All of the upstairs rooms (and the landing) now have ceilings AND floorboards and have been turned into workrooms!
It was a real jigsaw trying to put together enough good original floorboards to make complete rooms, particularly as the floorboards were not all the same width.
As we (or rather the carpenters) took out a damaged one, they would need to search for a piece of approximately the same width in another room (that was beyond saving),.
We have managed at least to completely do the master bedroom and sitting room and also the (internal) rear verandah.with originals.
One of the workrooms has been taken over by the carpenters. Unfortunately many of the architraves fell to pieces or when examined and stripped of paint revealed many repairs (often of pine and not quite the same pattern) so we have had to replicate and replace many of the originals
Now the carpenters are busy handcrafting the window sills and architraves from the milled cedar which explains why the place smells so divine - much better than the pigeon poo smell that invaded every crevice previouslyThe cedar smell will also act as a natural repellent to those pesky termites (and we will be taking other evasive action too).
Back home in Canberra I am using a few offcuts to try different oil treatments on the raw cedar to protect it without losing its characteristics. Think it's going to be a citrus oil (which also is not on the favourite food list for termites!!)
Another room (and the top landing) have been taken over by the cornicing team.
It is difficult managing 4.2 metre lengths of plaster (with fibreglass) - heavy, not bendy and to an extent fragile!!!
...and even then there has to be joints - these rooms are all very large.''
...but some rooms now have cornice in place.!!
and they should look good when they have a coat of paint on them!
There was no trace of what was here originally, so we have selected one that is large enough not to look silly with 16 foot ceilings, and not too pretty...this was a Sailors doss house after all.
We are pleased with the way things are shaping up.
Other recent activity included the flueing of all the chimneys - which means that the scaffolding is down (at last).
The outside ground floor level is being rendered next week so it really will look pretty good then.
Can't wait to get up there and see it like that.
We are now having to start thinking about some of the fittings so that electricians and plumbers can get things in the right place.
So we have had a good rummage round in the garage full of 'stuff', and have been visiting bathroom showrooms and browsing design magazines - fun!!
Though there is still a long way to go in other aeas...
