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On the left - start taking off ceiling paper - on the right, almost at the end of taking off ceiling paper... It came off amazingly easily. And the board under is really smooth. We should be able to just clean and paint over. Yay to no more textured ceiling paper!
So, we've lost a little bit of momentum as we've got into a slight dilema about whether or not we want to buy new floorboards. There's nothing wrong with the old ones (no rot or woodworm); just that they are soft pine (meant to be under carpets), and therefor dent easily. Also we've inadvertantly broken a few in taking them up - so need to source replacements. Still undecided about what we're going to do.
Also, to get all the boards up, we had to get the skirting boards up, which meant that the radiator had to come off the walls. The radiator turned out to need a thorough clean out (it was full of the black magnetic rust that accumulates if you haven't got any inhibitor in the water). So we had to take half a day off to just flush out the whole radiator system in the house. We had to get ourselves a hose too - as we don't have an outside tap, so have never had a hose. Sunhine had to engineer a pipe under the washbowl in the back WC so we had somewhere to plumb the hose into. All such a faff! I wish the landlords had left the outside tap that was already there when we first came to see the house when we were looking to rent it. Outside tap has been included on the must-do list.
Day off DIY to have a day hill walking with friends in the Brecon Beacons - Black Mountains, Wales.
*Sorry for the image quality - its a rather large image and it obviously doesn't like being compressed by Blogger.
Today, with some help (thank you Ted!), the rest of the floorboards came out. Then we decided to get rid of the non-existant-fireplace-hearth. As it turned out, it was a block of polystyrene, covered in a 10mm thick layer of pretend-marble composite. Unfortunately underneath it is the most had concrete block on the planet. We've tried bashing it (need it flat so that we can put floorboards across where the hearth used to be); but it wont budge - looks like we may have to go and procure a jack-hammer of some sort...
First order of the day - clear out the lounge and pile everything in other rooms in the house.
Then proceed to take off skirting boards - and then floorboards. As Sunshine pulled out the boards, I diligently hammered out all the old nails so they weren't sticking out waiting to poke the unsuspecting.
The plan is to insulate under the floor. Lucky for us we found that it was completely dry underneath and there was a concrete subfloor (these old victorian houses often only have dirt under - but ours allegedly had been re-built post-WW2 as it had been bombed; and this is turning out to be a great thing as everything is about 50-60 years old rather than over a hundred!)
Also, by the end of the day realised that leaving the sofabed in the lounge wasn't such a great idea ... thank you to Ollie for coming round on short notice and helping Sunshine maneuver it to the next room - I'm too small and weak for such jobs!
***** photo of finished bathroom to go here eventually *****
Just realised that we have no pictures of the finished bathroom. Second coat of paint has gone on and everything mostly cleaned up. Still a few small bits to touch up - and the skirting board by the shower to re-make - but we are done otherwise. Phew! next .... the front lounge...
I love living in Bristol. Bristol Balloon Fiesta weekend ... watched the balloons go over our house everyday from Thursday to Sunday. Friday watched them with Paul from the harbourside. Sunday watched the Red Arrows from the comfort of the Peskimo's balcony. All photos by Sunshine ... I was too busy staring at the sky to take pictures...
Oops ... seemed to have got a bit lax in photo-taking/documenting. Unfortunately no pics of tiling ... but as you can see - tilling done, including grouting and sealing. Shower door back on. We've also started cleaning off bits of chipping paint from the walls. And plastering bits and bobs including re-building that bit of wall that was to the left of the shower door.
First coat of white paint going on ... whoopee! Home stretch now ...
*I'd also like to note that although it appears that I've not been doing anywork (Sunshine is always in the pictures), I've been doing loads too - especially cleaning and painting. It just so happens that photo-taking seems to have become my responsibility.
The correct boards to use behind powershowers - Aquapanel Cementboard. We did the bottom, then decided two days later that we were going to go another level up on the back wall (photo on left is 2 days ago).
Windy day out with house guest Jeanine and Sunshine at Sand Point.
Sunshine being sad that now there appears to be TWO walls of tiles that need replacing .... there's black mould growing up the back of the tiles! They used the wrong kind of plasterboard on the back and its soaking ... poo ... We later also realised that they had plumbed the hot/cold pipes into the shower the wrong way round ...
On the left - start taking off ceiling paper - on the right, almost at the end of taking off ceiling paper... It came off amazingly easily. And the board under is really smooth. We should be able to just clean and paint over. Yay to no more textured ceiling paper!
