The Morecambe DIY Project

[trevnhil]

Hi Keith.
I'm sorry to hear about the levels. We have a couple of places on our concrete drive that hold water. I just drilled a hole straight through into the ground. One was then OK but not the second one. I will probably leave it as it only happens when it rains. ;D

It's true that a picture paints a thousand words, and we can see exactly what you mean about the stones or pebbles.
You are right about natures builders yard as well. We have some rocks or pebbles and also some driftwood here that came from Scotland.

No it didn't float here.... We brought it in the container.

Cheers. Trev..

[accykeef]

I don't know if it is legal to take pebbles off the beach but as I see it, they will only get ground down to sand and make the tidal bore at Arnside even less of a tourist attraction, so I am helping the area.

I need a few more, now that I know what I am going to do - I just hope my idea works.

[accykeef]

Time to get creative with the angle grinder today.
I intend putting our initials (our initials are the same as luck would have it) and the date in the centre circle and I have a cunning plan regarding how to do it.

I drew the letters onto a piece of stone and then cut slots with the angle grinder. All the slots make it very confusing as to what has to be cut and what has to be left but slowly does it.


It looks a bit messy, at this stage


but after all the raised bits were carefully chiselled off, the letters became clear. I made a slight mistake at the to of the 'K' when I got a bit too excited with the angle grinder but Mrs Keef said, 'it would add character", so I suppose all is well really.


The rough surface within the letters is not a problem as I intend to inlay some dark coloured stone. For that I will have to take another trip to nature's builder's merchants and select some dark stone or some other fancy stone if I spot any.


It looks much better when all the stone dust has been washed off and I am hoping the end result will be worth all the effort.


I have another one of these to cut yet with MMXI cut into it. I would have done that one as well but once again, rain stopped play.
At least I got to watch all of the Grand Prix which is a bonus.
The Red Arrows were supposed to be making an appearance today but I don't think they turned up. They were unusually quiet if they did. I usually go down to the festival but decided to give it a miss this time and get on with more pressing matters. I was hoping to get some pics of them flying over our house but that was not to be either.

[trevnhil]

I could tell what the letters were right from the first picture (not too difficult). You really like that big grinder, I can tell.

Once again as you say, Natures builders yard will come to the rescue. Another Bonus is that the prices there are so good.

I hope the weather will not be too bad for you during tomorrow (Monday). I see some of the ferries from the IOM are cancelled.

Good luck. Trev..

[accykeef]

It is supposed to be gales and stuff so I'd better get my pebbles before they all go.
I wonder where they come from?

[accykeef]

It has been a while since I did anything so we thought today would be a day to get a few oustanding jobs done.

1st. job:- Get some soil and shovel it into a barrow, then riddle it through a contraption to get rid of stones, twigs and any sign of plant life.


The home made riddle works a treat.


Repeat until there is enough to fill a small garden, that'll be 15 tubs full then. Rake in a little compost and dry in the heat of the winter sun for several hours.


Level it out with a rake


Add compost bin, sink a sink into the soil. add rusty old lawn mower, toilet and a bath, and the back garden begins to take shape. The flags have been given a nice coating of soil but next year they will be power washed so who cares!


The soil had to come from somewhere and it is the front garden which has suffered this time. A crater has appeared where once there was order. Take notice of the pile of stones on the right.


This interesting mixture of tiles, broken drain pipe and pebbles all came out od that hole, no wonder it took us ages.


Almost forgot about the first job we did this morning, that was to move the pallet containing the leftover flags to the side and generally tidy up. Moving the pallet was done with the aid of a long metal bar as Mrs. Keef point blank refused to try and lift it.

[accykeef]

I have had to move all my websites to a new server this last week and it has been an absolute nightmare. The new server has a different directory structure to the old one so of course, nothing worked. My website is still only partially working but I have had to leave it for now.

The outside DIY season is drawing to a close but there are a few jobs which need to be sorted before Winter sets in properly.

The centrepiece in the back garden is still unfinished, we are looking for someone who is giving away some shiny black floor tiles to make the letters - not paying over £10 each for the ones we want!

Another job which needs attention is the doormat well in the kitchen. It looked good when I did it originally but a combination of a piece of aluminium coming loose and it not being air tight meant that I was off early doors searching for edging materials.

I went to a few places before tracking down what I wanted at First Stop DIY, how I love that place!

After tea and toast, I took the mat well tray out and revealed the mess underneath. The sides had to be routed out a bit because the hole was too small with the extra alumium on the outside of the tray.


The outdoor work bench, (garden table) was set up and I set about removing the old aluminium strip from the top of the mat well. Then it was only a matter of chopping up the aluminium into mitred bits.


Each edge is made up of 2 pieces, 1 covers the top and the inside of the tray, the other fastens to the outside of the tray and forms a flange for the whole tray to sit on.


The glue which used to hold the aluminium on the floor took some sanding down and made quite a bit of dust, as can be seen on the door beading. Time to sit down and drink a brew, while Mrs Keef's Industrial Cleaning Company take posession of the kitchen.

[trevnhil]

Hi Keith.
Your signature says it all really 'Morecambe, there's plenty to do'
Mrs Keefy always see to have a job for you to do... Gardening, flagging, bricklaying, electrical and plumbing. And now you are back into the carpentry, joinery and metalwork.
I well remember First Stop DIY and have had many small items from there. It is a strange place with a bit of everything including garden compost and even plants.
Well done on making, or re-making the mat well. It looks well and the mat itself is an item often used on ships.

I was surprised to see that I had totally missed your post of the 5th of November, which amazed me as I check in on here almost daily.
The soil looks rich and dark and should be good for growing almost anything.

However I am Puzzled.... you say to disregard the stones in the front garden but that is hard to do. Are they just rubbish? What is to happen with the depressed ;D front garden? A pond perhaps.
I thought the flower or veg bed at the back of the house was great. But you have put the compost bin and the sink in there???
And although I know you have tidied up for winter what will be the fate of the bath and the toilet. And I am surprised that Mrs Keefy has not mentioned you leaving the lid up again.
You must be very pleased though with the work that Mrs Keefy has got done this year.
Don't work her too hard, she need to make the evening meals etc.

Regards. Trev..

[accykeef]

I too am quite impressed with the amount of work Mrs. Keef has done this year. It is surprising what a small amount of passion in the run up to Christmas 2010 can achieve. She has been enthusiastic all year and has put on, what can only be described, as a sterling performance when it comes to DIY.

The centre piece of the garden has yet to be finished but unfortunately, my suggestion of a ritual druid stone laying ceremony has fallen on stoney ground. I think it was the naked aspect which dettered her although the rest of the family seem worringly keen on the idea. I think cementing in the frost could be a problem but I am still keen to mark the occasion with a ritual which nobody will forget. I feel that me cavorting naked would imprint a memory so bad, that psyciatric help may be required but at least the event would be remembered, possibly for some small reason.

We will have to see what happens but rest assured, if nakedness does take place in our garden it will not be seen by the neighbours due to the cleverly designed fence and pictures will only be posted on the internet if our security is breached by the News of The World. As they don;t exist any more, I feel that is very unlikely.

Back to the present, I spent today sorting out a new washing line in the dining room, as the old one snapped while I was hanging washing. I will post pictures when I have it in place as there is too much washing on it at the moment to replace it.

Finally. cast your mind back to the part of this thread where I was decorating the landing. To remind you, that was the episode with the step ladders and the storage box. If you remember, there was a plant at the top of the stairs, not a clue what it is, but I split it down and just to prove that it is alive and well.

[accykeef]

Trev - re your questions
Front garden will be developed next year.
Compost area is not a herb garden but something will be planted there.
Herb garden will be the first project next year,down the side of the drive way.
Plan is - herb garden, fiont garden and finally the drive.

[trevnhil]

So... OK you re off the hook with the front garden until next year. Re your suggestions for a memorable ceremony.... I bet the neighbours in the upstairs windows are devastated.

I well remember the plant that you split. It is enormous now. I wondered where the toilet pipe outlet would run to.

Take care. Trev..

[accykeef]

Time for a bit of improvement, the seat was solid, useable but getting a bit grubby


Once the seat was removed, the full extent of the problem was evident.
Mouldy silicone and rusty 'brass' screws.


Let the dog see the rabbit.
The silicone underneath was just as bad.


Time to do a bit of panel remodelling so I can put some proper corner strip onto the bottom of the panel rather than just silicone to the face of the panel.


Once enough of the back panel was removed, I set about the technical job of cutting the corner pieces.


Not easy making it so the corners look right where the top panel meets the front. To make it waterproof, the top pane has to go over the front one.


I moved outside to the work bench and set about mocking up the angle between the 2. The end profile of this plastic is like a Christmas tree and the cuts are quite complicated, hence making a rough sample first.


It is a bit like a 3d puzzle but I got there eventually.


All the cut-outs in the rough patterns are required for all the pieces to fit snuggly together and form a reasonably waterproof seal.


Then produce the proper ones, here they are but require sanding.


Test fitted in place, the plan has worked.


Next job was to stick some plastic angle to the top surface of the shower tray, for the front vertical to sit on. These two pieces would not be fixed together to allow movement between them.

The picture below illustrates the biggest problem I faced, that of getting the back of the horizontal piece into the channel of the corner strip.


This was the easiest side to do but I was still unsure of just how long to make it.


I was close to cursing when I discovered the supplier had no stock of angled plastic and that the job would be delayed. A temporary plastic shower curtain was erected and we still had a shower area lager than one of those little boxes.


The old silicone, as shown here, had to be removed but the score at full time was
Silicone 0 - Paint Scraper 2
a victory to the visitors then.


This is the following week and the angled plastic is in place, it has been stuck using some industrial strength waterproof glue stuff which was so lethal, I forgot to take a photo of it before the front was fitted.

It was the sort of glue which when used in a confined space, makes you tingle all over.

The corer pieces are held in place with blocks of wood, screwed into the wall. There is a 3" x 2" cross brace under the top cover but again I forgot to take a photo and so did the little pink frogs who were helping me.


Here it is all assembled and as the patent is till pending on the method used to insert the back of the top panel into the channel, I am unable to show that method at present.


And another view after it was cleaned, I told Mrs Keef to clean it all while I put my tools away, I found cleaning the shower tray particularly difficult with the paint scraper where she put it.


It is shower proof but there is a bit to do yet before it will stand up to the full force of the power shower's body jets.

[accykeef]

We have our planning heads on again for several jobs which need doing. One job is the kitchen, which is going to get a complete makeover. I plan to use most of the old cupboards and replace the fronts, sink and worktop.

I am planning on taking the whole lot out and boarding the walls with foil backed plaster boards.

Our kitchen is always cold so I am looking at also isulating it too. I am thinking about putting 1" thick polystyrene sheets behind the boards too. That should warm things up a bit.

The main stumbling block at the moment is the kitchen doors, we can't believe how expensive they are. We have been quoted £80 per door and we need about 20 doors plus some drawer fronts. It is going to cost over £2000 for just the finishing panels!!!

I have been thinking - the kitchen is only about 8ft x 8ft and there are only cupboards and drawers on 2 of the walls. That is only 3 @ 8 x 4 sheets of material at most.

I am pretty certain I could get 3 @ 8 x 4 sheets of some very nice wood cut to size, for a lot less than that. The problem is finding a supplier of the basic sheets - Google is my friend and I am searching. Has anybody got any suggestions re. suppliers?

The other job is Mrs Keef's herb garden down the side of the drive, we are planning on doing that first as the kitchen plan is not yet complete.

One thing is certain, there is no rest for the wicked at Keefy Towers.

[trevnhil]

Hi Keith. I like the sound of the Kitchen make over. Any insulation that you can incorporate will be a bonus.

The price for the kitchen cupboard doors is crazy. I would be looking at Wickes or B&Q or even J Kelly laminates on Northgate. They did kitchen doors, if they are still there.
Also I would be looking at online shopping for them as well.

Cheers. Trev..

[mpprh]

I'm a serial kitchen bodger.

I've learned that it is worth paying a little more for the doors.

I am having to replace the doors on a five year old kitchen because they were plastic veneer over composite and when the tenant cleaned them with a steam cleaner the glue melted and the veneer cracked and fell off.

The current kitchen doors are resin impregnated solid wood (Bouleau = Birch) with acrylic varnish finish. The details are : www.bricodepot.fr/nimes/list_pdf/969968?file=files/doc/orig/160719.pdf&name=Documentation_pour_Cuisine_COCOON A 60 cm wide door for a bottom unit is €50, I'm not sure what doors you are fitting, but £80 / €100 per door sounds pricey. Gold door handles, perhaps ?

As a comparison the 60 cm bottom laminate/plastic veneer doors are €23.

Brico Depot is part of Kingfisher group which I think is B&Q ?

Pic of latest doors :



Cheap doors :




Peter