Feels like a house (maybe)

It's been a while since I last wrote, and more than a week since we were last up there to meet with the project manager, inspect progress and plan the next few weeks of work. End of tax year and preparing the documentation to go to the Heritage Council has been higher priority than the blog - sorry!!

Since the last blog, there has indeed been progress.

In this pic there's still scaffolding (for the flueing), but a door or so upstairs at the front (sealed for safety of course since they currently open onto a drop rather than a balcony)!
The doors have design including fanlights as per original and have been handcrafted in cedar to fit... as all the doors and windows need to be where we cannot salvage the old ones. This building was 'hand made' so no two of the fittings are quite the same size!

...and now the scaffolding has gone.

and more doors are in - there's even windows now, but you'll have to wait for the next blog to see those!

...and don't you just love the green temporary drainpipe??





Now the focus is on the inside and getting a few rooms towards finished so they can be commandeered for use to put together kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and for storage, so we get at other things that are still stored in the garage!



There's still a way to go in most rooms - but now architraves are surrounding all the upstairs windows and they look amazing. The cedar will darken slightly when we oil the architraves but the grain will be more obvious and they will still look amazing!!

The ones we have salvaged still require attention though.

The slight imperfections in the walls became visible when they were skimmed, then the fine tuning plastering could be done prior to painting...looks like crazy paving!!

Since we were there last we have raided the paint shops and agonised over colours to find the right one; to be light in shade but not a 'nothing', and to tone with the warm colour of the cedar.

We then shortlisted...and finally selected (though also giving our project manager and heritage adviser the final say on its suitability when seen ON SITE!)

The pic shows the windows sealed and stacks of paint ready to go! After the first coat was on the verdict was a resounding positive. Whew - sighs of relief!!

Next steps include the door jambs and then hanging some of the 29 doors we acquired way back at the beginning. That too will release some space in the garage. Then the skirting boards. They are on site and being prepared for attachment, so won't we see a big difference on our next visit...

The rooms of course won't be really FINISHED - there will still be floors to polish and fireplaces and mantels to fit, but at least there will be floors, and painted walls and ceilings and skirting boards - and before too long there'll be the power points and light switches we've been selecting! Hopefully some of the lights can go up too. We have managed to acquire many lights that we hope will work well in the building - old style and not so small as to look inconspicuous in large rooms with 16 foot ceilings, but not too fussy either (we're not the chandelier type and don't feel they would be appropriate for this old sailors doss house)!

It is really starting to feel more like a house than a building site - at least upstairs. Downstairs is another stor(e)y, though we have a couple of floors now, and the drumming check has revealed that the walls are in better condition than those upstairs were.

Still wet areas and a lot of finishing to do upstairs but the progress continues.

Smells so sweet

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). 

I have to say they look pretty good now 

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...

Rooms!

Progress - ceilings, walls, no loose plaster, rough undercoat instead - starting to take shape and look brighter!

          From this 

              

           To this    

and from this                                                                                        

              to this

From this                                                                       to this              

                          

the clocktower from one of the bedrooms








...and our master suite starting to take shape - still has some things being stored, but the stacks of insulation have gone (into the roof!)













Now the upstairs floors are going down . We have managed to rescue enough of the originals to actually do one side of the building upstairs and also the rear verandah...a lot of floor lifting and replacing of cut, damaged and rotten floorboards with better ones from elsewhere in the building. The rest will be new. Looking forward to the next visit up there.

The Grand Vista

OK so the scaffolding IS still up (upper storey windows and doors still to fit - and flueing to do)... but the front top half of the building is looking really schmick...complete with 'balls' up!

 We hope to re-establish 'the Grand Vista' and the picture gives an inkling of why it earned that name and what it will look like... 

Until, that is, the proposed modern three storey building is constructed on the site next door, between the column (and person) and the house.

The new  building will go along the full length of Coutts Sailors Home including the verandah at the front (which isn't there now) and up to gutter height almost hiding Coutts completely from view. 

What is more, the plot of land is part of the Heritage Listed Convict Lumber Yard which also has evidence of very early aboriginal settlement!
Facing the Convict Lumber Yard will be a brick wall taller than that column.
We have put in an objection and are hoping that we will be able to discuss issues with them prior to DA approval.

In the meantime our slightly modified plans are with the Heritage Council of NSW for approval, and in the meantime we continue with all those things that are currently approved, doing our best to save what is left that is salvageable and replacing what isn't with clones!! There's over 500 metres of cornice on order, and similar lengths of cedar architraves and skirting board.

Next instalment - inside progress...very positive!!

Balls up!

Just a recolour and then...

..and just look at that view from up there!

More progress

Up to Newcastle on Saturday April 5, back on Sunday April 6; tiring (especially if you fit in a 10km run too), but exciting.

The renderers have finished the top half of the building...

...and we even have the concrete balls ready to be tarted up then go back up (along with pigeon deterrents).
There's a rod going through them into the building to make sure they don't fall off.





The scaffolding is still up so we can't yet see it in all its glory, but you can get a feel for how it will look.



Al was happy and the sun was shining!

Inside there's also been lots of progress, though it is still very much a building site!! As expected there have been some hiccups...much of the plaster on the walls was 'drumming' meaning that when you tapped it it sounded hollow (like a drum), indicating that the plaster was no longer well attached to the walls and was in danger of all crumbling off. 

So the walls were adorned with fluorescent green and pink circles, crosses and squiggles (very pretty), the plaster helped off and now replaced along with what looks like chicken wire to make sure it stays tight!

Other hiccups have included having to abandon the idea of keeping the two remaining wood ceilings when they demonstrated that they were just a few splinters, and acknowledging that the number of windows that we can actually redeem is fewer than hoped. 

While many of the joists will stay in place, many are needing to be rather supplemented with new ones for safety's sake.







The gyprockers have also been at work and we have ceilings in many of the upstairs rooms They actually feel like rooms now!



We spent three hours on site with Anthony going through a LONG list of questions and trying to come up with options and solutions (or more things to research). More time the next day to rethink...
Enough decisions made to keep the builders going for another week anyway!

Progress

ok, so it's been a while since I've written anything, but having just returned from Newcastle, there is now stuff to report.

At times over the last two weeks the place has been swarming with people all being shepherded along by Anthony the project manager and Carl the builder:

The action is both outside and inside (upstairs) with work going on that is included under the current approvals.

.Outside there's been people on the scaffolding rendering while others scampered about removing  the concrete bases for the 'balls' that adorned the top of the building (so we can replace them).


I'm told the top half of the building will look pretty schmick in a week and the scaffolding can be taken down! The lower half will be done in conjunction with the verandah and balcony if only I can solve the issues of the columns.




Internally, the roof has been tied into the walls,  more wood has gone into the roof space to reinforce, provide accessways to the various roof spaces and create an area for storage of junk. Some of the insulation has also made its way up into the roof space too though it is still all in its plastic bags yet...




Doorways have been reinstated and lintels replaced as necessary (even on existing doorways), and walls with crumbling render have been rectified.

 Rotten joists are now replaced and most of the remaining floorboards are up so we can check and salvage whatever we can (not as much as we hoped but I suppose that is a consequence of the building being derelict and exposed to the elements for so long). The roof over the exposed areas should be in place in the not too distant future. At least the pigeons who made it home for an extended period have acknowledged that their squatters rights have been eroded!


Electricians have rerouted some of the existing (new) cabling and have been followed by the chasers who have embedded the cabling in the walls. Many of the walls have been subjected to the scraper taking off the old and peeling paint, and a couple of square metre areas have been prepared, treated and even painted just to select the quality of finish required.

I have asked a million questions and been asked a million others in return! Last visit I went to the plasterworks to check out cornice and possible ceiling roses (the latter unlikely - they are all too pretty for this house - but there will be something there...watch this space!) I've also been investigating architraves, switches, underfloor heating, electrical appliances, light fittings and loads of other things!!!

Doors from the upstairs rooms to the (as yet non existent) balcony are being made, and should only take a week or so, so they should be on site next week. Also next week the ceilings are going in upstairs, cornices will be ordered along with skirtings and architraves to replace those we cannot rescue.

Soon it will really start to feel like a house rather than a building site (sort of anyway!)