Walls

This weekend Tracy's dad and I are putting the walls back up.

Bye Bye Rot

Gareth, the joiner routed out the rot on the windowledge. I treated the exposed timer with Metalex tanalising compund. This is a powerful fungicide and wood preservative which should kill any remaining rot.

Rot

Unfortunately stripping the bay window revealed some pretty bad rot. It was caused by condenstation running down the window. This is tricky to fix so I have hired a joiner to machine some replacement pieces and install them. Looks like he has his work cut out.

All Done

I finally finshed stripping the bay window. Took about two days from start to finish.

New Brighton Pier

It was a cold crisp autumn day at New Brighton. James loves it when I take him for a walk along the pier. Its high up so he can look at the waves and the seagulls. We had a good time watching the surfers and the fishermen at the end of the pier.

Kite Surfer

I took James to the beach and we watched the kite surfers.

More Stripping

The outside of the door frame has been painted with modern water based paint. This does not respond well to heat. Luckily the coopers paint stripper just eats through it. I just sprayed it on, waited a couple of minutes and the paint just fell away in strips. I didn't even have to scrape. Note the rubber gloves though. The stuff is pretty corrosive and hurts if you get it on bare skin.

When I'm Stripping Windows

Stripping the windows is a big job. I use an iStrip (pictured) which is the fastest method I have found. I stripped the whole bay window in a day. The iStrip is also very safe. Old houses were painted with lead based paints. Sanding scatters lead dust everywhere. A blowtorch would burn the paint and release lead fumes. The iStrip uses a lower heat applied for longer and allows large areas of paint to be scraped off in strips which can be easily disposed of. The low heat stops lead fumes from being released.

Just one question, it is a great gadget but why on earth is it called an iStrip? It can't play MP3s or connect to the internet.

Paint Stripping

Over the past year I have become something of an expert at paint stripping. The picture shows the window architraves from James's room at different stages of paint removal. I start with an i-Strip heat lamp (top) which heats the paint allowing it to be scraped off. This leaves a thin residue (middle) which I remove with steel wool and meths. Finally I use coopers paint stripper to remove the last stubborn bits of paint. This is a great product which lifts the paint right out of the grain (bottom).

More DIY

The DIY on James's new room continues, today James Snr and I dug out the remains of the old fireplace and replaced it with some old rimu floorboards that I found at a reclamation yard. When the floor is sanded and polished they will blend in with the existing ones.

A day at the Zoo

Today is Anzac day, a public holiday in New Zealand so we took James to the zoo where he met some very friendly giraffes.

Dig Dug

When we ripped up the carpet we found a patch of concrete against the wall where a fireplace once stood. This has to be removed and replaced by floorboards. We used a sledgehammer and a cold chisel to break the concrete up. Luckily, Tracy's dad is a hard worker, he tore through the job.

Boys Toys

The sheets of plasterboard are the width of the room so they are too big to lift by hand. We used a 'gib-lifter' to move them into place and hold them while we used the screw gun to fix them. It took about 3 hours to put up the ceiling. Using large sheets of plasterboard means fewer joins and hopefully a better finish.

Say hello to my leetle frien'

We are lining the wall and ceiling with gib plasterboard. This is quite a big job so it is important to use the right tools. This is a screw gun, it takes magazines of screws and speeds things up dramatically. Just beware, if you are using one and it jams, don't try to unjam it with your hand over the business end. It hurts like hell. Fortunately I had turned the power off but the spring loaded mechanism still managed to shoot a screw deep into my palm.

A clean slate

Well the destruction is done, now its time to start the construction. Today Tracy's dad and I are going to put up a new ceiling.

Bringing down the house

Down comes the ceiling - no going back now. The walls and ceiling are lath and plaster construction and knocking them out was pretty easy. I started in the loft with an axe and then finished from below with a claw hammer. It only took a day but it was filthy work. I was black from head to toe by the end. I dumped 960 Kg of rubble at the tip.

Very satisfying work.

DIY Project

We have decided to move James into a bigger room but first it needs decorating. We have hardwood windows made from New Zealand rimu so they are going to be stripped back to bare wood. The wallpaper is horrible so that has to go and the crummy built-in wardrobe needs tearing down. The carpet is a vile light grey so we will rip that out and polish the rimu floorboards.

Unfortunately this room is a DIY can of worms. The window has a rotten sill caused by condensation, the wooden floor has a big patch of concrete where a fireplace used to be, the walls are cracked and when the wardrobe came out there was no wall lining behind it! This is going to be a big job.

The condensation was fixed by installing a moisture master ventilation system. This has changed the whole feel of our house. We have no condensation and the house is warmer and smells fresher. Highly recommended. However the damage to the window is done and it is going to need a lot of work to repair it.

The photo shows the room after we stripped the wall paper. That turned out to be a waste of time as the walls are in such a bad state of repair that they have to come out, along with the ceiling.

Gore Bay

On our way home, we stopped off at Gore Bay, a beautiful isolated surfers paradise.

Road Rage

I just love this picture. What a handsome chap, just like dad.

Donegal House

If you are ever in Kaikoura, you should definitely vist Donegal House, a great irish pub. New Zealand guiness is excellent and is considered the best outside of Ireland, it's the clean Canterbury water that does it.

Horsin' About

In the afternoon we took James to a petting farm to see the animals. It was lots of fun, he stroked a wallaby and some rabbits and he really like this small horse.

A Keeper

This red cod was my biggest catch of the day. Not quite as tasty as blue cod but still fine eating. We also caught several blue cod and a heap of perch. We ate well today.

Albatross

While we fished, several albatross circled above and a couple landed next to the boat.

A Little Nipper

This little cray was undersized so Tracy got to release him overboard.

First Catch of the Day

Tracy's dad took her and me on a fishing trip. On the way out the crew raised the crayfish pots. They cooked the crays on board and we got one each to take home for tea. Kaikoura translates to English as 'eat crayfish' and they are the local delicacy. I never used to eat sea food but have developed a taste for it since moving to New Zealand. Crayfish are great eaten cold. I like to rip the flesh apart with my fingers and dip it in sambal and lemon juice.

Faster Mummy!

Sand

I wonder if it tastes nice?

We had a picnic on the beach, James loved the sand but did not eat too much of it.

Easter Break

Firstly, sorry for the lack of posts recently. My old creaking computer has been playing up and I have also been very busy doing DIY.

We spent easter at Kaikoura with Tracy's folks. We walked along the peninsula in lovely autumn weather. The mountains were covered in cloud but the view out to sea was great. I carried James on my back again. He is a real live wire now. In the last couple of weeks he has started crawling and even stands up if he can pull himself up on something.

We get talking to lots of folks as we are hiking around. Japanese women in particular just love James, and often inisist on a cuddle and a photograph. However if I come across a young couple I get two very different reactions. The young woman goes all glassy eyed, smiling at the happy family scene. The young guy averts his gaze and all but crosses himself. Probably makes a mental note to buy some condoms.

Graduation

James completed his first term as a 'Tiny Turtle' today. This is a class for parents and babies at the Pioneer swimming pool. He even got a certificate (pictured). It has been great fun, James loves the water and has learned to hold his breath when I dunk him under water. It wasn't always like this, I dropped him in the bath when he was less than a day old and he cried a lot!

Yay!

James sat up on his own today. He promptly fell over but it's a big step.