Will it get finished by 16 December?

[Haveago1]

The Field Marshall decided it would be nice for our youngest daughter to have a newly decorated room.

The vision I was given was new cornicing, new skirting boards, new paint and a "Julliete" style balcony. The 'balcony' is not actually a balcony but a set of double inward opening doors to replace an aluminium window that has always had a problem opening. Nothing to step out onto, just a balustrading. Have to cut bricks down to floor level and patch up where the new door is narrower than the old window.

Put the specs into the mental work program and undertook to get around to it when possible.....was told during the week it 'would be nice' if the room was ready when she returns to us on 16.12.09!!

Mmm, let me see....

Hottest weekend of the year - check,
Nobody about to give me a hand - check,
Material order not delivered when promised - check,
External work on 2nd floor so access/safety issues - check,
Danger of damage to glass panels on ground floor directly underneath potentially falling bricks - check.

Think I had everything covered and all systems go....

[Haveago1]

The bedroom is on the upper right of the pic.

Got started Friday night removing old cornice, skirting boards and gyprock on the affected wall. The Field Marshall then tells me there will now be a small chandelier included so can I allow for some small downlights somewhere as alternative lighting.

Ok - can do.....decided to make a bulkhead to even out the dogleg on the wardrobe to make installing the fancy cornice a bit easier (just 4 straight runs) and will put downlights in the bulkhead along the mirrored robe doors....

[Haveago1]

Saturday morning - decided the only viable approach was from the outside to cut the bricks....

Had some scaffolding frames I bought at a garage sale for $100 a few years ago. The welded in snap clips that hold the bracing struts were very rusty and sold as 'not working' - thought if worse came to worse I could either bolt the bracing through the frame or drill holes through the stub of the clip and put pins through.

Turned out a bit of WD 40 at least made them all somewhat workable.

Spent Saturday working out how it all went together and making framing to hold up platform floors - got fancy and even cut in a hinged trapdoor in the top level...

[Haveago1]

I left the window in place while I cut the bricks to try to keep as much dust as possible out of the house. If I had not been so pushed for time I would have left the gyprock in place on that wall for the same reason...

By Sunday afternoon I had removed the bricks and cut out the parts of the framework that was not needed. Will need to patch up on one side of the brickwork. As it will be rendered eventually I will not key in the new bricks like I did for the 2 downstairs doors and will just stack them one on top of the other with lots of brick ties.

Now awaiting for door to turn up Tuesday (was promised last week) so I can do the final framework and fix the door frame in place.

[murray44]

You're powering. You'll have it done easy.

Don't forget to give the downstairs a quick paint inside by Christmas :D

[Master Splinter]

I hope you realise that the door that you have ordered will be delivered in ever-so-slightly the wrong size, and with no chance of a remake before...well, "Sorry sir, it'll be middle to late January, it's our busiest time what with the holidays and all..."!

Just thought I'd let you know that, so you can get a sheet of ply ready to cover the opening for a few months!

(you got a good deal on the scaffolding!!)

[sundancewfs]

Have you seen this???



And here is the weather report for Gymea, NSW. Wide spread snow, gale force to cyclonic winds, heavy rain with the chance of flooding, occasional sunny peroids with the chance of maelstrom

[cherub65]

And here is the weather report for Gymea, NSW. Wide spread snow, gale force to cyclonic winds, heavy rain with the chance of flooding, occasional sunny peroids with the chance of maelstrom

Don't you know that Gymea is in what they call God's country so I don't think that will happen:D

[Haveago1]

Monday evening....

Home late after a big day at work. Modem is playing up so Princess 1 is not happy as the internet and VOIP phones are not working. Spent a bit of time getting that sorted. Got a message that the doors will be delayed again as they are having trouble sourcing the parliament hinges I specified so they will clear the architrave and open flat against the wall.. Another week at least, 'don;t know why you want them, have never had anybody ask for them before...blah, blah, blah'...Ended up telling them to use normal hinges and am now promised them on Wednesday.

Wanted to get the bricking done but its raining cats and dogs and getting dark and windy so thought it would be a layday.

Then the Field Marshall tells me that Princess 2 will now be home two days earlier on the 14th December.....and also that she has ordered carpet to be layed on the 10th.

Looks like I have lost 6 days already!!

Get things ready and hope to get the bricking done early before I go to work if the weather lets up. Clean up enough bricks to fill the gap from those I took out yesterrday. Cart them and mortar, mixing tub and implements up to the room to save time in the morning.

Ready to call it quits and the Field Marshall is surprised - 'is that all for the night?' Reminds me the bulkhead still needs setting work and that electric lights are a wonderful invention.

Put a layer of basecoat on and hide away to file report.....

[cherub65]

Its starting to rain a bit heavier:oo:

[murray44]

Was Field Marshall Rommel murdered by his own men.......

[Haveago1]

Tuesday morning - 1st day of Summer.

Still blowing a gale but the rain has stopped. Got up early and nearly got the bricking finished. Ran out of time and mortar with one brick to go, bugger. Thought there was another bag tucked away in manland but was mistook...will scavenge around a bit more when I get home this evening - don't want to have to go out just for one bag of mix.

Will tidy up the eave trim and put topcoat on bulkhead this arvo. Cannot do any skirting or the rest of the cornicing until the gyprock on the front wall is replaced, which cannot happen until the doorframe is installed which cannot happen until it is delivered...sometime........maybe...hopefully tomorrow....

[Haveago1]

Tuesday evening...

Got a call at 6pm from the door guy - Can he deliver the doors now as he needs the truck for a big job tomorrow? Great - sure!! Go home to get ready....

I know the frame will not fit up the stairs and will have to come in through the first floor hole by way of the scaffolding - it will be heavy and the doors will have to come off to do it so tidy up manland so the doors have somewhere to sit till needed. Tidy up worksite so I don't trip over lugging it in....and wait....

Was going to put final topcoat on the bulkhead while waiting but the last bit in the tub has gone mouldy. Have not seen that before and assume it cannot be used, but cannot leave to get more till after doors are delivered. Cut final brick with angle grinder as it will not fit under the eave lining if left at full thickness and fix in place...at least got something done while waiting.

Doors finally arrive at 8pm. When I specified parliament hinges I explained this was so the doors could lay back flat against the wall when they were opened as it was a bedroom. It would be impractical to leave a door open if it was going to intrude into the room when a bed and furniture was in place as it would block the walkway area.

Doors have normal hinges, as reluctantly agreed, and are also recessed into the frame - which will only allow opening to just past 90* degrees - exactly what I did not want...too late now though...just don't have the time to wait for a 'professional' fix.

Unscrew doors and get frame up through scaffolding....examine frame a bit more closely to see what can be done.

I haven't seen this method for fixing the reveal before - some type of aluminium bracket which looks like it snaps into either side of the frame with a screw through the reveal fixing it to the bracket, which in turn is fixed to the frame - four down each side and a few across the top. The brackets also have a lipped return enclosing the edge of the reveal, presumably to stop the reveal flexing and buckling as the doors are swung open and shut.

Possible option is to undo reveal fixing screws and rotate bracket clockwise 180* so the edge of the frame which the hinges are bolted to sit proud of the reveal by the same distance the 'brickface' side is currently recessed - about 30mm. That would mean the reveal would then instead be sitting forward of the frame on the brickface side by 30mm. I can make it fit but would mean part of the reveal was exposed to the elements and the risk of later rot.

Suppose that could be minimised by ensuring good paint cover and possibly protecting with alloy moulding or angle.

If that would work it would leave the frame and hinge sitting 30mm out from the studwork. As the skirting board is 18mm thick and the gyprock is 10mm thick I could run the skirting right up to finish flush at the edge of the frame and use a piece of strap moulding instead of architrave to cover the gap between the frame and gyprock all the way around.

Willing to consider any viable suggestions.....

Here are pics of where the hinges screw onto the frame, and the reveal bracket.

There is also a pic of one of the 'snap clips' on the scafolding that were rusty but usable with lots of WD40 - any ideas on how to clean them up. Was just going to use a wire brush and keep up the WD 40 as I don't see they can be painted with anything as it would jam up the works.

[Master Splinter]

"Suppose that could be minimised by ensuring good paint cover and possibly protecting with alloy moulding or angle."

I'd suggest installing properly and putting up with poorly opening doors until you get some parliament hinges....just make sure you can get the right size leaf and you can mount it without de-installing the whole window! (some temporary doorstops to stop over-enthusiastic opening would be an idea...)


For the scaffolding clips - to get the rust out, you could paint them with hydrochloric acid, as this will preferentially attack the iron oxide, and get in all the fiddly, impossible to reach areas.

- Hold an ice cream container with maybe 10mm of acid in it under the clip and use a cheap bristle paintbrush to continually paint acid on. Don't get any on the gal on the rest of the scaffold, otherwise you'll loose the gal.

Wear eye protection, and be prepared to wash the occasional splash off your skin (itches like hell). Be prepared to paint acid on for ten or so minutes.

When it's not binding anymore, rinse well (even with sodium bicarbonate solution if you are so inclined) and you'll see a light film of rust reappear on bare metal right before your eyes. Hit this with phosphoric acid to flip the iron oxide to iron phosphate, rinse, dry it with metho or paint thinners, and hit with cold gal spray. Simple!!!!

[Haveago1]

Thanks for the advice Master Splnter, will definitely give the rust treatment a go.

Did not have any alternative suggestions by 6pm Wednesday so stuck with Plan A. As suspected reveals were held in place by brackets that slid in chanels in the frame. Undidi fixing screws, removed reveals and turned brackets so theye were facing the other way.

Put it all back together again and the reveals fouled the inside of the brickwork by 10mm. Took em apart again and trimmed 15mm off all the way around with the Triton and reinstalled - all good.

Ready to get stuck into the framing on Thursday with the intention of getting the frame fixed to the framewoirk, doors screwed in and gyprock sorted

[Haveago1]

Thursday morning and evening - got the framing sorted and fixed the frame.

As stated previously I massaged the way the frame sat in the reveals so the doors would swing all the way open rather than only 90* or so. Screwed on the doors and they open as planned!! Cut and fixed the gyprock and set joints/corners with basecoat.....

Tomorrow hope to finish setting and get started with cornicing....

[Haveago1]

You're powering. You'll have it done easy.

Don't forget to give the downstairs a quick paint inside by Christmas

Thanks for the vote of confidence Murray - have already painted the whole inside of the house over past 12 months.

While inspecting the current works however the FM did notice the under eaves were painted a very light pink, which she decided she did not like, and so suggested that 'while I was there' I could give them a quick coat of white paint....I'll leave that till after the 10th December....

[Haveago1]

Weekend,

Saturday - Finished cornicing and put on skim coat of topcoat ready for final sand and paint Sunday.

Sunday - skimcoat still not dry so cannot sand/paint. Opened the doors and put fans on to help dry it out and moved on to other tasks while waiting...

The intention was to just use a bit of backstrap moulding against the edge of the new door frame to hide the gyprock edge, but the frame had no side to it and needed to be covered where it sat proud of the wall by 18mm. Thought about various options with angle or quad but decided the best look would be a matching architrave put on the reverse of the 'usual' direction - ie the base to the edge of the frame (to fit flush) and the patterned top facing out. Challenge was to get a sensible looking join where the architraves met the skirting boards.

As the architrave was 68mm wide and the skirting 90mm it was unfortunately not just a matter of making a 45* mitre in both and it was a bit fiddly but they turned out ok...

Spend most of the day getting the skirting and architraves cut and prepainted. Three separate trips to Bunnings for paint sealer (thought I had some but didn't), paint ( small dags and congealed bits in tin was spoiling finish) and an extra length of architrave (mistake cutting mitre) which slowed things down a bit....

By late afternoon topcoat had finally dried so put in ceiling rose and got started sanding. Got mostly finished but beaten by the dark....

Monday am - finished sanding, wiped down walls, removed old carpet and vacuumed ready to start painting this evening...

[Haveago1]

Pics of ceiling rose and how the architrave and skirting will join...

Carpet is now booked for Friday so will need to have sealed, painted and skirts/arch fixed and final coated by then..

[Haveago1]

And a pic of the edge of the frame that needed covering all the way around

[Master Splinter]

(mistake cutting mitre)

I could probably do an extra house with the bits left over from my 'mistake cutting mitre' events....

[Haveago1]

PM Monday 7.12.09 - Cornicing, walls, bulkhead and rose done in sealer/undercoat.
AM Tuesday - Cornicing, rose and ceiling first coat of ceiling paint.

Second/final ceiling coat this afternoon then the walls.....

Sparky to do lights tomorrow (Wed)
Carpet has been confirmed for Friday

[Haveago1]

Everything was done by midnight Wednesday 9.12.09 except for the carpet, which went down on the Friday, so job was completed early even with the far shortened deadline!!

Could not post results as Princess 2 was checking on progress online and the FM wanted the final look to be a surprise for her. She arrived home last night and was pretty chuffed so everybody is pleased...

Must admit I was pretty satisfied I was able to get it done in 11 days while also working full time as well..

Will post pics of finished room shortly...now for the ensuite over Christmas (maybe)..

[watson]

:2tsup: :2tsup: :2tsup:

[Haveago1]

Pics of the completed room - balustrade still to be sorted.

If anybody in Sydney has any panels of lacework balustrading for sale please IM me....have been scouring eBay but no luck so far...

[murray44]

And they said you'd never make it!

Actually, I think I said you wouldn't make it, others were kinder.

Well done. :brava