Cheer of the Day!

[Feltwell]

My Cheer of the Day is.... the weather!

It's been fantastic, and has made the whole lockdown event so much more bearable. I'm furloughed from work, so some dry weather so that I can get on with external jobs has been a real blessing. Today, the wind has died down, back to sunshine.....

I have of course now cursed it, and we will shortly have 40 days & nights of rain. Probably followed by a hosepipe ban as it was the wrong sort of rain.

[Allison]

Cheer of the day. I have raised over £700 for charity by cutting off my 24" hair. I can confess only to this group.....I was so sick of it getting in the pointing/render/ sander, wiping my face with lime to get it out of my eyes/mouth. Inbetween cutting it off I continued to repoint my exterior wall while in perfect shade from the sun. ( in a large hat)

[Feltwell]

Good for you! As for practical advantages being the prompt, why not?

The raking out for repointing here is a filthy job. Even though I blow myself down with an airline afterwards, on getting in the shower the first wash with shampoo requires hosing the shower tray round to get the muck off immediately afterwards!

[Flyfisher]

So you use an airline to dust yourself off as well. Thought it might just be me - works well doesn’t it?

[DJH]

Luckily I don't have to worry about long hair, in fact I don't have to worry about hair at all!
Herself, of course, is most interested in when the hairdressers reopen...

[Feltwell]

So you use an airline to dust yourself off as well. Thought it might just be me - works well doesn’t it?

Yep! Standard procedure now after any dusty job before I venture back in the house.

I must be getting houseproud, it'll be shoes off at the door next...

[LadyArowana]

I must be getting houseproud, it'll be shoes off at the door next...

The Covid numbers for places where shoes in the house is an unthinkable transgression make you wonder if it isn’t a wise habit. That and wearing a mask, which is very standard, but seems not to be popular here.

[Flyfisher]

Yes, I remember my surprise at seeing many facemasks on my first trip 'out east' and discovered it was standard practice even for simple colds - and that was decades ago!
Blowing one's nose is also frowned upon in polite company.

[RBailey]

Cheer of the month. Completed repainting all of our front widows

Not full strip out and rebuild repairs, more an intermediate repair to stop any damage worsening.

Upstairs sill rotted out (leaking gutter from last owner )


Inserted a new sill.


Kitchen window "new" in the last 20 years by one of the previous owners.


Lots of two pack.


Don't think there were any without some form of repair. Various repairs included wood inserts, 2 part epoxy along with wood root treatment and wood hardener as well as putty and window mastic (sand / linseed) repairs.
Then 3 or 4 coats as well as taping up the glass and scraping down afterwards.

165 panes of glass in the end I am sure that everybody here will know and appreciate the pain and effort.

Back of house next summer, thankfully a lot less glass.

[Zebra]

I hope that's a good period classic work of fiction you're using to hold the window up........that looks like quite a job! Well done so far!

[Feltwell]

Always satisfying to finish a "collective" job like that, well done! 165 panes

I'd love to have everything on the front elevation of this place finished this year, but alas with repointing taking forever I doubt I'll get all the windows done, as they are a "full stripdown and rebuild" job. Next year!

[Feltwell]

We've not had a "Cheer" for a while. They're an endangered species these days y'know.

Anyway - today I had that rarest of phenomena, the job that (should!) turn out to be simpler than I envisaged.

Feltwell Towers has a stupidly small family bathroom, but if I can move a wall by just 18" I'll be able to turn the bath by 90 degrees, get a wider bath and actually have a space where the loo can go so that you're not wedged between the bath and a wall! It'll make the room much more useable, and whilst the adjoining en-suite bathroom is already not the biggest it can be 18" shorter and still be perfectly tolerable. They are all looking sad and need refitting so now is the time to bite the bullet and do it.

After some earlier investigations I concluded that the bathroom wall in question was indeed structural, supporting the floor of the attic room above. Things were further complicated by not wanting to leave a supporting pier on one side of the new wall opening.

Today a Structural Engineer came out and has already phoned me back to say that a 150 x 100 timber will do fine - easier for me than a steel, I can lift this in myself - no pier on one side is no issue, just get a 6" bearing into the external wall, and I don't even need to insert padstones for the loading I'll have!

So, it's hire a couple of acros to temporarily support the floor above and start bashing away!

Whilst he was here I got him to review another job for the future that I have planned, he confirmed it's possible to do what I want to do and he's not even charging me any extra for the calcs for Building Control for this.

Hurrah!

I have of course now put the mockers on it all and the job will be a nightmare I'm sure, but hey ho........

[Craig89]

I think you have dealt with a very good engineer there Feltwell. Being able to use timber without a pier is a result!

[Feltwell]

Yes, nice chap, well & truly into his retirement years - I think he does this to keep his hand in & earn a bit. Bonus for me, years of experience!

[Monty]

He sounds like just the sort of structural engineer that I need. Feltwell do you think he would travel as far as the Bishops Castle / Montgomery area?