A Few Updates

Just a few updates this week. A temporary second hand boiler was installed until such a time when a space is cleared for a new one and there's no risk of getting it damaged. It also allowed the thermal store and radiators to be tested. They worked great and the top floor had heating for the first time in nearly 200 years. :)

The oil boiler:

The two water pipes entering the house:

There was a small issue with the return windows; they were taken out and rebuilt as three over three sash windows which was incorrect. So the new windows were taken out and they were replaced with the correct Victorian one over one sashes with the horn detailing. The paint looks quite yellow in this picture, its actually much more subtle:

The stairs window fully painted:

I finally finished the tongue and groove in the bathroom, it just needs to be bordered now and skirting installed. It will then be painted a light pastel colour:

The stud wall below was made today for behind the shower. The internal wall behind the shower has bowed slightly onto the staircase over the years and would not be the most suitable wall for routing plumbing into. It would also be extremely difficult to neatly locate the shower controls into a stone/brick wall. So the plumbing will be set behind the stud wall and the shower controls mounted on the face (which will be tiled). This wall also allow for a shelf to be built into the tiled wall. The stud wall is only 600mm deep so does not protrude much into the room.

And finally the steel beam arrived which will be used to reinforce the top bedroom floor. This floor is by far the worst in terms of bounce and movement, so the beam will be set into the underside of the horizontally spanning joists and clamped to it:

Thermal Store Installation

So the new thermal store arrived early this week after a very long wait. The store had to be custom built in Scotland to fit in the attic space; off the shelf thermal stores are taller and thinner cylindrical shapes. As you can see from the pictures below, my store is shorter and wider.

The attic hatch had to be widened to get the store into the attic:

Here it is in its final resting place, in the early stages of plumbing. The outer casing is a hardened foam resin insulation.

The pipework leads down to the right side of the rear chimney breast:

The reserve tank from which the store is filled:

And finally the front windows are essentially finished with their final colour, the painter has done a fantastic job. Note that the colour scheme of the house itself will be changed completely. (Light was fading and it was raining, better pictures coming soon):

Window Preparation & Plumbing

Preparation of the windows for painting began on Monday, with Pat Lynch's painter Philip. All windows take two layers of undercoat and he also caulks around the frames and window detailing to seal any gaps, sealing the windows completely.

The windows are under-coated in white on both the inside and outside:

Work also began on the plumbing of the radiators on the top floor, the below pictures are the underside of the top floor.

Below the bathroom:

Below the bedroom:

The underside of the bathroom floor is also being reinforced. These new joists have already eliminated virtually all bounce in the floor and they still have to be tied together with two layers of plywood for additional strength.:

Operation BATH

...was a complete failure. On Sunday, six of us attempted to get the bath to the top floor, up the four flights of stairs. It was just impossible to manoeuvre. The bath is wider than the stairs, so it needs to be lifted up the stairs sideways. Lifting the bath in this position gives the lifters no where to grab on to the bath and virtually no grip. We estimate it weighs in the region of 160-180kg.

So the bath remains at the bottom of the stairs for now:

Turning the bath:

Once we realised it was going nowhere for the day:

On a more positive note, the custom ash sink counter-top is nearly complete, built here in Dundalk:

It will be stained a little darker than this when complete:

Window painting also started today, more soon.

Radiators And Bathroom Update

Radiator placement is being organised this week, as well as plumbing them through the floors and up into the attic. Here are the radiators in the top floor bedroom before installation:

A 600x500mm radiator on the opposite wall:

Holes for pipework:

The radiator for the bathroom is the same size as the two below the windows in the bedroom, 1010x300mm. Batons for the tongue and groove also continues to be anchored to the walls:

The tongue and groove continues being pinned to the wall batons. A very laborious task as each length needs to be cut to length, stripped of paint, filled and then sanded.

My first error!

And the rough position of the heated towel rail:

Finally, just an interesting shot up the chimney flue from the ground floor front room. It diverts off to the left, coming up the left side of the chimney breast on the first and second floors.

Further Window Work

Work continues on the windows, with all ironmongery being installed including the window fasteners, lifts and eyes.

Window fastener:

Window lifts:

Top floor front windows coming along:

Bathroom window:

The same bathroom window from outside, showing the sash eyes:

Upstairs return window:

And finally the rear of the house: