Lead Pipe Woes Part4

This is SO slow going ... more digging today ... you see that pipe in the middle of the trench? No, that's not the lead water pipe. That's the GAS pipe ... so we can't even stick a big shovel in there - having to manually scoop earth out with a little spade so as to not accidentally damage the gas pipe ...

If we ever need to do this again, SO going to pay professionals to do it!

Lead Pipe Woes Part 3 and Hallway Part 11

MCP here again today doing more manual labour ...

And sometime during the last couple of weeks (I can't remember when - forgot to take photos), I primer painted up all the skirting boards for the hallway, so today Sunhine went round measuring and cutting them to size.

Lead Pipe Woes Part 2

So, our lead pipe woes continue - this digging up the front path is looking to be harder than expected. Our friend MCP has been round today to help - and this included some rolling round on the kitchen floor with torches and phone cameras under the kitchen units to try and work out what pipes connected to where...

Play Festival 2012

Sunshine and I (and a lot of our friends) go out to the Welsh contryside every summer to a little festival known as Play Festival, and this year, despite the rain, we went again . Not a lot of photos as we were too busy just hanging out ... but the one sunny and dry day, we and the Domakkes walked up to the top of the hill overlooking the site (the site is the slightly dense and colourful bit at the bottom of the first picture). We're back now after 5 days of camping and hanging out and dancing and signing and shows and enjoying ourselves ... here's to Play 2013!

Loft Island Part 2 and Lead Pipe Woes Part 1

Remember those "C-beams" we made yesterday? Well, if you space them out perpendicularly over the old joists (with the beams being as high as the height of excess insulation you have); then screw them into the joists from either side at an angle; you can make sturdy uprights, good enough to hold your weight.

Then put all the insulation back in , being careful to not step in between the joists and fall through the ceiling!

Lastly place down some large mdf loft sheets; mark them off; and screw them down to the tops of your C-beams; and TA-DA! A loft island to store ALL your household crap useful storage things... (don't you just love those power screwdrivers with their own inbuilt torches?!? Still didn't prevent Sunshine from screwing into his own thumb - ouch! Thats what he's trying to show in the last picture ...)

Again, the day wouldn't be right without some demolition ... as you may (or may not) know, when we were going round the house replacing the radiators, we found in our hallway a lead pipe - our drinking water. After some investigating we found that the water board would replace the bit in the road, but we had to deal with whatever lead we have within our own boundries ... so here is Sunshine beginning to dig up our front path to try and get the lead water pipe out...

Loft Island Part 1 and Understairs Demolition

So, when we insulated our loft when we first bought the house, the insulation ended up much higher than the joists, and as such, we've not really managed to use the loft as storage space (the effectiveness of the insulation is due to its thickness/height - if you squeeze it down, you effectively loose insulation). Sunshine has spent a long time working out a solution for a "floating island" above the insulation, and today we started making the first elements - some "I-beams"... well actually, come "C-beams". Gluing and screwing battons to OSB (oriented strand board) gives us some beams that will help lift our floating platform above the current joists.

And in other news, all that building had to be balanced by some amount of demolition - Sunshine bashed down the wall under the stairs today - wow, does it look spacious now! I've spent most of the last week clearing out everying that used to live under there, and today clearing out the rubble thats been generated. We have a long-term plan to build pull-out cupboards for under the stairs, but for now its nice to just see the space :)