baby steps add up to progress
Jul. 23rd, 2023 06:52 pmWhen last I posted about renovation we'd re-painted the bathroom window two weekends ago (including stripping away all of the old paint with power tools). We have a screen door that we built for that window last summer that sits inside the window frame, so it just lives there year-round. Open it first to open the window itself, and then re-close it to keep the bugs out. However, we made that one out of scrap wood, in a hurry, so it had never been painted. Of course we painted it black, too, when we did everything else, and replaced the thin layer of stick-on foam on the side that presses up against the window frame with a new layer, to truly keep the mosquitos out.
However, it turns out that while the paint felt well dry when we put the screen back in place that first night, so the mosquitos don't come in, the screen latch is close enough to the window frame that it presses the screen frame rather tightly into place. This is a good thing when one is keeping mosquitos out of the house. It is not so good when the paint is kinda fresh, even though it is dry to the touch. Sure enough, the following weekend, when we were finally ready to re-mount the window itself (which had gotten a couple of extra coats of paint added in the meanwhile, and they were finally good and dry), we tried opening the screen window, and it was stuck. He needed to push on it from the outside to get it to unstick from the window frame.
Of course, when it finally separated there were a couple of places where the new paint from the window frame decided to stay attached to the screen window frame instead, so now there was bare wood exposed. Likewise, in a couple of other areas the nice new layer of foam decided to stick to the window frame. Sigh. However, better that then letting in mosquitos!
So this week I took the time to spackle the places that lost paint, and, since I was spackling anyway, I got a few of the places were the power-tool sanding had left a deeper gouge in the wood. Ideally we should have spackled that before painting, but we were trying to get it done in one day, and early enough in the day that the mosquitos were not trying to get in (they are alway much worse in the evening here).
Then I repainted the inside of the window pane another couple of coats, and it all looks much better.
In the meantime I have been making progress on my thesis while he's been at work (the re-painting was easy thesis break task).
This week he managed to score a bunch of scrap wood that was being thrown out--some huge pallets that are made up of large and long sturdy timbers--the sort of thing that is ideal for supporting a roof. Therefore, the outside enclosure for the cats that we have been thinking about doing since we got them last October suddenly jumped to the top of the priority list, especially as that project involves replacing one of the bedroom window panes with plywood and insulation with an inset cat door, which, if we are installing we may as well re-paint that window at the same time.
But before we get to that part...
We had to disassemble the pallets. Then, as he started cleaning up the wood with power tools, I took at metal brush to the lichen on that side of the house. We needed to clean away at least the part where the support timber for the roof of the cat enclosure will attach to the wall, because lichen between the timber and the bricks sounds like a terrible idea.
Since I was brushing the house (sorry, I didn't make it to Cudgel War, I needed to brush my house) while he was occupied with getting the timbers usable for a home improvement project, I kept going beyond just those two rows of bricks, and actually managed to get about one third of that wall done Saturday morning and afternoon, before and after we went out to the garage scale loop that was having in the nearby villages (there were at least half a dozen different garage sales, all scheduled on the same weekend, plus a temporary cafe set up to hopefully lure more people out. It worked for us, and we found a few useful things, some of which I have actually been meaning to buy, but hadn't gotten around to either going out or going on line to do it.
We stopped for the evening on Saturday when he ran out of replacement sandpaper for the rondel, and we decided to get up early enough on Sunday (today) to head into town to get more, and to buy some tar, linseed oil, and turpentine to mix up a blend to paint the timbers with, both to protect them from the weather, but also to make them look nicer against the house, since the result is a lovely brownish red which goes well with a yellow brick house.
We achieved the go in early to pick stuff up, but it wasn't the fast round trip I had been envisioning. Instead we also stopped by the grocery store, and by his dad's house to pick up the blades for the router his dad has (since he'd brought home the router from work, wanting to finish up the corners of the timbers nicely, because if a project is worth doing, it it worth making it pretty,even especially if you are using thrifted materials. Since we were at his dad's anway I checked the garden, and the red currant bush had a lot of ripe berries, so we delayed long enough to pick half a liter.
Then we stopped by the antique store in BureƄ on the way home. I had never been there before--it is open only on Sunday afternoons, from 11:00 to 15:00, so it is easy to miss it. We expected to miss it today, since the store opened at 09:00 (we arrived at 09:30), and it is only a half an hour drive home. However, the extra stops meant that we got as far as BureƄ at 11:15, so, of course, we stopped.
My is that place popular! There was already a bunch of cars lining the street in the neighbourhood, and lots of people looking through the two buildings that house the antique store, which are in two outbuildings of a lovely house--these must have been barns back in the day, and now they run a pretty cool hobby business (I feel like if they are only open one day a week it counts as a hobby).
I can see why it is popular, they had a lot of really nice stuff, many of which I would have happily taken home, had I a budget for such things. As it was, we did pick up a few things (which I haven't gotten around to photographing yet), including a belt made of small bone plaques and a tiny little knife with a matching bone handel and sheath. When he first looked at it he thought it was cool, and I looked at it, thought it looked about my size, and said, let me try that. He looked at it and replied "not even you are that skinny" (but we were speaking in Swedish, of course). I just smiled, and proved that, yes I am that skinny (I really do have a very small rib cage for my height). After trying it on we set it back on the table, and wandered around looking at everything else. I found a square wooden box in a useful size for only 40 kr. He started to suggest that if I want a wooden box we could just make one. I replied that we can't make one for only 40 kr worth of time. Then I found a nice bentwood box, with no price marked, so I started carrying that as well (one can never have too many bentwood boxes). I asked, and the guy decided that I could have both for 80, so I took them. Then Keldor said that he was still thinking of the belt, so we went back to that building, and, sure enough, it was still there. they wanted 150 kr for it. Again, while we could (and he probably will) make a bone belt ourselves, not for as little time as 150 kr represents (that is $14.44 USD at today's conversion rate).
Once home he went to work using the router on the timbers while I cooked a pot of soup and turned today's red currents and the half liter of blueberries we'd picked on Friday (plus the remaining blueberries I had picked the week before and frozen) to make just over a half liter of mixed berry jam (the bit that didn't fit in the jar is already in my breakfast bowl, to be mixed with muesli and yoghurt tomorrow).
Then I went outside and started moving the curbstones, which used to delineate a little garden strip adjacent to the house and alongside the concrete block walkway, which we had taken away and stacked to the side shortly after we got back from the most recent SCA event. That garden strip had long since become completely filled with bushes of some sort, which we don't want growing right up against the house, as the roots can destroy the walls, and they hold in moisture, which is also not good for the basement walls.
Therefore we have been digging them out, a little at a time, taking away the ones were the cat enclosure will be on Friday, before we went berry picking. Now that the strip by the house is bare dirt we decided to use those curbstones as an along the house layer, which slopes just enough to guide any rain that falls that close to the house away from the walls. Later we will gather some round rocks and set them in concrete to make a grass-free area right by the house.
I got the curbstones where I want them for the part of the house between the window and the wall edge, but by then I had been discovered by the gnats, which crawled inside my hat, and under the collar of my shirt, to bite me on the ear and on the shoulders. My body really dislikes gnat bites, so I gave up and went in at that point and took a hot shower and bathed my ear and shoulder in chlorhexidine, which seemed to help--normally gnat bites itch terribly for a couple of weeks, but just now, only a couple of hours later, they are only mildly itchy.
While I showered he was getting creative in the basement, and now the one of the timbers for the roof of the enclosure has a dragon on it..
Now it is time to do yoga and think about getting some sleep, as morning comes early on a Monday.
However, it turns out that while the paint felt well dry when we put the screen back in place that first night, so the mosquitos don't come in, the screen latch is close enough to the window frame that it presses the screen frame rather tightly into place. This is a good thing when one is keeping mosquitos out of the house. It is not so good when the paint is kinda fresh, even though it is dry to the touch. Sure enough, the following weekend, when we were finally ready to re-mount the window itself (which had gotten a couple of extra coats of paint added in the meanwhile, and they were finally good and dry), we tried opening the screen window, and it was stuck. He needed to push on it from the outside to get it to unstick from the window frame.
Of course, when it finally separated there were a couple of places where the new paint from the window frame decided to stay attached to the screen window frame instead, so now there was bare wood exposed. Likewise, in a couple of other areas the nice new layer of foam decided to stick to the window frame. Sigh. However, better that then letting in mosquitos!
So this week I took the time to spackle the places that lost paint, and, since I was spackling anyway, I got a few of the places were the power-tool sanding had left a deeper gouge in the wood. Ideally we should have spackled that before painting, but we were trying to get it done in one day, and early enough in the day that the mosquitos were not trying to get in (they are alway much worse in the evening here).
Then I repainted the inside of the window pane another couple of coats, and it all looks much better.
In the meantime I have been making progress on my thesis while he's been at work (the re-painting was easy thesis break task).
This week he managed to score a bunch of scrap wood that was being thrown out--some huge pallets that are made up of large and long sturdy timbers--the sort of thing that is ideal for supporting a roof. Therefore, the outside enclosure for the cats that we have been thinking about doing since we got them last October suddenly jumped to the top of the priority list, especially as that project involves replacing one of the bedroom window panes with plywood and insulation with an inset cat door, which, if we are installing we may as well re-paint that window at the same time.
But before we get to that part...
We had to disassemble the pallets. Then, as he started cleaning up the wood with power tools, I took at metal brush to the lichen on that side of the house. We needed to clean away at least the part where the support timber for the roof of the cat enclosure will attach to the wall, because lichen between the timber and the bricks sounds like a terrible idea.
Since I was brushing the house (sorry, I didn't make it to Cudgel War, I needed to brush my house) while he was occupied with getting the timbers usable for a home improvement project, I kept going beyond just those two rows of bricks, and actually managed to get about one third of that wall done Saturday morning and afternoon, before and after we went out to the garage scale loop that was having in the nearby villages (there were at least half a dozen different garage sales, all scheduled on the same weekend, plus a temporary cafe set up to hopefully lure more people out. It worked for us, and we found a few useful things, some of which I have actually been meaning to buy, but hadn't gotten around to either going out or going on line to do it.
We stopped for the evening on Saturday when he ran out of replacement sandpaper for the rondel, and we decided to get up early enough on Sunday (today) to head into town to get more, and to buy some tar, linseed oil, and turpentine to mix up a blend to paint the timbers with, both to protect them from the weather, but also to make them look nicer against the house, since the result is a lovely brownish red which goes well with a yellow brick house.
We achieved the go in early to pick stuff up, but it wasn't the fast round trip I had been envisioning. Instead we also stopped by the grocery store, and by his dad's house to pick up the blades for the router his dad has (since he'd brought home the router from work, wanting to finish up the corners of the timbers nicely, because if a project is worth doing, it it worth making it pretty,
Then we stopped by the antique store in BureƄ on the way home. I had never been there before--it is open only on Sunday afternoons, from 11:00 to 15:00, so it is easy to miss it. We expected to miss it today, since the store opened at 09:00 (we arrived at 09:30), and it is only a half an hour drive home. However, the extra stops meant that we got as far as BureƄ at 11:15, so, of course, we stopped.
My is that place popular! There was already a bunch of cars lining the street in the neighbourhood, and lots of people looking through the two buildings that house the antique store, which are in two outbuildings of a lovely house--these must have been barns back in the day, and now they run a pretty cool hobby business (I feel like if they are only open one day a week it counts as a hobby).
I can see why it is popular, they had a lot of really nice stuff, many of which I would have happily taken home, had I a budget for such things. As it was, we did pick up a few things (which I haven't gotten around to photographing yet), including a belt made of small bone plaques and a tiny little knife with a matching bone handel and sheath. When he first looked at it he thought it was cool, and I looked at it, thought it looked about my size, and said, let me try that. He looked at it and replied "not even you are that skinny" (but we were speaking in Swedish, of course). I just smiled, and proved that, yes I am that skinny (I really do have a very small rib cage for my height). After trying it on we set it back on the table, and wandered around looking at everything else. I found a square wooden box in a useful size for only 40 kr. He started to suggest that if I want a wooden box we could just make one. I replied that we can't make one for only 40 kr worth of time. Then I found a nice bentwood box, with no price marked, so I started carrying that as well (one can never have too many bentwood boxes). I asked, and the guy decided that I could have both for 80, so I took them. Then Keldor said that he was still thinking of the belt, so we went back to that building, and, sure enough, it was still there. they wanted 150 kr for it. Again, while we could (and he probably will) make a bone belt ourselves, not for as little time as 150 kr represents (that is $14.44 USD at today's conversion rate).
Once home he went to work using the router on the timbers while I cooked a pot of soup and turned today's red currents and the half liter of blueberries we'd picked on Friday (plus the remaining blueberries I had picked the week before and frozen) to make just over a half liter of mixed berry jam (the bit that didn't fit in the jar is already in my breakfast bowl, to be mixed with muesli and yoghurt tomorrow).
Then I went outside and started moving the curbstones, which used to delineate a little garden strip adjacent to the house and alongside the concrete block walkway, which we had taken away and stacked to the side shortly after we got back from the most recent SCA event. That garden strip had long since become completely filled with bushes of some sort, which we don't want growing right up against the house, as the roots can destroy the walls, and they hold in moisture, which is also not good for the basement walls.
Therefore we have been digging them out, a little at a time, taking away the ones were the cat enclosure will be on Friday, before we went berry picking. Now that the strip by the house is bare dirt we decided to use those curbstones as an along the house layer, which slopes just enough to guide any rain that falls that close to the house away from the walls. Later we will gather some round rocks and set them in concrete to make a grass-free area right by the house.
I got the curbstones where I want them for the part of the house between the window and the wall edge, but by then I had been discovered by the gnats, which crawled inside my hat, and under the collar of my shirt, to bite me on the ear and on the shoulders. My body really dislikes gnat bites, so I gave up and went in at that point and took a hot shower and bathed my ear and shoulder in chlorhexidine, which seemed to help--normally gnat bites itch terribly for a couple of weeks, but just now, only a couple of hours later, they are only mildly itchy.
While I showered he was getting creative in the basement, and now the one of the timbers for the roof of the enclosure has a dragon on it..
Now it is time to do yoga and think about getting some sleep, as morning comes early on a Monday.