# Forum More Stuff Go to Whoa!  Victorian Workers Cottage renovate and extend

## dbfalls

Hi All, well I'm going to jump right in with the renovation to my early 1900's Workers Cottage. 
Here she is in all her neglected glory!   
The existing floor plan   
The new floorplan   
The new elevations   
Ok I'll add some more photos and details in the next post.

----------


## dbfalls

Well I had not expected to start the renos until the tenants moved out (which they have now) but a winter storm did the old side fence in and brought forward the construction schedule. 
What should ahve been a straightforward job started out tedious as I realised the large tree in the backyard stood exactly on the middle of the boundary line :Mad:  After spending 4hrs trying to work out how to build the fence around it I did what i should have done in the first place and called a tree lopper, $400 and a few hours later and the tree was gone and I was ready to start (I also now had some afternoon sun in the back yard). 
I spent the rest of the day and the next getting the holes dug, posts in and rebated and the rails on and that was the end of my weekend. Coming back the next weekend didnt take long to get the palings on tidy up and dump the old fence. I thought I better replace the old gate as well and decided on a prefab steel frame from bunnings $110ish and then attached a few left over palings. Made for a very quick improvement to the look of the property. 
Here is a more detailed explanation of building my fence which is 1.95 high with 3 rails. 
Materials required:   
Plus a couple of thousand 50mm gal nails (for paling to rails) 
Plus a few hundred 90*3.15 hot dipped gal nails (for rails to posts) 
Tools required:  Post hole shovel, scissor typeCrowbar or fencing barShovelCoil nailer (I used the *DUOFAST* KD665A) and compressor, a framing gun doesnt hurt either but isn't necessaryCircular saw 9inch or biggerHammer, chisel, string line, pencil, square, level, ground paint, clampsMethod I used:  Stake out the 2 ends of your fence on the boundary.Measure the distance between these and divide it into equal distances of 2400 or less (as close to 2400 as possible though).Mark these points with ground paint aprox 60mm back from directly under the string line, these are the centres of your post holes.Using your fencing bar and scissor shovel dig all holes including the ends to the depth of in my case 1m (1/3 in hole 2/3 out, 600mm will suffice for all fences under 1800 high). Clean out the bottom of the holes and place a sole plate in the bottom of each (Hardwood block)Place the two end posts in the end holes on their sole plates and measure up the height of the plinth less 25mm from the ground and mark. This indicates the bottom of your bottom rail.Remove these posts and measure down 150mm from the top of the post and once again mark. This indicates the top of your top rail.Mark the middle of these 2 marks this will indicate the position of the centre of the middle rail.Using these initial marks draw out the rebates with your tape and square and then set saw blade to your rail depth. Make multiple cuts half way across the face of the post on the side that the rails will extend from and then chisel, finally check that your rail houses nicely.Replace these posts in their correct holes and use stakes, clamps and level to position exaclty upright. Alternatively just hold it about right and put the first soil cement mix load in about 100mm and ram you will be able to make adjustments to the level whilst the post is more or less free standing. Commence backfilling with a mix of soil and cement, I used about 3/4 bag per hole. Fill about 100mm at a time and then ram solidly with the reverse end of your fencing bar, repeat until the hole is filled slightly proud to allow water to drain away. Put a small amount of water in as you go and continue to check your levels in between ramming, some adjustment may be necessary and is possible until you get about halfway filled.Stretch very taughtly a string line between these posts on their paling face and slightly below bottom rebate (1mm).Place all other posts loosely in their holes on their sole plates, hold upright and mark where the string line touches their front face. Post by post remove from hole and translate all other measurements from this mark. Then Cut and Chisel out rebates across the front face and check rails house nicely. Replace in hole.Backfill all posts as per above.Install rails with the middle rail offset from the top and bottom rails use the 90 mm nails to attach to posts, 2 per rail per post shoul be more than enough.Install plinth so that it covers the bottom 25mm of the bottom rail, make sure you get this level as all of the palings will sit on this.Starting at one end install the first under paling (150mm wide) make sure you use your level to get this exactly vertical. The under paling requires one nail in the centre per rail. Install the next paling with a 50mm gap, I found my level was exactly 50mm and worked well as a gapper allowing me to recheck my level regularly as I went. Sometimes small adjustments in the gap were required to maintain level.Install the first overpaling (100mm wide) so that it overlaps the first underpaling by 25mm. Overpalings require 2 nails per rail, make sure with you spacing of these that they do not pierce the underpaling as well as this should be free to expand/contract independantly. Repeat with 100mm gap, a spare straight paling can be used. Once again periodically check for vertical, gaps and overlapsTidy up and the old fence to the tip.Job Done :Biggrin:  
This is a really useful site  Paling Fence guide

----------


## dbfalls

Some general before shots        
New roof is certainly on the cards!   
And that built in under the verandah is near the start of the has to go list    
Some of the movement in the stumps.    
Back Deck   
Pressed metal ceilings in half of the hall and what was once the Lounge, soon to be master bedroom.   
Floor boards look OK, nothing a bit of serious sanding wont fix, these have to come up first for the restumping and then am going to relay them on top of a layer of yellow tongue for added insulation, and to ensure the bathroom floor height matches.  
And most importantly it has a shed!!!! but not a lawn mower  :Biggrin:

----------


## dbfalls

Right, up to the next stage which means restumping the existing house, I've got all my quotes and I have decided to go with a local company that are charging $6700 to restump and level the whole property. According to the restumper he quoted this house 20yrs ago and then the owners at the time decided not to bother! I think its still standing more out of obstinancy than anything else! 
One catch is the floors have to come up first, and with a building this old they built the floors around the wall frames so the the floor boards actually sit under the dividing walls, this means the wall linings have to come off which, isn't altogether a bad thing. I discovered a lot of the bad smell in the place was 100yrs of accumulated crap in the wall cavities and it will also give me a chance to properly insulate the building. 
Although it was annoying to find that the horsehair plaster had been laid up directly over the original pine board wall cladding. It means the job takes twice as long and I'll end up with twice the amount of rubbish to get rid off! 
I think with the difficulty in removing this that I will leave the ceilings as board and paint them as a feature.      
Plaster is easy to pull down     
Its like a Chinese jigsaw puzzle you cant dismantle one thing without removing the piece next to it!   
Board lining isn't, easy to pull down that is!    
Lovely mixture of modern and old cables, well at least with the cladding off the cost to rewire will be reduced somewhat.

----------


## twinny

love the pig iron decorations on the balcony  :2thumbsup:  
apparently melbourne has more of that going on than anywhere else in the world  :brava:

----------


## dbfalls

Yes so do I, unfortunately I'm missing some where the verandah was built in around the return, although i think I have sourced some replacements. I can see rebuilding the verandah and stripping the lacework is going to be time consuming but very rewarding once finished.

----------


## seriph1

Loving this project  -  let me know if you need any period-accurate items for the interior ... I may be baler to help, if you don't have the contacts already. 
What suburb is the home in?

----------


## dbfalls

Gday Steve, thanks for the offer, at the moment I've managed to locate most of the materials I'm going to need, but will definitely be quick to ask if I get stuck. It's my intention to try and revive the original period exterior, with maybe a slight colour palette change. I would love to use genuine Galvanised iron to reroof as opposed to zinc alum or colorbond but the price differential and supply problems make it unachievable at the moment so I will probably end up using color bond in a gull grey colour which is a satisfactory secondbest. The interior is planned to have 2 modern bathrooms with the 3 other existing rooms restored to original with the exception of new plaster instead of the pine board for the walls, I do need to source a replacement victorian fireplace and mantle for one of the rooms that has had a gas heater installed cheaply!!   
I've been carefully removing the 8" skirtings with some success but am struggling to get some of the architraves off without damaging them, I havent even managed to get them far enough away from the wall to cut the nails of from behind - any suggestions as I would really love to reuse these as opposed to putting reproduction pieces back on.  
Oh and the house is in Newtown, near Geelong

----------


## seriph1

a multi-tool might be a help with removing the nails from under your architraves  -  we just threw out maybe 200 metres of original skirts and architraves from that period ... just couldn't handle removing 100+ years of paint from them. A great source of items is in Rokeby St. Collingwood  -  Steptoe's is their name. George is the owner and Peter is his right hand man. Very knowledgeable and helpful. They have a great stock of original and repro fireplaces. They also have large stocks of the lacework. Of course, if you can stand waiting, eBay will eventually have what you need ... it has taken me 5 yrs to get all the lace we need to do the extensions on our home ... Steptoe's were a help, but most came through eBay.

----------


## seriph1

Also, The Period Home Renovator's Guide is the best resource short of 25+ years of hard slog making and maintaining contacts in the restoration business. 
Your home has some killer attributes. The lace is lovely  -  the curved verandah iron is a great look. Are you intending to replace the front weatherboards? If so, you might like to change it to a block-front look. A shame the lining boards were sacrificed, but I get how hard they are to get off without damage. They really look great as a wainscot in hallways/bedrooms and as backs in kitchen and bathroom overhead cabinets.

----------


## dbfalls

Hi Steve, not sure about replacing the front weatherboards yet will see what the overall condition is once the verandah is off and I've had a chance to sand them back a bit. Your right the lining boards are a pain to get off but I probably managed to save half of them for reuse as wainscot in the hallway as some of these are already split with the movement from the rotten stumps. Thanks for the contacts and the info. 
Slightly intersting under the house to say the least but this will be done remedied next month.   
I really like the stump in the right foreground! 
If you are wondering why so many posts on my first day, Ive been snowed in and the car is 2 wheel drive with no chains, so no getting back to Geelong today!

----------


## Black Cat

Can I suggest you get rid of the concrete front veranda floor soonest! It will be blocking subfloor ventilation and potentially causing damp problems at the base of the studs of your front wall. No point replacing the weatherboards if you have a continuing problem with that flooring!! 
Lovely cottage. My sister has one almost identical. She built the same sort of extension, but ran it across the back of the cottage so she could have a wall of french windows overlooking the back garden.

----------


## dbfalls

Thanks for the suggestion Black Cat, I had thought about removing the concrete but was disuaded by the extra excavation required but you are quite right I was making this decision based purely on aesthetics and on that basis had decided no, but I am going to have a rethink on this based on long term structural soundness. Whats a bit of digging anyway, and some of it would have had to come up anyway to replace the stirrups for the verandah posts.

----------


## Black Cat

All that exercise is good for you, lol I have gone down two dress sizes since I started my reno - and I am very expensive to feed ...

----------


## Black Cat

And re the skirting and architraves - the profile is sold as 'National Trust' here in Tassie. With all that paint on,and hard plaster on the other side, getting them off will be a real pain, as will stripping them. If the budget can stand it - go repro in this instance ...

----------


## seriph1

yes concrete porches are a big no-no  -  it will not "all" be concrete of course .... rubble underneath, but still a big job. worth it in the long run.  
BTW I had a PC hiccup with my last posts .... added pics but they didn't load ... will reload some now .... just for ideas etc.

----------


## seriph1

bloody thing died again ... it seems that if I try to load more than 4 pics google chrome dies.... 
anyway, hope you like these ... just thought they may be interesting while you are snowed in  :Biggrin:  :Biggrin:

----------


## seriph1

:d

----------


## dbfalls

Very nice, are they your work? I think my tastes lean towards the last image especially the overhead with the glass doors. Here is the current kitchen.   
Not overly inspiring but its functional! 
Haven't really put much thought to the style of the new kitchen yet, its probably going to be one of the last things to be installed. Have to get the new main bathroom done as a first priority and then get one of the bedrooms back to a liveable condition after that it should be plain sailing..........for a blind man in a leaky boat haha. 
Dave

----------


## seriph1

That's quite a neat little kitchen  -  sure it may not be large and impressive but it's still a very effective use of available space ... 
Our firm specialises in designing and making interiors for period homes.  
I originally tried just designing architectural interiors but couldn't find a cabinet making company interested in building to my specifications ... also, the majority of my clients weren't interested in shopping the work themselves so at the start of this year, we recommenced manufacturing -  it has been a challenge, combining pure design, drawings and manufacture/installation, but it has been a great experience.  
I do enjoy all aspects of the work but doing it all is time management hell. I have been working to reduce the production bottlenecks lately and that's been fun  -  we have doubled our space and added serious equipment. Next we will be enhancing our finishing techniques and building a staging area to enable clients to see their work prior to delivery ... getting the work is straightforward and designing/drawing is relatively time-effective  -  but manufacturing is very time consuming and complex. We have been refurbishing a kitchen and laundry for a client recently and the work has needed to be millimetre-precise. Of itself, that's no worries, but we are in Kilmore and the home is in Canterbury - miss a measurement or forget a component and it's a long drive to fix things up. But we have been very lucky  -  everything has gone smoothly so far and our final installation is next week  -  their sink cabinet. It has turned out really well.

----------


## seriph1

some more pics  -  these were just taken with my phone as a record ... better ones will be taken once the job is complete. 
The sink going in is 900mm wide and weighs 67 kilograms .... we used PLENTY of extra material to ensure it will live a long and happy life ... OFF the floor! All our cabinets have fully housed sides and shelves and in the case of a sink cabinet, all intersections are sealed with food grade silicon.

----------


## Black Cat

Sigh. I am suffering serious kitchen envy now. Makes my Bunnings Flatpack look almost as tawdry as it really is ... 
I actually quite like that little kitchen DBFalls, though I can see that accessing those top cupboards could be a challenge. You could maybe make one of those library ladders that runs along a track to access them?

----------


## dbfalls

This weekends work involved pulling down the collapsing original verandah   
Came apart fairly easily and I even managed to keep the profiled rafters intact to use as templates   
Only thing that really wasnt pleasant was continually being covered in a 100yrs of grime.     
Built in under verandah patially gone     
Built in under verandah completely gone thank god!   
Next job is to rip up the concrete porch in readiness for the new deck and verandah to go back in. 
Had a bit of time left so I pulled apart the third bedroom as well.   
Old mantle safely removed in one piece.   
It was interesting pulling the mantle off and had the suprising find of an old christmas card dated 1895, so I think the building may be slightly older than I had first thought. 
Next week is remaining room to be stripped and then floorboards up so the restumpers can get to it the week after.

----------


## seriph1

great work and great find re the Christmas card .... are you keeping those verandah rafters?  
On that card, if you'd like to, I would be happy to scan and reproduce quality copies of the card so you could frame it showing both sides. (this way you can keep the original in a drawer in an acid free envelope)  
If you wanted it professionally framed I would be happy to get that done for you in Kilmore as we have a professional framer here who does a brilliant job for a reasonable price and is very respectful of old things. Either way, it'd be a shame to lose the memento. Hmmmm ... could even make a frame using timber removed from the home.

----------


## dbfalls

Ok latest photos. 
Floors coming up carefully, the restumper (Armstrongs in Geelong) lent me a couple of floor lifters which made the job a lot easier, probably 2 solid days to take up the floors in 2 rooms. Secret seems to be patient and try not to lift each point too much before moving to the next joist, and it definitely comes up easir working from the groove side first.   
Room 1 and 2 floors partially up.   
The big new bedroom floors coming up.   
And nearly done!   
I took a few cubic metres of rubish out from under the house after the boards were up. And have now moved my temporary bedroom into the dining room at the back of the house, which I can lock off from the front. I pulled up the majority of the tiles first and roughly relaid some of the old carpet for the time being.   
So will get the front four rooms restumped and then put the floor back down and move my living quaters back to the front of the house while the kitchen dining etc gets done.    
Restumping has commenced, not really sure what was holding the building up as all the stumps that have come out so far were completely rotted through!   
Other jobs done this week include dismantling the old front deck   
Cutting the grass which was nearly waist high (4hrs later, lucky it was a nice day to be outside) and chopping down all the trees in the back yard, which actually makes it look quite spacious now.     
Started pulling apart the hallway as well in readiness to pull up the final floorboards.   
Next weeks job will be to take 50cm out of the front yard and put in a retaining wall a metre back from the front fence to give me enough clearance for when the concrete slab comes up in the front and the new deck gets laid in preparation for the verandah going back on.

----------


## Black Cat

Crikey! You really have been busy - well done!!! It will look so fabulous once you are done. I love the fireplace - and what a treasure to find that Christmas Card - best Ihave managed was a tarnished, not-quite-silver teaspoon with initials punched into it.

----------


## dbfalls

Very tiring week, restumpers started on friday and finished up at 10am this morning, backfilled droppers fitted and site left tidy, really happy with the work.       
This was the Kitchen, the bearers and joists had to be replaced here due to some severe deteriation, unlike the rest of the house which was in very good condition.   
Kitchen demolition was my first job of the week to give the stumpers access to replace this area of subframe.   
After being unable to get a quote of any sort - the job was either to small or access wasn't good or they didnt have the time, I decided to excavate the front yard myself the old fashioned way, with a pick, shovel and wheelbarrow. two and a half days later I have the yard more or less levelled with good clearance for the new front deck and verandah.    
Just have to organise to get the gas meter moved and the piping put back down to depth, originally it was only in at 400mm which was suprising and quickly uncovered in the first hour of digging. Visible under the protective yellow pipe in the below photo.   
All up had to take out 10m by 3.5m to a depth of around 400mm, which included a reinforced concrete slab of 8m by 1.5m, this required borrowing the stumpers demo saw to get it into manageable chunks (the body is feeling the effort of moving 14 cubic metres of soil from the front yard to the back!) 
Trying to take it easy today, started pulling apart the rear deck whilst waiting for my flooring to arrive.   
Ive got 20 sheets of Yellow tongue due and another 10 sheets of Sycon Secura Interior Wet Area flooring (expensive $90+ per sheet, but will stand the test of time) hopefully will arrive before lunch. Its my intention to lay the yellowtongue as a base and then re-lay the pine floorboards that were carefully removed over the top.

----------


## leeton

Nice job...and very interesting...I just wondered why you had to remove all the floorboards for re-stumping...seems there is a fair bit of room under the house?

----------


## dbfalls

Hi Leeton, No the floors didn't have to come up for the stumpers, although it did reduce the cost. It was more about sealing the floor, the gaps between boards was up to 5mm with lots of draughts, so by pulling up the boards I could clean out the tongue and grooves and re-lay nice and tight (hopefully) and also putting the yellow tongue underneath should give the floor a really solid feel to it once finished. Also one room that was previously a bedroom is becoming the main bathroom and I wanted to use the Sycon product for this directly onto the joists for durability.

----------


## dbfalls

I've been jumping around with the jobs a bit this week but have managed to get the yellow tongue down in one bedroom and the scyon sheeting laid in the bathroom and ensuite. I had a mate who is a plumber come and give me a hand and I now have all the plumbing done for the bathrooms as well as framing out the main bathroom.   
Old kitchen floor is now relaid as the ensuite to the current junk room, lots of floor board to de-nail!   
And yes its level. 
New floor in new bathroom.   
Framing out the toilet and the dividing wall between the bathroom and front bedroom.     
Next week I'm hoping to pull the old rear bathroom and laundry off the house, these are under a lean too roof that has to go to make room for the extension. Will then aim to get the extension and deck stumped, bearers and joists on and get the yellow tongue laid by Sunday.

----------


## sundancewfs

Looks great! well done!
 Is there a reason you didn't use ant caps on the new stumps?

----------


## dbfalls

Hi Sundance, 
Building code doesnt require it for concrete stumps, as far as I can determine the metal caps are only there to force the ants to build a path around the metal externally to get up to the rest of the house, this obviously makes visual inspection easy but does no actually provide a non passable barrier to the ants. Likewise the ants can't burrow through concrete and therefore have to build an external path on the concrete so visual inspection of ant activity is also possible without caps. Not a great saving but didnt see any benefit either.

----------


## dbfalls

So our unseasonal weather has put back the extension stumping, but have managed to pull down the old laundry and deck and remove all the old stumps and level the site in readiness. I also used the opportunity to finish laying the final small pieces of yellow tongue around the fireplaces so all the base level of floor in the existing building is now complete  At the same time I am part way through having the meter relocated and having the new submain installed in the hallway. All of the old wiring from the roof has been removed with the exception of one cable for my only functional GPO. I still have to get back in the roof to remove the old insulation and vacuum all the built up dust and probably remove the four massive birds nests I have found. Will post some photos tomorrow hopefully.

----------


## dbfalls

Ok, so as I said in the previous post the weather and forecast weather caused a change in plans and I have been doing a lot of indoor work. The parents are also visiting at the moment and have been lending a helping hand which has been great, hope I havent worked them too hard (Thanks Mum and Dad) 
Heres some photos of the indoor progress.   
All the floors are now back down in yellow tongue awaiting the old floor boards to go back on top.   
Started framing out new ensuite and decided I couldnt live with the offset window and thought it should be higher (plus the bottom plate had rotted out and needed replacement)     
Demolished and partially rebuilt also have to pull the weatherboards of the meeting wall seen in left of photo above and in photo below as they are completely rotted out.     
Reframed, wall clad and window temporarily back in. Pulled the other wall down and was just about ready to put the cladding on when the big storm rolled through this afternoon, ended up very wet just throwing some builders plastic up to keep the water out.   
My swimming pool of a front yard after the rain below.   
Some pics of the where the laundry used to be below.     
Meanwhile the parents have been busy retrofitting breather foil to the external walls from the inside.     
Im planning on also installing R1.5, 65mm insulation in these wall cavities hopefully next week. 
Oh, forgot to mention have also had the new meter box and 'smart meter installed' on the external wall with a sub main installed in the entrance hall with a couple of builders GPO's until I have all the new wiring completely roughed in. Powercor have installed a new feed with 55A fuse. So am now not in fear of an electrical fire prematurely ending my renovations, at the same time I am considerably poorer

----------


## ibuildbenches

I envy your yellow tongue floor! Im still at re-stumping! 
Haha

----------


## dbfalls

Yes, but as soon as you get the floors, you want the walls and so on!  
Just a few photo updates, 
Finished putting the weatherboard back up behind the ensuite just need to paint it now and architraves around the windows.   
Cleaning out the roof, probably the worst job I've had so far and only partially finished. The dust is1cm thick throughout.   
Starting to look better!   
New Shower Hob installed and under cover for the moment.   
Spent some down time working on plans, it turns out that having pulled down the front verandah and what was left of the original deck I now need to submit an ammendment to my building permit, $250 gone quicker than I could earn it, but quite enjoyed brushing the cobwebs of the design skills (Google Sketchup). Whilst doing this I found a great little program for selecting Bearers and Joists for internal use CHH hyspan 'DesignIt' simple to use, gives you a range of options and produces design certificates you can submit to council without the need of engaging an engineer for your subfloor. Unfortunately this is only good for Hyspan range which is for internal use only, so it was back to the span tables for the decks bearers and joists   
Just have to play with this a bit more, to paste it out for the detail the council want. I know this looks like the hard way of doing things with the bearers running out from the house, but I really wanted to have the boards running away from the house as per the original so this is how it has to be. 
OK what else have I been doing, well mostly starightening studs, plane combined with a bit of crippling, tedious but should make for a nice result, have also been nail laminating new studs to some of the originals just to get a flat surface, some of the older studs whilst nominally 70mm are closer to 55mm in some areas. Its hard to add wood back on hence the nail lamination of new uprights.

----------


## twinny

looking good mate, you got's some sketchup skills!!! 
meself, i would just suggest lose the paper mask and as a minimum get something P2 with a 'cool flow' style valve, you only get's one set of them lungs mate  :Doh:

----------


## dbfalls

Cheers Twinny, yeah 5hrs on getting the design right, but the good thing is I've now got a plan to work to and it makes the material order a lot easier as well. 
Yeah I think a better mask may be in order, by the same token there is no asbestos in the house and the old insulation is wool, must admit I was worried about what interesting things might have been making up the huge birdsnests though!

----------


## dominicw

Hi. Nice work, the renovations look great. What program did you use for the drawings you did?

----------


## dbfalls

Hey Dominicw, 
Program used was google sketchup (free download), pretty straight forward to use if you spend a bit of time watching the tutorials. It is however probably better for 3d design than 2d.

----------


## dbfalls

Well I took 2 weeks of the renovations over Christmas and New Years, but back into now.  
My mate Dallas came down from Melbourne to give me a hand last week and we insulated and replaced the weatherboard on another wall. Then we proceeded to get very drunk at the local pub :Redface: )   
The plans for the front verandah and deck were approved 2 days after I submitted them which was a great result. 
Here's a picture of nearly all the crap that came out of the ceiling, I'm going to have to get one more skip in to get rid of the final bits of junk so that should allow me to clean up the yard properly.   
So Sunday myself and a good mate 'Raz' who happens to be a concreter marked out the stump holes for the extension and started diggin them after lunch. No special tools used except for a bunch of string lines and a good level.   
We had 27 holes to dig at 400 * 400 by 900 deep (or to the clay level which ended up being @ 1mtr down). We ended up finishing these by early afternoon on Monday, so I gave the council a ring to book the footing inspection and whilst on the phone the officer handling my permit informed me that I had left out the rafter dimensions for the front deck. After telling him I intended to use purlins he said no problems he would just add the required dimensions  to my plan for me and would have the approved plans out with the inspector Wednesday morning (Very impressed with Geelong councils building division!). 
Couldn't do any more work on the back until the footings had passed inspection so decided we may as well dig the 22 footings for the front deck/verandah whilst we were waiting. These were a lot easier only being 600 deep, marked out and dug by the end of day Tuesday.     
Inspector arrived 9am Wednesday, scraped the bottom of all the holes to check we had gone down the requisite distance into the clay, picked up one that needed to be deeper which Raz fixed up whilst I got the inspector to certify the holes for the deck as well. All passed so we were ready to get out of the ground. 
Measured up the holes for the stumps and whet around to the local supplier who just happened to be 2 blocks round the corner, ordered all the stumps and they were delivered 10 minutes later  :Redface: ). I thought we could get stuck into it so whipped around to the landscaping supplies and got 3.5 cubic metres of Con Mix($65/m) and 30 bags of cement ($7 each) and then went and hired a mixer for the week ($180) Also went aound to the timber merchant and ordered all the bearers, joists and verandah posts/beams for delivery friday. After all that managed to get the first 9 stumps in (1 at end of each row and 1 in the middle of each row. 
Thursday decided to be a hot day but couldnt stop now we got the remaining stumps in and put a couple of the H5 treated pine posts in for the front deck as well.   
Friday morning we backfilled all the extension holes and cleaned up the site then put all the posts in for the front verandah only stopped to unload the timber delivery for the deck and extension. Next job was to install the bearers and after putting in three 7.2mtr long bearers I couldn't help myself and just sat a few joists on to 'See how it looked'. That pretty much wound up Friday and the pub was a well deserved break in Air Conditioned comfort.   
Saturday morning we got the other three bearers in and installed all the joists, tying it into the existing building. This took us through to lunch and I decided we'd call it a weekend and have a beer, Raz didn't disagree.   
Another good friend, Lucy, popped into visit and decided the extension floor made a pretty good deck!   
The new bearers actually extend under the wall behind Lucy by 1.7mtrs and will have new joists installed on them when this part of the old building is demolished on Tuesday. The building was temporarily propped while the existing bearers were cut out to allow for installation of the new. The existing substructure in this part of the building is a complete dogs breakfast of used materials unlike the rest of the building. (leads me to believe this used to be a back verandah that was built in) 
This week will see the plumbing finished in the existing building, villaboard going up in the ensuite, demolish the 1.8mtrs of building under the skillion roof, put down yellow tongue and have the site measure completed by the prefab frame and truss company. 
I'm feeling tired just thinking about it!

----------


## Bloss

Maaate - lookin' good!   :2thumbsup:  Funny how good it feels, after digging all those dam holes, getting the bearers and joists on - really seems like progress. Like getting the frame up too and then to lock-up. Feels like your almost there eh! Of course the finish and fit-out takes three times as long!

----------


## Black Cat

Bloss! You're supposed to be encouraging, lol. But you're right. Finish and fit out takes the time ...  
It really does look quite wonderful - well done on the progress!!

----------


## Bloss

> Bloss! You're supposed to be encouraging, lol. !

  Yes - but always the realist . . .  :Wink:

----------


## dbfalls

Thanks for the encouragement, very timely, I've been plastering and waterprooofing the ensuite whilst its been raining and it is tedious. I have to keep stopping myself from going back to fix slight imperfections............it only makes it worse. Will start the tiling on monday and hopefully have that under my belt by Thursday

----------


## dbfalls

A few new photos, have tiled the new ensuite and started pulling down the old bathroom. Grouting tomorrow and pull down the rest of the old bathroom and then fit the remaining 5 joists for the extension.   
Raz contemplating the outdoor bathroom   
Ensuite befoe grouting

----------


## shauck

Your doing great work, something to be proud of. 
Cheers, Su.

----------


## dbfalls

Cheers Shauk, 
Days like today can be frustrating, thought it would only take a couple of hours to silicone around the ensuite and install the vanity and toilet, 7 hrs later job done (did I mention i hate silicone!!) 
Anyway have some more progress photos vanity and toilet installed and the rest of the sub floor for the extension completed yesterday and passed by council first time. 
Also had the site measure from the company building my prefab frames and trusses, yesterda. As always its more complex than you think added to by the fact the roof pitches are unequal. Should be delivered next Friday I hope  :Redface: ) 
Old bathroom completely removed and sub floor completed.   
Also new doorway into 4th Bdrm/Study completed   
Ensuite Photos from today       
Mate Raz enjoying the only shower currently available, Im glad the weather isnt too cold at the moment is all I can say

----------


## shauck

Where'd you get those tiles? Very nice.

----------


## Bloss

> Where'd you get those tiles? Very nice.

     :What she said:  Very classy & good taste (ie: accord with what I like . . .) Some help from Lucy or another female friend choosing those tiles or am I underestimating you and being entirely sexist?   :Smilie:

----------


## dbfalls

Hi Shauck, the tiles were from Walkers in Newtown (Geelong), the sales lady helped me pick them out and with the design although I did have an idea of what I wanted in my head. 
Photos from today 
Yellow tongue flooring laid for extension 
Raz enjoying a hard earned beer!   
Me feeling pretty happy about ticking of another job, and having it come out really well and tie into the existing floor within 2mm. Oh yes and enjoying a beer too!!   
Hopefully the frames arrive Friday and I can get stuck into that, in the meantime if the weather holds I might see if I can start putting the front deck and verandah up.

----------


## dbfalls

Verandah and Deck coming along,     
Joists on tomorrow hopefully and then waiting for the decking and the profiled rafters.

----------


## dbfalls

Some quick photo updates of the new front porch/verandah 
As with every job so far one job needs another completed first. The wall where I wanted to inset the verandah return post had really tired weatherboards so thought I better replace those. Next problem the door fin this wall was framed dramatically out of square, so out witht he old boards and door frame and in with the new.   
Post installed and new weatherboards going on. I would have had to do some work here anyway as the door was hung outwards for when this used to open onto the old horrible sunroom.   
New joists on   
Framing the corner out required a bit of pre thought, and also involved a few stuff ups.

----------


## Bloss

". . .  and also involved a few stuff ups."  Only stuff-ups if they are visible when finished . . . :Wink:   :Biggrin:

----------


## dbfalls

True, but it only cost me a couple of lengths of timber I was going to use for something else so pulled out the mistakes (end of a hot day and my maths was failing!) and redid them.

----------


## Bloss

> True, but it only cost me a couple of lengths of timber I was going to use for something else so pulled out the mistakes (end of a hot day and my maths was failing!) and redid them.

  Love that attitude. My Dah was fond of saying 'that's good enough for the bush' (country boys . . . ), but of course he was being ironic - for his work that mean he'd straighten up a door jamb that was 1/16" out of plumb (so <1mm in 2m!). And expected his employees to be as fastidious.  :Cool:

----------


## dbfalls

Wall frames and roof trusses arrived today. 
Frames arrive, will the truck fit down the lane?   
Yes but only just           
Wall frames finished just need to tension bracing, roof trusses tomorrow

----------


## dbfalls

Roof trusses going up, the hip end took all morning, but started to come together fast after that.

----------


## Bloss

I still get a buzz when a frame is stood!  :Smilie:   :2thumbsup:  get that speed brace on quickly!

----------


## dbfalls

Speed brace done, box gutter more or less framed, ready for saturdays rain

----------


## shauck

> I still get a buzz when a frame is stood!   get that speed brace on quickly!

  I thought speed brace was put on the wall after you nailed it together and squared it up, while it's lying on the ground still. At least that's what they showed us in school.

----------


## dbfalls

My thoughts as well but after checking with the prefab frame manufacturers they recommended the whole thing stood then final squaring, then gal strapped, crossing between sections before tensioning. Sorry should have mentioned design spec was gal strap with tensioners for walls and speedbrace for roof trusses.

----------


## andy the pm

> I thought speed brace was put on the wall after you nailed it together and squared it up, while it's lying on the ground still. At least that's what they showed us in school.

  You can do it both ways, square the frame when its on the ground and put on a temp brace to hold it square, wrap your brace under the bottom plate, nail it then take it up to the top plate and nail it but dont drive the nails home, then when the frame is plumb and straight nail the brace fully.

----------


## dbfalls

One week of good weather, is that too much to ask for?

----------


## Bloss

> I thought speed brace was put on the wall after you nailed it together and squared it up, while it's lying on the ground still. At least that's what they showed us in school.

  I meant across the roof trusses . . . so long since I was at school I now just make it up as I go along - but I sound authoritative . . .  :Biggrin:   :Wink:  
I have seen too many unlucky cases where a roof trusses were stood, all done, but dark approaching, no diagonal temporary bracing or speed bracing ("it'll be Ok till the morning") - and seen the domino effect of collapsed trusses due to just a few strong gusts . . . not a pretty site and even if there is no damage to the trusses a bugger of a job to get back to where you were and if any break a real PITA    :Frown:

----------


## shauck

I remember back at pre-app school we built a transportable and had just got all the roof framing on and tarped it as some of the roof would be exposed cathedral ceiling. Every wall had sheet bracing. It was sitting on pyramids so a truck could get under it when finished.  
A massive wind storm was coming so we dynabolted some hooks to concrete on the ground and chained the subframe to these. Sat back and watched as the house actually lifted into the air about half a meter or so at one point.  
When we checked the house it had gone a little out of square and level. I forget how we fixed that but some of it was collective brute force. A bunch of us on one corner pushing and a bunch of us on the opposing corner pushing. some sort of hydraulic lifts. hazy on that part.  
Amazing what a wind can do to such a large but unfinished structure.

----------


## dbfalls

Well, very tiring week and the rain cetainly didn't help, but have got the extension wall and roof frames completed and had the mandatory framing inspection from the council passed today. The tie in for the extension to the existing hip was a challenge. The exisitng hip rafters were framed out with 50mm above the roof plane no problems when it was a hip as they sat inside the peak of the ridge capping but when they become incorporated into a flat face not so good. Prefab truss company were realy good and sent one of their guys out to offer suggestions. Easiest solution was jut to rip the 50mm off and hope the inspector wouldnt notice. The solution I went with was to temporarily prop, remove the jack and creeper rafters on the end face, rip the 50mm of the top of the existing hip rafters and then nail laminate new hip rafters onto the existing with the extra 50mm (keeping the required 140mm depth) below the plane instead of above and then make new jack and creeper rafters. After this I was ready to install the valley (saddle)  trusses and then install the roof battens. Tired just typing it! 
Today I cut of the roof sheets in the box gutter area just below the second batten (about 900mm up) and removed the lower 900mm to give me access to reframe the gutter with 1 in 100 fall instead of the existing 1 in 200 and to make it continue through into the extension. After cutting it all out I started thinking, how smart is this with rain forecast tomorrow afternoon and friday, but plugged away and got it done, temporarily covered in plastic and the lower 900 mm sections temporarily refitted. The roofers start tomorrow replacing the whole roof so hopefully the forecast is wrong! 
Will try and find some time to take some photos and post them tomorrow.

----------


## dbfalls

Ok some photos from the last couple of days   
Hip to extension truss tie in   
Temporary box gutter, the metal one arrives tomorrow..........after it has rained tonight!       
Is that new roofing I see  :Redface: )     
Who needs gutters lol

----------


## ibuildbenches

Shes coming along mate. Hopefully the box gutter withstands any rain we get tonight/tommorrow! 
I also noticed how nice and clean your roof space is! A couple of possums up in there would be in heaven! haha

----------


## dbfalls

The rains just slipping south of geelong at the moment so all good. Must say am a bit jealous of how much palasterboard you've got up in short order, but have been reticent to put mine up before getting the place properly waterproof.

----------


## ibuildbenches

Its not a lot of plaster, its just a small house haha. 
A mate of mine recently put a new colorbond roof on his house (from tiles) and he assures me he understands the bloke on the ad, going outside every half hour to look up and admire. Im sure you will do the same mate! 
Hopefully if my budget allows, I may do the same to mine.

----------


## Smergen

Hey mate, love the work and the progress. 
Just wondering who you got to do your roof? I'm having trouble trying to find people come out and provide me with a quote to do mine... Or are you doing it yourself?

----------


## dbfalls

Hey mate, 
I've got Geelong Water Solutions doing my roof, they seem like good guys and are happy to work around me replacing rafters and battens as required. So they are doing 1/2 a day here and there as I'm ready which works well for me. Reasonable price too, I also had True Blue Roofing quote as well they also seemedd really professional but were a few hundred more expensive. 
PM me if you want contact details

----------


## Annie_s

hi db, love your thread.  I am particularly reading every word as I too am currently reno'ing a 1800's home near Ballarat (see blog below if you like).  So similar to yours, although I'm not extending, just renovating.  I'm doing it to develop, then sell asap.  So my strategy is a little different to yours, but overall I know what you have been facing... 
firstly, I might say, I'm nearly in tears to see you paid only $6,700 for your restumping.  My guys charged me $11,000 (and a bit more when nearly done for unforseens).  So I see your price and DIE inside!!  I was so desperate just to get the restumping done n dusted that I booked the first guys that said they would do it.  I didn't get a 2nd quote, and throughout my whole development this was the only part of my project I didn't get a 2nd quote, and let me tell you, I'm off to have a cigarette after this post - AND I don't SMOKE!  ouch!!  I'm kicking myself now.    
Moving on *compose myself*, let me tell you, I did a lot of research on my house, the age, previous owners etc.  I would say yours is like mine, from the gold rush era (1870- 1880).  I know a cop bought my land from the crown, but he never built on it, it was a miner who bought it off him some 15yrs later that built on it.  It was really interesting digging up all that stuff - although it may not really interest you for your home.  For example 4 of the 7 owners of my house, died whilst owning it.  I'm trying to find out if they died in the home!  interesting... 
Anyways, I did have a couple of questions for you.  I am still at the restumping stage, although they assure me they will be finished next week!  hmmmm.   We actually got robbed last week (which isn't surprising seeing as the house is wide open!) funnily enough they took all my copper, and my fridge, but left all the timber and the restumping guys tools - the tools they used at 1am to remove the copper!  buggas!  C'est la vie I guess. 
questions!
I wanted to ask you why you took everything out of the ceiling (insulation etc).  Is that just to re-do it properly?   
Did you strip all your plaster so you could re-do it all to get it perfect, or was there another reason? 
I'm not sure if you are a tradie by trade, if so, that would explain your knowledge/skill, but if you did use someone to install the bath reno frame, how much did the frame only cost? 
I think your post is a classic (how to) renovate an older home,  :2thumbsup:  and I can't wait to see it progress! 
Annie

----------


## dbfalls

Hi Annie, 
Dont be too dissapointed with your restumping price, it looks like you had a lot of bearers and joists replaced ( I had a total of 12 metres that needed replacing) as I was quoted an additional $25/m for this. 
I have found the names of the owners back to 1907 but haven't done any more research than this, too busy renovating! 
The old insulation was removed from the ceiling to get rid of the 1cm thick layer of dust infused in it and to allow the rewiring to be done neatly. The dust seeped through the lapped pine ceiling boards every time you drove home a nail previously. 
Replacing the plaster was for a number of reasons, I was moving some walls around plus had a lot of popped nails and cracks, it just seemed easier to replace the lot and start afresh. I was glad I did after discovering what filled the walls.......see below    
Removing this stuff really improved the odour in the house! 
I reframed the bathroom myself, so really just the cost of the timber and the premade cavity door frame, so say $500 max. 
Re roofing is progressing, new box gutter went in today as did a load more sheets and some perimeter guttering.

----------


## Annie_s

yeah I'm feeling a bit better about my restumping price now, I just panicked when I saw your price!  Also, my guys didn't keep me waiting long, which I've heard in this industry is another problem. 
I don't dare look what's in my walls!  Despite being restumped, my walls have had minimal cracks, so I've been a bit lucky there I think! 
I can't wait to see how your home progresses!!...  :Smilie:

----------


## dbfalls

A few progress photos   
Wish I'd painted the chimnies first, oh well drop sheets it is! The roofers used a double flashing system around the chimnies to really ensure no leaks.   
Yes the fence is on the list for replacement and the painters are supposed to start on the exterior on Wednesday.     
When the garage eventually gets moved it will hide this featureless wall. Where did another skip full of garbage come from???   
Cladding going on the long wall (22mtrs) , the windows wont arrive for 2 weeks so am going to have to carefully cut back the boards to suit when they are installed.   
Extension looking a bit more like a room rather than a deck now  :Redface: )

----------


## Annie_s

lookin good! 
what cladding are you putting on the walls, I would have thought you would keep the boards???

----------


## dbfalls

Sorry I tend to use 'cladding' as a generic term, its just new pine square edge weatherboard that matches the original (which have mostly rotted out at the ends).

----------


## Annie_s

> Sorry I tend to use 'cladding' as a generic term, its just new pine square edge weatherboard that matches the original (which have mostly rotted out at the ends).

  
that's interesting, glad to hear you aren't doing what they did to my home years ago and put aluminum cladding over the boards.  I'd love to know how much it cost you to restore your boards... just for future reference, I won't be doing on this project, but maybe next time if I know what $$$ i'm in for in advance.

----------


## shauck

> that's interesting, glad to hear you aren't doing what they did to my home years ago and put aluminum cladding over the boards.  I'd love to know how much it cost you to restore your boards... just for future reference, I won't be doing on this project, but maybe next time if I know what $$$ i'm in for in advance.

  
Just calculated the weatherboards (replaced) for my place which is a tiny 45m2 to be around $2,500. Of course that's just the boards. I'll be doing it myself though.

----------


## dbfalls

Weatherboard pricing seems to be somewhere between $2.30 and $3.30 at the moment depending on quantity and supplier, figure about 23 boards up to do a 3mtr high wall, so say between $50 and $75 in materials (plus $60 for every 1500 stainless nails) for every metre of wall you want to replace.  
Just bits and pieces done today, drove out to near the hume to pick up my bullnose verandah rafters, so will need to get the birdsmouths sorted for these get them primed and up pronto for the roofers to finish. Painters starting Thursday apparently. The new door frames and doors for the extension are arriving around 7am tomorrow as well so a busy few days ahead. 
Need to have all the weatherboard finished ready for the painters, so spent the rest of the day replacing random worn out boards (wasnt brave enough to strip the last major wall the weather was just too unpredictable) around the house, including the one that had the bracket for the power on it, annoying!

----------


## dbfalls

Well been busy painting and masking up window panes today, the two big doorways in the extension are made up of 4, 10 light doors each 2 fixed as sidelights and 2 swung. Adds up to 160 windows to mask (counting both sides), extremely tedious and the back was not happy with me after getting half done.    
Meanwhile Raz started painting the frames Wattyl solagard classic white     
I managed to get the sidelights all masked by lunchtime and spent the rest of the afternoon giving them 2 coats of paint. 5.30 rolled around and I really wanted more to show for the day than just some painting so we installed the sidelights into the frame and then installed the frames into the stud openings  :Redface: )     
Tomorrow I hope to get the remaining weatherboards on ready for the painters, paint and install the windows (2 of the 3 arrived this morning) and make a start on the rafters for the front verandah which I picked up monday morning.

----------


## Annie_s

after such perfect paper & taping, I'm surprised you didn't spray paint them all in one go! 
looks lovely tho! :2thumbsup:

----------


## dbfalls

To be perfectly honest I didnt even think about sprayng them, funny how your mind gets set on a course of action. 
Anyway progress today            
Didnt manage to get the rafter for the verandah done so tomorrow it is.

----------


## dbfalls

Ok mostly some photos to follow, 
Made a start on the front yard     
And see I told you mum that I wouldnt kill that rose when I was cutting down the tree  :Redface: )   
Retaining wall painted, not that it is retaining all that much, but looks a lot neater!   
Can't say thankyou enough to mum and dad for driving all the way over from Adelaide to visit, with the primary purpose of painting all the 160 of the pickets for my front fence. Top marks for still being able to smile about it. Did motivate me to get on with the front yard though and the fence is coming along nicely!           
Picket fence nearly done, and did I mention the painters are nearly finished  :Redface: )       
All the rubish is gone from the backyard and weather permitting will put a temporary fence up to the rear lane in the afternoon tommorrow. 
The roofers have finished the main job and installed the rainhead and all the downpipes and will be looking at roofing the front verandah in the next fortnight, so I better get on with installing the rafters.

----------


## Annie_s

gee, don't spose your parents are going to be around creswick any time soon???   :Smilie:

----------


## Bloss

Maate! Lookin' good!!  :2thumbsup:  :2thumbsup:

----------


## dbfalls

Thanks Bloss, starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel now. 
Put the remaining pickets on the front fence, just need to give a touch up paint to it all, install the letterbox and make the gate.   
Was still in the fencing frame of mind and had some leftover materials from the side fence so decided to put up a temporary fence to the rear lane until I'm ready to move the shed (not in the near future).   
But thinking ahead I had 2 cubic metres of conmix and some pebble for landscaping deliveredvprior to the fence going up.

----------


## Cecile

This is loooking gorgeous.  Love the white and blue colour scheme.  If I were cheeky enough I'd ask for your address and swing by to have a look, since we're in the same town.

----------


## seriph1

Well folks, you have really done well  -  there is just something warm and wonderful about a weatherboard Victorian, especially (for me anyway) that internal corner where the French doors are .... it is something that just says "I have been lived in long enough to have bits added to me" I love it 
Your folks are wonderful to assist  -  I am with the poster who suggested spraying though! I had never given it any thought at all because I always considered it was a no-no when making hand finished kitchens .... I now spray all coats THEN brush through a final light coat to complete the effect .... works a treat and actually gives a finer finish than brushing alone. 
Anyway, that's more than enough about my stuff .... this home is wonderful .... technically lovely but more than that, it honestly looks like "home"  -  just how we used to draw it when we were little ... hmm I wonder if kids today get their crayons out and draw rendered brick veneers with triple car garages and heavy portico entrances ....   :Biggrin:  :Biggrin:  :Biggrin:  :Biggrin:  :Biggrin:

----------


## dbfalls

Thanks Seriph and Cecile, the stress levels are slowly dropping as the more technical aspects of the job seem to be almost done, really just have a lot of plastering and painting to finish the interior. 
Anyway got the hinged french doors painted and hung now so just have to fit the door locks and handles and I'll call it locked up  :Redface: )

----------


## Armers

Looking very very fine there, i cant wait to be at your stage. You must feel very happy for youself to get a locked up and weather tight house! 
Outside painting and colour scheme is awesome! 
Kudos! 
Cheers

----------


## dbfalls

So counting down the days until I'm back at work, no more full time renovations come Sunday. So really trying to tidy up a lot of things. 
Now the extension is locked up I used tall of the old kitchen cupboards to organise the tools and materials.   
Painting on doors complete and all of the paper removed  :Redface: 0)   
Gate for front fence built and installed, and I popped in the letterbox and a new set of street numbers.   
Also installed all of the drainage in the front yard and tied the Agi pipe ffrom behind the retaining wall into. Then screeded of the front yard so it will drain back to the slit drains. Then filled over the top with 20mm pebble (At $70 per cubic metre was the cheapest nice solution for the time being, this did the whole front yard)

----------


## michaelcallahan

:2thumbsup:   

> So counting down the days until I'm back at work, no more full time renovations come Sunday. So really trying to tidy up a lot of things. 
> Now the extension is locked up I used tall of the old kitchen cupboards to organise the tools and materials.looking good,  
> Not sure about the blond in the photos, but the reno's looking great. Well done   
> Painting on doors complete and all of the paper removed 0)   
> Gate for front fence built and installed, and I popped in the letterbox and a new set of street numbers.   
> Also installed all of the drainage in the front yard and tied the Agi pipe ffrom behind the retaining wall into. Then screeded of the front yard so it will drain back to the slit drains. Then filled over the top with 20mm pebble (At $70 per cubic metre was the cheapest nice solution for the time being, this did the whole front yard)

----------


## racingtadpole

Must be getting cold....Raz has a shirt on for the first time in 7 pages  :Biggrin:

----------


## dbfalls

Well just finishing of some bits and pieces. 
Fitted the new windows to the extension today.   
And got half of the rafters fitted for the front verandah, should be able to finish them off by lunchtime tomorrow, then its a well earned beer o'clock  :Redface: )    
Raz reckons its only shirt wearing weather when its below 14 lol

----------


## dbfalls

Well progress has slowed now that I'm back to my day job full time. But managed to get the under purlins for the front verandah installed ready for the roofers to hopefully put some tin on it next week.

----------


## dbfalls

Back at work has slowed things down somewhat, but the roofers put the sheets onto the front verandah last week, just have do get the flashings etc done and thats all the roofing complete now.

----------


## Bloss

Lookin' good!

----------


## trevhutch

Mate, that is looking fantastic!

----------


## dbfalls

Thanks Guys, I have to admit I'm missing not working on it full time. Lots of work still to do though, I'm considering just paying to have the plastering done as working weekends only its going to take me months, whereas paying will have it finished in 10 days and nearly truly habitable a few weeks later. At the moment just trying to find some Jarrah tongue and groove secondhand to use for the front deck, at a pinch I'm going to think about using jarrah or merbau decking.

----------


## droog

Dont ruin it now, get the Jarrah T&G.  :Shock: 
I just finished replacement of our pine decking and restored it back to Jarrah T&G, for period houses sometimes you just gotta do it right. :2thumbsup:  
Regards Dave

----------


## droog

If you are having trouble finding Jarrah T&G try these guys. Robert Sim Building Supplies Pty Ltd - Timber - Trade and Retail - Ballarat, VIC - Yellow Pages® 
I am sure there would be someone closer but these guys are the ducks guts for me. 
Dave

----------


## gangnail

Hi droog
With the T&G would you secret nail it or just through the top   

> If you are having trouble finding Jarrah T&G try these guys. Robert Sim Building Supplies Pty Ltd - Timber - Trade and Retail - Ballarat, VIC - Yellow Pages® 
> I am sure there would be someone closer but these guys are the ducks guts for me. 
> Dave

----------


## droog

I was trying to bring back the original character so all face nailed, did not even consider the pro's and con's of secret nail. 
Regards Dave

----------


## dbfalls

Well all the flashings are done on the front verandah and I'm really happy with the job the guys did. I picked up a secondhand kitchen from Ebay, pretty good deal 6mtrs of black caeserstone benchtops, lots of cupboards, AEG stainless oven and 900mm cooktop, island bench with double sink and mixer for $1200, which was the money earmarked for the deck timbers so yet another delay! Thanks Droog for the tip on where to get good Jarrah T&G, will check them out.

----------


## dbfalls

Long time without a post, I've actually had to be doing some real work to get the cash flow in the right direction in order to fund the rest of the renovation. Hopefully will get back into it in the next few weeks. Need to have the roughing in of the electrics completed and get all the insulation installed and then plasterboard will be going up. I'll update with a few photos once some more progress has been made.

----------


## watson

May the force be with you.....excellent stuff Mate.

----------


## Black Cat

You and me both DBFalls - still it makes for a nice break to be able to be working and stay clean all day, lol.

----------


## dbfalls

Well, I've been working away for the last 2 weeks and have made some real progress. Although am thoroughly sick of either banging my head on the rafters or the joists either in the roof, or crawling around commando style under the house! So what progress has been made?  
I have under the direction of an electrician mate completed the roughing in, even the last couple of really hard to get to bits!! The whole house has been emptied of all the bits and pieces that accumalate during a reno and consequently my little unrenovated room (I like to think of it as my studio apartment lol) is rather crowded, currently housing everything from the kitchen sink to bathroom mirrors lol, and the shed is literally impenetrable!
The framing for all the bedrooms has been squared, planed and otherwise finessed ready for some plaster. The remaining framing for the pantry, study and oven nook is also built. Insulation has been installed in all of the external walls and 90% of the internal ones as well. I figure that I may as well take advantage of having the opportunity now rather than wishing that I had later. The ariel cales have all been run. I have installed a crawlway in the ceiling and have distributed the ceiling insulation throughout the roof (mind you I haven't unpacked this yet, I'm guessing that's going to be one of those annoying jobs that gets left till the end lol) I decided to frame out the builtins completely and hope that the allowances I have made for plaster will give me enough tolerance for the secondhand wardrobe doors that are all ready to install. This was precipitated by mixing up a number of barrows of concrete to reseal the hearths in front of both fireplaces that had detioriated to a crumbly consistency so that I actually have something substantial to attach the new framing to. I took the time to visit a number of specialty lighting shops and unsuprisingly discovered that everything that took my fancy was the most expensive of its type in store  :Redface: (. I've also renewed my love/hate relationship with Bunnings, she can be a cruel mistress! 
So what haven't I done, it feels like............not much! I am pretty tired and sore at the moment but happy to be getting fit again. Just have to install a few more studs and the shower base for the bathroom. Get rid of another load of rubish, which I thought I couldn't generate any more of, and I think that will be about it. Plaster has been ordered, delivered and stacked in the extension ready for the guys to make a start on it Monday. The other thing I haven't done is take any photos as I cleverly forgot to pack my camera. I will try to take some pics with the IPhone in the morning, but general construction duties have taken their toll on its picture quality so I'm not holding out much hope.. 
Big thank you to a couple of mates Lachy and Reuben for giving me a hand this week, there is no way I would have got this ready in time without your help  :Redface: )

----------


## CraigandKate

Hey Mate,  
Love your work the place is looking like new now! Quick question because I am about to do some weatherboarding, what nails/nail-gun did you use? Are those boards the pre primed baltic pine stuff? 
Cheers Craig

----------


## dbfalls

Well the Iphone didn't deliver in the photo stakes so will take a real camera down next week. Cheers Craig, yes it is looking a lot more promising than when I started. The weatherboards are just the pre-primed pine, the nails were dome head, ring shanked (depends wether you are going into hardwood or softwood) stainless steel, using a coil nailer. Then had to putty and sand all the depressions, not so much fun but not as bad as it sounds. 
Cheers Dave

----------


## dbfalls

Well the photos aren't quite as bad as I thought. Dont know how interesting they are but will post a few anyway.Framing for one of the new built in robes.     
Part of the secondhand kitchen from Ebay.   
General insulation and framing pics.

----------


## dbfalls

Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now! 
Plasterers are nearly finished just a bit of cornice work to do in the extension and I can start painting, not sure how pleased I am about that lol.                   
So I am inspired to build the rear deck this week the Hot weather yesterday reminded me of the joys of BBQ's so have prepared the site that encompasses the deck area and have started marking out the stump holes, will hopefully, with the help of a mate get all the holes dug by end of day Sunday and start concreting as soon as we pass the council inspection.

----------


## SlowMick

awesome work dave :2thumbsup: .  looking forward to watching your progress.   
Cheers,  Mick

----------


## dbfalls

Thanks Mick, So this is the deck site I prepared on Friday.   
Anyway made a start on the stump holes today, with some help from another mate Jimi.   
Unfortunately managed to find the sewer pipe and cracked the top of it in 2 places. Which isnt a major drama as this is being replaced by PVC suspended under the house. But I was hoping that I would get lucky and could do the replacement after finishing the deck. Instead will have to get a plumber in tomorrow, hopefully, and get this redirected so I can finish the last 2 holes and get the council inspection done. If that pans out should have all the stumps concreted in by Wednesday night. The existing sewer layout turns out to be rather interesting and can be seen by the pink lines on the photo above. It runs on a diagonal from one side of the property to the other and then turns 90 degrees and runs on a diagonal back to the other side. Speaking to the next door neighbour to confirm that it wasnt a shared sewer, which it isnt luckily, he let me know it was that way for the outside toilet that used to be located in that approximate position (Not sure if I mentioned that he was born in my house circa 1930).

----------


## dbfalls

Pretty succesful day all in all. Quote for the sewer repair was around the $1500 mark, and maybe in a couple of days. Lets just say the job is done, new DWV 100 mm hung from house @ 1 in 60 fall, 100mm DWV PVC to EW adaptor fitted and a functional overflow relief gully installed. The old ceramic pipe broken out of the bottoms of the final stump holes and ready for inspection in the morning. Total overkill by the engineer, 1mtr deep 400 X 400 for the deck that doesnt reach further than 800 from the ground, but its cheaper to just do it than get it redrawn or submit an ammendment with council, these footings would be sufficient for another full extension lol.   
I know it would be better to replace the last of the ceramic pipe, but on a dealine and there is only another 4 mtrs before it reaches the property boundary. It will be nearly as easy to replace later as now.  
Material cost $230, time on job 5hrs.  :Redface: )

----------


## dbfalls

The weather has been kind to me and I have managed to get all of the stumps in for the deck  :Smilie:  and have cleaned up the whole site so it looks a lot tidier than it did at the start of the week, also  :Biggrin:      
I think the clothes line may have a date with the angle grinder in the very near future lol!

----------


## seriph1

Lol. Awesome. Clothesline shouldvlift out  :Redface: D

----------


## SlowMick

The guys in the photo's only seem to wear shorts and the occasional high vis singlet.  i reckon both of these could still be hung on the clothes line even with the decking installed. :Biggrin:

----------


## shauck

You could use your clothesline as an umbrella over your outdoor table.  :Biggrin:

----------


## dbfalls

Steve, I agree the clothes line shouldve just lifted out, but the bloody thing won't. Shauck. my intention was to lift the clothes line out and use the footing for an umbrella post but just doesn't seem to want to take on the new role, so Mr Grinder it is lol.Slowmick, I dont get much summer heat, so any chance to wear shorts is looked upon favourably  :Redface: ) 
Today was a sleeper amd concrete day, making a new walkway from the front footpath to the deck. Also ordered the wood to finish the front deck, got a great price on some tongue and groove tallowood which will be delivered next week!

----------


## SlowMick

Dave,
what do you do during the day?  I'm hoping you're a tradie as I'm jealous as hell with the volume of work you've managd to carryout on your Cottage in such a short time.  I feel like I'm standing still.  :Frown:  
Using your pictures as inspiration to work and not surf the forums - too much.  :Biggrin:

----------


## dbfalls

Hey Mick, no not a tradie but am pretty good at putting 2 and 2 together, and like the feeling of working hard which seems to be bringing about a good result quickly. Speaking of putting 2 and 2 together, I realised I had a load of conmix left after doing my stumps and also a big stack of old red bricks that have been pulled out of the garden over the course of the last 12 months. So conmix + bricks = new front path and step  :Smilie:    
Nearly finished, and if the weather keeps being good to me might be able to knock it off tomorrow morning and then onto the painting inside!

----------


## dbfalls

The front step is now done and have made a good start on the front decking. I got a really good price for some tallowwood tongue and groove decking froma local yard, and although it has a proportion of knots etc it has the right character for the front verandah. Anyway will see how it goes, I know a lot of people say never use T&G outdoors, but I see a lot of this on Victorian cottages, with many multiple decade old and still going strong, so fingers crossed. My arm and hand is cursing my desire to try and be somewhat sympathetic to the original building style, 1700 holes drilled so far and a similar number of 65 x 3.15 titadeck nails hammered in by hand!   
The corner mitre seems to have come up pretty well and the use of a spacer has allowed it to feel pretty flat at the join even thoug both sides fall away to the outside of the deck.   
Hopefully finish before 11 tomorrow, what are peoples thought re letting this weather first, or oiling it straight away. I'll preface that with I dont mind if it cups a bit as I like the character of an older deck.

----------


## droog

My opinion for that deck, slam some Deck Doc on it straight away. I had one section of T&G that I coated straight away and one I left for a while. The joins opened up more where I left it, both have a bit of cupping. 
Regards Dave

----------


## dbfalls

Thanks Dave, 
Well it started raining 10 minutes after I put the last nail in so the decision is made for me, just have to wait for a couple of days of nice weather forecast! So apart from oiling, the deck is finished and have also got a prep sealer coat through 80% of the house and started putting the VJ pine boards through the hallway. 40th Birthday celebrations tommorrow so I'm having a few days off the renovations, friends coming to visit and although the house isn't at a point that I could charge for the night, it certainly is the tidiest it's been since I bought it!

----------


## shauck

Happy birthday. Getting to the good years now.

----------


## dbfalls

I need to get back into the habit of posting my progress on here, it seems like I'm so busy with work at the moment that finding time to work on the house is hard enough without even thinking about documenting it. I have managed to make some more progress on the back deck, just hand rails, stairs and retouch up the paint on the house that got a little excess oil on it. Maybe I was slighty enthusiastic as I was applying this.  
I've also oiled the front deck, and had a colour consultant come in to give me some ideas for the interior paint. There are just way to many neutral colours to choose from and now at least I have it narrowed down to 2 colour schemes! Anyway I do actually have some more photos of the work in progress and will try and upload them over the weekend.

----------


## sundancewfs

The deck looks great!  :2thumbsup:

----------


## Bloss

The whole lot looks great. That tallowwood front deck is really special bit of work IMO - seen rarely now, but very fitting for the period of the cottage as you say. The filler was common practice for exactly the reasons you said and was sometimes mildly chamfered to a slight rise in the centre, but not always. 
The boards on decks were rarely if ever oiled by most home owners until quite recently - they chose dense 'greasy' timbers and although the ends sometimes got a bit ragged as they were permanently exposed (that's why the boards often ran lengthways - so you could replace just the few weathered runs) there were many around in the 60s and 70s that were 80 years old and more, so they'll out last you!

----------


## dbfalls

So..... long time between posts again. I guess like most of the renovators on this site I have been having one of those periods where you struggle with motivation. Nonetheless I have managed to get quite a bit done in the last month. A good mate, Heath, and my parents came to help me finish of the painting of the interior and Knocked it all of in the space of a week with the exception of the laundry which still needs a bit of plastering work to complete, fantastic effort and can't really express my appreciation enough. Here is a picture of one of the front rooms painted and with the mantle awaiting installation. The colour is Dulux Ghosting 1/2 and the ceilings in Lexicon.  
I also decided to finish of the tiling in the ensuite and to fitout the false ceiling that hides a structural beam that ran through it. Came together really quickly and found I had time to install the showerscreen and the rain head as well, would have been an interesting job if I didnt have a couple of quality diamond bits and a diamon hole saw to get through the porcelain tiles.    
Whilst I had everything out it seemed like it was time to make a start on the main bathroom, so the bath surround was framed out, sheeted and then I waterproofed the whole room to 2m up the walls, it will need to be a deep flood to get through that! Then got all of the tiles onto the floors and walls after a bit of careful planning. This is the current state of progress.          
While waiting for the tiles to go off I got carried away with cleaning out the shed and somehow the kitchen I bought cheaply of Ebay last year for around $1200 moved its way into the house and I started on the install. I was really glad I had done most of the hard planning work last year and the most difficult part of the install came down to deciphering my plans that I had drawn up straight after I had bought the bloody heavy thing! The install involved cutting down all the bases and kickers to suit the new configuration and also modifying a few of the cupboards. The part of the exercise that I was drfeading, namely, cutting the caeser stone bench tops actually turned out to be a cinch. Used a small grinder with a ceramic disc on it and clamped a piece of 90*45 to the bench top as a guide, 10 minutes later and my bench tops fitted with neat cuts that will be hidden anyway by the central stainless steel top that will house the new cooktop.        
I'm aiming to get the bathroom grouted next weekend and maybe start to install some of the expensive bits lol!

----------


## sundancewfs

That is looking very stylish and neat. the horizontal tiles look great!
All I have to do nowis convince my wife we need one of those great "storage solutions" in our kitchen too....  :Biggrin:

----------


## Cecile

I love the shower screen with the exposed rail and wheels.  So easy to keep clean!  Did you source it locally?

----------


## dbfalls

Hi Cecile, 
Yes, seems like a pretty good product and a little different from the standard frameless screens that everyone is using. It was sourced from McCanns on Latrobe Tce in Geelong, it is a Marbletrend product the "Select Semi Frameless slider"

----------


## Cecile

> Hi Cecile, 
> Yes, seems like a pretty good product and a little different from the standard frameless screens that everyone is using. It was sourced from McCanns on Latrobe Tce in Geelong, it is a Marbletrend product the "Select Semi Frameless slider"

  I'll have to go have a look at it.  I am not terribly impressed with the Marbletrend loo we have, but it's hard to get a piece of glass and rail wrong. 
Many thanks for the info  :Smilie:

----------


## Jim Carroll

> Hi Cecile, 
> Yes, seems like a pretty good product and a little different from the standard frameless screens that everyone is using. It was sourced from McCanns on Latrobe Tce in Geelong, it is a Marbletrend product the "Select Semi Frameless slider"

  What does the lower part of the door run in.
Did you get the base and door as a complete kit

----------


## Jim Carroll

[QUOTE=Cecile;879584 but it's hard to get a piece of glass and rail wrong. 
Many thanks for the info  :Smilie: [/QUOTE] 
Famous last words.

----------


## Habitat

Drove past your house whilst looking for some potential projects today and got to say it really looks great in the flesh. Well done, you've done an amazing job

----------


## aussieslr

Great thread mate. Really enjoyed running through it. Looking forward to your next progress report. :Biggrin:

----------


## dbfalls

Hi all, well once again a long time between posts but a question from another member in the flooring forum coincidentally was posted just as I finished something very similar and has got me motivated to keep the thread going. Early in my renovation I pulled up all of the original 115 yr old floorboards and replaced them with a yellow tongue structural floor, this was done for a number of reason foremost being wanting a flat stable draught free floor that was better than walking on joists! I have always had the intention of re-laying these boards but the degree of cupping and borer damage really had me in two minds. Anyway the boards were denailed at the time (Or so I thought) and have been stored neatly stacked in the shed ever since.       
I originally had around 70sqm of yellow baltic pine and was able to trade some labour for another 50sqm of red baltic bine from an even older cottage in North Melbourne. After taking into account the boards that just weren't salvageable I ended up with about 50 sqm of useable remilled boards. 
After visiting a number of timber mills and promptly being shown the exit, understandably due to the potential damage to the knives in their moulders I was slightly disheartened but being slightly stubborn and also after receiving a number of quotes in the 9 to 11 thousand dollar range to supply and install new boards I decided to give remilling them myself a crack.  
I mean what was the worst that could happen..............I would end up with a whole swag of new tools, some really old firewood and the prospect of paying 9 to 11 thousand for new floorboards lol.               
So what tools were added to the collection? A really nice Makita plunge saw and 3mtrs of guide track $850. A ryobi thicknesser and 5 sets of blades ( Yes, 5, remember those supposedly denailed boards, apparently they had a lot of carpet tacks that had been punched into them at some point in their past). A used Triton Work Bench and Makita Saw (Thanks Dad has come in extremely useful) and was apparently very cheap from Ebay! A new heavy duty router table and a borrowed 2000w makita router (once again borrowed from dad, do you really want it back, I mean how often do you actually use it lol). Finally a set of Amana tongue and groove router bits imported from the States for $110. 
I know everyone I have asked, and a few I haven't, have said dont do it! But I really wanted to resurrect these old boards so here is the process I used. 
I started of by checking each board once again for nails, staples etc (believe me those old rectangular hand made nails are a PITA to get out). After this intial check the 22mm boards were run through the thicknesser alternating sides to get down to 18mm and remove all of the existing cupping. In the process finding a load of hidden tacks and severely damaging more than one set of knives ( Luckily these are double sided and only about $30 a set to have resharpened to better than new). At this point the boards were then placed onto the work bench and had one straight edge cut using the plunge saw and track. They were then transferred to the rip saw to remove the damaged tongues and create the second straight parrallel edge at 135 mm wide (down from the original 150mm). Once all of the boards had been thicknesses to 18mm and had their original tongue and groove removed I then replaced the blades in the thicknesser and ran one side of the boards to achieve a consistent 17mm board. I then set up the groove bit in the router to leave slightly more wood on the top side of the board (to allow for sanding) and passed all of the boards through this and then changed to the tongue bit and ran some sample bits to get the height 100% correct with the opposing edge. 
Ok now after 2 weeks work I actually had some nice looking floorboards and I was ready to start thinking about laying them. After checking all of the existing floors for level I decide to use a self levelling compound to get the substrate exactly flat. For fixing the boards to the floor I used 65mm by 2.5 mm bullet head nails hand driven in predrilled holes in conjunction with a flexible flooring adhesive (sika T55 J). I spent a lot of time measuring out and drawing reference lines on the existing floor in order to ensure the board alignment would marry up well acroos the rooms and the central corridor. I would definitley advise marking out the joist centres against the wall prior to starting to put down the adhesive as coming back to do this after the substrate nails are covered is annoying to say the least!  
Putting the first board down, the most imporatnt part of the job, I used spacers to set it off the wall by 10mm and parallel to my previously laid out reference lines. The Sika floor adhesive is an amazing product and really easy to work especially when using the recomended 4 mm v notch trowel (which was harder to find than just viviting Bunnings). This adhesive is not cheap at $197 per 15kg which will provide coverage for around 11square metres but seems to be money well spent. I was spreading enough for around 3 runs of boards at a time and found it easily stayed workable for the time required to predrill and nail this quantity. I double face nailed the 130 mm boards over joists with 65*2.5 bullet head nails and then end result feels amazing under foot. The floor feels solid and the noise transmission seems to hjacve been greatkly reduced by the flecible adhesive between the boards and the substrate. The only negative I can come up with for the Sika is that it is nearly impossible to remove from your skin or tools and I am living in hope that it will wear of in the next week ;-)  
I used some of the red baltic randomly throughout the rooms as highlights and bordered the corridor completely in this as well. So I am now left with the job of punching all of the nails (all 3000+ of them) putying, sanding and coating the floor, any advice on the coatings would be highly appreciated as it seems as there are as many choices as there are varieties of white paint!

----------


## dbfalls

The image attachment function keeps causing my computer to lock up so will try and post the remaining photos seperately here.

----------


## SlowMick

The floor looks awesome Dave.  A huge amount of work with magic results.  :2thumbsup:  
I assume there's going to be some cabinetry next to fireplace to cover the rest of the yellow tongue. 
Gonna make a nice shoe box/rack and a collection of slipper to protect all your hard work.

----------


## shauck

Great result for all your hard work. Hopefully your Dad sees that those tools should stay with you.

----------


## dominicw

That looks amazing! I love looking at this Go To Whoa. I haven't heard of people using self-levelling compound over yellow-tongue. What type did you use and how did you apply it? Did you just pour it room by room? Is is very thick? Also, did you plane/pack your joists before putting down the yellow-tongue?

----------


## Cecile

Ted wants to know if we can have the wood shavings!  There looks to be enough to fill the tray of his ute.   :Tongue:  
Oh...and it looks absolutely fabulous.

----------


## dbfalls

Hi Dominic, I used a Dunlop timber floor leveller which is specifically designed for levelling timber floors. It is only a few mm thick and is just poured on and then screeded smooth (it is semi self levelling but not perfect). It is not recommended for direct stick overlay floors but the use of top nails in conjunction with adhesive makes it acceptable. I did shave and pack the joists as much as they would allow prior to laying the yellow tongue but being a perfectionist it wasn't quite right and the use of the leveller got it back to where I wanted it. 
Cecille, you or Ted are more than welcome to the wood shavings, I have about ten garbage bags full that are slowly being fed into the bins. PM me if you seriously want this, might be good for the chooks! 
Mick, yes there are going to be some built in robes either side of the  fireplace hence the lack of boards in these areas. A shoe rack would be a great idea as I know I am going to be paranoid about these floors now lol. 
Thanks Shauck, I will let dad know the consensus is the tools are mine ;-). 
Now I just need to decide on the finish to apply, thoughts anyone?

----------


## activeman

Great thread, please keep the photos coming.

----------


## Cecile

I have to say that the photos on these pages do not even come close to showing how lovely the the house is in the flesh.  The older rooms are full of character, and the newly milled boards are sublime.  We especially love the kitchen, family room and deck.  Awesome space.  It's a privilege to have been shown around. 
You should be very proud of your hard work.

----------


## Bloss

Man what a great floor!! The sort of work my Dah would have done to get it too - I have the skills, just don't have the patience! But superb job mate!  :2thumbsup:  :2thumbsup:  Can't wait to see it finished (but I'll have to!)

----------


## dbfalls

Well its been a long time between drinks  :Redface: ) I must admit to becoming somewhat frustrated with the upload on this site continuously freezing my IE and have only just brought myself to try again. Don't worry though I have still been studiously documenting my progress and will try throwing some more photos up now to see how we go!

----------


## dbfalls



----------


## dbfalls

Attachment 96529Attachment 96531Attachment 96532Attachment 96533Attachment 96534Attachment 96530

----------


## dbfalls



----------


## dbfalls



----------


## dbfalls



----------


## dbfalls



----------


## dbfalls

Having spent the last 2hrs trying to create a post with images and text and having the site freeze every time!!! I am going to finish my thread as a photo journal only. Thank you to all who have offered suggestions, support and encouragement it has been greatly appreciated. 
Regards 
Dave 
PS Yes I know the green was a mistake and I assure one and all that it is getting painted over with something a little more restrained (I got tired of no colour in the house and went for the brightest thing I could find)

----------


## ChocDog

Thats looking great! Couple of things; I found the only way around the site crashing when posting pics with IE was to use Firefox - no problems with it. 
Other was about the yellow tongue and the self leveller. We're doing the same (leveling joists, laying YT and re-laying the original 150mm baltic boards). What sort of runout were you seeing (and over what distance) that made you want to use the self leveller? Its doing my head in just a little bit chasing the levels, and wonder if its worth going down this track. A lot of our boards are badly cupped but will get  a pro in sand it flat and finish it.

----------


## SlowMick

Looking awesome sir.  you should be very proud of you work.  If being unhappy with a paint colour is your biggest faux pas then you've done very very well.  hope your taking time to enjoy all your hard work.

----------


## dbfalls

> Thats looking great! Couple of things; I found the only way around the site crashing when posting pics with IE was to use Firefox - no problems with it. 
> Other was about the yellow tongue and the self leveller. We're doing the same (leveling joists, laying YT and re-laying the original 150mm baltic boards). What sort of runout were you seeing (and over what distance) that made you want to use the self leveller? Its doing my head in just a little bit chasing the levels, and wonder if its worth going down this track. A lot of our boards are badly cupped but will get  a pro in sand it flat and finish it.

   Hi Chocdog, sorry for the slow reply, I'm back at the day job and this time of year its 5months on and very few days off in between so have been avoiding spending the free time I do have in front of the computer screen! I was seeing a runout of around 10mm over 5metres which is hardly noticeable but the perfectionist in me said that wasn't good enough. The floor leveller worked well but wasn't quite as easy to use as I had thought it would be. Anyway the end result was what I wanted. Re- laying the boards over the yellow tongue with a good flexible adhesive in between and nailing through to the joists creates an amazing end result as I'm sure you will attest if you have already gone down this route. Really solid feel under foot and the lack of gaps with the old boards produces a beautiful finish.

----------


## dbfalls

> Looking awesome sir.  you should be very proud of you work.  If being unhappy with a paint colour is your biggest faux pas then you've done very very well.  hope your taking time to enjoy all your hard work.

   Thanks Mick, yes the paint being the only problem really isn't a big one in the scheme of things. I was however convinced to change out the cheap Bunnings mirrors I had in or planned to go in the bathrooms with custom items and also to replace the stainless steel splashback in the kitchen with a single piece of custom glass and I think the results speak for themselves. I've attached a few photos below.

----------


## dbfalls

So finally got around to hanging some of the wardrobe doors, once again unsure of the colour and am tempted to paint them with a white gloss enamel, thoughts? similarly with the fireplace which is currently painted faux marble (which I believe is original but feels quite heavy in the room. I have also finished of the tiling in the main toilet/bathroom.

----------


## dbfalls

Oh and I discovered I have one more job to add to the list. Some little bugger has decided to run a texta from one end of the fence to the other and display their creative genius even further by adding the decorative and imaginative ode to F**K to the letter box. Oh well out with the white paint!

----------


## Cecile

I was surprised to see you posting in this busy time of year! 
White enamel on the wardrobe doors will continue the light and bright theme...I like white doors. 
I agree that the fireplace is a little heavy-looking, mostly though because everything else in the room is so light and bright.  If it's original, I think it might be worth it to retain the faux marble look.  Maybe you could learn how to do marbling (in the off-season, of course) and choose a lighter-looking marble style, like a white and grey Carrarra perhaps.   
Is it still a working fireplace?  Are you going to use some tesselated tiles on the hearth in keeping with the antique look of the fireplace? 
Sorry about the graffiti on the fence.  Kids!

----------


## Conor

Hi DB, 
The place looks awesome. We've got baltic in the house we are renovationg at the minute and we were thinking of staining them but after seeing yours I really like the natural colour against the white skirts and grey walls. What colour grey is that? It's more or less the colour we are after but haven't been 100% sure on what undertones we want in it, which I'm led to believe is quite important when contrasted against the white. 
Keep up the good work! 
Conor

----------


## turnstiles

I'm not a huge fan of multiple colours/types of timber in the one room - so personally I'd be tempted to paint the wardrobe doors white! 
The fireplace does look a little 'heavy' - but I guess it depends on how you intend to furnish the room. 
I quite like the painted treatment of the fireplace I've included. A bit country cottage - but it's bright and cheerful.   
I've really enjoyed following this thread for a long time now. Looking forward to more!

----------


## dbfalls

Hi Connor, the colour is dulux "Ghosting Quarter" which is in the specifier range from memory. I actually had one of Dulux's colour consultant come out to the house and help me with the scheme. This was around $250 and I received a $150 cash back on Dulux paint into the bargain so money well spent I think, and it isn't hogs bristle or antique white like every second house you see for sale in the last few years.Turnstiles, agree the white painted treatment looks great and probably is more appealing to me than the current faux marble, but I'm reluctant to paint out the history. I think I have a consensus however on the wardrobe doors being transformed with some white enamel. Glad you've enjoyed the thread, I'm sure it's going to come to an end soon but I already have ideas turning over in my head for the next one. On the flip side a double story carport/retreat onto the rear lane isn't out of the question lol.

----------


## dbfalls

So the stainless steel insert for the cooktop in the main counter is done and installed!

----------


## SlowMick

So if the thread comes to an end we can assume you are taking some time to enjoy the house and plotting the next project?   :Biggrin:

----------


## dbfalls

SlowMick, I may have to take over your moniker with the length of times  between posts. You are dead right the project came to an end and I got  busy doing other things like getting married and starting a family. I  did manage to squeeze in one other project this year however. Anyway I  find myself with a little time for a change and thought I really should  finish this blog before starting the next 2 projects (both of a similar  nature to this one). The house was finished in June 2014 and after a few  little requests from council such as adding a laundry trough I received  my final inspection certifications and my life was my own again. Hope  you all enjoyed the journey as much as I did (although some days I tell  you!)

----------


## Armers

Thats a fkn fine finish there mate! 
Great job in the end, awesome work! 
Cheers

----------


## Gaza

Very nice   
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

----------


## turnstiles

Excellent job mate. Great to see it all finished. Well done!!

----------


## Cecile

I drive past it occasionally.  It still looks wonderful, so whoever bought it is taking excellent care of it.

----------


## chicoelsa

What an amazing transformation of a gorgeous little old cottage. Great to see it brought back to life and the great work. 
Love the original old cast iron fireplace. :Smilie:

----------


## Paul1985

Amazing! I absolutely loved the few hours I spent reading this. 
I wish I could find a cheap enough cottage like this in Newtown!
A pretty expensive Geelong suburb, un-renovated ones don't pop up for sale all that often in this area either. 
You have inspired me however, I am keeping a keen eye out around the Newtown/Geelong West area for something similar to purchase in the new year. 
Not sure if you still frequent this page, if so, did you use a local Drafter for your extension plans? If so, would you recommend them!
Cheers.

----------

