Painting timber windows

So a few days ago I gave a sneak peak of the windows being painted. Today I will give a bit of a better run down for anyone out there that might want to tackle the dauting task of painting their raw timber windows.

Firstly, Dave asked the painters at his work for some advice (as you do when you have free advise close at hand). They suggested using the below Solver paint. It is an acrylic (ie washes out in water) timber primer that is great for external timbers. They suggested the Multfill puty for filling the nail holes. In the past we have had issues with putties shrinking so it was good to get advice from the professionals.

 

They also recommended the Monarch brand brushes which I picked up from Bunnings today. You can see a funky one that I grabbed that said it was good for windows so I tried it today. It was ok but can't see the big deal in the triangle shape to be honest. Almost felt too bulky for the fine cutting in.

It is much better, however, that the small kids paint brush I was using last night to do the cutting in. Here is me watching TV whilst painting in the living room. Ahhh the things you do when it is freezing and dark outside.

The painters suggested one first coat of the primer. Here is that fancy window brush in action doing the edges around the glass.

 After one coat is dry, fill the nail holes with the putty.

Once the putty was dry, we sanded it back.

They said you need to sand it until you can see the timber coming through, like this.

Then once they are all sanded you need to sand any other rough spots before wiping away any powder left over. Then apply a second coat of primer and again lightly sand. After that, they said to do three, (yes bloody 3!) top coats of the solarguard or equivalent paint.

This could take a long time. But it has to be done. I just try to imagine how nice they will look in the end.

Ok, back to the paint brush now.

Cheers,
Nat

Let there be light

Yes that's right. We now have a skylight in the kitcken!!! Happy dance required.

Skylight is in. Excuse the mess.

I took my son to Auskick this morning whilst Dave and the plumber worked on the skylight. When I came back it wasn't in yet but the roof was off so I could still get the effect. It was amazing. It is such a grey Melbourne day today (again) so I could get a real sense of the extra light I would be getting even on an overcast day. Can't wait to see the difference it will make on a sunny day.

David even managed to plaster around it tonight. So it looks pretty much finished except for the solar blind and stopping up the plaster and painting. But I am in no rush now. Just thrilled that I will no longer have to have the lights on during the day.

Putting the glue on for the plaster

Helper Heidi cleaning up the mess

The finished product at night time

Looks better in the day time

I also did a little more window painting while Heidi had her sleep.

So that was my Saturday. I am thrilled with the outcome. Now to relax with a Oreo McFlurry. Ahhhh......

Cheers,
Nat

Good Friday

Some good things happened day:

1) On my lunchtime walk today I found $2, so I went to the shop and bought a big packet of mini kit kats and gave all my workmates one.

2) Dave got $100 from a workmate who sold some junk from their work site on Ebay and shared the winnings.

3) I got home to find that some more weatherboards had been delivered for the second storey.

I moved the all around the side so Dave could get his car in the driveway.

4) I got the news that I was hoping for. The plumber is coming tomorrow to finish some roof stuff and put the long awaited skylight in! Woo hoo!

5) I got excited and started painting some windows before dinner. Just the smallest ones that I could lift.

6) Our steelwork was being made today. That means soon we can install it and finish laying the yellow tongue flooring.

So it is all happening and I am starting to get a bit of excitement and motivation back. I think once winter has past, and I am not so cold and miserable, we will be getting a lot more done.

Happy Friday!
Cheers,
Nat

The broken window

It arrived today when we were at work.

Our neighbour helped Dave move it. We have the best neighbours (bar one or two, but every street has those huh). Actually yesterday our nextdoor neighbour and I were chatting and she said they want to stay (they rent) longer because we are so nice! *cue me blushing* Funny story though, she though my name was Felicity! Even wrote it on a thank you card she sent me. I thought it was put in the wrong letterbox until I read it. Now people are calling me Flick.

Apparently the roofer tried to come yesterday to do some more finishing off of the roof. But because our concrete footpath was being poured they wouldn't let him in. Not very happy about that. But, there is a wee chance that he may be able to get a leave pas from his wife and come here on Saturday to put the skylight in. I am trying not to get my hopes up, but that would be awesome if that happened.

Another thing that I must get on to, is getting a heating/cooling guy out to advise us the best options for our house. I might call them next week.

Cheers,
Flick
Nat

Pretty new crossover

Today the street workers poured our new footpath and crossover. We are so thankful to the council as originally they were going to charge us for a new crossover but something happened and they are just doing it for free. Didn't even have to get a permit. That never happens with our council so we hope we don't get a bill in the mail down the track.

Check her out!

 They even gave us a little bridge to get over it while it dries.

 The other cool thing that happened today was my new camera arriving. Remember when my old camera left all those spots on the lens? So I borrowed an old point and click from work, but that was not great. So I used my visa card points plus $52 to get a new Nikon Coolpix S3600. Another point and click but I just don't have the spare cash for a dslr, nor the knowledge on how to use it.

So far so good though.

Cheers,
Nat

We have windows

Why is it that the day the windows are due to be delivered, the street workers rip up our crossover and lay a new concrete gutter. I warned them early in the morning that we would be getting windows delivered today and they said they will ensure they can get access.

The state of the driveway

Due to the road being closed, the truck had to stop up the street and chat to the street workers. It all turned out well though, because the workers actually helped carry the windows down the street and up our sideway. Awesome work fellas!

So here they are in the sideway when they arrived.

Windows for boys rooms uptairs

Small windows for over the bifold doors

The big one for downstairs living room

One quick call to Dave's brother who was close by and we had help to move them undercover. Awesome job Steve!Love your work.

Here are the two that will go up the top facing the street.

And these are the highlights for the retreat.

Oh and one other exciting thing happened today. I received my copy of Young House Love's book. I just love there renovating blog so had to get the book.

So the next job is to start painting the windows so we can install them.Not looking forward to that.

Cheers,
Nat

Weatherboarding the small side wall

Today's job was to wrap up and weatherboard the small wall that will be next to the fireplace toward the front of the house.

Here it is wrapped up. You can see how close the neighbours garage is here.

Dave cutting up the boards

From inside

Heidi coming out to check on the progress.

Weatherboards going on

And here is the welding that Jules did yesterday. I think he did about 8 of these.

Tomorrow I think we are going to try to board up the Dutch Gable on the roof with some ply. We did want to put shingles on it but it is going to be too small to do that effectively.

Happy Saturday night!

Cheers,
Nat

Welding work

One job that never got done was some welding of metal brackets under our stumps and bearers. We had terrible trouble dealing with out steel fabrication guy and cut our losses before all the work had been done. So, we called upon Jules from Dave's work to help us out. Another friend, Chris, helped by providing the metal brackets.

Yesterday and today after work, Jules came and welded them all on for us. You beauty!!

Now we need to find a local steel fabrication place to make us the 3 steel footings that we are still missing and some other metal brackets for a few other posts that were put on backwards (der fred! That silly steel guys fault again).

Other than that, we have a busy weekend ahead with wall straightening and hopefully wrapping up the top level. Let's hope the rain stays away.

Only 4 more sleeps until the windows arrive!

 

Cheers,

Nat

Almost roofed

I normally get out of bed at about 6am each morning and go for a run (or walk). This morning was cold and dark and I was tired from getting up the the kids during the night. But then I remembered that the roof was going on today and decided that it was going to be a day worth getting up for. So I did go for my run and had a spring in my step all the way knowing what was about to happen.

Check it out folks!

 

Ok, so it isn't finished yet and it doesn't look amazing, but hey it is doing a lot better than the black plastic we had up!

Before:

After:

He also put the ridge capping on the front roof, Dave just told me.

Also in the street today, we had the street workers digging up the footpaths and nature strips.

Not our side of the street yet but on the opposite. Hoping ours gets done tomorrow. :)

Cheers,
Nat
xx

Roof tomorrow

We came home today to find a big ladder in our backyard. After a few "what the?" moments and a phone call, we found out that it was the plumbers ladder. He'd dropped it off today along with his nail bag so he didn't have to lug them here tomorrow. He said he will be here all day tomorrow working on the roof. Woo hoo! What fantastic news. And there should not be much more than some drizzle tomorrow and little wind.

Also, on Wednesday and Thursday after work, Dave's work mate Jules is coming to do some welding work for us. This guy is a champion and has helped us out earlier when we were trying to level the floor in the old house.

Right now we are going through our receipts in preparation for doing our taxes. Hoping for a good refund because our renovation fund is looking sad at the moment.

Onward and upward!!
Cheers,
Nat

We're a bit sick of weatherboarding now

Another wintery weekend and another weekend of weatherboarding. I know that is a great place to be after all the really boring part that we have been through like waiting for plans and digging hole after hole, but it is turning out to be so slow because of the weather and the fiddly boards and packing that needs to be done to make it look top quality.

The back wall  is pretty much done now except for some boards on the bottom that we have left off to allow access to the stumps for some steel work that still has to be finished.

The week ahead is going to be another wet and rainy one. The only sunny day is Monday. We'd love a miracle and to see the rest of the roof and the skylight to be done tomorrow. That would really cheer me up.

At least the windows should arrive in about 9 days. That will be cool and give me some more painting to do.

The kids are back to school tomorrow too so back to packing lunches and homework routine. Boo!

Cheers,
Nat

Build expo and a few more boards

We went to the Build and renovating expo in Melbourne yesterday. It was pretty busy as usual but we did get a few questions answered and got some contacts for things such as solar power and flooring. The best display there was from a business called Eco Timber Group. They are located in Richmond, Melbourne and recycle old timber into flooring or decking or decorative paneling For example they had wood from Princess pier on their wall display. We really want to go to look at their showroom but can imagine how expensive they will be.

The best part is eating all the lollies that the stalls have on their displays to attract visitors. Even got a killer python at one. He he he....

At the house we just got a few more weatherboards on. We finished off this side. That last board was tricky with lots of cuts to be made to go around the rafter tails.

Then we started on this wall:

Dave firstly straightened it with packers before wrapping it like this:

Opps, didn't mean to get his bum in the shot. At least there is no plumber crack showing.

 And tonight it looks like this.

The other issue that I have been looking into is the film to put on our windows to make them obscured. After getting a bit confused looking online, I called the expert. My brother in Tassie who owns Mastertint Tasmania. He knows what film to put on and is going to send some over for us with instructions on how to apply it. Phew! It's nice to have people in the know. Thanks bro!

Cheers,
Nat

Winter waiting

This whole extension seems to have been one big waiting game. That said, this part is a lot better than the waiting for planning permits part.


So, at the moment we are waiting for 2 things really.


1) The plumber to come back to finish off the roof and install the skylight, and


2) The windows to be made.


We paid the 50% deposit for the windows today. They (Trend windows and doors) said it will take 15 working days to make them.


This weekend, we are off to the Build and renovating expo to hopefully get some ideas. Looking forward to that.



Cheers,
Nat