Measurements and Complications

I think I'm going to have to give up predicting what the next day will bring when I sign off on my posts. The plan was to construct the kitchen extension today. Not going to happen.

Again with a house-that-jack-built scenario, we needed to get nice strong hardwood beams to attach to the two walls in the kitchen that we've now cut bits out of, to brace everything so it stays sturdy and straight. I'll demonstrate...

This is the room as it is at the moment (sorry it's a bit dark, it won't stop raining!). As you can see, we have chopped the VJ boards a bit below the ceiling along the West wall (the dark one which is being extended) and the wall that used to separate the kitchen from the dining room (where the doorway is still in place).

Since both those walls used to have solid boards running from floor to ceiling (which helped to secure the walls properly, we need to run hardwood beams below them, like so...

Sound simple, right? Of course not!! Since we have very little experience in carpentry, my desire to make both those horizontal areas look like this...

...makes things very complicated.

This resulted in a two-hour argument/discussion, diagrams on the floor, diagrams on the wall, and many many many measurements!

Once we finally came to an agreement about what should go where and how long it should be, we were finally able to actually purchase the hardwood to achieve our aim!

In the same trip to Bunnings, we also needed to get something to put on the floor of the bathroom to replace the boards we removed yesterday. Because the floorboards are quite deep, we actually ended up getting two large boards to place one on top of the other, to fill the gap. They then needed to be cut to size, and then chiselled to fit the space perfectly.

Daniel writing down measurements of the space to fill

 

Tom sawing the boards, clamped together



The final cut

How very Australian... a random thong in the mud

The first board almost in place

Tom chiselling the edges to make the boards fit

Tom now fitting the second board in place

Just as well we're tiling over it! It's not very pretty.

Add to that drama the fact that an unidentified neighbour keeps complaining to the Council about the noise we're making, and we're having a fantastic time!

Here's to a better week next week.

Love,

Bec

Mud, branches and holes in the floor

First things first, I took a big step this week by purchasing my own domain, so now I get to be www.pourameliorer.com!

We keep experiencing house-that-jack-built scenarios, where one thing relies on another thing happening, which relies on another thing happening, which relies on another thing happening. I'm sure this is not news to experienced renovators, but given that this is mostly new territory for us, it's quite the mental exercise to figure out exactly what we should be focusing on first.

Today, we hoped to start building the framing for our kitchen extension, since we've had a gaping hole in the back of the house covered with a tarpaulin for almost a week now. We had stored some timber for this purpose alongside the shed in the backyard when we moved in. However when the shed leaked like crazy all over our furniture on our first night, Tom got up on the roof and cut away the tree that was growing onto it. The falling branches ended up on top of our pile of timber and stayed there!

Therefore, long story short, we had to remove the branches in order to get to the timber, in order to build the frame for our extension, in order to close the kitchen!


While we were loading up the ute with branches, Allie spent about 20 minutes standing behind the shed staring into space. We couldn't figure out what was so fascinating, and even tried crouching next to her and following her line of sight to see what could possibly be keeping her in one spot for so long. Eventually we tried calling her away, and she refused to move. So... completely mystified, we checked her legs, and discovered that she had got herself completely tangled in a vine, so she was trapped! We performed a rescue mission, and I'm happy to report that no animals were harmed in the making of this post!

Onto the next task! The way the house is constructed is that the stumps in the ground are attached to the bearers, which hold up the joists that run perpendicular to them, and then the floorboards run perpendicular on top of the joists (in line with the bearers). The wall frame of the house is then built on top of the floorboards. So the reason why this is relevant is because, in order to build our kitchen extension properly, we need to put in new floorboards before we frame up the new walls. It appears to be virtually impossible to match our existing floorboards (5-inch Oregon) without paying a fortune, so I had a brilliant idea. Since we will be tiling what will become the wet areas in the house (bathroom, laundry and ensuite), we won't actually ever see the floorboards in those rooms. Therefore, we could steal some of the floorboards from the bathroom in order to make up the floor in the kitchen, and no-one will be the wiser, because the bathroom will be tiled!

So, to put this plan in motion, Tom had to saw out a section of the floorboards from the room that is currently a third bedroom, but will become the bathroom.

This is the room:

Allie testing out the strength of the boards

And checking out the view from the window.

Tom hand sawing the corner

The rectangle sawed in the floor.

Tom using the circular saw and making fireworks!

Peeling the floorboards off the joists without damaging them was very hard!

Perfectly square!

Tom lifting the floorboards off the joists

Because the boards attach together through a tongue-and-groove system, placing them under pressure can break the tongue, which is a shame when we're wanting to reuse them. The pair sitting on top separated from the others when Tom lifted them, causing a bit of damage. We'll see what we can salvage.

The boards downstairs being de-nailed

This is the area of the kitchen (and extension) that we need floorboards for. The pale coloured rectangle at the top of the photo is the top of an old desk, performing the function of temporary floor so we don't fall through the gaps in the joists. That area obviously needs floorboards. Not only that though, three of the boards further into the kitchen are quite damaged, so they need replacement as well.

That makes for a total of eight boards required, and coincidence of coincidences, that just happens to be the number of boards Tom extracted from the bathroom!

And here is my extremely scientific working drawing to determine exactly what lengths of boards we required, and in what configuration. The boards Tom got from the bathroom are only 2.555m long, and one of the spaces in the kitchen where we need to replace the existing board is over 3m long. Plan now in place, we can hopefully attach the boards tomorrow, and start on the frame!

Until then,

Bec

Extending the Kitchen

We have now finally made a start on extending the little kitchen add-on, which I had hoped would happen last week. Unfortunately when I had that hope, I was underestimating all of the other house-raising-related jobs that needed doing - boring but important things like pulling out the old concrete house stumps to clear the area under the house (much easier to do before the new steel posts go in and we risk damaging them by rolling big concrete stumps around), and organising the shed into some semblance of order, so we can actually find tools when we need them.

The giant pile of concrete stumps Tom has accumulated, with still more to come out.

The back wall of the shed. Some of the cabinets from the recently removed kitchen have been repurposed, as you can see in the left corner and the overhead shelves. Tom would like it to be noted that the TV is temporary (and not plugged in). This place is definitely not for recreation!

Close-up of the overhead cabinets

These tasks happened very slowly (as uninteresting tasks tend to do), so I was thrilled when we finally decided to start the kitchen extension today. First step, once again, is demolition (or removal), and quite a lot of it!

The demolition monster!

Tom's parents posted up an extremely fancy leather toolbelt for Christmas, so he's proudly wearing it here.

This photo shows the dining room ceiling, and the lounge room ceiling in the distance, with an archway of sorts. In addition to extending the kitchen add-on, we're intending to replicate this 'archway' in the wall between the dining room and kitchen. Currently it's a solid wall with a doorway, so this will make it much more open plan.

This is the wall in question (kitchen doorway on the right), with Tom's hand saw pushing through the wall at the required height.

Tom up the ladder on the other side power-sawing the same wall.

Daniel loaded up Tom's tool belt with every tool he could find.

Daniel removing the downpipe from the external wall we needed to remove for the add-on.

Reckon we have enough ladders?

Daniel in the kitchen add-on pushing out weatherboards

Me collecting the falling boards

Tom and Daniel on the job prying off more boards

 

Making more progress...

Tom employing a complicated hammer and screwdriver manoeuver to remove the door frame.

It looks like someone's been knife-throwing with screwdrivers! Daniel just looks scary.

Wielding a crowbar

The new open-plan kitchen, taken from what used to be the kitchen doorway.

A wider view from the dining room. The door on the left is the back door.

Allie supervising closely from our bedroom doorway (at the opposite end of the house)

The kitchen again. It makes such a big difference, having that wall gone!

And the kitchen yet again.

Once all the boards were off the area to be extended into, we had to attach extra joists to support what will be the new floor.

Daniel perched on a ladder attaching clamps to hold the new joists to the old joists

Two out of three joists in place, being bolted in

The bolting process

The view of the kitchen extension from below, with the back doorway on the right

It feels wonderful to finally be on the way towards finishing the renovation, one little project at a time!

Stay tuned for the construction of the remainder of the add-on!

Love Bec