Made a start

Right a quick update, before we start knocking the place to pieces proper. Quick background reminder, we moved in October last year 2013, and decided to NOT do any alterations till we had settled in and “got a feel for the place, so what have I done? Well first thing was fit a porch, as winter approached we wondered how the previous owners had managed with the draft that came thru the front door, original wood circa 1927, still fitted as good as it should, but didn’t hold back the cold like us modern day softies like.

So ordered porch, chap I spoke to said there wasn’t the space to have the doors opening in, so we would have to have them opening out, I was sure that they would work but bowed to his experience and CAD computer calculations. When the porch arrived the weather had really set in, it was now early December. I checked the weather and decided there was the promise of a dry day weekend so with the assistance of meJulie we got on with fitting the new porch doors. I offered them up, nice fit, in fact darn good and as tight as you’d want them, nearly didn’t need any fixings, but I wasn’t happy. I suggested we take them out and just see, so we removed the doors turned them around so they opened in and guess what? They worked, it was close but they did clear the old door and opened fully, so the man with the CAD and years of experience didn’t know jack, never mind. So I fitted it the wrong way, that means they are glazed from the outside, the drain holes when it rains are inside and the letter box for the mail is on the wrong door, oh and the wrong door opens, but hey, at least when the wind blows the door doesn’t get snatched out of your hands.

Not fussed anyway, as, we decided we wanted black and white like the old windows so we’ll be replacing it anyway, with one that opens in and has a black frame with white doors. No big deal, in fact did me a favour, because if they were right I’d have begrudged swapping then, given what they cost, not cheap, so know I’m gonna have a fancy garage door when I replace them with the black and white. So with the weather being held at bay at the front we settled in for winter. The house was full of boxes with nowhere to put the stuff; you know the type of boxes? Those that you store in the loft and never look in until you move house, you then move them and store them in the loft ready to move them again next time you move home. So what to do? I had to get in the loft and make some storage space, first thing loft opening

Far too small, so a trip to Costco and we buy a new loft ladder, nice quality and far too good to use on the few occasions we will, putting these boxes up there and bringing them back down when we next move, so we’ll be using it twice, right. So I go in loft, sort joist location and after some umming and ahring we decide where to put this new opening. I made the frame, meJulie kept me supplied with tea, then the moment, the break thru, I sheeted off all the stairs and sealed the bedroom doors just in case there was any mess. We then positioned a ladder under where I had started sawing thru the ceiling; this ladder meJulie climbed while I went in the loft and finished cutting away the opening. Now the idea was Julie would hold up the ceiling as it came free, stop it falling to the floor and making a mess or even damaging something, last couple of inches, “are you ready I shout, spread your arms to take the weight”, last bit and it went. She did a great job of holding it up but had I realised she was wearing a white t shirt I’d have told her to get changed, I shouldn’t have laughed but she looked like she had been up a chimney, in fact she hadn’t looked that dirty since we removed the chimney breast from the old house, two white eyes looking back at me from a black soot covered Julie, she’ll laugh about it one day I’m sure, me? Oh I was ok, dust falls down and I was upwind, I’m not daft. So we fitted the ladder and now had access to the loft, I took the opportunity to rewire all the upstairs lights before I put down a wood floor to stand our boxes on and it was another job well done. Couple of days later and we had the boxes neatly packed in the loft not to be seen again till we decide to move house.

Other job was sorting out the garage, this was probably the most important and no I am not telling this story in order, I did do the garage first
I did have a before picture for the garage, but can’t find it, anyway it was/is a basic brick built flat roof construction,
Just 4 brick walls and no insulation, that wouldn’t do, so I battened the walls, filled with Rockwool and panelled with 9mm OSB, walls and ceiling, it’s still not finished, got the plugs to wire and lights to finish, but for now it is warm and dry and a cosy little resting place for the bike. That’s it, brickie’s in next week and we start proper, building a small extension so meJulie can have a “utility room “ off the kitchen and…………………well I’ll post as and when we are doing it, loads of work to do, the place is 90 years old, original windows and not really been touched, great blank canvass. Oh discovered dry rot in front room last week when I returned from Italy, that wasn’t the best, so another job, replacing the front room floor, wonder what else unexpected the place holds for us, we’ll see. I’ll post regular on this as if I don’t I’ll forget to tell you bits and wouldn’t want you missing anything. Till next time