Farside
Badly Welded Man
- Messages
- 5,457
- Location
- Ireland
When roundabouts first appeared around here, the locals used to wander up for a look at the new thing.If I get stuck at a roundabout for over 30 seconds it is a bad day
When roundabouts first appeared around here, the locals used to wander up for a look at the new thing.If I get stuck at a roundabout for over 30 seconds it is a bad day
I recon projects non welding related outnumber welding projects 10 to 1 here.good job it's a welding forum or I'd be adding lots of my completed projects.
Lol. No encouragement required.Hi,
I don't take much encouraging eluSiVeMiTe so how about a spot of DIY for members who like to upgrade their home?
My wonderful wife Bron and I haven't had an holiday away from home for the last 42 years; firstly due to lack of funds then as the years passed by we noticed friends and neighbours who eagerly looked forward to their two weeks abroad each year; lots of hassle packing; transport to airports; airport grief then a flight; hotel problems then the same returning home making them look as miserable as they set off on holiday; in the meantime Bron and I worked hard together year on year improving our lifestyle making our hard earned money count for us. We don't drink alcohol; don't smoke and we certainly aren't crack heads. We paid a lot of money into my works final salary pension and aged 53 in 2000 I walked down the works yard for the last time never to return being free of my 24 years in a very highly stressful job.
Having done up our first home a stone semi over 11 years we moved here to our dream bungalow but six weeks after moving in a storm brought big holes into two ceilings; we called in the Legal & General insurance being on absolutely maximum mortgage; the loss adjusters told us to get lost the damage was due to lack of maintenance; we couldn't borrow another penny and we couldn't afford to sell the bungalow either; for the next 18 months we lived with buckets and bowls whilst I kept trying to stem the flow using old lino and anything I could get hold of. During the 18 months I researched how to install a new roof; we had worked as long and as hard as we could doing lots of overtime in order to save funds for materials. Between us we removed the old roof to the bungalow and the flat roof to the two roomed rear extension; it's a big detached random stone built bungalow so you can imagine the amount of work put in to replace both roofs; we did the job in two weeks working all daylight hours. We were paying £40,000 for the bungalow in 1987; with the new roofs installed we dumped the building society and sacked Legal & General; the new building society valued our bungalow at £90,000 for mortgage and £125,000 to sell; stuff Legal & General it was a terrible experience to go through.
I left school aged 15 and during my last four years was subjected to 2 hours per week woodworking; the teacher was a bully so I disliked him with a passion and disliked woodwork even more hence I was in the top class when I left school failing in woodworking making me bottom of the school at woodwork. It's a long story but over the years through necessity at first I started to improve at woodwork to the point now I love all aspects of woodworking; having gone on at length below are images of our front room makeover I carried out about four years ago; I did the lot with two exceptions; the new high efficiency (86%) gas fire; tiled surround and hearth were beautifully installed by "Flames of Wakefield" at a cost then of £1,600. I made the wooden mantle saving a lot of money; also the new carpet was selected by Bron installed again beautifully by "The Carpet Barn". Bron and I have visited many stately homes and from these got the inspiration for the style of room we wanted so I went for it big style.
Kind regards, Colin.
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Our front room as it was; I made the bookcase and the three coffee tables two of the tables shown based on Titchmarsh & Goodwin designs.
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At this point there's no going back; Bron was brilliant helping by feeding me and doing her best to keep the mess down as much as possible.
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First the demolition; I retained the fireplace facing stones but ran 18 heavy bags of rubble to the local tip; this fireplace was 10' long and solidly built like a fortress.
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Why call plasters in when I can do the work myself; it took longer but it's a good way of learning new skills.
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We wanted 300' of frame work for the walls with which to create frame panels and a dado rail.
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Buying 300' of such moulded timber would be hugely expensive so why not just buy planed softwood and run the mouldings ourselves; the softwood for the frames was 2" x 1" and for the dado rail 3" x 1" I rigged up a routing jig as shown forming a tunnel just to kiss the sides of the timber; the router switch was tied with string to be permanently switch on then I could control the router from a 13A wall socket; the cutter was 1/2" dia Roman Ogee; the timber was fed through in full lengths and as both edges were to be moulded this meant 600' in total of moulding; it worked like a dream as was surprising quick. The frame corner joints were mitred half laps secured with strong woodworking adhesive; each frame in turn being clamped until the glue set. This involved a lot of joints and frames.
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One image of the makeover; the two hardwood doors I made years ago and the third coffee table can now be seen; Bron chose the lovely carpet.
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The new gas fire; tiled surround and hearth were professionally installed because of the rules and regulations regarding gas. The two guys spent a full day with us doing the installation and we can't praise Flames of Wakefield enough for their top job. The wooden mantle looks expensive but I used 18mm thick MDF left over from another job; all I needed was a bit more MDF to finish the mantle at £12. I sprayed the mantle in the workshop. I've never made a mantle previously but enjoyed making this one; I took great care to get everything perfect because I was doing this for my Bron who really does deserve the best. Bron has never ever complained about mess or disruption because she knows when I start a job I'll not quit until the job is completed. With the lights out at night and the TV switched on our front room is very cosy with the fire lit.
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Almost finished here just after the carpet fitters departed; I had also done some rewiring adding additional 13A sockets. The upper colour is Dulux Raspberry Bellini; The transformation was dramatic indeed and it took us quite a time to get used to it but even now we love it; the major cost at £2,400 were the fireplace and carpet; additional cost was just just for softwood and paint etc. Yes it was worth the upset and dirt; it cost us very little indeed doing the bulk of the work ourselves.
Projects forum /architectural would probably suit best.Hi,
Many thanks for your reply; as I'm new kid on the block where would I post such a thread on DIY please? Perhaps this room makeover could be moved to a more relevant position; I've just added it to pass a bit of time whilst the rain beats down?
Kind regards, Colin.