We’ve got your number

Finally after 4 years we have got the number on the house.

There it is we have just to paint the numbers and there it is.

Looks good doesn’t it.

And here is the chimney all blocked up with just a small gap at the top.

Quick Step

The funny thing is sometimes the work seems to go on and on but every now and then things take a sudden jump.

The steps are now up to a point and we have started to put the top on the cupboard at the back of the steps.

And the painting of the east side of the house has moved on too, with both the walls and the window frames painted.

And we have made a start on the chimney, as we won’t be using this anymore with a real fire just as the vent exit for the extractor in the kitchen, it doesn’t need such a big opening, which lets in water when it rains. So with some cut bits of racillionies we are blocking it off except for a small gap at the top.

There that’s better.

With all the work now done and the back of the house, the sill is now been fitted to the other window. We can put the pagoda back up for a while.

Busy Day

Today was another one of those days when we go round and work on half a dozen jobs at once.

A few more blocks go on to the steps, we are almost at the point of putting on the top of the cupboard to hold the watering valves.

And a little bit of concrete to make the base of a manhole to take the cables to various places on the lower patio.

Then using the rest of the cement just set in the top of the walls. And in the top of the photos you can see the rows of spuds that we have been putting in over the last few mornings, after we paid for someone to bring there machine in a rotivate the terrace as we haven’t fixed our machine yet.

Oblique shot showing the rows of spuds which should be ready about Christmas time.

Cleared out a levelled the corner by the font of the house ready to concrete the lower patio.

The window sill under the other window has had a few offcuts of tile and cement put in to bring it up to the right level for the tiles, then the paint touched up, once the tiles are on you won’t even notice.

We aren't the only ones working, our new German neighbours are having a lot of building work done to their house too.

And Tabby keeps an eye open for what Meep is up to while she lies in the shade.

Spot the difference

Now it may take a moment or two to spot what has changed between this photo and the previous ones. Yes it’s the drains that run from the outflows on the roof down and under the patio. So now when you have to go outside and it’s raining, you don’t get a face full of water if the wind is in the wrong direction. Also because these drains take the water well away from the house, the rooms under the house shouldn’t get as wet as they have in the past.

A little bit more

It may not seem like much, but the surround for the back door is now finished. It’s had two coats of paint and looks fantastic. Also the wall has had it’s second coat and is finished as well. With these walls painted, we are hoping that the dampness will not get into the walls as much as in previous years.

A lick of paint

A last we are finally getting to what the whole objective of the work we have been doing is getting some paint on the outside of the house.

There that looks so much better, I must admit seeing the house now with just a single coat of paint on the western wall makes such a difference. But if you look closely you can see that at the far end there is a bit which isn’t done. We haven’t done this bit cause it drops down there and until we get the lower patio and steps done we can’t reach that bit.

And on the other side the wall on the bathroom is done.

Renderware

To finish off the vent hut we just need to put a small coat of render on to provide a good surface to paint and blend into the existing surface.

And with the left over render we can finish off one small area at the front of the house which just needed a little to smooth everything off.

 

with this little but of filling the front is now ready for painting.

Back of the house starting to look good.

Now that Does Look Good

With all the roofs clean its time to paint them with waterproof paint. Not much to to say a bout doing it. But I do have one observation:  Once you have painted the roof you need to keep a good eye on it, as if any small holes appear then they need to be patched quickly as water can collect under the paint and WILL soak  through the roof.

But it does look nice when it is done, and the walls have been painted!

Kitchen end of roof, and entrance way

Main roof all red

Adding a bit of colour

OK now that Helen has finished off the rendering of the hiding the brickwork it’s time for me to splash a bit of paint over the top.

Now it may look like it’s easy with the roller on the long poll, but I can tell you it’s murder on the arms. Also on closer examination the roller doesn’t seem to get the paint into all the little pits that these walls are full of. So it may need another coat at some time.

There starting to look good, though in this picture the colour is a little washed out.

There a different angle shows the colour a bit better.

So that is the back wall of the house painted, only 3 more to go.

There´s a Hole in my Roof… Somewhere

When it rains hard the old kitchen roof leeks. But I am not sure where the hole or crack is, so it is time to do some remedial work on it.

The first job was to clean off all the old paint, there was not much of it, and any lose cement etc. Once that was done I put down some new mortar to fill in the holes.

Patching and cleaning done. Back of kitchen roof.

And the other side.

Once this is dry I will wash it over with a cement and water mix to seal all the small cracks. Then after a week or so it can be painted.

Hiding the Brickwork.

With the doorway bricked up its time to render to hole to make it all neat. I am not that good at rendering, I never seem to get it level or smooth but this time it seems to have gone well.

I used two coats, the first the standard sand and cement mortar (I would like to point out at this time, that the standard building sand on the canaries is black and made from crushed volcanic rock. So it is not very fine). The top coat was Morsec (premixed dry morter, tha comes in 25 kg bags. it comes in two types, that I know of, normal and white top coat. I like using the white one). This works very well in thin coats. The result on the door opening is shown below.

Now the wall can be painted.

I think the final result was quit good.

With the last of the Morsec, I finished off the roofs of the solar power huts. That is all the structural work done on the huts now finally the walls can be painted.

Back of the huts, showing added white Morsec.

Front of huts.

Bye bye Door way, Hello oven

The last week we have been busy blocking up one of the door ways in to the old kitchen. Part of this is to strengthen the wall and to provide a eye level oven unit, though it may be a while before the oven will be fitted (although we have had it for a year or so. ) See the potos below for all the work.

First day: Get the base done with the power feed for the oven.

Inside

outside.

Day two:  Build the oven unit up to the first level, this is ware the oven will sit. Below it will a set of veg racks. Work progresses, now we wait for the cement to set.

Day three: Build the next level, this is where the oven will go.

View from inside.

Outside.

Day four:  First job today is to remove the old door lintel, as this is made of wood, and close up the hole. on the inside the back of the top cupboard was added, this is not as deep as the rest of the unit to allow air to vent from the oven unit.

Top cupboard of oven unit.

The final closure of the old doorway.

Day five: finish the oven unit by extending it up to the ceiling.

The finished top cupboard.

The finished oven unit.