Since getting back from PEI, I've been put back to work on the kitchen. The task was to get the walls and ceiling ready for Jim the plasterer to come by and make it look all pretty. Needeless to say, there was still a lot left to do.
Most of this came in the form of wall smoothing/chiseling/grinding. Old wiring conduits and junction boxes needed to be taken from the wall to make it roughly smooth-ish. This made for some good Kodak moments. The void was covered with some bonding plaster.
Next with the chimney opening. I'd left this closed until the grand unveiling. What could be behind this piece of wood that's covered this spot for the last 40 years? Treasure? News Paper? Or something more sinister? ....
Nope. Only about 4 inches of soot/dust/yuck ...
Oh well, we'll leave something more intersting for the next DIY Treasure Hunter, but that will be the subject of a future post.
Covering up the opening was a piece of cake. I put some 25mm x 50mm battens across the inside of the opening and cut a piece of plasterboard to shape. Simples.
Next came the lead pipes that were sitting in the wall. These were probably as old as the house. I was tempted to plaster over them. Care wanted them out. Guess who won that argument?
First, I had to chisel out the plaster from the bottom. Next, I used my trusty angle grinder to cut out the metal retainers and then chopped the pipes from the floor above. Down they came with a thud! About 50lbs of lead are now sitting at the bottom of my garden.
With the pipes out, I could focus on cleaning up the corner - a bit of plasterboard, a bit of bonding coat and some TLC and voila .. a decent looking corner nook. Which will be totally hidden by a larder cabinet. Time well spent? Well another excuse to use my angle grinder at least.
Caitlin and Ash also decided to get in on the action. Not quite sure what they were doing but it involved screws, screwdrivers, plasterboard and PPE (personal protective equipment) so it must have been important.
So after several months, 6 sheets of plasterboard, over 100kg of bonding plaster, the kitchen is almost ready for the final skimming.
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| Sparking one up .. |
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| The last bit of wood paneling - what's behind the door? |
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| A sooty chimney - no surprises |
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| More lead pipe |
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| A chop chop here and a chop chop there |
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| Pipe be gone ... |
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| And it's gone |
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| I think they are helping??? |
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| Focus .. |
