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Oct 18, 2019 20:04:34 GMT
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Sorry for your loss. We're also trying to get used to a new reality without my father in law who passed away 4 weeks ago already... time sure flies... it's not easy.... Sorry to hear you've been going through it too. Not a great deal of fun is it. We are getting settled down again although Mrs Sweetpea's mum got an unexpected bill related to the death today which apparently upset her a bit. I'm going to tell you all one last little story and then back to the present. Earlier I said we had a projector and speakers in the church for the service. How did we get to that idea? Well Mrs Sweetpea's brother's wife had been to a funeral where they'd done some photos set to a piece of music and she said it was really good. Ken liked music and we'd been talking about his favourites. One piece that kept coming up was Justin Hayward's Forever Autumn. As it happens its one of my favourites too. If you don't know, it's from War of the Worlds and it's set at the part of the story where the narrator realises he's lost his girlfriend. It's about loss and keeps repeating the phrase "'cause you're not here". It's a powerful and emotional piece of music in my opinion. So I hatched a plan... A powerful piece of music set against photo's of Ken through his life. Ending with his name and dates and fading to black. I blOOdy well knew that if we did this properly nobody was walking out of that church without knowing just what each one of them had lost. Surprisingly my missus hadn't quite grasped how moving it could be. There was a feeling that the additional complication of speakers and a projector and all that jazz wasn't worth the risk of it going wrong and looking stupid. Rather than try and persuade them I thought I'd just prove the point so I knocked a rough cut together. A week before the funeral we went to the church to finalise the details and to see if my old speakers had enough grunt for the job. There were, I think, six of us there and I played this thing through for the first time ever. Even I hadn't seen it in one pass so I didn't know what to expect. I knew I'd find it emotional but not how much. So I played it through. And at the end there was complete silence. Nobody said a damn word. "Well," I thought "that was a bust. I massively misjudged that." I looked round and found the reason for the silence was because nobody could speak. Everybody was quietly sniffling into hankies. At that moment the idea went from 'not sure if it's worth the trouble' to 'we are definitely doing that'. On the day it had the same effect. Silence apart from people sniffling. Me included. There is a small part of me that feels bad for inflicting sadness on people. Nobody knew what they were in for. On the other hand we'd all lost somebody and with one piece of music and a few photos I think we drove that home. Refreshed his memory in the minds of those he left behind. Moving on... |
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Last Edit: Oct 18, 2019 20:07:23 GMT by Sweetpea
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…Moving on. Last we saw the garage it looked like this.   It’ll be ok when it’s painted. Oh look…   It is ok now it’s painted! If you’re going to ask about the door. I haven’t painted that and I’m not going to. I want rid of it. I want some nice ‘30s style wooden ones with windows in the top. Something in keeping with the rest of the house. Maybe next year? And then some miserable scrote at work gave me a bug. A proper one that properly knocked me off my feet. It’s the second time this year that I’ve been off sick which is pretty much unheard of. I spent Wednesday and Thursday sitting on the sofa with a thumping headache and aching in more places than you can imagine. And when I wasn’t on the sofa I was on the loo. Let’s just say that whatever the phrase ‘Digestive Transit’ means, all the wheels fell of mine. Started to feel a little more lively yesterday and ventured out for light duties. I made new little wooden plugs to screw the down pipe to.   They were originally wooden plugs and the holes were too big for plastic ones. Besides the originals lasted for 80 years and when they need replacing again in another 80 years I won’t care! So I screwed the guttering back up.   It’s the mutt’s nuts. I have some modern cast iron guttering which is made to look authentic. But it doesn’t quite. The only way you get a finish like this is to leave some old cast iron in the rain for 80 years and then paint it with old school oil paint. Are you wondering why the offset piece has survived so well? It turns out that it’s cast aluminium. Didn’t even know that was a thing in the ‘30s. I’ve painted the screw heads since I took this too. I’ve got a couple of other bits to put up on the front of the house, I had it blasted at the same time. But apart from that the garage is done. I urgently need another project or I might have to work on the MR2. Oh look, here’s another project… |
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Oct 20, 2019 21:36:06 GMT
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…Oh look, here’s another project. For some years the East Wing at Sweetpea Towers has been used by Mrs Sweetpea as the Control Centre for her global business. Oh, and there is the office in the little bedroom. It’s the one part of the house that’s never really been touched. It became the office a long time ago. Got a lick of paint. New wiring that wasn’t about to burn the place down. Hey presto - office! Some years later it’s, er, well, it needs work. We’ve been wondering about it for some time but the prospect of setting up Mrs Sweetpea in another room wasn’t relished. Then there was a funeral and the East Wing was needed for guests. Mrs Sweetpea got booted out. Well since she’s out of the office it’s time to redecorate. This means… Wallpaper off the ceiling. New window boxing. New architrave. Skirting stripped and oiled. New radiator. Ceiling fan for hot days in the board room. Paint. ETC - ad infinitum…   The woodwork round the windows have all had woodworm so it’s coming out. I was in two minds about stripping the architrave or replacing it. But it broke up as I took it off so I’ll make new stuff. The picture rail isn’t original so some new stuff can go in.   I blew some foam into the cavity over the window to stop endless curse word dropping out of it. Also PVA’d the block work ‘cos it’s horrific stuff and crumbles when it’s been cut or damaged. The PVA will stabilise it until the new wood goes in. Next a really horrible job. The window frame was covered in Gripfill, flexible filler and squirty foam.   It all needed cleaning up. But none of it actually comes off. I looked up the removal of Gripfill to see what the thinners are and there aren’t any. Removal by mechanical means only. PU foam is just as bad. So… Much poking with a screwdriver later…   It’s not perfect. But it took HOURS and HOURS and bleedin’ HOURS! James |
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Oct 21, 2019 12:19:44 GMT
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Ace work on those gutters James. I never knew i liked gutters so much until i saw yours.
On the windows, now you have the majority of the gunk off the frames, try a bit of mild rubbing compound - even T-Cut, to get the last of the screwdriver scrapes off and even out the cleaning, then finish with a bit of waxy polish to buff it.
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Oct 21, 2019 12:38:18 GMT
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My dad, and no doubt all our parents, drummed into me, "Property, lad, property. That's the way." I've lived overseas for around 14 years now, and have rented all this time. All I can say about property repairs is, "Hello, that the landlord, yes? Well XYZ is goosed, come fix it." No, it's not mine, but it's very liberating!  As to the funeral, James, very nice job! Would expect nothing less. |
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Oct 27, 2019 17:57:52 GMT
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On the windows, now you have the majority of the gunk off the frames, try a bit of mild rubbing compound - even T-Cut, to get the last of the screwdriver scrapes off and even out the cleaning, then finish with a bit of waxy polish to buff it. Now that's a jolly good idea! Thanks, I shall do that. My dad, and no doubt all our parents, drummed into me, "Property, lad, property. That's the way." I've lived overseas for around 14 years now, and have rented all this time. All I can say about property repairs is, "Hello, that the landlord, yes? Well XYZ is goosed, come fix it." No, it's not mine, but it's very liberating! As to the funeral, James, very nice job! Would expect nothing less. Thanks George. Yeah, I take your meaning about renting. Think of what I could get up to if I didn't have to do the house. But, more interestingly, think what I could get unto if I didn't have to work. Anyway, not done much house wise. I got the last bits of guttering back on the house which means I can now reconfigure the garage for wood work duties. You see, this lot has turned up.  And...  This will get turned into a window surround and architrave. There is also a small pile of picture rail and other oddments. Having finished outside I could park my scaffold tower in its home, slung from the garage ceiling.  Coming up is where I more or less crapped myself. You see, the tower is quite happy slung from the ceiling but getting it up there is a bit of a trial. Generally I use a block and tackle to haul it up while I clamp off the ropes. The other end of the tackle is attached to a fixing screwed to a handy joist via a length of chain.  So it's pretty much against the ceiling when there is a loud bang and the whole lot came down about 3 inches. Clearly something broke and I wasn't sure how much was holding it up anymore. This is roughly the point that I required new underwear. It was the fixing in the joist that had let go.  As luck would have it I'd hooked the chain on both sides and the other side held. I knew I should have used something stronger. Please remind me to listen to my inner self. Surfice to say there is something much more substantial fastened to the beam now. And my pants are in the wash.  Lessen learned. One of my 9 lives lost. I am cat aren't I? James |
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Last Edit: Oct 27, 2019 17:58:50 GMT by Sweetpea
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Oct 29, 2019 11:58:38 GMT
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Yikes!
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Oct 31, 2019 14:41:30 GMT
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the sandy texture where its snapped, looks like sintered metal. there's probably several hundred ways to make those cleats vastly stronger, while being exactly the same material thickness, and it feels like "hardware stores" are not doing any of them.
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Oct 31, 2019 20:21:29 GMT
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You are probably right about it being sintered. But the cause of it failing was really the idiot who screwed it to the beam and overstressed it.
That would be, er, oh yes. Lets say no more about him!
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Oh please, put me out of my misery. There is only one thing that's more boring and annoying than watching paint dry. Stripping it off.  You bung this stuff on in the morning and strip it off in the evening. It's flippin' expensive but, whereas stuff like Nitromors pushes the paint into the wood, this stuff peels it off. But it's messy, tedious and takes hours to wash down. End result is nice though. While that was doing its thing I was starting on the woodwork for the window.  This bit is the window sill. It's the only bit I got my tame wood yard to plane 'cos it's too wide to go through my planer. After a bit of VERY careful measuring and cutting it fits.  This stuff is expensive. You'd think wood grows on trees but apparently not. It still needs trimming to length and the bull nose machining onto it. But first the sides and top need machining. They were rough cut so I spent a few happy hours poking them through the planer until they looked like this.  I'm sure I've done all this before. It's all a bit 'Groundhog Day' really. Sorry. But it's just tough. I've got to finish it before I can do something more interesting. Anyway, you should worry. I've got another couple of weekends of paint stripping before I can get on with the interesting job of sanding it. Oh God, put me out of my misery. James |
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Good to see your still busy, all this woodwork reminds me of the few years i spent working with my dad who is a carpenter after i left school. Its a tedious job but think of stripping the skirting boards as practice for when you have to do bodywork on the MR2.
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Its a tedious job but think of stripping the skirting boards as practice for when you have to do bodywork on the MR2. Ooh. MR2 meets Morris Traveller... Fantastic! Not sure that's what you were thinking though. |
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,921 
Club RR Member Number: 40
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It’s grimmer south of Reading 😄
All be worth it in the end.
James
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Nov 14, 2019 21:39:32 GMT
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Nice job @grumpynorthener! Mind you that's no surprise. Now, the sharp eyed amongst you will notice that Chris covered the stripper with a paper backing but I used a clear film. The stuff I'm using comes with the paper but I ran out one day and was looking for something else to use. I settled on cling film. I found it had a couple of advantages so now I use it in preference. Firstly, at the joints between pieces of paper the poultice can dry out. Because the cling film clings to the next piece you don't get that problem. Secondly, I like to gently roller over the cling film to make sure there are no air bubbles between the poultice and the paint. The clear film allows me to see if I accidentally thin the poultice out too much. Anyway, today, my friends, I'd like to talk to you about wallpaper. Wallpaper on the ceiling.   Now I’ve had to deal with a fair amount of this stuff in this house. It’s been there since the house was built as far as I know and it’s horrific to get down. I don’t know what it was stuck up with. Boiled horses in all probability. Had the world realised about this stuff earlier we could have bonded aircraft together decades ago. It’s heavily embossed and heavily painted so you can’t steam it off. The spiky wheels that are designed to rip the surface won’t touch it and what little steam does get through the paint can’t get through to the glue ‘cos it’s so thick. In one room I actually took the surface off with an electric plainer. I can not begin to tell you what a sh1t, hard, miserable job it is. As luck would have it it wasn’t going to be my job this time. Mrs Sweetpea subcontracted it to a friendly decorator. Hurray! Well after two hours hard graft, having cleared a patch about the size of a piece of A3 paper, he admitted defeat. To be fair to him he was an older chap and was recovering from an illness. I don’t think he’d appreciated just how tough this job would be. It defeated him. Well, he was never going to win this war if he wasn’t fit for battle. After the subcontractor pulled out the job fell back to the main contractor. Oh plums. That’s me. After about half a day I got the process dialled in. Scrape a razor blade over the surface which breaks the embossing off quite efficiently. Then HUGE amounts of steam.   I didn’t have the arm strength to hold the steamer for so long so I used a telescopic pole and left it. Then behind the steamer I cut into the embossing with a razor blade in a handle.   Eventually I went from taking a few inches off to getting it off in sheets. Still it took two days. So currently all the painted surface is off but a fair amount of the backing is still on the ceiling. However that won’t stand up to another pass with the steamer this weekend. Oh joy. James |
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Should have just accepted a loss of 15mm ceiling height and run another sheet of plasterboard over the top. xD
Just caught up on all the shenanigans since the handrail.
Canada looked lovely.
Have you ever had a go at star trails? Seems like a good spot for it.
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Nov 15, 2019 17:00:37 GMT
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Canada looked lovely. Have you ever had a go at star trails? Seems like a good spot for it. I did a bit in the days of film. But these days I can't be bovved to sit out with the camera for hours. Instant gratification, that's what I want these days! Plus, when you take long exposure photos on a digital body you get all the hot pixels pop out. You can get round that by taking another shot of the same length with the cap on and then subtracting the two. But that just takes twice as long. Wonder if I could do it by taking hundreds of shots and stacking them? |
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Nov 15, 2019 17:05:03 GMT
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So currently all the painted surface is off but a fair amount of the backing is still on the ceiling. However that won’t stand up to another pass with the steamer this weekend. Oh joy. How can a chap be so right and yet so wrong? The paper is coming off nicely. But washing the boiled horse glue off the ceiling... I'll leave you to fill in with your own profanities. I've run out and I'm only half way across the ceiling. |
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Nov 15, 2019 22:30:41 GMT
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Canada looked lovely. Have you ever had a go at star trails? Seems like a good spot for it. I did a bit in the days of film. But these days I can't be bovved to sit out with the camera for hours. Instant gratification, that's what I want these days! Plus, when you take long exposure photos on a digital body you get all the hot pixels pop out. You can get round that by taking another shot of the same length with the cap on and then subtracting the two. But that just takes twice as long. Wonder if I could do it by taking hundreds of shots and stacking them? Stacking them is what I was inferring. I usually do 30sec exposures, take about an hour or twos worth, and then use lightroom to stack them. There is macro you can download that does it all for you. This is the only image I can find with a quick rummage..  Obviously the direction you are facing in relation to the earth spinning, and how far from the equator you are will dictate what trails you get. (Obviously) |
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Last Edit: Nov 15, 2019 22:39:56 GMT by varelse
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Nov 22, 2019 21:11:09 GMT
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Before...  Now...  Ready for painting. Four days work. Just saying... Four days. Should have just accepted a loss of 15mm ceiling height and run another sheet of plasterboard over the top. xD Yeeeeesssss. After four days of aching arms plasterboard has it's attractions. However I'm glad I did it. It's a lath and plaster ceiling and was put up by a craftsman 80 years ago. Covering it with something that came out of a machine last Thursday seems wrong somehow. Oh, and just to cement my misery, I've been sanding the walls. They were a bit beaten up after years of use so I thought a bit of prep work was worth the effort.  Tomorrow. Back to the window surround I think. |
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