Saturday, February 19, 2011
Getting plastered
Our friendly neighbourhood painter has scraped and filled, plastered and applied undercoat to the lounge, main bedroom, kitchen ceiling and is progressing through the house as fast as we can rebuild in front of him.
Main bedroom plastered and undercoated.
Kitchen ceiling: scotia redone, lighting, batons, undercoated
Back room scraped, new gib lining under window, plastered
A room ahead of the painter, the hallway ceiling finally gets closed in.
Hall to bathroom undercoated (our job not the painters).
Laundry outside wall had to have builder's paper to meet Council requirements. We have to show them a photo, so this is it. It also has to have insulation, which is kind of useless because this would be the only section of the house walls that will have insulation rendering any insulating properties useless. Oh well the powers that be require it, so be it.
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Fastest Paintbrush in the West
Our painter is unbelievably fast. He's finished painting the exterior of the house in just over one week!
He was so fast and he did such a good job for a great price, that we've engaged him to progress the inside: stripping off the painted wallpaper, scraping sanding and plastering, and sanding and plastering again, undercoating and filling; then finally painting the ceilings, walls, window sills and frames, door frames - you name it, he'll do it. We just need to finish all the fiddly building bits, like skirting boards etc.
In 2 days, nearly the whole house inside has been scraped back. This photo shows the wall bared of it's old covering. It's stripped back to the gib.
We found this to be such a gruelling job. We tried the chemical wash that's supposed to dissolve the glue and scraping; we tried the Tiger scratchy thing and hired a steamer and you still have to scrape and pull, scrape and pull... a ghastly monotonous, seemingly never-ending job. And this family swoop in and like magic it's done. How? Well, they didn't use the scratchy thing or the steamer. They used a painter's spray gun to spray water on to the wall and peeled and scraped: spray, peel, scrape. The biggest difference, is probably the attitude. They seem almost chuffed and at the end of the day satiated by the work, as if they've just finished a grand feast.
No sooner have the painters' assistants stripped a room and the painter is filling gaps and plastering. This photo shows the lounge room in the process of receiving a first plastering. This is only Day 2 on the interior.
Make-over a tired tin fence
But wait there's more. On the weekend we had sis helping and she painted the old-falling-down-rusty tin fence. This is a simple cheap treatment for a boundary fence that's an eyesore. We looked on the mistint shelf at Placemakers and luckily for us we found 10 litres of pale yellow gloss exterior acrylic (for only $37). It doesn't really matter what colour it is. In this instance we were extremely lucky as the paint is almost the same colour as the house in front, so there's a kind of flow down the drive to the deepest corner of the property.
Turning old tongue & groove flooring into beautiful polished timber floors
We've completed lifting the old lino in the kitchen and entrance way. Underneath was old-tempered hardboard in the hall and thinline through the kitchen. That's all been pulled up and the staples and nails painstakingly removed with hammer and nail-puller. The treasure beneath: 100 x 20 untreated matai. There's a few boards with rot in the hall, but these can be swapped out with pieces pinched from the back bedroom which is going to receive carpet. The following photo shows the view from what was once the front door, through the entrance hallway, kitchen and into the dining room beyond. Once polished, this will give a sense of depth to the house when entering from here.
Readying the bathroom for vinyl
The race is on to completely finish a room. Will the painter beat us to it? Our room to finish is the bathroom/laundry. The vinyl (lino) floor covering has been chosen and the layers are waiting for the nod, but we thought it would be best to finish painting first. This photo shows the entrance hall to the bathroom and toilet sanded and scraped with it's first skimcoat of plaster on. Another light sand, wipe and then the paint goes on. But, it's Monday and we're back to our day jobs.
He was so fast and he did such a good job for a great price, that we've engaged him to progress the inside: stripping off the painted wallpaper, scraping sanding and plastering, and sanding and plastering again, undercoating and filling; then finally painting the ceilings, walls, window sills and frames, door frames - you name it, he'll do it. We just need to finish all the fiddly building bits, like skirting boards etc.
In 2 days, nearly the whole house inside has been scraped back. This photo shows the wall bared of it's old covering. It's stripped back to the gib.
We found this to be such a gruelling job. We tried the chemical wash that's supposed to dissolve the glue and scraping; we tried the Tiger scratchy thing and hired a steamer and you still have to scrape and pull, scrape and pull... a ghastly monotonous, seemingly never-ending job. And this family swoop in and like magic it's done. How? Well, they didn't use the scratchy thing or the steamer. They used a painter's spray gun to spray water on to the wall and peeled and scraped: spray, peel, scrape. The biggest difference, is probably the attitude. They seem almost chuffed and at the end of the day satiated by the work, as if they've just finished a grand feast.
No sooner have the painters' assistants stripped a room and the painter is filling gaps and plastering. This photo shows the lounge room in the process of receiving a first plastering. This is only Day 2 on the interior.
Make-over a tired tin fence
But wait there's more. On the weekend we had sis helping and she painted the old-falling-down-rusty tin fence. This is a simple cheap treatment for a boundary fence that's an eyesore. We looked on the mistint shelf at Placemakers and luckily for us we found 10 litres of pale yellow gloss exterior acrylic (for only $37). It doesn't really matter what colour it is. In this instance we were extremely lucky as the paint is almost the same colour as the house in front, so there's a kind of flow down the drive to the deepest corner of the property.
Turning old tongue & groove flooring into beautiful polished timber floors
We've completed lifting the old lino in the kitchen and entrance way. Underneath was old-tempered hardboard in the hall and thinline through the kitchen. That's all been pulled up and the staples and nails painstakingly removed with hammer and nail-puller. The treasure beneath: 100 x 20 untreated matai. There's a few boards with rot in the hall, but these can be swapped out with pieces pinched from the back bedroom which is going to receive carpet. The following photo shows the view from what was once the front door, through the entrance hallway, kitchen and into the dining room beyond. Once polished, this will give a sense of depth to the house when entering from here.
Readying the bathroom for vinyl
The race is on to completely finish a room. Will the painter beat us to it? Our room to finish is the bathroom/laundry. The vinyl (lino) floor covering has been chosen and the layers are waiting for the nod, but we thought it would be best to finish painting first. This photo shows the entrance hall to the bathroom and toilet sanded and scraped with it's first skimcoat of plaster on. Another light sand, wipe and then the paint goes on. But, it's Monday and we're back to our day jobs.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Exterior Painted Gives Morale Boost
After so many months the house is at least starting to look almost finished. We got a Pink Bin in last week and piled it full of the building rubbish; the lights are wired and most of them seem to work. Having finished the wiring, we were able to finish the insulation in the ceiling.
This photo shows the house with only it's first coat of paint complete. The WC (water closet) has got it's first coat on also and the wardrobes in the main bedroom have been bogged and undercoated.
We advertised the exterior painting job on Builderscrack but in the end gave the job to a painter who was working on the house next door. He has swooped in with 2 helpers and in one week, sanded, bogged and painted to this stage. They've been very fast.
There's still a lot of fiddly building inside to complete, like building a door frame to give the third bedroom a new door, finishing scotia replacement and ceiling batons, figuring out where to put the dishwasher.
Once the new laundry has been painted, the vinyl layers will come in and do their thing and soon, very soon, one room will be completely finished.
The struggle for us is to drag ourselves their after work and spend more time there on weekends - we've just not been very good at doing that. It's hard to put a date on when we'll be finished because of our being almost burnt out energy and motivation-wise. Looks like we will not get the house rented before the end of the financial year, which means no tax return can be filed and nothing we've spent on it can be claimed back as tax deductible. Capital expenditure, which most of it has been, could not have been claimed anyway.
The overdraft is mounting and we're over budget on the renovations (which we'd only set at $40,000). Friends of ours recently had their bathroom redone and that cost $18,000, so our measly budget of $40,000 was unrealistic to start with. Still, we're sliding fast towards a total spend that may very well exceed the registered valuation we'll get as soon as we're done.
Has it been a good investment? We're yet to calculate that. One advantage of this project is that it's sucked up every spare cent we've earned over the last 8 months. We sold our other house and got rid of the mortgage, which has saved us money. We've learnt that we can rent a house in a nicer area than where we could afford to buy, and hence are enjoying a nicer safer lifestyle. At the end of the project we will have only a small mortgage and great borrowing power, so we'll be able to borrow and buy another rental property straight away. So, whilst we've invested everything in developing this one rental property - actually it will result in us owning 2 rental properties. Sounds unbelievable even to us. Stay posted to see if we can pull it off.
This photo shows the house with only it's first coat of paint complete. The WC (water closet) has got it's first coat on also and the wardrobes in the main bedroom have been bogged and undercoated.
We advertised the exterior painting job on Builderscrack but in the end gave the job to a painter who was working on the house next door. He has swooped in with 2 helpers and in one week, sanded, bogged and painted to this stage. They've been very fast.
There's still a lot of fiddly building inside to complete, like building a door frame to give the third bedroom a new door, finishing scotia replacement and ceiling batons, figuring out where to put the dishwasher.
Once the new laundry has been painted, the vinyl layers will come in and do their thing and soon, very soon, one room will be completely finished.
The struggle for us is to drag ourselves their after work and spend more time there on weekends - we've just not been very good at doing that. It's hard to put a date on when we'll be finished because of our being almost burnt out energy and motivation-wise. Looks like we will not get the house rented before the end of the financial year, which means no tax return can be filed and nothing we've spent on it can be claimed back as tax deductible. Capital expenditure, which most of it has been, could not have been claimed anyway.
The overdraft is mounting and we're over budget on the renovations (which we'd only set at $40,000). Friends of ours recently had their bathroom redone and that cost $18,000, so our measly budget of $40,000 was unrealistic to start with. Still, we're sliding fast towards a total spend that may very well exceed the registered valuation we'll get as soon as we're done.
Has it been a good investment? We're yet to calculate that. One advantage of this project is that it's sucked up every spare cent we've earned over the last 8 months. We sold our other house and got rid of the mortgage, which has saved us money. We've learnt that we can rent a house in a nicer area than where we could afford to buy, and hence are enjoying a nicer safer lifestyle. At the end of the project we will have only a small mortgage and great borrowing power, so we'll be able to borrow and buy another rental property straight away. So, whilst we've invested everything in developing this one rental property - actually it will result in us owning 2 rental properties. Sounds unbelievable even to us. Stay posted to see if we can pull it off.
Shoddy work by house movers
We've just passed a pre-line inspection by the City Council building inspectors. They needed to sign off the new laundry framing, electrics and wall-lining before we could insulate and wall in and finish the laundry. That was the good news.
The bad news was the building inspector looked around and informed us that the house is not sitting on the piles correctly! The house movers used packers where the pile didn't quite reach up to the house, and they incorrectly packed with custom board! Duh! Ok we can get under the house, jack it up in places and replace the shoddy packers with slices of actual pile wood. But, worse, some of the bearers are not sitting correctly on some piles. They're off to one side or the other and this is not allowed. We will not get Code of Compliance with it like that.
We need Code of Compliance to get the new title for the land issued and to be able to refinance. So, this is crucial to the successful completion of our project.
Not quite sure yet how we fix the problem. No doubt there'll be more unexpected un-budgetted-for expense.
The bad news was the building inspector looked around and informed us that the house is not sitting on the piles correctly! The house movers used packers where the pile didn't quite reach up to the house, and they incorrectly packed with custom board! Duh! Ok we can get under the house, jack it up in places and replace the shoddy packers with slices of actual pile wood. But, worse, some of the bearers are not sitting correctly on some piles. They're off to one side or the other and this is not allowed. We will not get Code of Compliance with it like that.
We need Code of Compliance to get the new title for the land issued and to be able to refinance. So, this is crucial to the successful completion of our project.
Not quite sure yet how we fix the problem. No doubt there'll be more unexpected un-budgetted-for expense.
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