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That 'big project' I've been banging on about for a few years now....

Started by James Harrison, January 31, 2020, 08:06:41 PM

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James Harrison

Good points- but I'd already bought some timber strip moulding a few days ago.  This has a chamfer to it so when it's finally in place and caulked up it should just throw the water off the tiles and back into the bath.



I want to put a length of it across the head of the bath as well but that would be a nightmare of a cut to make (all of my saws are handsaws) so will have to wait until I buy a jigsaw.  Naturally this strip needs to be stained and varnished to within an inch of its life and - it's not there yet.  I reckon maybe another week or so of staining, varnishing and sanding and it will be ready to install. 



Another big piece of the trim has been cleaned up and re-stained, both the door and the panel above it.  The panel has actually had another coat of paint as well and now reasonably matches the walls, which makes a bit of a difference.  Whisper it, but this wall is now practically finished. 



Skirting board for behind the bathtub and WC has been bought - I purposely bought a smaller section of skirting because it's easier to fit it in around and behind the fittings.  The section behind the bath needs to be slid in from a precise location at a precise angle to get it to fit, if I'd gone for the skirting the same size as the rest of the room it wouldn't have worked.  Obviously I can't do much with this, beyond cut it to length and stain it, until the trim to the bath is in. 

As for the box out - there's only one place in town that sells the size of timber I need, it's a car ride away and (as usual) it's shut by the time I get home from work and only open on Saturday mornings at weekends.  So that's a job for tomorrow, to buy what I need for that. 

In terms of my getting thoroughly worn out and bored of the work - small steps and short work sessions seem to be the only ways of dealing with that. 
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

James Harrison

Today's little bits;
-I got the wood for the box-out carcass;
-I bought a jigsaw and a workbench (how have I gone so long without either of those?!?);
-That proposed second piece of bath surround has been cut, and started staining it;
-The remaining length of skirting for behind the bath has been cut to length and shaped to fit, and started staining it.

Tomorrow's session looks like a paintbrush and some woodstain.
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

SeVeNeVeS

I do hope you will mitre all the ends for a nicer finish.

A workbench and basic power tools are essential for a house refurb, sometimes good to buy some first before thinking about the materials, design etc.

The Bullet

Quote from: SeVeNeVeS on August 04, 2024, 09:03:41 AMA workbench and basic power tools are essential for a house refurb, sometimes good to buy some first before thinking about the materials, design etc.

True words.

Whan I bought this house in 2009 the fist thing for me was to do a basic fix of the workshop in the basement (just for it to last during the move) and put all my tools in place there. I also added a few cabinets (those with the tiny drawers) of assorted screws, nails. This also helped a lot.
People were joking about me like, "should do the bedroom first or will you sleep in the workshop?" but it was worth it. We did not waste any time looking for tools in the many boxes but had everxthing available.
All tools ready to go and a "worn out, old" workbench supporting a huge vice and my pillar drill.
After the move and having everything else set up I emptied the workshop completely and installed my kind of workshop. The old benches had woordworm, lighting was poor, just a few outlets for the tools...

My mail weapon still is my "outside workshop". This is a postable workbench with a huge bench vice and a pipe vice. It had been hand-built ages ago. The fold-away legs are 2" pipe, the wooden top is 1" thick and held in place by 1" x 1" angle iron. The thing is d##n heavy but also very stable. Due to its weight, you can really use the vices, even with force.
Good to have things like that.
If brute force does not work....you´re not using enough of it.

James Harrison

Tools can be expensive and so I only tend to buy them as and when they're needed.  It's only because I now have more awkward cuts and some larger bit of timber to cut that I've invested in the jigsaw.  Similarly the workbench, most of the time I can use one of the kitchen worktops to stand at (obviously being careful not to wreck the worktop).

What I'm finding now though is that the more work that gets done, the fewer places I have where I might be willing to risk doing things like cutting.  The sitting room and dining room for instance are completely out of bounds for labour, and washing out brushes and the like is prohibited in the bathroom.  Whilst working in the kitchen is fine at the moment, at some point it's also going to become verboten.   

At present the majority of my tools are stored in the cupboard under the stairs (very neat and tidy, but an absolute nightmare the second I need to get one out, and painful too when I know  the one I need is right at the back of the cupboard but stubbornly refuses to make its presence known).  In the long term I'm planning to turn part of the garage into a workshop (to help my second long term project) but as it usually is by the time I'm ready to do that the house will be probably 85 - 90% done. 

Quote from: SeVeNeVeS on August 04, 2024, 09:03:41 AMI do hope you will mitre all the ends for a nicer finish.


That's the intention, assuming the 200mm deep sheet will fit inside my mitre saw stand. 
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

SeVeNeVeS

Again Gumtree and Marketplace can be a good place for 2nd hand power tools but I'm always a little wary in case they could be stolen.

often people just retiring or wives clearing deceased loved ones possesions, I have seen some stunning bargains but I got most of what I want and need (from work).

I have a very humble setup, B&D workmate, powertools and hndtools, a bench vice and a good hoover for the mess I create, blowtorch and that's about it.

I wish I had space to set up a proper workshop but I make do. Most work is carried out in my kitchen.

Just as an example, I bought an electric compound chop saw from a second hand shop (cashconverters....on your high street) 20 years ago, as a throw away, just to cut my skirting boards in the whole house for £50. Its still going well and true and used for chopping fire wood now, same blade, been lent out and abused but worth the money for the years of service it has provided.

James Harrison

My list of tools at the moment is quite small but grows on an as-required basis;

-Workbench
-Jigsaw
-Mitre saw
-Hand saw
-Hammer drill
-Power drill
-Battery screwdriver
-Hand screwdrivers
-Chisels
-Palm sander
-Orbital sander
-Heat gun
-Paint scrapers
-Dremel-type hobbyists multi-tool
-Wrecking bar
-Rubber mallet
-Claw hammer
-Tile cutter
-Spirit level

Broadly, I'm about well-equipped to saw, drill, clean surfaces, smash things up and screw them back together.  At the moment that covers probably 90 - 95% of what I'm actually doing.  Quite what I'm going to do with this collection of handyman's implements after the house is finished I don't know. 

The bathroom's inching closer to completion anyway, there's a bit more trim that has been cleaned up (that now takes me up to the entrance door) and the length of skirting behind the bath and WC is ready to fit. 





Just loosely placed for the moment, there's no point permanently fitting it in and caulking it up until the strip around the bath is done. 

Speaking of that, the shorter section across the head of the bath has been cut now - that's why I bought the jigsaw - and it's been stained and partly varnished.  Once both sections of the strip are to the same level of completion (stained twice and varnished once) I'll work them up in tandem.  If I aim for the same level of protection as I gave the flooring, they will need to be sanded down, stained once more, then varnished twice more.  Unlike the flooring I'll be varnishing these both top and bottom three times.   
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

SeVeNeVeS

What to do with your tools?...... Keep them stored in safe place.......

A house is never truely "finished" requiring constant maitenance and up keep as things get worn in and worn out...... you never know what is lurking around the corner or in a few years time.  ;)


James Harrison

Hmm.  Not convinced the box out as currently envisaged is a viable idea.  The timber section is too big to be worked with the tools I have.  One way of doing it, I suppose, would be to fabricate it from the leftover floorboards and then run a decorative strip wood capping along the top to hide the tongue and groove.  Might have a look at that tomorrow.   
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

James Harrison



Well, that's roughly the final effect - everything that still needs to be fabricated is being test-fitted here. 
The trim around the bath - that's ready to go.
The skirting behind the bath - that's ready to go. 
The boxing under the radiator - that's still a work in progress but the basic carcass is essentially done.

Other than that, well I've still got to clean up and stain the doorframe, and the door itself, and there's a strip to add below the door, and maybe a final bit of trim behind the head of the bath.   
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

James Harrison

I think I can now cross the biggest problem off the to-do list. 



Because the plastic foam and silicon solution to the gap honestly looked like some sort of horrible injury, I bought some timber strip moulding and I then spent weeks staining and varnishing it.  Once I was happy that it was sufficiently protected against damp and moisture, I glued it in place and siliconed it in.  But water just sort of wicked around it, and under it, and then dripped on the floor. 

It was a better solution admittedly but I still had some large puddles after showering.  So it was obvious really that something additional was needed. 

Therefore I bought some bath edging strip, and I put that on top of the wood and siliconed that on.  And that seems to have actually worked.  Because the water on the floor now is maybe one or two small drips - in other words, what you might expect anyway when showering - and I can control that. 

Right, next biggest thing on the to-do list now.  That box, perhaps. 
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

James Harrison

So; next issue. 

It's down to carrying on with restaining the wood trim, or building the coaming around the radiator pipes. 
I decided to do the radiator pipes.

A few weeks ago I measured up what I needed to build and bought some carcassing timber from a builder's merchant.  Unfortunately it was too large to be worked by the tools at my disposal, so I had to reconsider my plans. 

I had a few spare floorboards and an offcut of plywood from when I made that template for cutting the marble, and a few random lengths of small section timber that have been reclaimed from here, there and everywhere as I break things down and rebuild. 





So what I came up with was this, a couple of floorboards slotted together for the front and sides, mitred together, and a bit of 1" square timber section in the corners as reinforcement.  For the top, I used the 3mm ply offcut, with suitable cut outs so that the radiator pipes can poke out the top. 

Obviously there's still a lot of work to do on this but at least now I know where I'm going with it and I hope the worst of it is over because, so far as I can see, all that is left now to do is to restain it and put a suitable finish on the ply (I'm thinking of using up some of my leftover wall tiles to do that).
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

James Harrison

In place, with the tiles fixed in;



It's not fixed in place yet and to be honest I'm probably going to leave it so it can be moved (in case I ever need to get to the shower shut-off valves or anything else behind the bath).

Tomorrow night's little task should see this bit finished, because all I really need to do is grout up the tiles. 

Then I can clean up and stain the last bit or trim, and then it's just the door and the threshold to sort out and the room is (practically) done. 
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

James Harrison

And to all intents and purposes that's the end of the 2024 Programme. 







The last items on the to-do list were to clean up and stain the door and the doorframe, which was the work of maybe an hour this morning. 

So, now I have the fun task of deciding what will be on the 2025 Programme.  Watch this space, I guess.
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

James Harrison

Welp, this whole 'I want the Edwardian style, but I don't want to live in a museum' thing is going well. 





Because that's now another genuine piece of Edwardian furniture I've laid my hands on.
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

SeVeNeVeS

Quote from: James Harrison on August 26, 2024, 11:26:38 AMSo, now I have the fun task of deciding what will be on the 2025 Programme.  Watch this space, I guess.

Maybe pull the bath out and do it right, it still leaks, don't look great and is a basic bodge on top of a bodge on top of bad fitting in the first place. Ditch the shower curtain and install a screen for a drip free shower experience.

Love the rest and I particularly like the fact you took time to line up the tiles on the boxing.

The devil is in the details.

Bit harsh I know, but there you go, all round a grand job.

James Harrison

Quote from: SeVeNeVeS on August 31, 2024, 11:33:48 AM
Quote from: James Harrison on August 26, 2024, 11:26:38 AMSo, now I have the fun task of deciding what will be on the 2025 Programme.  Watch this space, I guess.

Maybe pull the bath out and do it right, it still leaks, don't look great and is a basic bodge on top of a bodge on top of bad fitting in the first place. Ditch the shower curtain and install a screen for a drip free shower experience.

Love the rest and I particularly like the fact you took time to line up the tiles on the boxing.

The devil is in the details.

Bit harsh I know, but there you go, all round a grand job.

I don't disagree that there are a few compromises and rough edges and bits that could do with being improved.

But if I were to set that as a target next year, it would feel that the project has stalled. The room is now actually in a usable state and I don't think I want to be taking it back from that anytime soon unless I absolutely have to.

I have a few ideas of what I want to do next year, but no idea yet what form that will take. It will be another part of the house though.
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

The Bullet

Quote from: SeVeNeVeS on August 31, 2024, 11:33:48 AM
Quote from: James Harrison on August 26, 2024, 11:26:38 AMSo, now I have the fun task of deciding what will be on the 2025 Programme.  Watch this space, I guess.

Maybe pull the bath out and do it right, it still leaks, don't look great and is a basic bodge on top of a bodge on top of bad fitting in the first place. Ditch the shower curtain and install a screen for a drip free shower experience.

Love the rest and I particularly like the fact you took time to line up the tiles on the boxing.

The devil is in the details.

Bit harsh I know, but there you go, all round a grand job.

No.
Leave it as it is and use it for a year.
Then smooth out the rough edges.
There are things that will come up later and things that seem a problem at first but not after getting used to them.
Patience is the key.
Review after a yesr of use.
If brute force does not work....you´re not using enough of it.

James Harrison

Quote from: The Bullet on September 03, 2024, 06:28:36 AM
Quote from: SeVeNeVeS on August 31, 2024, 11:33:48 AM
Quote from: James Harrison on August 26, 2024, 11:26:38 AMSo, now I have the fun task of deciding what will be on the 2025 Programme.  Watch this space, I guess.

Maybe pull the bath out and do it right, it still leaks, don't look great and is a basic bodge on top of a bodge on top of bad fitting in the first place. Ditch the shower curtain and install a screen for a drip free shower experience.

Love the rest and I particularly like the fact you took time to line up the tiles on the boxing.

The devil is in the details.

Bit harsh I know, but there you go, all round a grand job.

No.
Leave it as it is and use it for a year.
Then smooth out the rough edges.
There are things that will come up later and things that seem a problem at first but not after getting used to them.
Patience is the key.
Review after a yesr of use.


That's exactly what I'm planning to do.

What I have found so far is that each room has gone through a process of evolution, I do what I think I want and then having actually lived with it for a little while I start discovering what actually works for me.
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

James Harrison

#1794
A few more little bits to be done this week, and I'll be talking about them when there's something to actually show.

But in the meantime I had a fieldtrip today to Charles Rennie Mackintosh's house for WJ Bassett-Lowke, which was remodelled in 1916 and therefore approximately contemporary with my own house. 

The house tour starts in the kitchen (in the basement) and was actually quite upmarket at the time. 





Lots of plain white tile and hard-wearing paint everywhere, and just a few electric appliances.  One thing that struck me was the size of the room in comparison to the amount of actual usable workspace.

Upstairs into the ground floor and you're first directed into the dining room. 





It's quite a plainly furnished room but I found it interesting how timber wainscoting was used to break up the walls into smaller panels.  Note the plain cream frieze, like I've also included in my sitting room and dining room. 

And then across the hall...







The hall-sitting room.  It's Mackintosh, but several years after his Glasgow School of Art and a decade or so after his Art Nouveau tearooms.  A lot of the dramatic effect is from the borrowing of light, enabled by the staircase wall which is an open trelliswork.  Much of the design effort I think went into this entrance room and the guest bedroom- of which more anon- and it's a compelling contrast with much of the rest of the house which is of an altogether more austere air.  To give a sense of scale, this is a room maybe 12 feet square.  The house is about the same size as mine, spread over four floors.  Bare in mind this house was being remodelled and redecorated at the height of the First World War, the wonder is that the materials and labour were available to undertake it.

And then up those stairs...



But first that newel post, which appears to be a shadow of Mackintosh's earlier work.



And from the landing we see how the trellis wall brings light down from upstairs into the hallway sitting room. 





Coming off the landing we have the Bassett-Lowkes' bedroom, unfortunately sans the furniture.  That absence makes an already somewhat forbidding room seem even more awkward. 



In one corner of the room a sink and vanity was installed, so that guests could have the main bathroom to themselves.  And speaking of the bathroom...



Modern white porcelainware, mosaic tiling, and



a shower not a million miles distant in aesthetics from my own.  I'm not sure what material this is, it's not shiny like chrome.  Maybe steel or zinc?



Note more trelliswork - glazed, this time - at the top of the wall.  It's all about trying to get natural light from front to back here.  The front of the house faces north.  The bathroom fixtures and fittings by the way were from an American manufacturer with a London showroom.  Unless they were made in the UK, just consider the risks taken in getting them here.  Again, at the time the house was being remodelled the Kaiserliche Marine was doing its level best - and damn-near succeeded the following year - in starving Britain into submission. 

That's the first floor done - I did say it's only a small house with two rooms to each floor - on up to the second floor. 



And the guest bedroom, which is the other space to really wax lyrical about. 



I particularly liked this washstand with the complementing lightshade. 



Those stripes carry on across the ceiling and down the other wall opposite the beds.  Apparently Mrs Bassett-Lowke once asked Bernard Shaw, who stayed as a guest, whether that rather startling arrangement disturbed his sleep.  "No", he replied, "because I tend to sleep with my eyes shut".



All the furniture in the room are replicas of the originals, which are in a museum in Glasgow.  The original furniture was all made to designs by Mackintosh or Bassett-Lowke, variously in Bassett-Lowke's own workshops (he ran a rather famous model engineering company) or by German furniture makers interned for the duration of hostilities on the Isle of Man. 

Finally in Bassett-Lowke's study, at the top of the house, a small piece of pattern and frieze has been recreated of the second decor scheme in the hallway sitting room (Mrs Bassett-Lowke apparently found the first iteration, the one reinstated in the restoration, a bit overbearing).



Oh, and finally, from the outside...



It just looks like a normal terraced house from the 1810s.  The bay window was installed as part of the 1916 remodelling. The rear elevation in contrast was given far more attention, being pulled out and a verandah built and the whole given a coat of cream cement rendering. 

The house was never actually finished, it was a product of circumstances in that completely new construction was obviously somewhat difficult if not outright banned at the time.  By 1920 Bassett-Lowke was talking about building a new house a short distance away and he actually carried through with that in about 1925, with Peter Behrens acting as his architect - by that time Mackintosh had emigrated to France and reinvented himself as a watercolourist, and had lost contact. 
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

Madasasteamfish

Hmm, very interesting design choices. I could definitely see myself replicating some features if I were to be embarking on a similar project as your good self (for example the trellises to borrow light and the mosaic tiling).

However, some of the designs (particularly of the furniture) are a little too modernist for my taste.
I made a note in my diary on the way over here. Simply says; "Bugger!"

"DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING, JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH."

James Harrison

Quote from: Madasasteamfish on October 13, 2024, 08:57:59 AMHowever, some of the designs (particularly of the furniture) are a little too modernist for my taste.

Yes, I tend to agree.  And that reflects Bassett-Lowke's ideas about what his home should be like, particularly his belief that nothing should be older than its owner. 
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

James Harrison

Naturally there are various small roundtoit tasks that I'd also like to complete this year.  The first of them to be completed is to try to tackle the hard water situation, which leaves awful dusty chalky deposits behind everytime I run a tap. 



I was advised that these will do the job, and after a bit of research into alternatives I decided to fit them to see how they go.  I'm a bit dubious as to how, exactly, a small electrical current or magnetism will prevent calcium/scale buildup.  The larger electrolytic one has been fitted to the main feed to the house and claims will protect *everything*, the small magnetic one has been fitted to the boiler feedpipe as a sort of belt and braces measure.
 




If they don't do much, well they only cost £40 for the pair so it's not a huge expense.  The alternative is a £400-some-odd filter arrangement.
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.

James Harrison

Some exploratory work in rooms I (largely) haven't touched yet. 





First up - the kitchen.  I have a couple of pipes that are absolutely caked in paint and I want to strip them back to a plain copper finish.  Overspill from the paint stripper got onto the wall and this gave an opportunity to see what lay beneath. 

Well, under the cream paint there was a ghastly steel blue and below that an equally awful sunshine yellow.  Then under a very thin layer of white paint, and an even thinner layer of plaster, there was a layer of bile green paint. 

I'm not expecting that all the way around the room - this is, you will recall, what used to be a scullery, a coal bunker and an outdoor store and lavatory. 





Secondly - the master bedroom.  I've started stripping paint from the wooden trim in preparation for staining in mahogany, to match with the rest of the house.  The architrave at least looks like it is probably new - there was only the one or two layers of white gloss on it. 

Intriguingly, this is the only room in the house that has wallpaper (by which I actually mean, lining paper) and that is looking a bit tired and woebegone in places.  I put some paint stripper on a patch experimentally to see if I could get the paint off without stripping the paper and the answer is, no. 

Anybody hoping to find old paintwork and plaster beneath that paper is in for a disappointment.  It's new plaster. 
Persons intending to travel by open carriage should select a seat with their backs to the engine, by which means they will avoid the ashes emitted therefrom, that in travelling generally, but particularly through the tunnels, prove a great annoyance; the carriage farthest from the engine will in consequence be found the most desirable.