Day 302: A door to the loft

I just realised that this poor post had no text and some pretty mediocre photos. So maybe an explanation would help. 

Seeing as we are going to make our little loft extension area a dumping ground for excess stuff (eg XMas ornaments) we needed a better way of accessing the area.

The loft door (the replaced one) was still just a sheet of plywood. I finally decided to take the time and build a proper door. It was amazingly easy - the only complication being that the loft hatch was more of a trapeziod than a rectangle meaning that I 

had to be a bit creative with my cuts.

The first step was to build a frame out of 2x2's using the plywood as a template. Corners were mitred and small braces were put in the corner for support. As I was using leftover 5mm ply, I also needed to put in some braces to have something to screw down to.

Overall, it looked OK and was plenty sturdy for the purpose. As it was raining and generally lousy outside, I didn't spend too much time worrying about insulating, filling or painting. I figured that this could be done sometime later.

May 2018 Update: This door has seen a few changes since this post. I've taken it down and added some insulation and some back panels. I also filled the wood edges and screw holes with filler and coated it with wood primer/undercoat. Eventually, I will put on a coat to colour match the ceiling .. but I need to paint the ceiling first :)

Day 175: Ivory or stone

We're picking a new kitchen and have started the design online. The initial results look pretty good so far. A big improvement from what we presently have in place. Just need to figure out what colour doors to go with ...  ivory or stone.

We need your advice. Please ring in your favourite on the poll button to the right

Day 174: The other half

Finally getting around to building the other half of the wall I knocked down to expand the bathroom. As handy as it was having some make-shift shelving, it was about time to put it back to a proper wall. That and it probably looks a bit unsightly having sheets of drywall sitting in the hallway.

So in order to put up the drywall, I first had to finish off the wall socket (subject of another post) and move the light switch. Both simple tasks, both took much longer than expected. Anyway, with all the electrical in the right place, it was time for ..... Rockwool.

This is a mineral wool sound deadening material that per code needs to go up in partition walls with bathrooms. It comes in 120 x 60 slabs and just slides into the void and stick through compression. Pretty easy to work with. The only issue that I had was that my studs are 40cm centres so I had to do a bit extra in the way of cutting. 

With the fluffy stuff in place, I finally got the drywall up. Given the sloping ceiling and the great opportunity for measurement error, I also used my bevel. This proved to be a really handy tool. So 2 sheets went up in no time and the wall started looking like a .. well.. wall.

Day 167: Done with tiles

Finally got around to finishing off the tiling in the bathroom this weekend. Basically created a big wall o' tiles on the back wall. Notice the angled cuts going up the sloped wall - and yes, this was about as tricky as it looked. Thank you bevel. Other than that, some edge tiles around the window and near to the door and some trim "dado" tiles on the accent walls. Just needs a bit of grouting and the tiling is done. Thank goodness 

The only things that remain in the bathroom will be to replace the door (to swing inwards) and plastering the walls and ceiling - bringing in a pro for this one - small room, angled walls, sloping ceiling, no thank you!