|
|
|
|
|
Back on the decorating, I seem to be missing the architrave from around the window. And from round the doors too but we'll forget about that for a while.  So off to B and Q to buy some, chop some 45 degree corners and bosh it on the wall then... Hmmm. Sadly I was last in the queue for common sense so a trip to the shops isn't on the cards. You see the problem is that the original architrave looked like this.  Or, at least, most of it did. The house had three styles of architrave fitted for some unfathomable reason. Anyway, you can't buy it. Well I've never found it and I wasn't going to put up with with the stock ogee stuff. We are trying to restore this house remember... So where do I keep stocks of unobtainable 80 year old architrave then? Well, obviously I keep it here...  Safely hidden in a block of rough sawn wood. Just got to chisel it out, that's all. You know the first part. Run it over the plainer to get two flat sides with a square corner.  Then set the machine up as a thicknesser and poke the wood through many many more times.  There's only one way to deal with the noise and tedium. Earbud headphone things and an album of 50 Fleetwood Mac songs what I did get for Christmas.  So,  And,  Spot on the right size. Just need to magic the wiggly bit out of it now. However, by now it had gone dark so I went and played with the MR2. James |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
i can also provide a vicarious Barton update. nobody has heard of him (via local history group and grand scheme of notable local builders) although i did find this doing a word search in 1934 kellys directory (don't ask) same chap at the same place in 1903 too. no other barton in the local vicinity. if James has a good memory this might be becoming weirdly personal....  1909 map... the building is still there now, converted to a house called "the forge"  |
| |
Last Edit: Jan 1, 2019 20:48:59 GMT by darrenh
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
That'd be a hell of a jump wouldn't it? Tiny village blacksmith to buying a grand old country pile and developing it into a row of houses. Complete with your own name on the drain covers...
I'll look at the stuff my neighbours dug up and see if there are any clues.
Thanks Darren!
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
That'd be a hell of a jump wouldn't it? Tiny village blacksmith to buying a grand old country pile and developing it into a row of houses. Complete with your own name on the drain covers... I'll look at the stuff my neighbours dug up and see if there are any clues. Thanks Darren! new info! a lady on the history group (in complete isolation, because i havent lead the jury with any info) has given a row of houses built by Barton in 1935 in sittingbourne, and that he went bankrupt at the 36th house and was unable to complete the row! (quite specific!) its called ruinsbarn road. i should probably leave it there as my spidy sense is nudging into "too much detail" anyway the 36 are basically the ones you can see in this photo, its continues up to 50something round the corner with non barton houses. in a weird twist i did a bit of summer labouring at one of these houses about 20 years go. small world.  |
| |
Last Edit: Jan 2, 2019 15:35:02 GMT by darrenh
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So he does exist. There are some similarities between those houses and ours. The half rendering (one of our street is rendered from about half way up, the rest, only the bottom is brick). And the set back, off centre front doors. Interesting that he's done a gabled roof, then a hipped roof, then a gabled roof, etc... The cupboard with the info in it is blocked with Christmas decoration boxes at the moment and I can't be bovved to dig it out. It's a lot of boxes.  |
| |
|
|
Wilk
Part of things
Posts: 528 
|
|
|
|
|
Sorry I've got to chirp in about your tread. You are correct, the tread is called a tread 😁
The going is the horizontal distance the stairs travel from leaving the ground to reaching their required height 👍 Which is usually the face of the first riser to the face of the last where it hooks over the trimmer joist
It still gives me the twitch thinking about having to set a flight out as an apprentice lol
|
| |
If it can be fixed with a hammer, then it must be an electrical fault
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I remember the young chap who'd been told to work out the birds mouths for the roof of our extension.
Seemed to be taxing his brain a little. I left him to it 'cos I didn't have a clue either.
|
| |
|
|
Wilk
Part of things
Posts: 528
|
|
|
|
|
I was taught to measure the birdsmouth a third into the depth of the rafter. A 90 degree cut parallel with the sole plate once the pitch has been established
|
| |
If it can be fixed with a hammer, then it must be an electrical fault
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MR2 related news... Yeah, I know this should be in the MR2 thread. Tough. Stop complaining. It's dripping coolant on the drive again. It's another hose clip at the front. It'll take minutes to change it but it was lightly drizzling this afternoon and, well, how can I put this... I'm not jimspolicev8sd1 . I'm refusing to work on the car unless it's a nice, warm, sunny day but with reasonable cloud cover to stop sunburn... Besides, Mrs Sweetpea reliably informs me that Christmas is now over and all the lights that she had me put up have to come down again. It's a serious engineering feet. It looked like this yesterday evening.  I should also mention that this thread started almost a year ago with me fixing Christmas lights. And next weekend (it's first birthday) I'll probably be fixing Christmas lights. There are quite a few dead LEDs in the icicle lights by the looks of it. Bah! In house news... I dug out the house documentation from the cupboard in the bedroom and I have an address for Mr Barton. At least for the time he bought the country pile where our house now stands. Darren, I'll PM you the details if you are interested. Anyway, the documentation shows Mr Barton living at "Blonde House" (in quote marks) but no number, as if the final designation hadn't been given. I couldn't tell exactly which house was his but I took a virtual drive up the road thanks to Google. "Oh my God" I exclaimed to Mrs Sweetpea. "You'll never guess what I've just found!"  This is exactly the same as the houses in our road. And I mean exactly. Ours only differs in that the porch area by the front door is a bit odd, but our porch is different to all the other houses in our street anyway. And the one above looks to have a rather odd extension on the back. Anyway, if you lifted this house from its current street and dropped it in ours you wouldn't know it hadn't always been there. This was built by our Mr Barton without doubt, and he may have been living in it when he bought the plot that our house now stands on. I also wish I could see that drain cover in the neighbours drive 'cos even money says it has "George Barton" written on it. Also in our documents is a note that he went Bankrupt in 1933. Darren's contact says he was building another street in Sittingbourne in 1935 when he wen't bankrupt. So either there is a discrepancy in the dates or he was struggling badly as a developer. James |
| |
|
|
jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,921
Club RR Member Number: 40
|
|
|
|
Nice lights ! Going to have to up the ante here next year. If you were local I’d send the boy round to grovel under the MR2 for you, he needs to learn a bit like johnthesparkyJames |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why, that's a nice thought, sending the lad round...
Although, would he be ok with the extreme climatic conditions we are suffering in Kent? This mild drizzle could lead to to him being slightly moist. Eventually.
I guess he's been saved by the distance. Of course, when I were a lad...
|
| |
Last Edit: Jan 6, 2019 21:51:55 GMT by Sweetpea
|
|
jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,921
Club RR Member Number: 40
|
|
|
|
|
Luckily for him he’s back to school today, otherwise he could be with you tomorrow sometime if he set out straight away on his bike with a a honey sandwich to keep him going. It’s a fair way to you from Somerset.
I’ll see what the plans are for the weekend.
James
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I dug out the house documentation from the cupboard in the bedroom and I have an address for Mr Barton. At least for the time he bought the country pile where our house now stands. Darren, I'll PM you the details if you are interested. Anyway, the documentation shows Mr Barton living at "Blonde House" (in quote marks) but no number, as if the final designation hadn't been given. I couldn't tell exactly which house was his but I took a virtual drive up the road thanks to Google. "Oh my God" I exclaimed to Mrs Sweetpea. "You'll never guess what I've just found!" sister found him in 1931 GPO records at borden lane, or to quote the register verbatim " Barton Geo. bldr. Borden la" yes to PM! but i like a quiz and my spidy sense says your google image is park drive ? |
| |
Last Edit: Jan 7, 2019 12:04:23 GMT by darrenh
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Actually the GPO is right. It is Borden Lane.
The docs are actually an extract from the deeds of a neighbour's house. I'll photograph them and PM them.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 20, 2019 20:45:49 GMT
|
Update on Mr Ratty... He's safe and well and living the life of Riley under the decking. I bought a different trap (a more standard one) and have set it a couple of times near one of his runs. And twice I've come back to find it's been set off and the food nibbled. So I think he's disarming the trap. A mate at work says he's seen mice kick the trap until it goes off and then eat the food. I've no evidence this is happening but I can't explain it another way. So I make that... Mr Ratty the rat - 4. Mr Sweetpea the huge ape - 0. Bummer. I should also mention that this thread started almost a year ago with me fixing Christmas lights. And next weekend (it's first birthday) I'll probably be fixing Christmas lights. There are quite a few dead LEDs in the icicle lights by the looks of it. Bah! James  Icicle lights. Broken. Now fixed. Took bleedin' hours. Nuff said! So the rest of the weekend was spent making and fitting the architrave round the stairs window. During...  Done!  Excellent! Only need to make enough to go round the 6 doors on the landing and fit it. I'll have that done by, er, what year is it now? Some time ago davidpallister asked how I wad going to hide all the screw heads on the banister. I gave half the answer and mumbled something about plugs in the holes.  Here's the capping on the newel post. One big screw through the middle and a few old nail holes. Also there is the plug that'll go in the hole. When I made the screw hole I used a countersink that comes with a matching plug cutter.  You just crack them off with a screwdriver and glue them in the holes. That's an off cut of oak above which is a close colour match to the '30s pine so...  Becomes...  Perfect? No. It'd be spot on if it was all new wood but I'm trying to match 90 year old patina and that's not going to happen. But it's good enough that you won't notice as you pass by. That cap on the newel post. Well that's really dark in colour so I have a collection of stains to try and match it.  Again, it's never going to be invisible. I'm just making it less noticeable.  This is part way through the process. There is a bit of filler in the nail holes and the plug in the screw hole. And I've started darkening the closest bits but not the further nail holes. Needs a bit more work but it'll change colour as it dries anyway. Oh and the camera sees things differently to humans too. Remember where the banister screws to this bit of wood at the floor level?  After plugs are fitted, a couple of different wood stains, and a bit of Danish Oil it now looks like this.  I can live with that I think. James |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2019 12:27:38 GMT
|
love the work on the banister and plugs. nice attention to detail on subject of rodent escapology. we had mice (and as it turns out, shrews) in our shack (the shack of victorian water cistern fame) decided to try one of the *humane traps. lure of choice was whittled down from many contenders to a blob of nutella. however, on daily basis they managed to crawl up hill in the see saw device, eat it all and retreat without setting it off. in the end we were supergluing a peanut to the end plate to guarantee tripping it *turns out not humane at all as mice urinate constantly, so they end up dying of dehydration, while trying to eat their way out of a tiny plastic coffin, covered in their own faeces and urine. That is unless you go and check it every 3-6 hours, to then go and set them free in your neighbours garden.  |
| |
Last Edit: Jan 22, 2019 12:35:18 GMT by darrenh
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2019 17:50:30 GMT
|
|
Yep we found the same ^^^ the most inhumane trap ever! with the rat you could try boxing the trap a little so it can only come straight to it? I found chocolate worked best especially if you knicked it from someone elses stash! also don't touch the trap or surrounding stuff with your bare hands as rats can smell a human a mile off apparently oh and they are dirty little blighters
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 16, 2019 21:21:48 GMT
|
Lots happening but nothing exciting. I've got the architrave made and fitted round two bedroom doors. Now I need to make another batch for the bathroom and toilet doors and yet another load for the back bedroom and airing cupboard. I could make it in one go but it's easier to make just what I need. Saves it getting damaged apart from anything else. I realised that where the architrave meets the floor I need to sort out the door thresholds. The existing ones were horrible so I'd made a couple of new ones that now needed adjusting and I needed to make the rest. That's this weekends job. The thresholds are just a flat board with the edges rounded off with the router.  Then oiled to finish. When we moved in there was a set of shelves built into an alcove in the living room. They were very '70s. A dark red wood with a thick layer of shiny varnish. Trouble is I can't throw anything away and it looked like nice wood. I'd twigged that these old shelves might make decent thresholds if they were sanded and oiled. So it's all been stored in the garage for, er, flamin' years to be honest.  After shaping and sanding it looks like the front one and winds up like the back one when oiled. Nice I reckon. If I'm completely honest I don't even know what sort of tree it came from. Best guess is it's mahogany but I really don't know. Anybody got any ideas? I'm holding them in position with some little brackets which get hidden under the carpet. They sit in a little recess machined in the bottom with the router.  I think these are technically mirror brackets. I'd like to see somebody get the screw into the glass though... James |
| |
|
|
Wilk
Part of things
Posts: 528
|
|
Feb 16, 2019 22:37:12 GMT
|
|
From the colour in the pictures it's similar in grain to Sapele
|
| |
If it can be fixed with a hammer, then it must be an electrical fault
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In a previous house we had a rat problem when we moved in. Not for long. Got a normal style rat trap. Wrapped the little platforms oogeymaflip thing with string. Coated that with peanut butter. Job done....Never had a trap set off without a rodent attached to it...They seem to love peanut butter. Or possibly it's smell masks Human smell...
Wouldnt be wasting cheese or Chocolate on the little feckers,that would be sacrilege 😂😂
|
| |
|
|
|
|
