DIY? I'd Prefer GSETDIFY*
18/12/06 02:08 PM
I’ve not been active in the blogosphere for a while, nor indeed have I surfed the information cyber webnet much either. The reason? DIY. Because I’m so penny-pinching, I have basically become a builder’s labourer at weekends in order to get my house sorted, and I’m perennially tired as a result.
For someone who literally sits down all day at work, lugging 30 bags of sand and cement around, as I did yesterday, comes as something of a shock… However playing with a ‘proper’ cement mixer was admittedly good fun.
I’m not exactly what you would call ‘naturally good’ at DIY stuff so it’s been a bit of a steep learning curve. The house we bought was owned previously by an old couple and needed a bit of modernising, so I’ve been quite busy since we moved in on various ‘projects’, from small to large. For my own records if nothing else, I have decided to document the things we have done / had done to the house so far. It all looks so bloody easy (and quick!) on those programmes.
- Stripped the entire house of carpets, curtains and wallpaper because, well, they honked. Seriously the smell was so bad you could hear it. Huuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmm…
- Cleared house of leftover furniture etc so we could actually move in properly. This took some time so we lived in one room ‘til the other was cleared (two ‘reception’ rooms). Got sick of moving sofas around. Took things to Scope in Beeston. Had to carry heavy boxes of books upstairs into the engine room where there were lots of little old ladies standing around a big table sorting through what can only be described as ‘jumble’.
- The back reception room and tiny kitchen had bizarre lowered ceilings with polystyrene tiles, much like you had at school. Took all this down and was mildly impressed at the elaborate way it was originally constructed.
- Removed wood paneling from the walls. Yep, wood paneling. On the walls.
- Stripped the tiny kitchen and decided to knock through into the back reception room.
- Removed plasterboards. Remember to spray with water to get rid of some of the dust, folks…
- Knocked down wall, not a big deal really. Ahem. Carted lots of bricks outside. Put up a steel RSJ. And padstones. Bricked it all in. Looks good.
- Plasterboarded the walls and ceiling. Mixing plasterboard adhesive by hand is actually bloody hard work and anyone who tells you otherwise is a damn liar.
- And here we are today; last weekend spent mixing sand and cement to level the floor.
Obviously I didn’t do all of this, especially the joist etc, I merely provided the donkey work to save a bit of money. But I’m definitely learning a lot and I would recommend it to others who don’t mind if their kitchen is literally a sink and stove! When it’s all written in points like above it doesn’t look like it should be as tiring as it has been… but then there’s all the sanding etc…
So I will try and get Version 2 of this site launched as soon as I can but to be honest I’m a bit too knackered right now to be spending a lot of time on non-paying work. Which is a shame but what can you do? Right, I have to try and squeeze some Christmas shopping in somewhere now. Oh joy.
*Get Someone Else To Do It For You
commenting closed for this article
On Tuesday December 19, 2006,
Steve Tucker said:
I attempted to make an invesment for the future by teaching the wife the tricks of the trade, however she proved smarter than I thought and refused.
Just dont put too many holes in the walls and floor, or your other half will kill you. Theres no winning these days.
On Wednesday December 20, 2006,
Stu said:
Yeah but what size holes are we talking? Extra windows do let a lot more natural light in…