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.
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