Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Enfin! (if you'll pardon my French)
The bathroom has now got to the point where I have been able to think of clearing up some of the mess that I have made. It's not just the offcuts:
though there are a lot of them: virtually every flat surface in the kitchen has got either tools or reject pieces on it. But I am pleased that I've used every single one of the darker tiles I bought, though I do have a whole box (that's 18) of the lighter ones left. One or two of these will get used, but the rest will be scrap. And I'll be able to take the big tile-cutter back to Raymond who kindly let me borrow it.
With the edging in place it all looks a lot better. Here is the edge of the wall between the shower and the washbasin:
And here is a general view from the door (not yet put back on its hinges). There's a bit of reflection from the flash on all those shiny surfaces.
I think the overall effect is a bit 1930s: the brown is very close to bakelite colour, and the stainless steel edges do have a bit of that chromium trim appearance.
What's yet to be done is a couple of small areas of grouting round the tiles that went in today, and - a job I am not looking forward to - grouting between the bottom of the wall and the floor. I couldn't have done this piecemeal with the plastic sheeting down (as I put it right up to the edge) but now I will have to do the whole lot at one go. And then just bolt on the wc - et voila! Though first I have to work out what the hieroglyphic instructions mean that are trying to tell me how to cut the pipes to the right lengths. Since they refer to an addition of just 3mm to some measured distance (though what?) it's presumably important to get it exactly right.
though there are a lot of them: virtually every flat surface in the kitchen has got either tools or reject pieces on it. But I am pleased that I've used every single one of the darker tiles I bought, though I do have a whole box (that's 18) of the lighter ones left. One or two of these will get used, but the rest will be scrap. And I'll be able to take the big tile-cutter back to Raymond who kindly let me borrow it.
With the edging in place it all looks a lot better. Here is the edge of the wall between the shower and the washbasin:
And here is a general view from the door (not yet put back on its hinges). There's a bit of reflection from the flash on all those shiny surfaces.
I think the overall effect is a bit 1930s: the brown is very close to bakelite colour, and the stainless steel edges do have a bit of that chromium trim appearance.
What's yet to be done is a couple of small areas of grouting round the tiles that went in today, and - a job I am not looking forward to - grouting between the bottom of the wall and the floor. I couldn't have done this piecemeal with the plastic sheeting down (as I put it right up to the edge) but now I will have to do the whole lot at one go. And then just bolt on the wc - et voila! Though first I have to work out what the hieroglyphic instructions mean that are trying to tell me how to cut the pipes to the right lengths. Since they refer to an addition of just 3mm to some measured distance (though what?) it's presumably important to get it exactly right.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
What a shower!
I fitted the shower today, with a bit of difficulty, as I don't think anyone planned to have the shower column fastened to a wall made of tiled plasterboard. Worse, behind the place where it fixes are a couple of metal uprights. But I think in the end, by using longer screws and a judicious bit of superglue, it's fixed firmly enough.
I've now grouted nearly all the areas that are tiled, but I am still waiting for the edge pieces, so I can't finish. And although I have tested the shower for leaks, I can't really use it yet as I have to put that nasty silicone sealant between the bottom of the tiles and the shower tray.
I grouted around the sink, too:
As this is grout that goes between a glazed surface and a glazed basin, it took a long time to set. Much more difficult than doing joins between tiles. One day I may succeed in removing that label too: it seems to have been stuck on with something a lot harder than my fingernails. The water supply is now connected and it works fine.
I also started tidying up under the basin:
Before and after: in the second picture there's a thin bit of tile holding the flexible pipes out of the way while the cement is wet. It will come out later. I can't tile it just yet (even if the cement were dry) as I am possibly short of the brown tiles, and I may need to tile it, at least partly, with off-cuts. It would be better to do that where it won't really show than somewhere very visible. I have plenty of the light-coloured ones, though.
It is all beginning to look like a proper bathroom, which is heartening.
I've now grouted nearly all the areas that are tiled, but I am still waiting for the edge pieces, so I can't finish. And although I have tested the shower for leaks, I can't really use it yet as I have to put that nasty silicone sealant between the bottom of the tiles and the shower tray.
I grouted around the sink, too:
As this is grout that goes between a glazed surface and a glazed basin, it took a long time to set. Much more difficult than doing joins between tiles. One day I may succeed in removing that label too: it seems to have been stuck on with something a lot harder than my fingernails. The water supply is now connected and it works fine.
I also started tidying up under the basin:
Before and after: in the second picture there's a thin bit of tile holding the flexible pipes out of the way while the cement is wet. It will come out later. I can't tile it just yet (even if the cement were dry) as I am possibly short of the brown tiles, and I may need to tile it, at least partly, with off-cuts. It would be better to do that where it won't really show than somewhere very visible. I have plenty of the light-coloured ones, though.
It is all beginning to look like a proper bathroom, which is heartening.
Monday, 30 January 2012
More grout....
The larger part of the shower area is now grouted, and although doing the soap/shampoo niche was tricky, it seems to have worked well enough. The end of the partition wall is still untiled, as Point P have not yet got the final edging strip for me. It shouldn't take too long, though.
The sink is now in place, and the drain is connected. I'll leave off connecting the water supply until I'm able to connect the shower too. Although there are individual valves to close off the basin taps separately from the shower, I don't know which is which. The basin will eventually have a line of grout round the base, as otherwise there's a dirt-trap between the basin and the tiles. It doesn't sit absolutely flat on the tiles.
I've also wired up an electric socket on the wall near the basin, which shows in this picture:
Unfortunately the socket will have to come off again. I put screws into five of the six holes provided, thinking that would be enough, as the sixth risked going through the mains cable. But in fact without the sixth it's distinctly flexible, so I'll have to drill a careful hole for it.
The sink is now in place, and the drain is connected. I'll leave off connecting the water supply until I'm able to connect the shower too. Although there are individual valves to close off the basin taps separately from the shower, I don't know which is which. The basin will eventually have a line of grout round the base, as otherwise there's a dirt-trap between the basin and the tiles. It doesn't sit absolutely flat on the tiles.
I've also wired up an electric socket on the wall near the basin, which shows in this picture:
Unfortunately the socket will have to come off again. I put screws into five of the six holes provided, thinking that would be enough, as the sixth risked going through the mains cable. But in fact without the sixth it's distinctly flexible, so I'll have to drill a careful hole for it.
Friday, 27 January 2012
Starting grouting, & the Solar Heating
I grouted a couple of small areas: by the shower, and by the door.
I can't do much more as I am still waiting for the builders' merchants to get the edging strip that I have ordered. Thanks, Point P, you're now more than a week later than you said.
Here's the entry to the shower:
In the corner the grouting gets wider towards the top, but it's set nicely and looks like a good seal, and I imagine people won't notice. Or not often. At the right hand edge it makes a good finish up against the new architrave strip.
Over by the door, I had the opposite problem: fitting the narrow strip of vertical tiles resulted in a join in the corner that would have been better if it was a bit wider. But it will be behind the door most of the time (when I put the door back on its hinges) so I'm not too concerned.
There's an odd level change up at the top corner, as there was before I tiled it (the door-frame projects more into the bathroom on the right than it does on the left), but it is hardly noticeable. Once the new architrave/moulding strips are painted the same colour as the rest of the wood, it should look as if it was always meant to be that way.
I'm pleased with the colour of the grout against the lighter and darker tiles. I wondered at first whether the lighter tiles ought to have a lighter grout, but seeing it actually done makes it look almost professional!
Solar Panels
The solar heating has been in action now for a year. In 2011 the pump was in action for 1,352 hours, a bit under an average four hours a day. For 2012 I've reset the controller to give me an additional record, of kilowatt-hours: it measures the fluid temperature as it comes into, and goes out of, the hot water cylinder. That temperature drop represents the amount of heat transferred, and there's a flow-meter to calculate the total useful input. It won't measure the heat put into the pool, so it'll be a conservative estimate of the efficiency of the system.
But it worked well last year: from April to October we only had to turn on the boiler on a few odd days when it had been overcast for a few days. For the rest of the time, all our hot water was provided by the sun.
Not a lot of sun recently, however: and there's a fair bit of snow forecast for the coming week.
I can't do much more as I am still waiting for the builders' merchants to get the edging strip that I have ordered. Thanks, Point P, you're now more than a week later than you said.
Here's the entry to the shower:
In the corner the grouting gets wider towards the top, but it's set nicely and looks like a good seal, and I imagine people won't notice. Or not often. At the right hand edge it makes a good finish up against the new architrave strip.
Over by the door, I had the opposite problem: fitting the narrow strip of vertical tiles resulted in a join in the corner that would have been better if it was a bit wider. But it will be behind the door most of the time (when I put the door back on its hinges) so I'm not too concerned.
There's an odd level change up at the top corner, as there was before I tiled it (the door-frame projects more into the bathroom on the right than it does on the left), but it is hardly noticeable. Once the new architrave/moulding strips are painted the same colour as the rest of the wood, it should look as if it was always meant to be that way.
I'm pleased with the colour of the grout against the lighter and darker tiles. I wondered at first whether the lighter tiles ought to have a lighter grout, but seeing it actually done makes it look almost professional!
Solar Panels
The solar heating has been in action now for a year. In 2011 the pump was in action for 1,352 hours, a bit under an average four hours a day. For 2012 I've reset the controller to give me an additional record, of kilowatt-hours: it measures the fluid temperature as it comes into, and goes out of, the hot water cylinder. That temperature drop represents the amount of heat transferred, and there's a flow-meter to calculate the total useful input. It won't measure the heat put into the pool, so it'll be a conservative estimate of the efficiency of the system.
But it worked well last year: from April to October we only had to turn on the boiler on a few odd days when it had been overcast for a few days. For the rest of the time, all our hot water was provided by the sun.
Not a lot of sun recently, however: and there's a fair bit of snow forecast for the coming week.
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Architraving mad?
Yesterday I fitted the extra architrave around the window and door, and today I got on with the tiling.
Here's the state of play this evening (I stopped when I ran out of tile cement):
The new strips of moulding look rather obvious but I hope that once they are painted it will look as if it is a single piece of rather fancy woodwork. Whether or not, it does provide a good edge for the tiles, both at the reveals (the bit next to the window) and on the walls where the tiles meet the framing for the window opening.
There's only one annoying thing about the tiles I put up today. After starting on the wall in the shower area, I discovered that the outside wall slopes out a bit towards the top. If I had started the tiling from the other side (the left rather than the right), I could have cut the last tiles that meet the sloping wall to make a good fit. As it is, the joints will be slightly tapered to allow me to get an eventual vertical column of tiles.
Yesterday I also grouted the white tiles on the floor next to the shower: they look pretty good. Well, I'm pleased with the result.
Here's the state of play this evening (I stopped when I ran out of tile cement):
The new strips of moulding look rather obvious but I hope that once they are painted it will look as if it is a single piece of rather fancy woodwork. Whether or not, it does provide a good edge for the tiles, both at the reveals (the bit next to the window) and on the walls where the tiles meet the framing for the window opening.
There's only one annoying thing about the tiles I put up today. After starting on the wall in the shower area, I discovered that the outside wall slopes out a bit towards the top. If I had started the tiling from the other side (the left rather than the right), I could have cut the last tiles that meet the sloping wall to make a good fit. As it is, the joints will be slightly tapered to allow me to get an eventual vertical column of tiles.
Yesterday I also grouted the white tiles on the floor next to the shower: they look pretty good. Well, I'm pleased with the result.
Monday, 16 January 2012
Monday midday
When I finished last night it was getting dark, and I had turned off the elctricity in the bathroom in order to tile round the light switch. So I wasn't able to get a picture. I put a few more tiles up this morning and this gives an idea of where I am now:
This shot gives a slightly better view of the holes in the tiles that are needed for the suspended WC. It won't go up for a while: I'll need to be sure the tile cement is really hard, and the grouting done too:
Finally this picture:
gives a view of the problem with tiling over the top of the existing tiles, when the new tiles go further up the wall. It's just possible to see the layer of wediboard - with a thin black vertical line and lightblue foam filler - above the level of the old tiles. You can also see how thick it makes the tiled surface of the wall. There's a good 2cm ledge at the top.
Around the edge of the window reveal I will add another strip of moulding (architrave?) which will cover the edge of the new tiling. And I'll have something similar to do round the doorway.
This shot gives a slightly better view of the holes in the tiles that are needed for the suspended WC. It won't go up for a while: I'll need to be sure the tile cement is really hard, and the grouting done too:
Finally this picture:
gives a view of the problem with tiling over the top of the existing tiles, when the new tiles go further up the wall. It's just possible to see the layer of wediboard - with a thin black vertical line and lightblue foam filler - above the level of the old tiles. You can also see how thick it makes the tiled surface of the wall. There's a good 2cm ledge at the top.
Around the edge of the window reveal I will add another strip of moulding (architrave?) which will cover the edge of the new tiling. And I'll have something similar to do round the doorway.
Saturday, 14 January 2012
Up and down
A drive through mist and sunshine to Figeac, and I bought two more tubs of adhesive. So I was able to finish off the wall I had been working on yesterday. Not grouted yet, of course: I'll tackle that when all the tiles are up. A very cold today: barely above zero all day long, and minus 4 forecast for tonight.
I'm feeling a little bruised, as I managed to tip myself off that stepladder. Even falling from 50cm can be painful. Somehow my legs went one way and the ladder went the other, and I found myself on the floor with a painful bottom and a knock on the head (but it can't have been too bad, as it bled very little). I still have no idea how it happened, but I can say it only happened once. Well, only once today.
I've bought a sack of light grey grout which I hope will go well enough with both colours: I used up some left-over grey grout on the floor and that looked pretty good against the brown. This is slightly lighter in colour and should be OK against the off-white tiles too.
And as far as I can tell the wediboard is firmly stuck to the wall, and the tiles are firmly stuck to it. When using the rubber mallet to get a firm placement, it didn't sound hollow anywhere.
More tomorrow I hope.
I'm feeling a little bruised, as I managed to tip myself off that stepladder. Even falling from 50cm can be painful. Somehow my legs went one way and the ladder went the other, and I found myself on the floor with a painful bottom and a knock on the head (but it can't have been too bad, as it bled very little). I still have no idea how it happened, but I can say it only happened once. Well, only once today.
I've bought a sack of light grey grout which I hope will go well enough with both colours: I used up some left-over grey grout on the floor and that looked pretty good against the brown. This is slightly lighter in colour and should be OK against the off-white tiles too.
And as far as I can tell the wediboard is firmly stuck to the wall, and the tiles are firmly stuck to it. When using the rubber mallet to get a firm placement, it didn't sound hollow anywhere.
More tomorrow I hope.
Friday, 13 January 2012
Up the wall
Still tiling.....
Before going away at Christmas I cast a new screed next to the shower, as otherwise the water wouldn't have drained from this raised area back into the shower. I am usually tempted to take the shuttering off much too early, so giving it 15 days to harden was a bonus. When I came back I removed the shuttering and covered the floor with plastic sheeting: putting up tiles and grouting is a messy business, and I didn't want to spend all my time cleaning the floor. It then looked like this before I started to tile the section by the shower:
For some reason, probably just procrastination, I decided that the surface under the washbasin had to be done first, which meant cutting a round 30mm hole in a tile for the tap. The tap is tall, to clear the washbasin, and the base is square and about 35mm or less across. If the hole is too large the tap will fall through or chip the tile, leaving the tap wobbly. But does anyone sell a 30mm diamond hole cutter? No, of course not. The best I could find was 27mm, which I enlarged with a grindstone. I made my own jig out of a scrap bit of plywood - the smaller hole cutters don't have a drill in the middle to centre them.
The result wasn't too bad. The hole is slightly wider across one diameter, to get the pipe tails through. And from left to right it's the grindstone, the diamond cutter, and the sponge that you put inside to keep the cut wet.
So I was finally able to start the tiling. This shows the little bit of floor I did. With luck it will look better when it's grouted:
At present the wall on the left (see below) looks a little odd, as I am tiling on top of old tiles part way up the wall, and then on the original surface. To avoid a step where the old tiles end, I've been gluing thin wediboard to the walls above the old tiles, to take up the missing thickness. As wediboard is black the effect is pretty odd above the lighter coloured tiles (and there's also just one narrow row of old tiles showing). I also decided that I'd get better adhesion by cutting the wediboard into strips that would flex a little and fit tightly on the wall: if I'd done the whole 2 meters by 50 cm in one piece the board would have pulled away from low spots as the glue can't hold a curve into the board. It's surprisingly rigid (as it's supposed to be).
I left gaps between the strips of wediboard in the belief that a bit of (thick) adhesive between the new tile and the old untiled wall would give added security to the new tiles. I suspect this was unnecessary, and with luck the tiles won't fall off.
The left hand wall will have two rows of the lighter coloured tiles above the single row of them already there, while above the washbasin it will be all brown with a big illuminated mirror in the middle (you can see the embedded electric cable at the top. I haven't yet decided what to put where the other cable appears on the left hand wall. Possibly a razor socket, or maybe just an ordinary one (French rules are different).
Eventually I ran out of adhesive so it's off to Figeac tomorrow to get some more, and some more stainless steel tile edging. Naturally I'd ordered slightly too little.
Before going away at Christmas I cast a new screed next to the shower, as otherwise the water wouldn't have drained from this raised area back into the shower. I am usually tempted to take the shuttering off much too early, so giving it 15 days to harden was a bonus. When I came back I removed the shuttering and covered the floor with plastic sheeting: putting up tiles and grouting is a messy business, and I didn't want to spend all my time cleaning the floor. It then looked like this before I started to tile the section by the shower:
For some reason, probably just procrastination, I decided that the surface under the washbasin had to be done first, which meant cutting a round 30mm hole in a tile for the tap. The tap is tall, to clear the washbasin, and the base is square and about 35mm or less across. If the hole is too large the tap will fall through or chip the tile, leaving the tap wobbly. But does anyone sell a 30mm diamond hole cutter? No, of course not. The best I could find was 27mm, which I enlarged with a grindstone. I made my own jig out of a scrap bit of plywood - the smaller hole cutters don't have a drill in the middle to centre them.
The result wasn't too bad. The hole is slightly wider across one diameter, to get the pipe tails through. And from left to right it's the grindstone, the diamond cutter, and the sponge that you put inside to keep the cut wet.
So I was finally able to start the tiling. This shows the little bit of floor I did. With luck it will look better when it's grouted:
At present the wall on the left (see below) looks a little odd, as I am tiling on top of old tiles part way up the wall, and then on the original surface. To avoid a step where the old tiles end, I've been gluing thin wediboard to the walls above the old tiles, to take up the missing thickness. As wediboard is black the effect is pretty odd above the lighter coloured tiles (and there's also just one narrow row of old tiles showing). I also decided that I'd get better adhesion by cutting the wediboard into strips that would flex a little and fit tightly on the wall: if I'd done the whole 2 meters by 50 cm in one piece the board would have pulled away from low spots as the glue can't hold a curve into the board. It's surprisingly rigid (as it's supposed to be).
I left gaps between the strips of wediboard in the belief that a bit of (thick) adhesive between the new tile and the old untiled wall would give added security to the new tiles. I suspect this was unnecessary, and with luck the tiles won't fall off.
The left hand wall will have two rows of the lighter coloured tiles above the single row of them already there, while above the washbasin it will be all brown with a big illuminated mirror in the middle (you can see the embedded electric cable at the top. I haven't yet decided what to put where the other cable appears on the left hand wall. Possibly a razor socket, or maybe just an ordinary one (French rules are different).
Eventually I ran out of adhesive so it's off to Figeac tomorrow to get some more, and some more stainless steel tile edging. Naturally I'd ordered slightly too little.
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Bathroom floor
The floor is now in place and grouted, but I haven't yet cleaned the surface mist of grout off the tiles. It's best to wait until the joins are fully dry.
It's been heavy rainstorms interspersed with lighter ones all day long, so the air is very damp and I expect it will take a bit longer to dry than usual.
The local tiler has kindly offered to lend me his big tile cutter for the wall tiles, and I hope to be able to start those fairly soon. Though I'll be starting with the washbasin surface, which has to be cemented in place and then tiled before I do the walls around it. I am not looking forward to cutting the large format tiles to produce exactly sized holes - the one for the tap has to be just big enough for the pipes, but not so big that the body of the tap falls through: as near as posible just 28mm diameter.
I'm pleased with these first results.
I'm slightly less pleased with the night-time visitor we had on Saturday:
Eventually it took half a dozen farming neighbours and a tractor with a telescopic arm to get the cow out. She appears to be no worse for her chilly experience.
It's been heavy rainstorms interspersed with lighter ones all day long, so the air is very damp and I expect it will take a bit longer to dry than usual.
The local tiler has kindly offered to lend me his big tile cutter for the wall tiles, and I hope to be able to start those fairly soon. Though I'll be starting with the washbasin surface, which has to be cemented in place and then tiled before I do the walls around it. I am not looking forward to cutting the large format tiles to produce exactly sized holes - the one for the tap has to be just big enough for the pipes, but not so big that the body of the tap falls through: as near as posible just 28mm diameter.
I'm pleased with these first results.
I'm slightly less pleased with the night-time visitor we had on Saturday:
Eventually it took half a dozen farming neighbours and a tractor with a telescopic arm to get the cow out. She appears to be no worse for her chilly experience.
Friday, 2 December 2011
Putting it back together
I'm still working on the bathroom.
The first job I tackled was bolting down the framework for the suspended WC. The cement floor however proved to be a bit brittle, and the rawlbolts seemed to crack it rather than provide a good hold. The water pipes were a bit in the way, and I had to cut away part of the metal framework to get it to fit against the wall in the right position.
The best bet seemed to be to cast a block of cement round the feet and hope that would provide a better anchorage. The cement didn't quite fill up all the way to the front of the shuttering but it will do pretty well.
The framework is also bolted to the wall at the top, definitely a belt and braces approach. So this is what it then looked like:
The next job was to clad the outside of the framework with "carreaux de plâtre", the material I have also used for the shower's freestanding wall. These were the thinner versions, just 5cm thick. When the tiles arrive this whole structure will be tiled, and only then can I actually fit the WC to it. But I am reasonably confident it will be good and solid.
As all the pipes and the mechanism are bricked up inside it, I hope that it is all properly assembled with the pipe unions done up sufficiently tightly - I did check it all with water under mains pressure before the cladding went up and nothing was obviously wrong. It appears to be possible to change the internal mechanism through the front flush panel, though I wouldn't want to try to do it myself. The picture above also shows a bit of the re-wiring: I've cut a channel into the wall for the wires (in conduit) for a new lightswitch by the door. And I've filled it flush with the wall surface.
Finally, I've finished the shower's freestanding wall, and done the structure for the washbasin. The grey surfaces are Wedi-board, hopefully waterproof, and they will all eventually be tiled. In fact everything in this picture except the doorframe will be tiled .... eventually. The light on the lefthand wall will I hope become a razor and electric toothbrush socket, and there will be an illuminated mirror above the washbasin. Again the wires for this are now in conduit below the surface of the lefthand wall, and then along the top of the shower wall (embedded there too).
Of course, this kind of work tends to spread over all adjacent surfaces. So the kitchen is looking a bit sorry for itself right now:
I still haven't worked out how to get the pipe tails for the shower into the right place, and I am reluctantly coming round to the conclusion that I am going to have to cut out a section of the plasterboard to let me get at the gaffer tape and the pipes lower down. The wall will be tiled so it shouldn't matter too much.
The first job I tackled was bolting down the framework for the suspended WC. The cement floor however proved to be a bit brittle, and the rawlbolts seemed to crack it rather than provide a good hold. The water pipes were a bit in the way, and I had to cut away part of the metal framework to get it to fit against the wall in the right position.
The best bet seemed to be to cast a block of cement round the feet and hope that would provide a better anchorage. The cement didn't quite fill up all the way to the front of the shuttering but it will do pretty well.
The framework is also bolted to the wall at the top, definitely a belt and braces approach. So this is what it then looked like:
The next job was to clad the outside of the framework with "carreaux de plâtre", the material I have also used for the shower's freestanding wall. These were the thinner versions, just 5cm thick. When the tiles arrive this whole structure will be tiled, and only then can I actually fit the WC to it. But I am reasonably confident it will be good and solid.
As all the pipes and the mechanism are bricked up inside it, I hope that it is all properly assembled with the pipe unions done up sufficiently tightly - I did check it all with water under mains pressure before the cladding went up and nothing was obviously wrong. It appears to be possible to change the internal mechanism through the front flush panel, though I wouldn't want to try to do it myself. The picture above also shows a bit of the re-wiring: I've cut a channel into the wall for the wires (in conduit) for a new lightswitch by the door. And I've filled it flush with the wall surface.
Finally, I've finished the shower's freestanding wall, and done the structure for the washbasin. The grey surfaces are Wedi-board, hopefully waterproof, and they will all eventually be tiled. In fact everything in this picture except the doorframe will be tiled .... eventually. The light on the lefthand wall will I hope become a razor and electric toothbrush socket, and there will be an illuminated mirror above the washbasin. Again the wires for this are now in conduit below the surface of the lefthand wall, and then along the top of the shower wall (embedded there too).
Of course, this kind of work tends to spread over all adjacent surfaces. So the kitchen is looking a bit sorry for itself right now:
I still haven't worked out how to get the pipe tails for the shower into the right place, and I am reluctantly coming round to the conclusion that I am going to have to cut out a section of the plasterboard to let me get at the gaffer tape and the pipes lower down. The wall will be tiled so it shouldn't matter too much.
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Inside and out
Yesterday I had loaded up a trailer-full of earth from our soon-to-be neighbour's building site. This is hard work, so I left off the task of unloading it for today.
It perhaps doesn't look all that much but I would guess it's a ton or more: the car felt pretty heavy with the full trailer, and it's a good thing that the round trip isn't much more than half a mile (or for the metrically inclined, substitute a tonne and a kilometer).
It's going to smooth out the slope at the edge of the grassed area by the terrace, so that I can eventually mow the grass up the slope, rather than let the weeds grow on it until I can get the strimmer out (once a year, maybe). I don't quite have a "before" picture, as I had already dumped one trailer-load in there earlier in the week. I'd also removed, this morning, some lumpier bits at the top to get a better slope. So this is what it then looked like:
and then the picture below is definitely "after". I also cut away a couple of the apple-tree's lower branches, as I didn't want to be poked in the eye while standing on the trailer to shovel out the earth.
After that I had a go at a bit of tidying up in the kitchen of the farmhouse. The corner where the dustbin sits ("poubelle corner") usually has a small wooden table to cover the dustbin. Without it, there's a nasty gap at the end of the tiling, where the pipes all showed, and a hole in the tiled wall originally giving access to the stopcocks (and drain valves) for the bathroom water supply. All pretty ugly.
So I slapped up a bit of plasterboard over the gap in the end, and, preparatory to putting a small cut piece of plasterboard in the access hole, I glued in a tile behind it to stop the plasterboard just falling through the hole. Like this:
The tile is almost the same size as the hole, but it goes in diagonally and fills enough space to do its job. The glimpses of blue in the top corners of the hole are the new PER water pipes feeding the bathroom: the black mould at the bottom edge is, I imagine, due to the drain cocks soaking the chipboard a couple of times a year for the last thirty years.
Now the corner looks like this:
and, yes, it is a pity I couldn't find enough of the original tiles to fill the gaps completely. But normally it's a dark corner behind the dustbin. I was lucky to find a very dusty and even more cobwebby box in the attic with the few tiles to do the more visible bits. But, maybe, next time I might use white tiles instead?
The wall isn't very vertical, is it? It'll all look better with some grout and a dab of white paint.
It perhaps doesn't look all that much but I would guess it's a ton or more: the car felt pretty heavy with the full trailer, and it's a good thing that the round trip isn't much more than half a mile (or for the metrically inclined, substitute a tonne and a kilometer).
It's going to smooth out the slope at the edge of the grassed area by the terrace, so that I can eventually mow the grass up the slope, rather than let the weeds grow on it until I can get the strimmer out (once a year, maybe). I don't quite have a "before" picture, as I had already dumped one trailer-load in there earlier in the week. I'd also removed, this morning, some lumpier bits at the top to get a better slope. So this is what it then looked like:
and then the picture below is definitely "after". I also cut away a couple of the apple-tree's lower branches, as I didn't want to be poked in the eye while standing on the trailer to shovel out the earth.
After that I had a go at a bit of tidying up in the kitchen of the farmhouse. The corner where the dustbin sits ("poubelle corner") usually has a small wooden table to cover the dustbin. Without it, there's a nasty gap at the end of the tiling, where the pipes all showed, and a hole in the tiled wall originally giving access to the stopcocks (and drain valves) for the bathroom water supply. All pretty ugly.
So I slapped up a bit of plasterboard over the gap in the end, and, preparatory to putting a small cut piece of plasterboard in the access hole, I glued in a tile behind it to stop the plasterboard just falling through the hole. Like this:
The tile is almost the same size as the hole, but it goes in diagonally and fills enough space to do its job. The glimpses of blue in the top corners of the hole are the new PER water pipes feeding the bathroom: the black mould at the bottom edge is, I imagine, due to the drain cocks soaking the chipboard a couple of times a year for the last thirty years.
Now the corner looks like this:
and, yes, it is a pity I couldn't find enough of the original tiles to fill the gaps completely. But normally it's a dark corner behind the dustbin. I was lucky to find a very dusty and even more cobwebby box in the attic with the few tiles to do the more visible bits. But, maybe, next time I might use white tiles instead?
The wall isn't very vertical, is it? It'll all look better with some grout and a dab of white paint.
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
On the floor ....
... there is now a cement screed (it's actually a 6:1:1 mix: sand, cement and lime).
It seemed like a good idea at the time to bed in the first few blocks of the wall:
this will form the side of the shower and the back of it is where the washbasin will go.
I've been trying to make friends with the feral cat (kitten, really) that arrived here a month or so ago. It is now almost tame - probably tame enough to be treated for fleas. We caught him, as he then was, in a trap a week ago, and took him down to the vet for a little snip - it'll never miss what it now hasn't got. We were told to keep it in for 24 hours after the operation, so we shut it into the boiler room. Little did we think it could climb:
Judging by the smell afterwards, he (as I suppose it's kinder not to make too much of his new not-quite gender) left us a small present up there. The smell has now gone. There was of course no way of cleaning out inside the ceiling.....
It seemed like a good idea at the time to bed in the first few blocks of the wall:
this will form the side of the shower and the back of it is where the washbasin will go.
I've been trying to make friends with the feral cat (kitten, really) that arrived here a month or so ago. It is now almost tame - probably tame enough to be treated for fleas. We caught him, as he then was, in a trap a week ago, and took him down to the vet for a little snip - it'll never miss what it now hasn't got. We were told to keep it in for 24 hours after the operation, so we shut it into the boiler room. Little did we think it could climb:
Judging by the smell afterwards, he (as I suppose it's kinder not to make too much of his new not-quite gender) left us a small present up there. The smell has now gone. There was of course no way of cleaning out inside the ceiling.....
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Getting a new bathroom ...
Having polished off the last of the shutters, it's now time to get serious with the bathroom. All the fittings were showing their age (early 1970s I'd guess), some were cracked, and the bath was beyond repair. So I turned off the water and took a sledgehammer to the bath, a cast-iron thing that really must have weighed a third of a ton, and shipped the resulting pieces to the tip.
The bathroom then looked like this:
The holes in the floor were my efforts at finding where the drainpipes went: successful too, as I did find them. The hole in the back wall was the previous plumber's access to the tap connections for the bath, though how anyone could have worked on it through that hole is beyond me. Not very nice for anyone using the bedroom on the other side of the wall, either. So I bricked it up and put up the framework for the plasterboard:
Surprisingly, the metal structure is all nicely vertical or horizontal - it's the camera that's lying this time. The one bit that looks absolutely askew is a bit of gaffer tape holding a pipe away from the structure.
The new plumbing is plastic "PER" pipe, which I'd not used before, but it has seemed quite easy to get good watertight connections. I've run the new piping back as far as I can towards the mains, down into the cellar, as the copper pipes are not just very small diameter but are also in poor condition - odd leaks in various inaccessible places.
Putting up the plasterboard was something of a struggle by myself, but it went up with only one regrettable gap on the lefthand side: all nice and tight to the walls and ceiling elsewhere. There's a handcrafted hole built into it for the soap and shampoo in the shower area, though I am now wishing I had measured the height of a standard bottle of shampoo. It'll be OK for the soap, at least.
The fitting for the shower taps etc is likely to pose another problem. I now know that I shouldn't have taped the pipes to the metal framework, as it restricts the amount you can move the pipes: after the fittings go on, they are supposed to be pushed back into the wall. They are presently not easily pushable. I may have to play around with a long thin (curved?) knife and cut the gaffer tape by fiddling about through the little holes.
Next thing is to put down the new floor, ready for tiling. Though before the tiles I have to build the wall between the washbasin and the shower, then build a support for the washbasin, tehn box in the suspended WC and ..... well, quite a bit more I suppose. And it would probably be best to get the ceiling smoothed off before starting work on the floor - and do the electrical work so I can have lights in there. Hmmm - a week or two to go yet I think.
The bathroom then looked like this:
The holes in the floor were my efforts at finding where the drainpipes went: successful too, as I did find them. The hole in the back wall was the previous plumber's access to the tap connections for the bath, though how anyone could have worked on it through that hole is beyond me. Not very nice for anyone using the bedroom on the other side of the wall, either. So I bricked it up and put up the framework for the plasterboard:
Surprisingly, the metal structure is all nicely vertical or horizontal - it's the camera that's lying this time. The one bit that looks absolutely askew is a bit of gaffer tape holding a pipe away from the structure.
The new plumbing is plastic "PER" pipe, which I'd not used before, but it has seemed quite easy to get good watertight connections. I've run the new piping back as far as I can towards the mains, down into the cellar, as the copper pipes are not just very small diameter but are also in poor condition - odd leaks in various inaccessible places.
Putting up the plasterboard was something of a struggle by myself, but it went up with only one regrettable gap on the lefthand side: all nice and tight to the walls and ceiling elsewhere. There's a handcrafted hole built into it for the soap and shampoo in the shower area, though I am now wishing I had measured the height of a standard bottle of shampoo. It'll be OK for the soap, at least.
The fitting for the shower taps etc is likely to pose another problem. I now know that I shouldn't have taped the pipes to the metal framework, as it restricts the amount you can move the pipes: after the fittings go on, they are supposed to be pushed back into the wall. They are presently not easily pushable. I may have to play around with a long thin (curved?) knife and cut the gaffer tape by fiddling about through the little holes.
Next thing is to put down the new floor, ready for tiling. Though before the tiles I have to build the wall between the washbasin and the shower, then build a support for the washbasin, tehn box in the suspended WC and ..... well, quite a bit more I suppose. And it would probably be best to get the ceiling smoothed off before starting work on the floor - and do the electrical work so I can have lights in there. Hmmm - a week or two to go yet I think.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Still Shuttering
It's still sunny, and I'm still doing the shutters.
This pair shows the before and after stages, but it doesn't do full justice to how well the wood comes up with sanding and varnishing:
The one on the right is the one seen in the previous post, and its finished surface would be suitable for a table-top, smooth and with a very interesting colour to the grain, given by 80 years of weathering. What has been taking a lot of time has been the state of the mortises. They are broad and cut all the way through the bottom or top of the side uprights. But in a number of places the wood beyond the mortise has split right through, allowing the joint to open up like a crocodile's jaws. So in these cases I've dismantled the framing entirely, cleaned out the inside of the mortise and the tenon edges, and put it back together with glue. I've held the joint together with as many clamps as I could find, while replacing and gluing-in the wooden pegs. This has reconstituted the mortises quite well - we'll see how long they last. Where wood is missing entirely I've replaced it with a resin-based filler.
For the average shutter I've needed all the clamps I have, so I can only glue one at a time. And the glue needs 24 hours to set.
When it comes to the final coats of weatherproofing "varnish", I can do two shutters at the same time, and I even have a way of doing both sides without waiting for the first to dry:
There's one last pair of shutters to go. I will then be able to stop inhaling powdered oak for a while: it really is a very dusty job, though I have been able to do a lot of it outside, giving me slightly cleaner air some of the time.
This pair shows the before and after stages, but it doesn't do full justice to how well the wood comes up with sanding and varnishing:
The one on the right is the one seen in the previous post, and its finished surface would be suitable for a table-top, smooth and with a very interesting colour to the grain, given by 80 years of weathering. What has been taking a lot of time has been the state of the mortises. They are broad and cut all the way through the bottom or top of the side uprights. But in a number of places the wood beyond the mortise has split right through, allowing the joint to open up like a crocodile's jaws. So in these cases I've dismantled the framing entirely, cleaned out the inside of the mortise and the tenon edges, and put it back together with glue. I've held the joint together with as many clamps as I could find, while replacing and gluing-in the wooden pegs. This has reconstituted the mortises quite well - we'll see how long they last. Where wood is missing entirely I've replaced it with a resin-based filler.
For the average shutter I've needed all the clamps I have, so I can only glue one at a time. And the glue needs 24 hours to set.
When it comes to the final coats of weatherproofing "varnish", I can do two shutters at the same time, and I even have a way of doing both sides without waiting for the first to dry:
There's one last pair of shutters to go. I will then be able to stop inhaling powdered oak for a while: it really is a very dusty job, though I have been able to do a lot of it outside, giving me slightly cleaner air some of the time.
Saturday, 8 October 2011
Shutters
As the weather is now beginning to feel autumnal, and rain might actually be a possibility soon - it's been a very dry summer - I've started to renovate the shutters on the farmhouse. The shutters are oak, and when new back in the 1920s must have looked pretty good. Now they are in very poor condition.
The picture above shows one of the corners, which are of course the most damaged areas, and the picture below shows one that I have dismantled:
The bolts on the hinges had to be ground off with the angle-grinder before I could take the framework off.
Here's a shutter in the course of being glued back together, though the original construction doesn't seem to have used any glue, just wooden pegs through the six mortice & tenon joints. The holes for the pegs can be seen in the picture above: the pegs knock out surprisingly easily with a drift. Quite a few were missing already.
The shutters below - a pair I did last week - could be dismantled without taking the hinges off, as the joints were open at the ends: the cross pieces could simply be slid out, either up or down, and reassembled with the four vertical planks of the shutter still together.
These have come up quite nicely, and should be good for a few more years - the weatherproof treatment will help, anyway. I am not so sure about the pair I am currently working on, as the wood is in worse condition. I will need to use some filler on a couple of the corners, but the resin-based stuff works very well, even though it shows afterwards: it doesn't take a stain.
The hardware shop didn't have any black japanned bolts for the hinges, so I am painting the mushroom heads, which will sit directly onto the wood, before fitting the bolts in place. That way I should be able to avoid getting paint onto the wood:
and I've put a coat of paint on the hinges too. I'll paint the other end of the bolt, the end with the nut that will be tightened up onto the hinge, when I've cut it to length and the shutters are finally back together.
Before starting today's shutters, I finished wiring up the lights in the workshop, so I should now be able to work there at all hours of the day. It's been quite cloudy today so without the lights it would have been too dark inside to see what i was doing.
The picture above shows one of the corners, which are of course the most damaged areas, and the picture below shows one that I have dismantled:
The bolts on the hinges had to be ground off with the angle-grinder before I could take the framework off.
Here's a shutter in the course of being glued back together, though the original construction doesn't seem to have used any glue, just wooden pegs through the six mortice & tenon joints. The holes for the pegs can be seen in the picture above: the pegs knock out surprisingly easily with a drift. Quite a few were missing already.
The shutters below - a pair I did last week - could be dismantled without taking the hinges off, as the joints were open at the ends: the cross pieces could simply be slid out, either up or down, and reassembled with the four vertical planks of the shutter still together.
These have come up quite nicely, and should be good for a few more years - the weatherproof treatment will help, anyway. I am not so sure about the pair I am currently working on, as the wood is in worse condition. I will need to use some filler on a couple of the corners, but the resin-based stuff works very well, even though it shows afterwards: it doesn't take a stain.
The hardware shop didn't have any black japanned bolts for the hinges, so I am painting the mushroom heads, which will sit directly onto the wood, before fitting the bolts in place. That way I should be able to avoid getting paint onto the wood:
and I've put a coat of paint on the hinges too. I'll paint the other end of the bolt, the end with the nut that will be tightened up onto the hinge, when I've cut it to length and the shutters are finally back together.
Before starting today's shutters, I finished wiring up the lights in the workshop, so I should now be able to work there at all hours of the day. It's been quite cloudy today so without the lights it would have been too dark inside to see what i was doing.
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