What I've learned

Learning on the job is a slow process, and I often wish I had someone more experienced I could turn to for help. The various workmen I've employed have given me hints here and there, but mostly I've had to rely on DIY manuals, the internet and lots of useful leaflets from Wickes, etc. I have therefore decided to pass on a few nuggets of hard-won wisdom to anyone out there who is starting out as clueless as me.

1) Wallpaper that has been painted over with gloss or other water-resistant paint is a nightmare to get off. Scraping it with a wire brush is useless. Cutting it with a blade is only marginally better and can damage the plaster underneath. Sanding it just produces a lot of fine paint dust and a nasty cough. The solution is to get a sharp scraper blade and scrape off the paint layer to leave just the paper beneath. If you get the right angle on it, you can peel it off in great long swathes. The paper then comes off really easily with a steamer or paper-stripping solution.

2) The wrecking bar is the best tool ever. It makes taking off skirting boards and dado rails so easy and is great at pulling recalcitrant nails out as well. However, you may need a thin piece of wood or cardboard to protect the wall.

3) Don't try to unscrew any screws when removing skirting boards or dado rails. You'll just end up with a rawlplug sticking out that is nearly impossible to remove. Pull the screws out with the skirting board and the rawlplug will come with it. Unless, of course, you want to reuse that screw hole.

That's it for now. Got to get back to work.

New windows and doors

There's just one problem with working so hard on this house. It doesn't leave me a lot of time for my blog. I've been taking advantage of the good weather this week to start stripping the wallpaper - with all the windows wide open to stop the steam from building up. None of which would have been possible without the help of my very kind former neighbours Tom and Tessa, who lent me their steam-stripper.

Last week was even more exciting. In the space of just two days, window fitters John and Ted took out all the old doors and windows and replaced them with lovely new units. It was a major expense and I was of two minds whether to do it or not, but now that they're in I am so happy I went ahead with it. The new front door, in particular, is a vast improvement (see photo).


The only things we didn't replace are the old wooden inner sills and the back window on the extension which was fitted in about 2002. The photo of the back door (and new bathroom and upstairs bedroom windows) also shows the new electrical cable going from the kitchen extension to the garage, previously known as "the death trap".

The old windows haven't simply been dumped either. The metal frames have been taken by scrap merchants who can reclaim the aluminium and I've kept all the old wooden frames that the aluminium windows and doors were set in. They were made of solid mahogany and I'm certainly not going to throw away an endangered hardwood. 

And finally, something to amuse my readers. This is my attempt at dealing with a very wet back wall on the garage and it has raised a few eyebrows, but it does work. Basically, the rainwater coming off the garage roof was going down the drainpipe and then just running straight back onto the wall below, causing small floods on the garage floor. By diverting the rainwater onto the patio with a few strategically placed bits of pipe and guttering I have at least achieved a temporary fix. I've got a whole house to renovate - the garage can wait.