It’s Sunday, and I got up very late. Midday! I sold a couple of 200W LED lights to a guy calling himself ‘Danny Fury’. I didn’t get anything like their real full value. But we need to thin down our clutter. I got £60 for the pair.
I’ve also been moving stuff from the grey shed (shed #3!) into the big green shed (#4!). And then I finally got around to what is, I think, my third (or poss even fourth?) attempt at hanging a door on shed #3. I’ve come to realise that this entire shed must be a leaning-to-the-right parallelogram!
Head foreman Chester checks my work!
The door itself is cut pretty durn square. And the horizontal cladding is pretty durn horizontal. And yet the door seems to lean right, which is most evident at the top and bottom. What this should teach me is to take more care when erecting such structures, to keep all the main members running as straight, true and square as I possibly can.
Anyway, with a much more satisfactory door in place than heretofore (the previous door just kept failing to pieces!), next I’ll be adding a door-handle and locks.
A lovely blaze!
Today was nice enough to eat our lunch outside. Which we did. Plus we had our first fire of the year. Something about fire is so primal! As Tom Waits once sang, ‘all Hallowe’en orange and chim-e-ny red’!
Well, several days ago now – ‘twas ‘pon the Sunday last, I do believe? – I finally finished the loft flooring work.
I first put a middle section of board up there three, four, or poss’ more years ago. That was a chequerboard affair of small tile like boards.
Pic
And then, ages later, I did what I’ll call the right or back side, roughly doubling the available floor space. This latest bout has seen me do the left or front side, tripling the original floor area.
There’s still loads to be done up there: partitioning us off from the neighbours (at present) contiguous loft space; fitting electrics, so there’s proper lighting up there; poss’ even turning the resultant space into a proper walled (& insulated room)?
Pic
And quite apart from any of those further shenanigans, there’s the by no means small matter of tidying up all the crap that we have up there, so as we know what we have, and, if need be, can get at it. At present, like everywhere else in our home, it’s a godawful mess!
Last Tuesday I managed to do a bunch of home and DIY stuff. In addition to what I’ve pictured here (very poorly, alas), in the loft, I also shifted some shelving units and 90% of our fairly big DVD collection, downstairs in the lounge.
I did the latter in order to shift the two sofas towards the back end of the house, and thereby allow the new mid-room partitioning curtains to hang better. Before one of them was getting hung up on ‘my’ sofa (the ultra tatty sofa-bed, which is now covered in a curtain throw).
Notching a section of beam.
Having done that, I then had to move masses of rather heavy boxes, full of books and magazines, etc, from one side of the loft to the other, in order to access the front. Once that was done – exhausting in itself – I could lay the beams and boards for an additional two runs of chipboard floor panels, as pictured below.
Two small sub-sections needed to finish.
Two pics up is a short notched section of transverse beam. The beams that these beams rest on aren’t all level. The notches mean the boards should sit flat. I didn’t bother to do this on the very last beam. So there may be a bit of twisting in the final board.
The above photo, that shows the two boards in place, with square-ish gaps either end, is how I left things at days’ end. The nearer of the two new boards is screwed down. The farther one isn’t; I need to get the final piece of the the first one in place, before I can attach the final run of boards.
Hoping to get that done tomorrow!
So much stuff!
The final two pics show, albeit not very well/clearly, the sheer mounds of crap we have up in the attic. Once the flooring up there is complete I can start to actually rationalise and tidy all the stuff up there.
The large piece of timber that bisects the image below is the central horizontal roof tie-beam. If we want to make this attic space into a usable room, that’ll have to go!
Note the obtrusive tie-beam.
Speaking of long wooden boards that had to go, I had to borrow a pry bar from Sean, at #72, to get a very rudimentary transverse beam (it had an unfinished outside-edge-of-the-log curved cross-section!) up and out of the way, in order the place the final transverse 2”x4” supporting beam.
Doing this kind of stuff up in our attic is filthy work. I had to wear gloves and a mask, due to all the dust, soot and dirt. This then plays havoc with my vision, fogging up my glasses. And on the topic of glasses, observant readers might spot a dram o’ whisky in one photo. Working man’s fuel, I guess?
After what seems an aeon, I’ve finally had a coincidence of time and suitable weather, and been able to get the roofing felt on.
As usual, nothing in the line of DIY is totally straightforward. I had one old roll of felt, and one new one. The old one was in a poor state, along one edge, kind of adhering to itself as I unrolled it. This caused the sheet to have a very tattered and ragged edge; fortunately along the outer side. But I was able to cover a whole strip nonetheless.
Getting the felt sheets in place.
The other roll did another two strips, with the three sufficing to cover the whole roof. I had to pop out for more roofing tacks, as I my old supply finally ran out. In the end I didn’t use the plastic sheeting. That helped keep the OSB board dry.I
had kind of wanted to have a plastic membrane under the felt. But it was too wet and dirty. So I opted not to use it. I’ll keep it, for possible future usage.
Hammer and tacks…
We also have the corrugated roofing sheets that came with the shed. The original roof! I didn’t want to just use that, as the shed was, in its previous incarnation, very damp, cold and drafty. It’s now much more hermetically enclosed.
There’s still a broken window and bit of open wall panelling to sort out. The biggest remaining jobs are putting in a floor and running electricity down the length of the garden, to supply this new workspace.
The current view from ‘up on the roof’.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the roof of this shed lately. I had to add the strips along the longer sides. I also added home made wood filling paste to all the joints where there was any air between boards.
Staying safe up there meant not walking in the middle of the boards, but instead sticking to the supported wall areas. I’ve had to sweep a lot of leaves, twigs, and – eugh! – guano, off the roof. I guess I’ll have to do so occasionally. If I don’t it’ll really build up.
Still clamped, even after tacking down.
I’m not 100% sure how I’ll finish the undersides of the felt, and attach it to the OSB boards. Plus I need to add a bit more cladding around the area where my new roof meets the walls. So there’s still plenty to do!
I’m also unsure as to exactly how I’ll do the floor. But that’s a job for the new year! I’d like to get the broken window and the gap in the cladding sorted. But I’m very happy to have got the roofing felt on… at last!
Grabbing whatever moments I can – when we’re both at home and the weather’s ok, a rare combo of late – I get a little time here and there to progress work on the shed roof.
I recently extended the longer edges, which previously didn’t project over the walls. This was to make sure rain would run off, not down/through the structure. I didn’t do the best or prettiest job.
Mixing wood filler paste.Mmm… yummy!
So today I mixed a paste of wood dust, wood glue, and a little water, and filled in the seams where boards didn’t meet quite as flush as we’d have liked. Hopefully this bodge will suffice to keep the pieces together, and stop water passing through?
Filling quacks…
What a rubbish photo the above is! My excuse is that I was more concerned with getting the job done than photographing the work in progress.
It’s good to be chipping away at what is a reasonably large job, and gradually getting nearer to completion. I hope I can get the roofing felt on before the snow arrives!
Whenever there’s been a brief interlude without rain (not often lately!) and I’ve been home/free, I’ve grabbed the opportunity to make progress – even in tiny little incremental steps – on the shed roof.
The four panels that I used to do the roof were more than adequate lengthwise, giving enough coverage to project at each end (front and back, I suppose?). But the 8 foot length boards were only just big enough to reach across the width of the roof.
New projecting strips added on the ‘south face’.
Also, the shed was a bit out of square. So once the roofing boards were up and in place, they didn’t present straight/flush edges along the longer axis of the whole roof.
This meant I had to trim them, to get a straight line. And then somehow add long strips. Fortunately the off it’s from the front and back were just enough for the job. I had to cut them in half lengthwise. Bit of a faff!
But I did it. And on one day last week – Tuesday perhaps? – I did the higher side. And today I did the lower side. It wasn’t easy! And I didn’t do a perfect job. Far, far from it!
The inside view, under the new roof.
But hopefully it’s adequate? At least now the roof project out over the shed walls on every face. I’ll prob’ want to mix some sawdust and wood-glue filler, and fill some of the gaps between panels. And I’ve tried to find screws long enough to go through the whole width of the add-on boards.
Anyway, a couple more small steps towards getting the shed shop shape, and ready to move all my tools out of the previous workshop. The latter will become our art studio. With room to paint. A small etching press, and – if I can get it working – a kiln!
So, yesterday (Saturday) I got three of the four roof panels up. Today I did the fourth and final board. Although I don’t think it rained last night, it was foggy and wet this morning. All the boards already on the roof were affected; softened (and therefore more flexible), with areas where some individual strands were buckled from soaking up water. Not good!
Today, Sunday, I not only got the final panel in place, but also bought some very cheap plastic sheeting, from Boyes, as a temporary moisture barrier. I hope it’ll keep the boards safe over tonight. Then tomorrow I can collect some better thicker stuff from Screwfix in Peterborough – which I bought at the March Screwfix (but too late to collect from their Peterborough branch, where they had stock) – and attach it properly.
Striking a pose with my ‘Samurai’ saw!
Then there’ll be a layer of roofing felt. And then on top of that, the corrugated metal roofing which was the sheds original roof. 18mm OSB3, plastic sheet, felt, and a metal roof. That ought to do the job!
Whilst up on the new roof I had to continually brush off fallen leaves and twigs. So I took the opportunity to remove some dead wood and trim back the bits of tree branches that threatened to ‘ave somebody’s bloomin’ eye out’.
Earlier today I finally got around to starting the roof on shed #4. We bought the OSB3 boards some few weeks back. But since then there simply hasn’t been either the time, manpower, or appropriate weather conditions (too wet, and/or dark!), to ‘get it up’ (chortle!).
Perhaps unsurprisingly the shed itself has proven to be a little out of square. Meaning that the roofing panels don’t line up as precisely as one would’ve liked. But, hey-ho, ‘tis wadi ‘tis!
Looking towards the rear of the shed.
I’d gotten three panels in place when Chris, our fairly new neighbour – they moved in about a year ago – offered to help. I said ‘nah, I’m alright, ta’, as the real work had been moving the boards, and Teresa had already helped me do that, earlier in the day. I got some excellent Roughneck branded board carriers, which really helped when it came to moving the boards.
Chris then suggested a trip to’t local Wetherspoons pub. And I jumped at the opportunity. Poss’ my first social ‘drink with a mate’ scenario in three or more years! And that, as much as the roofing work, is what prompts this post. Here I am, back home, pissed. Bit of a hangover. Teresa a little miffed at my going out like (and for as long as) I did, etc. I certainly had too much to drink. Three pints and a double rum’n’coke.
Looking towards the front.
I do worry, on this head, as my dad, and his dad afore him, are/were alky-horlicks. And I don’t want to be one… no sir-ee, nor me neither! But, time and again, I drink too much. Fool that I am! It’s fun at the time. But what I really dislike is the aftermath.
Bloated, gassy, with a headache. All things I’m prone too anyway. And ‘Al Cahole’, famous Chicago prohibition-breaker, just exacerbates these conditions. Oh, and it also makes me more likely to do other dumb-ass shit like smoking. Or just gabbing a little too freely.
Garden looking pretty.
Anyhoo… back to’t shed. Teresa took some pics, whilst I toddled off to’t pub. The garden is looking rather autumnal. Which is geet luverly! I got three of four panels up today. The fourth got a bit butchered, annoyingly, thanks to my cheap/shite Titan router not working as effectively or reliably as it oughta.
So tomorrow, Sunday, I need to sort out the last panel – trim off the buggered edges – and get that up and fixed in place. Once all the panels are in situ, and screwed down, I’ll need to put further weather-proofing stuff on. I have an amount of roofing felt already. But not, I reckon, sufficient for the job. We shall see, I suppose.
Right, off to’t khazi for a beery wazz…
POSTSCRIPT
Working on the final roof board.
This last pic, above, is a bit out of sequence. But it at least captures the work in progress. I tried to route overlapping profiles, so as to more securely interlock the boards. But my cheap Titan router is, frankly, shite. And not up to the job, sadly. So I had to abandon that idea. The above pic is me preparing to cut off the botched (and incomplete) routed profile edge.
You can see the latter, Along the right edge of the board. The brown shiplap slat is screwed to the board to act as a guide/fence. I had to nip out and buy a new circular saw blade. I wound up getting a cheap set of three from the local ToolStation. Prob’ not good quality. But they allowed me to make the necessary cuts. Whereas the previous dull blade was simply binding mid-cut.
New draught-excluder curtain over the lounge to kitchen door.
Teresa’s been on at me for some time, asking that I put up more curtain poles and supports, mostly for doorway draught exclusion porpoises. Oh, and Teresa is making the curtains. So it’s a joint effort.
And we also have he added economic impetus of looking to rent a room, and needing to get the property as a whole up to snuff for sharing with a rent paying tenant. So we need, amongst a zillion other things, curtains in the bathroom.
I already did a draught-excluding curtain pole thingy in the kitchen some while ago. And I want all the ones I make around our home to share a design, which is based, I guess, at least to some degree, on the classic ‘ogee’ profile. Incidentally, I’m talking about the two pole supporting doodads!
Making these in the workshop is fun. Although that said, my workshop is in such an awful mess it’s not that much fun! There’s another ongoing project; the new shed, finishing the damn thing, and getting stuff moved into it! Using the router to create the profiles ‘caps’ was especially gratifying.
I did want them all to have curved grooves (is that ‘fluting?’) in the ogee profiles, so you’d get that classic, er… classical look, of fluted verticals surmounted by profiled ‘pediment’ (?) tops. The result is, as Teresa put it, a bit pedestal-like.
I like to paint all the house woodwork in oil-based gloss white. I just feel it’s a classic timeless style, and that it works well in Victorian properties like ours. So I’m doing so with these, inc. the poles, which are 22mm hardwood dowels.
The older yet unfinished kitchen/back door one.
Attaching the ornamental pole supports can be tricky , as getting wall-plugs in to walls reliably in old (or is that any?) homes is a challenge. Then there’s the depth of wood to get through in the wider top part. I’ve developed a method I’m happy with. And so far it’s worked well enough.
You can see on these thicker and as yet unplugged and uncapped kitchen ones the holes for the screws. These get filled with dowels, or just some filler. These kitchen ones are ticker than the others. So the ornamental caps will need to be bigger. Not gotten around to making them as yet!
The next sequence of four pictures shows how, despite masking around these fixtures, I tend to get white paint on the walls. And in this instance (in the lounge the original paint colour – Egyptian Cotton – still matches), rather annoyingly, the paint colour, Asian Silk, which is literally from the same paint pot, doesn’t match! Gaaah!
Later the same day…
Not so easy to see, on account of the use of transparent shower curtain (fabric curtain eventually get mouldy and disgusting!), with all the daylight flooding in! At least the blotchiness of the touched up paint is less noticeable.
A double layer of transparency protects our modesty.*
When I replaced the bath taps we inherited with the property with the shower mixer taps we now have – themselves now broken and in need of replacing (the new/replacement parts arrived today) – I took off the side of the bath housing, to access the plumbing.
That was ages (poss’ even years?) ago. And for a long time since we’ve had an open sided bath. And we started, inevitably, to stash stuff in the new space. We’re now being forced, economically, to consider letting our spare room again. So we’re having to address the rent-ability – or otherwise – of our home.
Relocated this. It needs a kick more paint!
Other bathroom bits ‘n’ pieces include: moving the home-made towel shelf, putting up three new little floating shelves, and moving out the metal shelving unit (that’ll most likely go in our new shed) trybat used to be by the radiator. The latter just accumulated clutter, and never really worked in the bathroom. Plus the humid conditions meant it got rusty!
Already full to overflowing!
These three floating shelves – pictured above and below – are useful Amazon Vine freebies. Not at all to my tastes aesthetically. But they do the job for now. And the job? Getting stuff up and off the window sill and the shelf next to the bath, all of which were overcrowded and really quite dizzz-gusting. So another small job is cleaning the vacated surfaces, and repainting where necessary.
Ought I to paint these little shelves?
Perhaps I should paint these three floaters? As much for mould-resistance and easy cleaning as to improve aesthetics.
I’ve also been making more little curtain pole hanging fittings, similar in style to some I made for the kitchen. I’ve made two so far, for the larger bathroom window. I need to make a good few more for elsewhere around the home, inc the smaller bathroom window, and – at Teresa’s request – for several draft-excluding curtains across a few doors.
Curtain pole support #1, left.
These were made from a batch of high quality marine-ply I got via Freecycle many, many moons ago. Useful stuff! Here they’re pictured having just been attached to the wall. Awaiting a few coats of oil-based high-gloss white paint.
I filled the screw-access holes on these with wooden plugs. Something I haven’t yet done with the similar pair in the kitchen. So that’s another job for the never-ending home/DIY list of tasks! I’d also like to embellish them all a bit, in a Victorian style. I have a few ideas for that!
Curtain pole support #2, right.
Teresa was a bit miffed with me for stopping her making some ordinary fabric curtains for the bathroom. but I think they need to be waterproof. Kitchen and bathroom curtains that ain’t waterproof or water-resistant/repellent quickly get mouldy and manky, and generally very dizzz-gusting!
In theory regular washing of said curtains might address this. But, 1) our washing machine (and now the plumbing to it, apparently), are jiggered, and 2) we hardly ever washed the kitchen curtain, with the result being it was mouldy and rank!
