Day 1908: Undoing all my hard work

Since we decided to go with the convertible house look, it has pretty much rained non-stop in London. We're not talking biblical yet - but I think we're getting there.

Needless to say, it's not the best environment to be doing roofing outdoors. But luckily there were other things to work on .. such as undoing all my hard work on the loft flooring  (you can read about that here).

The steel beam from yesterday .. now inside.

At least it's still insulated for the time being .. But, if you can believe it they are forecasting another Beast from the East Part II to come through the UK .. A once in a decade cold snap, at the very moment when we are taking out the roof and insulation - fantastic timing!  

And all the boards now nicely stacked up outside. It took me countless weekends to install those boards lifting a few hundred kilograms of wood up the loft ladder and all taken out in an afternoon. Oh well, on to much better things now. 

Day 1054: Getting walked all over

OK, massive post ahead.

The plumbing was all done. Finally ... And now it was time for the actual floors to go down. Joan and Rene are going to come in about a month's time and Carolyn is getting visibly concerned that there is no floor in the room. Can't understand why.

But contrary to any kind of logic.. to get the floors down, I need to take them all out. This was not because I was looking for more work or even because it makes for good blogging material. No, the reason for this was twofold: 1) I wanted to insulate underneath the floors as the room gets pretty cool in the winter time and this would be my only chance and 2) I noticed a joist in the corner had seen better days and was getting a bit spongy.

So there you go, all the floorboards had to come out. Believe me, this is no easy task, particularly as they were all tonge and groove. So out came the my new addition, a Stanley reciprocating saw to the rescue.  

You'll see that I numbered the boards and put a direction on them to help me put them back in place. I did it on the top as they are going to be covered anyway. If you're doing this and looking to restore the floorboards, just number the bottom instead.

With the boards all out of the way - and a very sore back to show for it - it was finally time to address that rotten joist (quite literally).  You can see in the photo below why there was an issue. This one was exposed to the air brick outside and over the past century has been struggling with a little water getting in. 

In taking that one out, I also noticed the joist against the wall needed to be retired. So that came out too.

The new joists were pressure treated to help with the damp, but I also soaked them in a water sealant to make sure this one will last another 100 years. I'll be long gone by then anyway.

So there you go, a floorboard-less floor. And dirt that hasn't seen the light of day in 120 years. And still no dinosaur fossils, treasure or really anything of note. I should give up on that hunt as I always seem to end up with the same result.

The new shiny (not really) joists in place. I couldn't disconnect the internet as I would have lost my tunes - and a builder cannot work without tunes in my opinion.

Next after all the boards were up and joists were replaced, came the netting to hold the insulation. There is purpose built stuff which is pretty darn expensive for what it is. The stuff I used was garden netting which is pretty, darn cheap. But it still does the trick. I used this and a couple of thousand staples to hold it in place - and, no I'm not exaggerating on the number here believe me. The netting was a PITA still though as it was just difficult to work with but I couldn't seem to find a good way of stretching it out and fastening it. I'm putting this down as just a difficult job. 

Quite the opposite, laying down the insulation was a breeze. Unroll the roll, cut and place. Rinse, wash, repeat. This took no time at all. 

After the boards went down, finally I started on the 9mm hardwood ply. This was mostly to manage any height difference in the floorboards for when I lay down the engineered floor. Why 9mm? Because I like to overbuild things. My thought was mostly that it would allow a countersunk No.4 screw and provide a smoother transition over any unevenness in the floor.

I also picked up another tool for this one ... an impact driver. I'd been eyeing one for a while and used some of my BP voucher points to buy a gift card and pick up this bad boy. Thanks BP!

Drill drivers are fantastic and really worth the purchase for anyone doing a lot of screwing (um, in the building sense). I should have bought one ages ago. They make a hell of a racket, but much less stripped screw heads and torque on the arm. 

Day 1040: All plumbed out ..

With the floorboards finally all lifted up, it was time to tackle the plumbing for the heating system. The catalyst for all this was a very slow leak in the central system, meaning I would have to keep topping it up in the winter to maintain pressure. Livable, but not great. And once the floor is down, it's never coming up again. So best to fix the problem once and for all. 

The big issue was that I had no idea where the leak was. I figured that it had to be on the ground floor as I would have been able to see a drip coming through the ceiling (water stains). Still there is a lot of pipe to cover to try and find it. Also, some was copper and some was replaced with plastic when we redid the radiators. I'm more of a copper man myself.

So, off I went in the search for the drip.

The tools for this one. A new pipe bender (fun), lots of copper pipe and lots of fittings. The reason for the bender was twofold 1) bends are much better for flow of water vs. fittings and 2) if my soldering is not up to scratch, less fittings mean lower chance of failure.   

And after watching endless YouTube clips on how to bend pipe - some way more scientific than they need to be - I had a go at my first bend a 90 degree one. It ended up looking OK. Not to be outdone, I decided to go next for 45 degree offsets (bottom pipe). This also went well.  

Now that I'd done a couple - I was declaring myself the pipe bending master. So that means I would of course try the worlds most complicated bent pipe run. This had to go over a joist, bend 90 degrees, then under a joist and then up the hallway radiator. No probs. Finished product below.  

Next, I wanted to switch out the old valves in the dining room for modern thermostatic ones. A bit strange, that the rad looked fairly new but the valves looked like they came from the first Model T. 

So, I drained the system and isolated the radiator before taking it off the wall. The old valves were 3/4" vs. 15mm for the new ones, so the rad tails also needed to be changed (which is why it took it off the wall).

The pipes underneath looked OK, but there was a massive kink in one of the nuts for the old fitting. I initially through I'd just re-use them but instead had to cut the pipe and olive and reinstall it. I was surprised how that fitting managed to not leak given how bad it was. 

The new valves looked and worked great. And I managed to only get myself a little wet in the process. I'll call that a win. 

Finally for the most complicated of the lot. This was the feed coming into the living room and had the great complication of lots of pipe in very little space. Add to that, as I wanted to keep the rest of the system pressurised while I was working I had basically double the pipe to deal with. 

First step was to run all the copper pipe. Difficult as this was under the joists and tricky to navigate 2m lengths around. 

Once this was in place and cut to size, then came out the fittings. Lots of elbows and T's. You can see how little room I had to navigate here. But basically I took each fitting in turn, starting with the bottom ones and working my way up. The key to a good solder joint is cleanliness, so I took care to clean off each pipe/fitting and applied lots of flux. Happy with the result - an not setting the house on fire in the process. 

Once I was happy with the fittings, it was time to drain the system, connect the last bit and go for the pressure test. And ... NO LEAKS! I was pretty happy with myself at this point and took a well earned beer (or three).

After the system was filled with water, I had to add some inhibitor. This keeps the water getting all gunky and rusting through the rads. Now the challenge was how to get it into the system.  Basically, I was going to buy the ready-made filling system from Amazon - but they ran out of stock. So I took a queue from one of my favourite plumbing sites (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nmCkxjZoPc) and MacGyver'd one myself. So drained the system down a bit, cracked the nut on the radiator and used my Buxton water bottle filled with inhibitor. 

Finally, after spending 45 minutes doing all the plumbing (yeah right) it came down the last step, wrapping the pipe up. This was to keep it efficient and ensure that all the heat in was going to the radiators not heating the void under the floor.

Now with all that nonsense taken care of, it was finally time to get down to the flooring. Joan and Rene are coming in a few weeks and Carolyn seems fairly enthused about looking at all the great fitting joints - might have something to do with the lack of floor in the house. 

Oh and in case you wondered... I did finally find the leak. It was a hidden drain down valve at the front hallway radiator, beneath the floor. I can't say it was the best place for putting one of these. But from visual inspection, you could see the calcium buildup around the threads so it obviously had been the culprit. Leak fixed.

Day 923: This work sucks

Back from holiday now and doing some long overdue postin'. First a job that really sucked.

When I first installed the bathroom extractor fan (using the term "I" though I actually paid for this one), it was a quick job so I could continue with the bathroom work. The issue that remained was that this loft is an un-insulated cold space (particularly after I boarded it over) so hot steamy air, going upwards from the bathroom through the cold will eventually condense in the hose; and condensation in a hose over a long period in the cold eventually means mould (which rhymes). The flexi-hose that was used also has rings which impact smooth air flow, which leads to more condensation and you guessed it, more mould. Yuck!

The solution was twofold. First I'd replace the flexi-hose with rigid 4" plastic pipe to increase airflow and then wrap the pipe with insulation to protect it from the cold. All this should reduce any condensation in the winter and reduce any green stuff growing. 

The pipe was awful on the inside when I took it down - looking like something out of a low budget 1970's gore movie. So bad my that even my camera didn't want to look at it. 

However, the rest of the job was actually quite easy. Frustrating, but easy. 

Tools required:

• Lots of plastic pipe and some elbows - 45 deg and 90 deg
• Hacksaw
• Plastic pipe sealant - had this leftover from the kitchen
• Measuring tape
• Duct tape for plastic ducts - not normal duct tape which doesn't work on ducting, go figure
• Cable ties
• Condensation collection tray - not used, but could have been
• Draft flap - I ended up buying a second one of these as it only comes with one spring and feels way to flimsy by itself. And yes, I paid £4 for a bloody spring.

The first thing I discovered was that the flex hose wasn't vertical in though the ceiling - grrr. I had to get out the saw and cut both the ceiling and the loft board above to get the pipe vertical. 

Then it was a bit of a Lego operation. I connected the part on the right first as it had little room for maneuver here. 

Next I did the exit pipe on the roof end. The opening on the roof tile was less than 4" so I had to make the pipe "fit". This involved wrapping some tape around the inside, cutting 4 slits on the outside pipe and compressing it with cable ties. Not pretty but it works and this in the loft after all - don't plan on showing this off to too many people (just the internet).

Finally it was about connecting the rest - which was a bit of trial and error. Pipe was easy to cut using a dull saw blade and deburred with the edge of a Stanley knife. Bonding everything involved putting sealant in the inside and taping the outside. I needed to run a small offset using 45 deg bends to line everything up properly. 

BTW .. You can see the water mark from the condensation on the chipboard. I wasn't joking.

The last step was to put on the wrap. This stuff was just bubble wrap stuck to foil - and way overpriced. But it worked OK. It was held on with duct tape and cable ties. Again - this is the loft so who cares really what it looks like.

The result. The sucking sound could be heard instantly. Whoooosh! I'm not sure how much the extraction increased as the mirror still fogs up when we take a hot shower - but I'm convinced that things are less foggy now and it clears faster. As for the green stuff - it's still too warm outside to tell but I'm guessing it won't form this time around. But let's see.

Anyway, I'm glad to finally get this sucky job finished. 

Day 879: Going Overboard

After a few weeks of procrastination it was finally time to tackle the overboarding and insulation. My new ladder would get a real test with 420 kg of wood plus many more of junk going up it over the next few weeks. Try this yourself and you'll see why I don't need a gym membership.

But shortly into the process, I found my first obstacle, a hornets nest. And of course this was in a fairly difficult area to get to - right in the corner. As it was still winter, I was fairly confident that the nest was dormant and that I wasn't about to wake up hundreds of angry mini beasts. Well hopefully.

Still, I took precaution. I had a flat board underneath to catch the debris and used a long, long pole to knock it down. And thankfully I managed to carry out the task unharmed. Still, I wasted little time to put the nest into a rubbish bag and get it outside in the bin.

Coincidentally, the next day when I was up in the loft I found what looked like an angry queen hornet looking for a new home. But she was quickly reacquainted with her former accommodation back in the bin.

With the adventures hopefully over, it was time to get back to the job at hand - insulating and boarding over the loft.

This is a fairly easy weekend job for the average DIY'er .. but since I really like to over-do things, it actually took me 2 weekends.

The first step was to run "proper" 2x4's perpendicular to the original ceiling joists to provide some additional structural support. I say proper as these ones had to be a full 100mm high to match the existing cross beams - versus the typical CLS wall studs you get which are actually 83mm. These beams were fixed with many, many heavy duty angle brackets and a generous helping of 50mm #5 woodscrews

I ran the new studs at 600mm centres to minimise the amount of timber that I'd need - I was still short however. The wider centres will mean more flex in the floor but seeing that we don't plan on hosting any break dance competitions in the loft, the wider centres should be ok. The loft boards are 1220mm so this worked out well.

The only hickup - there is always one - was that the existing cross beams were at neither 400mm nor 600mm centres and they weren't made with the same precision that we find today. What this all meant was that the original 2x4's would stick up in the middle of the loft boards and it would be next to impossible to fit the tongue and groove floorboards property.

Two solutions came to mind 1. Plane off some of the old timbers or 2. Groove the loft boards to accommodate.

As the 2nd option would allow me to use my router (yeah power tools!) and also make for a better story, I decided to go for it.

In theory this was easy. Just measure out where to cut, fix some guide rails and router away. In practice however, it's slightly more difficult. The challenge is that chipboard isn't really wood and probably something closer to Adamentium (see here). As the smoke from burning wood and melting router bit was appearing before my eyes, I finally realised my predicament. For reference, chipboard contains wood chips, glue and likely anything else they swept from the mill floor including bits of metal. I ordered a coupe of spare router bits from Amazon to manage all the melting. I also went a bit shallower with my cuts to just shave a bit off at a time.

The loft boards are really easy to lay down (routering aside). The other point to make is that they are 1220mm long, so they can overhang or fit flush with joists. For 600mm centres, the extra 20mm needed to be cut from each board. This is best done in one go for all the boards. I just set the guide on the circular saw and cut away.

Now the loft was starting to look like a useable storage space. Notice my trusty Karcher vacuum .. it got a really good workout on this task. I think I ended up hoovering up about 10 bags of nastiness.

At the entrance to the main part of the loft, I left the floor at its original height so that I could get in without overly contorting myself and to make sure larger items could fit through the smallish opening.

The nearly finished product. You'll notice that I had to notch out the boards for the roof rafters and supports. I found it easiest to bring my jigsaw up into the loft with an extension cord so that I could just do the cuts in place. Lots of sawdust, but I had my vacuum up there anyway.

So there you go. A finished, unfinished loft ready for storing all our junk. All in all, a good project. I think I spent way too much time up there - to the point that I was getting quite at home with my surroundings. Anyway, the last couple of weekends has been all about putting our junk up there - don't worry, it was actually to dull to write a post about.

Day 862: Lofty ambitions

Now that the Monster in the Attic has been beaten, we can finally venture out into the rest of the loft area. Our intent was to board it over to provide some storage space until which time as we can finally build into the loft (on Day 14,684 at the rate we're going). Generally, boarding over the loft is quite a simple task (see my previous post here), however as usual, I got a bit carried away.

But like any good Brit, I'll blame everything on the weather. 

Last week, the UK got hit by the Beast from the East - a cold front from Siberia that dropped treacherous snow and cold across the country bringing it to its knees.

• UK storm death toll reaches 10 as ice warnings follow snow chaos
• Storm Emma, ice and snow paralyses transport across UK
• UK crippled by snow, freezing temperatures

Canadians have a name for this kind of weather, "a normal winter's day"

But hey, I'm in the UK now so I felt it was my patriotic duty here to overreact just like everyone else. This unwarranted response manifested itself in my completely over-engineering the loft boarding exercise. 

OK, granted houses in this country are not exactly built to withstand sub-zero temperatures very well and our place wasn't exactly the tropics during this recent cold snap. But, this weather only happens once every 5 or so years. 

Regardless, on impulse I decided we were not only going to board over the loft .. we were also going to insulate. So the order went in, and it arrived today.

As you can see, there is a lot of stuff ...

Basically, the idea is to top-up the 100mm insulation currently in place with another 100mm and then board over that. The building regs recommend another 170mm; but the loft board will provide some insulation and this way I can use 2x4's (or whatever the metric equivalent is) running perpendicular to the current joists vs having to use plastic stilts (see here). Besides, I didn't want to get too carried away with my overreaction.

Anyway, I've once again got a house full of building materials that I need to put somewhere. Stay tuned over the next week(s) as I start moving all this material up into the loft area. I've got my work cut out for me.