Author: peterb51

7th May 2018

A bank holiday for most, but for me it was more floor gluing. It was really hot outside, but cool inside, however the temperature rose considerably as I got into the job. I was aware of the time limit for the adhesive, and I also had latex gloves to stop my fingers sticky. It helped for a time, and I was making good progress, but the sweat was dripping off the end of my nose, not a pretty sight. I finished off the kitchen and living room end with just the remaining half to go. That is where things started to go wrong.

Fortunately all the cutting had been done, but I had to take up all the panels and place them in the correct order for re-laying. Now that I had the appliances sitting on the floor there needed to be some rapid moving of stuff to make room.

A lot of the remaining runs were over four metres long which is tricky to handle on my own. As you get one end in, the other pops out. I resulted in placing a strip of gaffa tape to hold it down, that helped, but the drips continued.

I did what I could with the adhesive I had, but it was obvious that I would not finish it.

To finish the day I fitted skirting boards to the completed areas, and by the time I stopped for the day I was exhausted

6th May 2018

Colin continued his quest to sort out the wiring for his outside light. Armed with a rough circuit diagram brightly coloured he disappeared into the loft. My job was to paint my stair support frame with another coat of white paint. That didn’t take that long, and the heat of the day dried it quickly. Colin was still in the loft.

The badgers had a busy night chewing a hole through the fence. I volunteered to replace two panels that had been damaged.

Both Nicola and Colin have enough stock of screws, nails, paint brushes, and sandpaper of every grade to open a small hardware store. It doesn’t stop there, the cottage is always well stocked from everything from pickled onions to breakfast cereals, the words ” I’ve run out of…” is never heard.

I finished my job, but Colin was still in the loft.

I had no idea why it was taking so long. It became a running joke, we kept checking to see if he was still alive.

Eventually he emerged, bathed in sweat and a smile on his face.

4th May 2018

A day of many tasks, the first being finding a replacement bath tap column for Ryan and Louise, but no luck there. “We don’t stock that type anymore” the man from Plumb centre said. When asked what should I do, he replied “Buy a new tap” mmm, not helpful.

Drove to Bath to have my haircut, a good opportunity to have clean hair. I had a call from the kitchen people saying they wanted to deliver the appliances, that meant rushing back to put hardboard to protect the floor.

Mid afternoon Leroy and designer Linda staggered up the path. Both were amazed at the transformation which makes the hard work worth while. With the aid of my trolley, we wheeled the dishwasher and then the oven. Unfortunately the oven wouldn’t fit through the front door, so the packaging had to be removed.

I feel this is the nearly the finishing line, but by the end of next week the units will be installed, thank bloody god!

3rd May 2018

I carried on cutting and dry fitting the floor planks until Nicola arrived to help me with the wallpapering. I had decided to put paper on the double height wall where the stairs are. I decided to use a red brick design that I purchased from a company call Woodchip and Magnolia. They were not the cheapest, but they were the most convincing.

This was the first time I have tried pasting the wall, it was a much cleaner method, and after three hours it was finished. The effect was brilliant, and just what I wanted.

2nd May 2018

Well if anyone tells you it is easy to lay a wood floor, you have my permission to give them a smack. I approached the task with a little trepidation, having laid several in the past, this was much more challenging.

Adding adhesive changes the whole dynamic, it got everywhere, which was very frustrating.

I marked out the lines, after following advice shown on many YouTube videos, but nowhere did they prepare me for the chaos that followed.

The day started bad, I picked up the flooring adhesive, boy was that expensive. I knew something was up when they unlocked the safe where the adhesive was kept. Taking the lid off required a small charge of Semtex. Inside was a foil bag containing the adhesive, this had to be cut, and the adhesive squeezed out. This was the first time I got covered in glue. Then everything I touched was contaminated, my fingers were sticky. The next step was the spreading of the goo, and then the laying of the planks began. I thought this would be a doddle, but every new piece added meant getting covered in glue. I thought there had to be a better way, professional floorers can’t get in such a state, for me, progress was slow.

By 9.00pm I had done about a third, and the adhesive had gone off. I was not well prepared, I needed to be better organised.

I started to dry fit the planks, making all the cuts without the pressure of curing adhesive.

Suddenly things started to look much better.

1st May 2018

The lights went on in Wine Street Terrace, bloody hurray! The spotlights looked great, suddenly it is looking like a home again. I was so excited I decided to start the bathroom.

Nicola and Colin arrived to tackle the garden.

This has been in a disgusting state, and I just haven’t had the time, so I welcomed the help.

Soon the weeds, and a Laurel bush were in garden rubbish bags, and the place looked a little less like a jungle.

30th April 2018

Gavin the electrician was at the cottage bright and early, but not as early as the start of my day. Barrington was still asleep when the Shogun burst into life. I joined the commuters clogging the roads.

The day was spent taking crap to the dump as Gavin bored holes in my beautiful ceilings. Luckily they were in the right place, and he was able to find the cables.

I have become obsessive with sweeping the floor, I’ve done it so many times, but I still find more dust.

I wanted to prime the big wall before the end of the day, so with the diluted mix, and a clean roller I worked through the evening. Gavin had left his radio tuned to Radio 6, and after seven the music changed to the most monotonous rubbish I have ever heard, and I have a very broad musical taste, but this tested me. I had to turn it off before I did something destructive.

I don’t think Gavin would appreciate his radio buried in the garden.

29th April 2018

I made an extra trip back to the cottage to do a final coat of paint to the ceilings prior to the second fix electrics on Monday.

I had expected Andy to have finished the plastering around door, but as usual it had not been done. I rattled off a text full of venom, and got on with the painting. He responded with a reason, an apology, and a time he would be here to complete.

As I was rolling paint, I was thinking about how the renovation had gone. I underestimated the time and the cost, but more it was about how builders will not be rushed, and they over order materials. I have enough bags of sand to fill a sand pit. It irritates me to see the waste, full buckets of plaster that spoil and can’t be used. Sheets of plasterboard converted into offcuts that could have been used, but end up outside getting wet and therefore useless.

28th April 2018

Rest day, chance to update my project spreadsheet, and generally do sod all.

I caught up with the latest Badger news and other Barrington business.

Nicola and Colin were woken up at about 2.00am with a commotion in the garden. Colin was armed with a spade, and he apparently chased the badger across the lawn. This is an obsession with them, and also their new next door neighbours. I am amused at the whole thing, because I know there is little that can be done with wild animals, god knows I’ve had problems with moles in the past. I am relieved that I am not plagued with badgers or moles, in the cottage,mainly because of the altitude. They would throw themselves in front of moving cars rather than make that climb.

27th April 2018

I prepared the site for a major plastering session, bags of plaster were at the ready.

Andy came early prepared to do battle, and I was going to be the plumber’s mate.

The big wall was the challenge, with the stairs removed a makeshift scaffold was set up.

The first bucket on plaster was mixed, and all I had to do was to lift it on to the scaffold plank. That was easier said than done. A twenty-five kilo bag weighs twenty-five kilos plus half a bucket of water cumulated in a bucket full of pink shit that really strained my greens. Whilst he got on with spreading the muck around, I tackled the levelling compound that had dried rock solid on the steps in the porch.