New Walls and Heat Pump

The man came and put some pipes in the wall to connect the outside unit to the inside unit that blows the warm air, I had spent most of a day scraping and sanding the boards before putting 3 coats of paint on I thought best do it before that pipework went in and the outside unit will cover one third of the wall so there would be no chance to do it afterwards now it makes the other boards around the sliding door look shabby so that is on the to do list, I am so pleased we are able to get the outside unit under some shelter and not near plants as I think they have to be kept clean to work correctly, the pipes travel in the wall cavity to where the inside unit will be mounted I did put in more wood to fix it to and have now re gibed the wall, the walls are the old 8ft stud and that is 40mm more than our present 2.4m stud that all our sheets are made for so our sheets are short hence the gap filler at the
top that I hope one day will be covered with a scotia, now the push is on to get the wall stopped and painted then the man will return to install heating for us and the way the weather is changing it won't be too soon, the new gib on these walls make the other walls look old and untidy so I can see all the gib coming off eventually and that will lead to a different scotia.
Our huge Feijoa tree has started to drop its fruit and I ate the first one yesterday, today about 10 and they are so good, the orange and lemon trees have masses of fruit getting bigger by the day, we can't use all the lemons but we will get through the oranges.

Today I took out the last of the walls of the laundry some of the studs were very worm eaten with lots of dust falling as I hammered and cut them so I am well pleased they have now gone, the walls are rebuilt and are now to be lined, the floor has been pre varnished and is ready to go down, I will then need some new doors and frames they will be easy to fix in the new stud work, the days are very rewarding now and I am managing to keep the house livable with a bit of a clean up at the end of each day, the shower works much better now with the new plumbing and the sun warmed water.     

Busy March

I have organised for the pipes to be run for a heat pump and I don't want it back to back so the pipes
have to go through the wall, I wanted to be sure there was good fixings to hang the inside unit to so I have removed the gib board to to this the by product of this is that it will be new gib when I come to decorate so I am hopeful of a good paint surface, in the 1960 when the house was built they used rough sawn timber that was either bent or has since then moved so the wall was very uneven so I have spent some time taking out the humps what hollows are left I hope to fill with glue, as the photo shows the window used to be different and the door was in the short wall, there have been many changes to the house over the years.
Today the laundry floor was pulled up the boards may be used in the bathroom or when the fireplace is removed, I sanded and put one coat of varnish on the ply that will be used in the laundry, I have now made a new laundry tub cupboard and managed to sand it up at the end of the day I need to make a door then it is ready for some paint.   

March 2015

There is a chill in the air these days but the sun still shines and that makes it easier to get on and do plenty, and to stop mid day for a lay in the sun. Garage has a new roof and door the window has gone and I have room for a display of my art, the finial had sat around the garage for a while I made the bottom part and thought it would look too big but I am now pleased with the result.
We made a decision on a hand basin and decided to not go with a pedestal, the basin was supposed to hang off the wall on 2 bolts screwed into the wall, I have seen too many of this kind of fixing fail so made a bracket of plywood that sits under the basin it is made to fit perfectly in the recess the pedestal would have sat in and goes into the wall to be held between the stud work it is also bolted to the wall there is no movement, the 2 shelves are Totara and are 50mm thick they have 2 holes drilled in them for 25mm stainless tubes the same holed are drilled into the wall so no supports are seen, the uncovered wall will one day have a sheet of white tiles covering it, I think the tile size will be 300mm wide and 150mm high, some of the flooring is down to stay some has to be removed one day when I install a new shower base, I think it will stay like this for a while now there are things going on with the walls that aren't in the photo.

We had some time in the garden, we had a very large Yakka (3 trunks) at the front and wanted to plant two Kowhai trees we have brought with us that have some meaning to us both, the Yakkas came down easy but the stump has pebbles embedded in and the chain saw didn't approve nor did I, we got one Kowhai planted it will be pleased to be out of the pot and have more room for its roots, there is a lot to do out here I think, I drilled 3 holed in the lawn and filled with rubble to assist with drainage as water puddles here when we have heavy rain the top 300mm is very hard but becomes very porous after that.
The laundry walls have a lot of woodworm, there were 2 small cupboards off the hall way that were not full height (low ceiling and 6ft door) the ceiling had come down to help with the rewiring, so now the 2 cupboards are gone and some of the woodworm, the laundry is now 2.4m X 1.7m the photo I took laying on my back and is now insulated and covered in 12mm ply pre varnished, the walls have woodworm so are to be replaced and covered in the same ply with a white waterproof sheet behind the washing machine and a new cupboard under the tub unit, I think there will be lots of shelves, a shoe shelf, coat hooks a hatch to access under the house, so what looks like a big laundry I think will be a busy place.
This week sees the start of heat pump install, I have to strip gib from 2 walls to get access to install pipes and fixing for the wall unit then a quick replace the gib and some decorating before the job is finished, we have have some chilly mornings so chilly nights are around the corner and we need heating soon.

   

Bathroom cave

While the sun shines outside I have my head buried in the bathroom floor,the feature wall is finished apart from some shelves I have half a plan for, the towel rail is fixed and wired in the heater the same, the floor had 2 layers of vinyl on it with a layer of hardboard between so lots of nails and glue to get past I decided the easiest way was to pull up the boards and put them through the thicknesser I did a lot of damage pulling them up and spent a few hours gluing and cramping splits the nails had caused or that I had caused I didn't see all the staples and damaged the knives in the thicknesser so I had a bit of hand sanding to do then a coat of two pot varnish epoxy waterproofing and some woodworm treatment to the back, I had to tinker with the joists as they were not very flat over the top one joist

was badly effected with resin and split so I put better fixings along side the joists, the sizealation paper is a thing of the past but some protection is better than none, I have drilled out all the old nail holes and will plug them those I can use for the screws I will, I have put a small harris on the corners "cos I know they won't be exactly flush and with the small V it won't be noticed and feel nice to the feet, I had to fit the first board to the new wall as I don't want a skirting board there is also no scotia on this wall, there are a lot of plugs some cover the screw fixings and some just take out the old nail holes as they were black or rust coloured, I have moved the door way over so eventually I can install a 1500mm wide stainless steel shower with glass screens, all the other walls will be of a white gloss sheet that looks

like tiles, there is a new hand basin hung of the wall that I have made a special bracket for but I think that is another post as I need the photos.

Time out

Its a bit hard on the old body, this working for myself is tough and while my back seems better than when I was employed I have had more aches in more places than I knew was possible, I recently spent 2 days mostly under the house on my back pulling and clipping wires then sorting out a new waste water pipe for the laundry tub, the copper and steel water pipes have so much build up in them from the years and each time I touch them it comes loose then gets stuck in the tap and toilet valves and prevents them from
operating correctly so there is more work to be done, over the years alterations have been done to the plumbing and I seem to have more pipes than necessary so there is some corrections to be made, I have about a 500mm working space under the house so things happen slowly, and bed is always welcome at the end of the day, the body is then stiff in the morning and needs a good work out before I crawl into the darkness of my subfloor.
This gem of a walk is about a 100 meters from where I live, I walk down the right side of the first lake and if I want a 20 minuet walk I cross the bridge and up the other side of the lake, if I want a 40 minuet walk I carry on around both lakes and enjoy the company of the horses who look so at peace with there world, sometimes I detour along a road, sometimes its an evening walk and recently its been as the sun was setting and the sky is a blaze of red, there are so many moods to this wonderful area, I often walk the whole way and not see anyone else which suits me fine but then I have to wonder why more people don't use such a wonderful place to relax and stretch the body, I always sleep better for a good walk.