Forever House #40

Sunday 1st December, 2013 (pinch and a punch for the first of the month)

- Before -
form work in situ 2005 - 2013

- After -
the arch lives independently!

Arch - featuring Leonie's niche (left)

Just sat down at the table - 7.42pm. My dinner is heating up. I had a late swim after 6pm - left the car running - didn't want to risk the starter motor playing silly buggers at this time of night and in a wet cossy. I came back from the river to the caravan and it was still light. So I headed back down to the house with a mosquito coil in my hand and a bee in my bonnet.

Today is a milestone for two reasons - and the second one is that between my swim and now, I've dismantled the arch form work that Andy built in, I'm guessing, 2005. It's down, and the mud arch stand self supported. It's fantastic! I have one last row of mud to go across the top of it tomorrow, but I couldn't see that row being the difference between it staying up or falling down. And, I couldn't wait. The time came.

I unscrewed a myriad of roofing screws with a shifting spanner, and normal screws with a very tiny phillips head screwdriver, from this very complex and strong structure. It came apart piece by piece initially, but then it required an electric drill which I don't have to unscrew some tricky screws. I made like a wolf, and huffed and puffed and pushed and shoved and levered and kicked, and eventually I blew that arch formwork down from under the mud arch. It feels like progress. No one will hit their head on that form work again. Anybody above about five foot seven had to duck under it which was a lesson learned more than once for me and many others (people wearing hats generally).

First painting - this day has been a long time coming

The other milestone reached today was that I started painting the bathroom walls white. First I did the final coat of ceiling paint, and then I started on the walls. I sprayed the walls with bond crete and water, and trialled some water based paint last visit. It seemed to work nicely so I bought a very large drum of semi gloss white paint. I started using a paint brush, but it was very hard to get a covering in all the nooks and crannies of the wall surface. I got the sponge from the sink and gave that a go. Much better. Very time and paint consuming. I thought I'd get the top half of three walls done today - but I only got the very top of the one done (after laying a row of mud on the other walls of course).

Final row of mud done for this corner of the house

scaffolding gone and top half painted

I hope to get the other two walls done tomorrow after mixing and laying the final row of mud on the two walls I've been working on. One of those is the arch wall. This shouldn't take too long - and then I'll spend my day painting. I'd really like to be able to remove the scaffolding from the bathroom and mudroom and clean them both out. I would feel like I'd achieved my goal if I got that far. 

Mini orb will go around this end for shower

OMG!

I've taken all kinds of measurements today so that I can be planning the next jobs. I'm out again in a fortnight and have the mud and bathrooms in my sights. Although I think I have decided that until I complete the mudding in the remainder of the house I'd be mad to paint and tile the mud room - it would just get filthy - so the bathroom will be completed to working order and will house the makeshift kitchen while I make a mess again in the second bedroom where the kitchen is now.

 I need to buy sandstone blocks to make the half wall (hob) in the shower recess on which the etched shower screen will be installed. I want to get mini orb to go around the three walls of the shower recess.While I'm buying sandstone blocks, I want to buy two that will act as steps for the split level in the house - one from the entry level and one from the main bedroom down into the open plan living area.


During the next two weeks at home, I'm aiming to complete all the windows containing parts of the bird light. And I may see how I go with a mirror for the bathroom. After all of those are done, I've got two sets of French doors, with a total of twenty eight panels between them. I'm giving each set a frame of textured colourless glass, with a central area of clear to see through. Not sure what features I will include - I do have another light I'm keen to dismantle - will see if that will work for these. If not I'll use the front door as inspiration - because these doors will be in the same room.