as you can see – things are looking how they used to a few weeks ago!
There is mould all over the wood work and the walls are not all dry. The plasterboard was very damp. I can only think that more will need replacing that first thought.
Even though it isn’t wasn’t such a big leak it is amazing how far the water reached.
The builders who have been instructed to do the repairs arrived today and seem to know less about building than me.
Before one of them cut my shower to bits I had to stop him and tell him how to take it apart. At the moment they are struggling with the extractor fan which should be simple to remove.
Our Chinese builders are on another job and their boss (our friend) is getting married next week (well he is already married but their parents don’t know. Which is totally fair, none of this is their fault and it is an important day for them.
The Chinese builders for many reasons cannot give an official quote and so cannot take on the work which is a real shame because I don’t trust these guys at all. They seem unable to do the simplest thing and I’m guessing the bathroom will fall apart when they leave with a fat cheque from the insurance company.
Why is it that English trades people so often show themselves up? I know not all, as the heating guy we had was fantastic, but then the company he contracted for doesn’t take any shit.
They are now off for a ciggie.
Apparently they are to take up the carpet yet haven’t looked behind the floor units in the kitchen to see what damage has been done to the wall or the units themselves.
I probably should do this all my self.
After two coats,
originally uploaded by ragtagman.
Well after much worry, because I had no idea what I was doing the floor looks pretty good, considering.
There are some rough bits, there are some gouges from the sander, although not bad.
The main floor sander was easy to use but the edge sander is a back braker.
After sanding all over a couple of times – one rough and one more gentle, I filled all the main gaps with mix and fill (glue and sawdust) and then let that dry overnight and filled in any that sunk in the morning. More pictures of that on my flickr.
Next day sanded down the whole floor again, running over and bits I missed the first time or wasn’t happy with. After that it was time to let the dust settle – literally.
When the dust has fallen hoover and white spirit the floor and wait to dry.
Once dry it was on with the first coat of varnish (Ronseal DiamondHard, Clear Satin) which takes more the first time as so much of it sinks in to the dry wood.
Second coat went on after a couple of hours and left the windows open and for the first time sat out on the balcony and had my dinner which Ping had made me. Lovely evening for it too.
Next morning I was on my hands and knees again sanding it with 240 paper to flat the raised grain a little. Followed by another hoover and wet rag time all over.
By this time I was in need of back surgery and two new knees. Not forgetting that I had a hangover from the mix and fill which is enough for even the hardest glue sniffer.
Well after the warm summer/autumn day dried the floor nice a quickly it was down with the last coat of varnish, followed by more hanging around on the balcony – as it was the only place to be as I painted myself out of the front door.
Total cost was about £190 which is good as a new wooden floor would have been around £660 for the same room size (22m sq) and I don’t think I would have had the same satisfaction either.
Sorry, can’t stay here longer.. need my bed.
Bedroom 1 floor goes down,
originally uploaded by ragtagman.
Good lord I’m tired.
The floor is down in both bedrooms and I will get a sander for the frontroom and hall.
Also added a light for the dining area and bought a bargain in B&Q for the lounge light.
Getting rid of the rubbish is starting to be a problem now. I tried to drip feed it into the bins for the flats but now all the carpets are up in the lounge it would fill most of them – even though they are those huge industrial one used by hospitals.
I also bumped into Carlos the caretaker, who said he empties our internal bin everyday! As we don’t have access to the rubbish shot, being on the ground floor they provide a bin in one of the cupboards in the lobby.
One thing living on the ground floor here, you soon meet everyone. I think they are also interested in what you are doing. Phoebe loves waving at the other kids and saying hello to all the people.
Thankfully so far our neighbours above have been quiet. Sorry for them, we haven’t and it will be worse tomorrow – but hopefully that will be it until we can afford to do the kitchen up in a few months (or years).
I would write something but I’m about to fall asleep. So off to watch the football in the lounge and have a beer, it does feel like summer after all.
Flat is going well. Walls painted and the flooring is going in the bedrooms tomorrow.
Bathroom tiled
originally uploaded by ragtagman.
Just the mosaic to do around the walls which is causing some problems as the tiles are thinner than the main white tiles. Any help?
The central heating people are coming to look around on Thursday so we will leave the bath unfitted until then, just incase they need to get in there as the pipes run down the back of the bath.
In the rest of the house electric sockets are being updated and adding doubles. Walls will be filled, sanded and painted, followed by the floors.
In three days the builders have taken out everything and installed a new bath (with all new plumbing) shower (ditto) and moved the pipes and tubes into the wall.
The new birch board wall is about an inch thinker than the stuff that was up there before, which was like the stuff you get at the back of a flat pack wardrobe.
We have decided to put in some black tiles on the floor – cheap and simple and should hit off with the black/grey/white mosaic that is ringing the room.
It’s all gone now! Saturday saw the last of all the wallpaper, a job I think I will only ever want to do once.
Now I attempt to sort out the holes, flaking paint and rotten wood that I have found.
Neighbours seemed to have calmed down too…touch wood.
The real builders come on Wednesday – and the real spending starts too, no doubt.
Well bedroom 2 is done now, still needs cleaning up, getting those last little bits off – the first wall was too easy, although it was a good training ground as I haven’t done this before or read about it, the paper just fell off.
On the other walls I ended up ripping the covering off as it was a washable paper, so pretty much waterproof. Even with a paper scatcher to make lots of holes over the paper, the steam from the wallpaper remover wasn’t making inroads.
I had to move the storage heater out of the way to get behind it – it’s going anyway, once the central heating gets put in – those things are heavy.
We have also pulled back the carpet in the hall and front-room to find parquet flooring. Nothing expensive, it’s finger mosaic but still nice – so that is getting a rub down, an oiling and buffing.
Last night I started stripping wallpaper in the smaller of the two bedrooms. You can see how I improved, from right to left, across the room. Well when I say improve I mean become less bad!
I’ll have to take the camera over to the flat and take some really dull photos so that I can look back this. I doubt it will be of interest to anyone other than me though – I’ve seen this done on a million blogs.
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