Organising a restoration while working

[plasticpigeon]

Wobs for what it's worth I'm in the same kind of situation as you. 5 years in and I'm over the hump now. We have a kitchen bathroon and one nice living room, but all this work on a smallish house that we may not stay in that much longer seems silly. Restoring the sash boxed are a piece of cake. The moving sashes would also be a piece of cake if I could bring myself to smash the glass and heath strip, but I hate doing that and want to keep the few pieces of original glass I have, so I laboriously chemical strip round the glass and heat strip teh rest and then clean dry repair sand and paint. Takes forever. I wonder if it would be possible to dip and strip sashes with the glass in!

 

[a twig]

If you need something to drive you back to the sanity of working on your house - take up golf.

After a long absence I renewed my membership at the local club a couple of weeks ago. After 5 rounds of drastically varying quality, including one particularly rainy day where I contrived to slip and slide down a very muddy 6m high back, ruining my clothes in the process, the thought of plastering, clay painting and fitting skirting suddenly seems a lot more appealing.

I also find arranging a large event, ideally with family, and not more than a month in the future, which will require all the rooms to be at least functional, is a good way of getting that bit of extra oomph to plough on through.

Our neighbours have finished their restoration and are currently in the process of selling up. Even though their place is half the size, I seriously considered flogging ours and just moving next door... :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

I've obviously had an easy ride with this restoration malarkey. Even during the occasional bouts of despair, I've never been tempted to consider golf as an alternative.

 

[malcolm]

I've obviously had an easy ride with this restoration malarkey. Even during the occasional bouts of despair, I've never been tempted to consider golf as an alternative.

I took a holiday this week (not really a holiday but it has been a fun week) - it's winter in Sweden again - I wonder how long their lime and linseed oil seasons last.

 

[Feltwell]

I've obviously had an easy ride with this restoration malarkey. Even during the occasional bouts of despair, I've never been tempted to consider golf as an alternative.

:lol: Doesn't the idea of a nice diamond pattern jumper and plus fours appeal then FF?

 

[Flyfisher]

Actually, that might be an improvement on my usual dress sense. I was thinking more about that old saying about golf being a good walk ruined.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Malcolm--so sorry to hear ---- as dear wise Penners, and several others have said, don't beat yourself up over it--its just a house. Sit back, take stock, and choose small projects that you can easily manage by yourself at the moment----you have already brought a new lease of life to a house that desparately needed attention.

Ironically Penners quotes the 'slough of despond' ---you are only a few miles from the famous Bunyan landmarks. Take a trip to Ampthill and walk up to Houghton House where you can sit and reflect, looking down the hill of difficulty--maybe that will help to clear your mind.

Best of Luck---

 

[malcolm]

I don't feel it was despond, from Slough or otherwise, more a feeling things weren't going well and it was about time things were reorganised. It is a pain for everyone involved for me to work full time and for my lack of input to cause others to loose confidence in what they are doing and slow to a crawl.

I have taken up the advise to get off my arse and do some work myself. I now have sore legs. The labour's strong points don't include plastering so I'll look after that myself. My project at work is in a delay phase at the moment so I'll likely have some more time during the week to work on the house.

It's lime season and there is still a lot of pointing to do. I've set the labourer on that (he is really good at pointing and doesn't need to ask for decisions) and we can work together on 2 man jobs when I'm here. We've been tiling the kitchen floor over the last couple of days.

 

[Zebra]

That looks fab malcolm! What sort of tiles are they?

 

[malcolm]

They are Elon Mexican Saltillo Teracotta from Terra Firma tiles at £20/m2. Anna gave me the tip. It seems amazing to me that lovely hand made tiles are available cheaper then the grey/brown choices that depress you when you go into tile shops. They are unsealed so need many coats of linseed oil and wax, also (in a brick pattern especially) they are slightly uneven under foot.

Linseed oil makes them darker - they are not really pink and yellow: