Day 1974: Finally back to some DIY

Our old style ranch staircase isn't the most attractive thing that you see when you enter the house. It's always been on the "to do" list since we moved in. Aside from replacing the bottom step, it's just stayed on the "to do" list indefinitely. But nothing like some urgency to get things moving.

This started life as a normal staircase but sometime over its 120 year life the traditional newel and spindles were replaced for well this ...

It had a runner down the middle which got pitched on day 1 .. not like it made things look any better anyway. It also isn't to building regs and MTL would need to fix it as part of the work. Regs state a max of something like 10cm can fit between any 2 spindles (apparently the size of a baby's head). As we have no spindles at all, we could fit a baby elephant's head through comfortably. 

The dilemma was what to do with the stair treads. If new spindles are to be added, it would make refinishing the stairs all that much more difficult. The initial plan was always to clad them in new oak treads and risers and not worry about what is underneath. With new spindles that would mean popping them back out and risk breaking them in the process. It would also require cutting off each stair nosing. Again not ideal.

Next door, our neighbours refinished the original treads and it looked very nice. After some thinking and YouTubing, I felt this was the best way forward. The post below gave me some inspiration - as bad as our stairs looked, it still was nicer than his.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46vpG9arDAM

Here is another good post for finishing stairs .. a bit more talking in this one 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRBT4JVEH4U

So after a few months of writing about other peoples' work - it was finally time to do something constructive myself.

The tools were all around the house from previous projects - aside from the carbide scraper which I picked up from B&Q ..

Key tools used:

• Paint remover - this one was a non-solvent kind from Toolstation
• Carbide scraper
• Wood chisels
• Claw hammer
• Nail remover
• Nail punch
• Good shop vacuum
• Belt Sander
• Palm Sander
• Sanding Block
• 40/80/120 grit sandpaper
• Wood glue
• Wood filler
• Respirator
• Worklights

The first step was to pop off all the ends to the treads. These had several layers of gloss glooped on them and as the grains rain in an perpendicular direction, they would have been damaged if they were left on during sanding and scraping.

The old cut-outs for the spindles were poorly filled in so this was fixed as well - just popped out with a wood chisel. 

A view from top with the filler and ends removed. 

Ash was keen to help and I needed some help with removing old nails, staples and carpet tacks. 

Then came the removal of the old gloss paint from the stair treads. I used the remover in several goes as it made the job a lot easier and caused much less dust. Paint on, leave for 20min and amazingly the paint just starts to bubble off. A carbide scraper did the rest. Just make sure to scrape in line with the wood grain here. 

After the stairs were mostly scraped clean. Out came the belt sander with 40 grit to remove the top layer of wood and smooth out the surface. This would have been impossible to do with new spindles installed. 

You can see the differnnce between the part that was exposed vs the part that was just just sanded down.

A similar scaping process was done on the removed ends. This was done outside to limit the mess in the house. At some stage they will be re-united back with the treads for final staining. 

And the stairs ready to for the spindles. 

I'm sure the other side of the stairs will take a while to do but the intent is to do something like the video shared above .. fill and smooth everything out. Paint the risers white and stain the treads a dark brown to match the flooring. But expect this in a post sometime next year. 😟

Day 1971: Not to diss-a-point

The Great Wall of Surbiton is nearly complete .. just some finishing touches such as capping off the chimneys and lots and lots of pointing. 

A good view of the floor steel joist at the front. They needed to 'tooth' these bricks in to the chimney.

And the finished product. 

A good perspective of the pointing. This is a very meticulous and labour intensive process. But it looks great. 

A great view of the finished wall. The white bits are efflorescence - salts in the brick that escape when exposed to moisture - they will eventually wash away. 

A view from the back .. just loving the little platforms that they guys make for themselves. This one was to cap off the rear chimney.

Another view of the parapet wall brickwork (and platform) 

It took well over a month to build but the walls are finally complete. We're happy that we went this route vs the typical tiling. 

Day 1964: A string, a string, what a beautiful thing

As I've pointed out in some previous posts, stairs are typically described in some parallel English language. Words like string, winder and Newell get thrown out like people have an idea what they mean. See this link for a good description, with the quick version in the photo below. 

Ever since I started working on the stairs downstairs (see here), I've developed a bit of a thing for stairs. 

Besides being a way to get and up and down between floors, they are often the focal pieces of a house and can really add a lot of character and style if done well. 

The vision that I had in mind for the loft stairs looks something like the photo below. 

Open (cut) string, white painted risers with dark wood stained treads.

MTL was happy to work with us on this one and we got a custom built staircase not to dissimilar to the the one above. 

Much nicer than the current view.

I didn't see this go up as it was so quick. Apparently it was largely pre-assembled and really, really heavy. The wood was white pine which isn't as hard wearing as hardwood such as oak, but this staircase will have much less traffic - especially as kids are only allowed on the grown up floor by invitation only. We'll likely cover the stairs with a runner (carpet down the middle - not intended to be used for running as this is dangerous on stairs)

From the bottom. This will be covered up so won't be visible in the future. 

The cut strings ..

The winding treads are done for easier access and to limit the overall steepness. It looks nice as well. 

Really happy with the result. I think it will look like it was built with the original house (except in much better shape). It's now inspired me to finish re-finishing the first set of stairs. Stay tuned ...

Day 1963: Knock, Knock ...

Who's there? Your loft .. 

Knocking Through as it's called is when the builders cut through the existing ceiling to make way for the new staircase. It's a big step in the construction and also a really messy undertaking from what I hear. Having taken out a few lathe and plaster walls myself, I can appreciate this.

The guys did a great job of blocking everything off. Dust sheets, tarps and doors closed to minimise any dust going where we don't want it. 

I didn't hear much going on .. but there again I was away in the peace and quiet of my cabin. Poor Care was basically trapped in the office for about 4 hours while the guys were working. I offered to provide food and drink through the window so she didn't starve.

The result though was .. well .. a bit hole in the ceiling. Not much to look at but still pretty cool. 

They managed to take out the brick archway as well - never liked that so glad it's gone. What I didn't appreciate before was how sloped the cieling was. I knew from the previous walls that I built that it wasn't fully level but now I can see the degree of slope. The guys will just overboard with plasterboard and make it level now.  

And since it's still technically winter and we don't have a roof and now with a hole in the ceiling .. it's a little bit chilly in the Hare house at the moment. The other challenge is the noise .. with no insulation between the house and the loft and a bunch of tarps for a roof it was pretty LOUD. The weather once again didn't want to cooperate - a week of what seemed like a hurricane outside did not make for easy sleeping. Why did we decide to do this in the middle of winter again?!!

Day 1963: A patriotic reno day

There is an unfortunate stereotype in the UK that all tradesmen drive white Ford transit vans. And while this is often justified .. good to see today we had a very patriotic convoy parked outside our place. 

Day 1962: A very expensive 60cm

Back in January, I commented on the Leaning Stack of Surbiton, an iconic landmark that unfortunately had a limited shelf life. 

Sometime over the past 124 years, the chimney had seen some movement and developed an inward lean. Also, probably due to this, it was shortened by a few courses of bricks. 

The movement was fine as it had stopped but upon building up the gable, it was realised that the height was too low and would be below the roofline. Proposal 1 was to remove it altogether - which would have been much cheaper but would lose the wood burning fire that we enjoy so much on movie nights (which has been consistently every Friday since Covid started). So that wasn't really an option.

The other option was to completely rebuild the chimney alongside the gable end wall. Good thing we were doing this as the incremental cost was much lower and the end product will be completely flush with the wall. 

Happy days .. except ...

The roof liner was about 60 cm too short now.

Initially I didn't think this was a problem .. maybe stretch it a bit, maybe get an extension. But enter HETAS which basically forbid this - not sure why other than to ensure their installers can make a bit more £££. Anyway it's for fires and I definitely didn't want the liability of trying to go against any regs.

So once the chimney was finished and the pot reinstalled (which looked great), I was on the phone to try and get a new liner. For those who have done this, you'll know this is not cheap. I was a bit ticked at all of this since the liner was less than 4 years old ... grumble.

To save a bit of £££, I agree with the installer that I would remove the old liner. This was a piece of cake and saved me about £200 on the install. I initially thought I'd lift it from the top to avoid mess but gravity had other plans. Liners do get rigid over time and are pretty heavy so this wasn't happening. 

Plan B was to take it out the bottom - much easier in the end. I put a bag over the end to limit the soot falling down and coverings on the floors to keep the mess down there and just dragged it out. 

So new cap, new liner, new chimney. 

And the fire is once again back on. 

So it wasn't a cheap venture .. the additional 60cm essentially cost us about £1,500. Talk about burning money. But it was definitely worth doing. 

Day 1961: Getting ready for the knock through

So the big day is coming soon.. the "knock through". 

This is a major event for a couple of reasons:

1) It's when the room on top becomes linked with the rest of the house and

2) It's when the mess/noise really gets into the house

So not much to do really except prepare for things and wait. Floor coverings down and doors closed.

Day 1960: Windows, balconies and doors! Oh my!

Today the widows and balcony door got installed. It went in so fast, I almost missed it. But happy that they are in now as they really start to show what the room will be like.

View from the outside. Care was asking why they put handles on the outer part. Truth be told, it will be kind of pointless once the scaffolding is out. But currently it's a good entryway for the builders to come in every day and also a great doorway to the temporary balcony. 

And check out the view now from our new bedroom. 

Day 1957: The wall in-between

With the wall nearly complete on the right of the house, it was time to look to the other side and build up the parapet (party) wall. The guys at MTL wanted to build this is brick as well which will look nicer and if our neighbours ever want to build into their loft, should make the work a bit easier than if we tiled / rendered. I've read about issues where dormers were built too close and left no room for maintenance. And the beauty of brick is that it doesn't need any maintenance. 

Here was the starting place. The top of the brick was the height of the original roof at the back. 

What I found most impressive about this work was how the guys built little platforms for themselves. I had no idea how they would do the outside but they managed to string something together which looks to be quite secure. 

The old bricks were taken back and staggered (toothed) to accommodate the new ones. You can see the double skin of the original in the photo below. 

A view from down the street. The wall again will be cement blocked on the inside and bricked on the outside to match the original. You can also get a feel for the additional height we've gained from the dormer. 

And a view from the inside. A bit like a jigsaw puzzle with the combination of bricks and blocks but it looks solid. This will be all covered by plasterboard so the inside handywork will never be seen again.

Next week the guys will come by to finish the second, outer skin of brick (the parts that people will see