, but we'll need to wait for better weather for that!
Started to sand the floor in the living room, but it's incredibly slow work. Started using the power planer and it was MUCH faster. However I've destroyed the blade on it. Two replacement blades from B&Q - £15! But it's MUCH quicker than the sander, and cheaper than renting a floor sander for a day. Two blades should cover it, but I bought four just in case.
Put a lock on the front door. I still need to work on the bottom lock as the door has to be left partially open to lock it. Not only is that not very secure, it also allows a rather hefty draft through! The trouble is the frame is made of glass re-enforced plastic. It's horrible to work with because it chips off too easily. Eventually we're going to have to replace it when we have some money, but it'll do for now.
Put the first coat of paint on the top half new stable door for the back door. We're both rather excited by the idea of a stable door actually. In a sense it's one of those 'living in the country' feels we're looking for. It's very slow going through. The panes of glass are quite intricate at the top and the surface is rather rough and seems to repell the paint. The bottom half will be much easier as there's no glass in that half. I hate seeing sloppy paint work on glass so I'm taking my time with it. We'll need to put a coat of paint on the front door, but we'll need to wait for better weather for that!
Started to sand the floor in the living room, but it's incredibly slow work. Started using the power planer and it was MUCH faster. However I've destroyed the blade on it. Two replacement blades from B&Q - £15! But it's MUCH quicker than the sander, and cheaper than renting a floor sander for a day. Two blades should cover it, but I bought four just in case.
Friday, November 7, 2008
More painting and plastering
We continue to be impressed with Wickes 'One Coat' plaster which dried in a couple of days so we put the second layer of plaster on last night. Now all we have to do is fill in the areas where the wall wobbles and flatten off and we'll be all good. Lets just hope it stays on the wall!
If you ever go into B&Q looking for cheap white emulsion because - lets say - you have a large area of walls and ceilings to paint, don't fall for the large 10 litre buckets of trade 'emulsion'. They sit there on the shelf - white and gleaming with the bright orange lids calling you. JUST SAY NO! I think I managed to get more on me and the floor than I did on the ceiling. It's just too thin. It didn't quite spray off the roller, but it did drip a LOT. When you buy emulsion, it's the last thing you expect it to do. The only plus side I can think of is that it didn't stink the entire room out.
If you ever go into B&Q looking for cheap white emulsion because - lets say - you have a large area of walls and ceilings to paint, don't fall for the large 10 litre buckets of trade 'emulsion'. They sit there on the shelf - white and gleaming with the bright orange lids calling you. JUST SAY NO! I think I managed to get more on me and the floor than I did on the ceiling. It's just too thin. It didn't quite spray off the roller, but it did drip a LOT. When you buy emulsion, it's the last thing you expect it to do. The only plus side I can think of is that it didn't stink the entire room out.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Plastering and Painting
A productive couple of evenings work. We've got to grips with Wickes 'One Coat' plaster - we hope. Only time will tell. 1 pint of water to 2 pints of dry plaster seemed about right. The mechanical mixer made the whole process much easier, although it took some practise to make sure the drill was running slowly enough that it didn't spray plaster/water all over the place! To complicate things a little, as the plaster thickens, we needed more power to the drill to make it turn faster, but the trigger isn't very sensitve. But we got there in the end.
Painting is coming along. The walls in the living room are now mostly green, and the wooden cladding and skirting boards are mostly reglossed. Thankfully the old paint had turned a little grey, so it wasn't too difficult to spot where we'd left off. It looks so much better now. Just a little more of the glossing and green on the walls - then we can start on the floor! The plan is to sand the floor boards, and then varnish them. Can't do that until after the painting is finished.
Painting is coming along. The walls in the living room are now mostly green, and the wooden cladding and skirting boards are mostly reglossed. Thankfully the old paint had turned a little grey, so it wasn't too difficult to spot where we'd left off. It looks so much better now. Just a little more of the glossing and green on the walls - then we can start on the floor! The plan is to sand the floor boards, and then varnish them. Can't do that until after the painting is finished.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Shocking news!
We had a very productive day - and on occasions rather frustrating when I realised I didn't have all the parts to all my tools :( The router has a width gauge which seems to have gone walkies. It's in one of the boxes - I just don't know which one. I'm sure it's a clear-ish plastic one. But we have quite a few of them!
Where we were taking the tiles off the walls in the kitchen and stairs, the plaster underneath isn't too sound and was coming off in chunks right back to the brickwork. Looks like we're going to have to learn how to plaster:
I did manage to electrocute myself a little bit. I was re-hanging one of the light switches, had isolated the power but didn't drill the holes for the box in the right place. So I had to put the power back on to drill the holes and then forgot to isolate the power. I got a bit of a shock through my hand when my palm touched the live and neutral wires. That'll teach me to mess with the electrics when I'm tired!
A few victories yesterday:
| New exterior light as the old one was HORRIBLE: |  |
Some minor disasters.
Where we were taking the tiles off the walls in the kitchen and stairs, the plaster underneath isn't too sound and was coming off in chunks right back to the brickwork. Looks like we're going to have to learn how to plaster:
 |  |
| When I got a drill bit set for Christmas, I didn't think I'd be using some of the items. For example the foot long masonry drill bit: |  |
| Why did the previous owners think that the above light switch was safe? It's got CHUNKS missing! |  |
I did manage to electrocute myself a little bit. I was re-hanging one of the light switches, had isolated the power but didn't drill the holes for the box in the right place. So I had to put the power back on to drill the holes and then forgot to isolate the power. I got a bit of a shock through my hand when my palm touched the live and neutral wires. That'll teach me to mess with the electrics when I'm tired!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Slippery when wet
So when we first got there, we noticed that there was a lot of junk mail and free newspapers on the doorstep. We assumed that this was because the mail man and delivery people were too lazy to stick it through the mail slot in the door - which to be fair is in the most ridiculous place at the bottom of the door.* Where it had been raining for some time, all the junk mail had turned to mush, and was rather slippery creating an death match obstacle worthy of the Running Man or Gladiators.
APOLOGY ALERT! Turns out the mail "person" wasn't being lazy - the previous owners had NAILED THE MAIL SLOT SHUT! WTF??
It's still not going to stop me from putting up the "No Free Newspapers or Junk Mail Please" sign.
*Any one considering putting their post slot at the bottom of the door - DON'T! As someone who suffers from back pain - it's the most inconsiderate place to put it!
APOLOGY ALERT! Turns out the mail "person" wasn't being lazy - the previous owners had NAILED THE MAIL SLOT SHUT! WTF??
It's still not going to stop me from putting up the "No Free Newspapers or Junk Mail Please" sign.
*Any one considering putting their post slot at the bottom of the door - DON'T! As someone who suffers from back pain - it's the most inconsiderate place to put it!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Plaster
Took a closer look at the plaster in the kitchen. Imagine taking a bucket of fine sand, and pouring another bucket of water into it, mix in some hair - and that's what it feels like is what's on our walls. You can wipe your finger across it, and loose sand comes off! And the more tiles we take off, the more 'plaster' we take off. Melody wants the tiles from the staircase (why are there tiles on the staircase?) for the kitchen. They are rather cool green and cream tiles (and some red ones too).
So today we have:
So today we have:
- Ordered the worktop for the kitchen - should turn up on the same day as the rest of the kitchen
- Bought green paint for the kitchen and living room
- Bought parts for the TV unit
- Bought a new motion sensing light for the front of the house. The one at the back lights the garden up like it's daylight!
Making omlettes
... can't be done without breaking a few eggs. I'm clearly going to have to learn how to plaster! And this from taking a few tiles off the wall.
At least we're making head way. In about an hour we'd stripped most of the tiles off the wall, we'd got the old cupboards off - and Melody had sliced her finger open.
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