Day 956: The Wall Shuffle - Part 1

When we first moved into the house, we had an issue with a wee tiny bathroom that just wouldn't do. I took the executive decision to make the bathroom a little bit bigger and the office a little bit smaller (see here). This created a funny "L" shape in the office. No, I'm not going to tell you how I fixed this, but I will tell you how I made the "L" more pronounced and why I did it.

Let's start with "why". 2 things. The first is that I'm a stickler for doors opening into a room. No outties in this house!. I did the bathroom door previously for the same reason (see here). The second reason is that there is a little skinny and pretty much useless closet on the other side of the door. By moving the wall outwards, I can get the door to swing the right way (in) and get a closet that is much less useless (i.e. useful).

Useless closet. Grrr!

But as with most of my projects, there is a catch. More lead pipes!

I've know about this issue for a while, but never got around to addressing it until now. So a little angle grinder action on the brackets and they were down pretty quick. And man these pipes were like they were made of .. well .. lead. Heavy.

All of this activity made an unattractive wall look a little less attractive. I didn't think it was possible.

Luckily, I had some bonding coat plaster left over sitting in the shed. So in no time, the messy wall was a little less messy. I also learned that it's not good to use old plaster. Once the bag has been opened the remaining plaster will set much faster (becoming unworkable) yet take much longer to dry (go figure). For this little job it was OK, but it would have been a nightmare to try and do something larger / more ambitious. Lesson.. use new plaster.

So where to put the wall now. As this wasn't a supporting wall, I had my choice of where to put it. I elected to just move it out about 30cm to give me a nice sized closet on the other side. In order to get my lines right, I went back to my trusty plumb bob and got the lines on both the ceiling and floor. This is probably one of the oldest tools around .. and it works great for this purpose. This was probably the most difficult part of the afternoon - taking a picture while up a ladder and holding a plumb bob - I definitely could have used a helper here.

From basic to higher tech, I used my new Evolution Rage sliding 255mm mitre saw to cut the studs for the wall. This is a mean machine, it just feels solid when you use it. And it makes an aggressive cutting noise. 

Notice that I partially screwed in the studs before fixing to make my life a lot easier. That particular timber was going on the ceiling side so it would have been a real #*&$@!!! to try and start screws with one hand and holding it in place with the other. 

And the framing is starting to take shape. I elected to build the new wall first before taking down the old one just to provide a little support on the ceiling above and also so that I can shut the door while I'm ripping out plaster walls as these get really messy which I'd prefer to contain toone room max.

After the studs went up, the last bit was plasterboard. Pretty quick to do this.

And there you have it, a new shifted wall (or at least half of one). All of this took an afternoon to complete, so not a particularly difficult or involved job. Sometime in the not-so-distant future, I'll finish the other half. 

Day 944: Plants and power tools

For today's post, we're doing something different - we're going to take some proper tools into the garden. Why you ask? Because I find most garden shows to be severely lacking when it comes to the power tool department. I suppose secateurs, seeds and sprayers have a purpose, just not a very fun one. 

 So the task at hand was to plant strawberry plants .. The materials for the day were:

• 2 helpers wearing minimal PPA
• 2 strawberry plants (or there would be fighting between the 2 helpers)
• 6 clay pots - although only 2 were needed for this job
• My trusty FatMax cordless drill
• A 4mm masonry bit

Plants like water. However, I've discovered that most plants don't like to swim. In the summer it's great to leave plants outside as they get lots of rain and sunshine and require minimal maintenance; but to keep their pots from becoming little ponds, some modifications were necessary.

We simply drilled out a few holes at the bottom of each one using a masonry bit and working slowly  to not crack the bottom. 

This photo below was the second try - let's just say the first one wasn't taken at a flattering angle and likely wouldn't be appropriate for general audience website (although maybe that might make my hit count go up). 

With all the pots drilled, in went the plants and we put compost around the edges to hold everything in place.

So there you have it .. 2 happy kids with 2 happy strawberry plants. And proof that power tools make gardening much more fun. 

Day 930: Some serious networking

A well kept secret .. I used to install computer networks professionally. Well not such a well kept secret now that I just told you. So of course now that I have my own house to tinker with, I'd need to install a proper network in it. The only surprise was that it took me so long.

The issue - and there is always one - is that houses, particularly Victorian houses were not built to house computer networks. Unlike commercial properties which have been built (or modified) with fancy things like cable conduits and network closets. Nope, the Victorians we all about normal mail, newspapers and carrier pigeons. Where I'm going with this is that installing a proper network in an old house was going to be a bit of work.

Wireless is great, but range/interference becomes an issue - especially when all your neighbours have wireless networks too. It makes for the annoying pause during the playback of the latest Grand Tour episode (and always at the exciting bits). It makes blogging difficult when the connection goes down and you lose all your work (hoping people will buy this lame excuse). The Victorians didn't have that problem I can assure you. 

The solution was to wire everything up with Ethernet cable and connect it all together into a switch. When doing this, there are a couple of options 1) just run a bunch of patch cables between computers like we did in Uni or 2) terminate everything into wall plates and a patch panel like the pro's do. Any guess what I went for? 

 So first the materials:

• Ethernet patch panel
• Power Over Ethernet Gigabit Switch
• Unshielded solid core Cat 6e cable x 100m - the solid core is needed for the patch panel (vs braided which is better for clips)
• Unshielded RG6 coax cable x 100m
• Flexible plastic conduit

My first activity was to build out the network panel to go under the stairs. It made for a perfect network closet - mostly because it was hidden away and there wasn't any young wizards sleeping there. I used an old piece of 18mm ply to mount everything. I think this was an off-cut from the bathroom floor. Still, it fit everything that I needed it to. In spite of being completely hidden from the view of visitors, I knew it was there and I had a couple of hours to spare. I decided to 1) fill in the notch that was cut out and 2) give it a good splattering of white wood primer. Both of these were of course completely unnecessary - unless you're writing a blog and want to show off 😁
BEFORE 

AFTER

And AFTER with everything mounted. Looks pretty professional I must admit.

And here's what it looks like under the stairs. I ran another outlet as well underneath to provide power to all the equipment. 

With the patch panel ready, it was time to start running cables. With the floor unfinished, this was a whole lot easier to fish everything through. Not knowing how long the cables needed to be, I first ran the coax cable and a string (you'll see why in a minute) along the length that I wanted to go. In this case it was from the network closet to the TV room to a junction box that I made just for this purpose.   

When I ran the cable/string the full length, I tied the string on both ends and pulled the coax cable back out. This gave me an exact'ish measurement on the cable length. I used this to cut the Cat6 cable to size (3 lengths as we're going to have a lot of tech in the TV room) and then I pushed them through the conduit (10m). This was easier than I expected. Just lay the conduit flat and push, push, push ... eventually the wires came out on the other end. It looked like I had a couple of black 10m long snakes wiggling around my garden for a while. 

And now for the purpose of the string. I fastened both sets of conduit/wires to one end of the string with electrical tape and just pulled everything through. And presto, one run of network cables complete. The ends were then pulled though the junction box on one end and run to the patch panel on the other. I haven't bothered to terminate and test them yet as I never seem to have time and have bigger priorities to go after. Anyway, finally I can start putting the finished floors down. Stay tuned.

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 872: Let there be light

Now that we had an easier way to get up into the loft, it was time to shine a bit more light on the other section so I could eventually get to the task of boarding things over. However, part of me wondered if I'd really want to see what I was getting into given how bad the other side was when I first got up there (see here). But hey, maybe I'd find some more archaeological treasures. 

I elected to go with the same Philips directional LED lights that I used on the other part of the loft. Not because they were particularly good or cheap, just because I like things matchy-matchy. Besides., the whole world will see my work on the Interweb and I can't exactly have non-coordinated lighting.. how embarrassing. 

This job was actually pretty straightforward as the switched lighting circuit was already hooked up in the other section - I just needed to run a new 1.5mm cable to the new lights. The only difficult part was installing the lights. I wanted them mounted up fairly high which meant that I had to stand up on the ceiling joists to drill the holes to fix them. At the time, I had no idea how much weight the joists were meant to support and I didn't want to have a Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation moment (see here). Needless to say, as the comedic value wouldn't have justified the pain and damage, I was a bit more careful.

I also brought up my trusty work light stand to provide some additional lighting while I was working up there. This once again came in handy. The legs were wide enough to straddle the joists and it was invaluable to be able to position the light on the area that I was working on.

And you see those pipes running up and down the photos? A little piece of history. They were the original gas lighting runs which were common in houses before electricity became popular around WW1 (see here). A lot of respect to the people hand cutting and threading these things on site long before power tools. I don't think I'd like to be doing DIY back then (no power tools, no cars, no Amazon) ... It sounded like real work.

I'm sure the loft was a one way route. Things seemed to go up there but nothing ever came back down. Hence the old pipes, old wires, old slate and a bunch of other rubbish. Unfortunately, no antiques or other valuable archaeological finds. I don't know why I keep hoping to find some ...

Anyway, now with the monster gone, the steps secure and the lights on, I was fully out of excuses from having to lug all those boards up into the attic. Not looking forward to that.

Day 865:Getting on the housing ladder

Seeing that I was about to lift about 29 square meters of chipboard and about 18 2x4's up into the attic (about 420kg of wood) not to mention all the junk we were going to hide up there afterwards, my little leaning telescopic ladder thing wasn't going to cut it. I'm also sure it would have probably ended up with a hospital visit at some point.

So it was time to invest in a proper loft ladder. Luckily ScrewFix read my mind and put one on sale for me :). The one that we bought was the 3 piece aluminum extension type made for "light use" with a capacity of 150kg. I don't weight that much so I'm guessing heavy use with a light person maybe also counts. Regardless, this ladder would be at least fixed to the building so less chance of getting frequent flyer miles at the A&E.

These ladders are super easy to install. The kit came with hatch door hardware as well - but I already too care of that earlier (here). The idea is that they fold in 3 and collapse into an open area of the loft. The only difficulty was that the area of the loft where we have access doesn't provide for a whole lot of room. I measured the length and the height but the round arc was the issue. Will have to just test it out.

The other challenge with installing the ladder was that you still need a second ladder to get up there to fix everything. Or a really trusting friend (that you won't just leave them up there).

I used 60mm screws to hold it in place and make sure that I was screwing down to something more than just chipboard. The ladder is on hinges and slides down into place. It was adjustable to 3m so lots of height as well - think we are at about 2.8m extended.

And there you have it - a much better and safer way of getting up into the loft. Now I just need to carry my 400+ kg of materials up the ladder. Gasp!