# Forum More Stuff Go to Whoa!  and down the side

## Black Cat

Down the south side of the house was a bit of a disaster. Strange it did not show up on any of the photos provided by the real estate agent :Smilie:  
There had been a lean-to constructed here that served as the second butchers shop back when this was a thriving railway town. Since the previous owners moved in it slowly deteriorated until Council condemned it (actually the condemned the house as well, but the owners would not move out so they had a bit of a stand-off). Council did, however, step in a demolish all but the rear wall of the lean-to. I presume they left the wall as it was serving as a fence (sort of). By the time I arrived the only thing holding it up was a rusty 44 behind it, and a stack of brightly coloured plastic containers (some of which had originally contained poison) that served as a back-up water supply for the house. These, the 44, the windscreen of a VW, several tons of dirt and the wall were removed to reveal a wall that had seen significantly better days. More dirt had to be removed to get to the bottom of the wall and to reveal the inevitable rotted out bottom plate. 
More excitement was provided by the fact that the neighbour's relatively young blackwoods had sent out their roots to penetrate the stone work of the foundations. I have hacked these back and discussed removal of the trees, but am still waiting for that to happen ... 
So I excavated a ditch 150mm below the top of the footings, replaced the bottom plate, inserted a waterproof membrane, installed a few additional studs alongside those that had lost their bottoms, then insulated, foiled and weatherboarded the wall. All ably assisted by my friend. A bit of metal flashing was inserted along the bottom of the weatherboards to divert water away from the stonework. 
While I  was scratching around in the dirt I discovered an old flagstone path that has been removed. I have preserved these stones for reuse in the patio out the back.

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## Armers

Man you are a glutton for punishment! Good work though, looks a hell of a lot better from pic 1 to pic 8... its amazing what a little cleaning up does!   
Out of all of your post is there a picture of the front of your house? I am trying to get an idea of it! 
Cheers

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## watson

Go Jo... :2thumbsup:

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## Black Cat

Here is the front of the house when I bought it. Since then I have  rebuilt the window on the right from scratch - just reused the sashes.  The sill, frame etc were all replaced. The door has also been replaced  (I had to rebuild the frame from scratch and also make a sill as they  don't come in that size any more), and the toplight reconstructed using  bits of glazing bars I found around the place. Other than that it looks  pretty much the same. The bargeboards and gables will be painted before  the new roof goes on, but the weatherboards below the gables will be  fully replaced, as will those on the side wall facing.

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## shauck

I love seeing a reno like this. Many wouldn't even contemplate it. It's the ultimate in before and after. Awesome! 
Su.

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## Black Cat

A brief, if soggy flurry of activity around here the last few days. The front wall now has a bottom plate, and the (other) side wall now has weatherboards replaced, insulation in and so forth. This season of work has been delayed due to the recalcitrant electrician and so progress on the front wall could not be made due to the presence of a live fuse box (still). Hopefully that will be gone by the end of next week and the builder-mate will come back on the 25th so we can get that sorted as well as the left hand windowsill. In the mean time, my job is to make said window sill, so will have to dig out the table saw, clear out the loungeroom and get weaving on that in the mean time. 
Rain stopped play for a few hours each day so we moved indoors and I now finally have a door on the bathroom and another on the laundry. In the mean time i had to make an emergency trek to the vet (an hour and a half each way) and a return trek to collect the patient after her surgery..... 
Amazing how much more efficient the exhaust fan is, now it is only drawing on the confined space in the bathroom! The mirror scarcely fogs up at all!! 
The trestles are courtesy of my plumber, and they are an absolute marvel. My builder-mate wanted to see if they would fit in his van when they left, but I wrestled them off him.

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## Bloss

You mean 'trestled' them off him surely . . . :Smilie:   Great work!

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## dbfalls

The new weatherboards look great, its amazing how quickly they change the whole feel of the building. Its funny how one job, once started, suddenly escalates, replace the weatherboards becomes, oh bottom plate needs replacing and so do those studs, better insulate whilst the walls are off, gee I never realised the electrics were that bad lol

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## Black Cat

Yes there is a certain 'knee bone connected to the thigh bone' element in any renovation I suspect. And getting the sequence right is always a challenge I am discovering. Like now I have to spend next week making a new window sill, not to mention picking up some serious hardware for a few other related jobs. Am loving the trestles though, they make life so much better. And it is great getting all the accumulated filth of ages out of the walls as well. Not to mention the four Golden Books I found in behind the panelling, the silk scarf a rat decided might be a nice addition to its bed but couldn't persuade to come all the way down the wall so left it there, and so forth.

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## shauck

The knee bone thigh bone analogy is on the right track but think more along the lines of how many bones a carp has! 
I like to think of our new deck as a trestle for when I re-do the weather boards. I can actually reach the back wall of the house now. Wish It had been there when we put in the french doors... Sequences of repair sometimes are convoluted no matter how hard you try to or want them to work simply. 
It's all good though.

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## Black Cat

Well, this is exciting. I now have all four walls covered with new weatherboards! So that is insulation in, sisalation on, and weatherboards over the top. The front wall also needed a new bottom plate which you can see in the first photo. The Site Supervisor slacked off yesterday, but the project manager made a call today and so he sat up and tried to look alert. Did he succeed? Erm, well, he is looking in the wrong direction, but i guess you can't have everything. 
Now all that is needfull is endless ladder scrambling to stop holes, sand the filler back and get it ready for painting (which won't be till March, which is a good thing. Not sure my glutes can take much more ladder scrambling ...). 
You will also notice that the left hand window now has a new sill, and new architraves around it and the door. Won't know myself next winter when the walls fail to let galeforce winds through the place! :Smilie:

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## sundancewfs

> Not sure my glutes can take much more ladder scrambling ...).

  I know this well! Who needs a stairmaster when you have a ladder?

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## jago

Glutes I would have thought it was the ankles..looking good though. not sure I would have had the walls of in Tassie alot braver than me moaning about my windowless 17c days during winter as I now realise thats a Tassie summer day.lol

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## Black Cat

Cheeky! We are expecting 26 on Sunday - and I am fried at present. Even have white lines along the side of my face where the glasses were ... 
Nice day to be working on the shady side of the house methinks.

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## ibuildbenches

What a difference the new weatherboards make! Good job. 
Its around 40 here today in Bendigo and Im inside my shack planing walls! 
The sweat on the face, legs and arms make every partical of timber and dust stick to them!

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