• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Mike's ext'n & renovation (solar panels)

I allowed the screed 2 or 3 days to dry sufficiently to walk on without doing too much harm, and then tackled the plasterboarding of the ceiling:

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On to the house wall, which I battened out:

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.......and then tacked:

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I had a problem corner of the ceiling to deal with, with the plaster line diving downwards:

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I cut out a chunk of plasterbaord, adjusted the timber underneath, and screwed in a new piece:

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I really like the simplicity, and how the oak structure is highlighted:

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Nicely for an amateur plasterer, the ceiling is divded into 3 small areas by the oak rafters. That's easy to handle, without panicking over one end drying before I've finished slapping the stuff on at the other....as would be the case if the ceiling had been in one piece rather than three. I set up a scaffold, taped over the oak (and screwed scrap plasterboard over it), scrimmed, and then plastered:

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It will take me all week, 2 or 3 hours a day, to plaster the room.
 
That is brave. I really dislike plastering as my efforts are never perfect. And ceilings look like really hard work whenever I've watched it being done.

Will this room get winter use? What is the plan for heating if so?
 
I think the best description is "three season" use, Adrian. There is no heating, otherwise the whole thing would have needed Building Regulations approval, which would have impacted the foundations, and required engineers calculations for the frame. I imagine that we'll use a fan heater or an oil-filled electric radiator if we're wanting to use it in marginal conditions, but generally we wouldn't expect to use it in Dec, Jan & Feb, I don't think.

As for the plastering......I use Universal One-Coat plaster, which is quite different from the normal pink stuff. It doesn't polish up to a shine the way the pink stuff does, so it is quite forgiving of the odd blemish. It looks like lime plaster, which is the point, but without the buggeration factor.
 
Hmm. I might have to try that plaster. Is it really a single coat? One of the things about trad plastering that puts me off DIY is having to do everything twice. Will be very interested to see how you do that.

We also have an oak framed sun room as you know. We put a socking big cast iron floor to ceiling radiator in it (was originally built with silly electric wall heaters) and now use it as an office. It is OK unless we get down to zero temps outside. I've contemplated doing the double glazing again at some point to make quadruple glazing (no idea if that works) and bricking up the East Wall (currently four sets of glass double doors). I would not have built ours that way if I had designed it, whereas I'm sure yours will be more useful.
 
Would you not consider an electric underfloor heating element under the stone tiles Mike, with your insulation in the floor I’d have thought it would be a good hidden controllable solution
 
I hadn't considered that Doug. I've only ever thought of electric underfloor heating as a floor warmer for bathrooms, rather than space heating......but I haven't looked at the subject for years.
 
It's what we have in our conservatory - the original back door is still in place, so it's theoretically outside the thermal envelope, but it has sockets in it and on a spur from one of those is a single wire underfloor heating system.

We keep it on a pretty low thermostat setting, so it doesn't exactly heat the space. You wouldn't want to spend long periods out there in the depth of winter, but it does take the chill off and makes it much more bearable to go out there when needed.

That said, we're short on space in a 1990-era terraced house, so the conservatory has the washing machine and some storage in the corner and we have to go into it regularly in all seasons. If you've got those things in the house proper and don't need to use the sunroom in the winter for practical jobs, it may be less worth it.
 
I have just discovered, (courtesy of Skill Builder YT) that there is such a thing as plaster that can be put on with an ordinary paint roller. Made by Knaupf among others. It's ready mixed and is around £28.50 for 13.5kg at trade discount prices. So not cheap but maybe a good option for a DIYer with not a huge area to do. I tub of the thick version (there is a thin one too) is claimed to do 10m2 at 1mm finished thickness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgT8JBinNRo

Roger Bisby also recommended (and showed in use) some really cheap smoothing trowels. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... OA8T&psc=1

I will soon have to deal with some window reveals as parts of our house were plastered in the 1980s by someone who thought it fashionable to do a roughcast effect. We had most of this mess professionally replastered, and now inspired by Mike and the discovery of this roll on stuff, I am tempted to have a go.
 
Be interested to hear how you get on. I've done a chimney breast and one wall with the standard two coat and it was not fun! I got an OK finish on the wall which I did second but next years project is the kitchen and there will be small areas to do from tile removal so not a huge amount of m2 which sounds perfect for a product like that. Don't mind paying a but extra for the plaster if it saves time
 
Key to that roll on plaster will be your ability to use that trowel/spatula after the initial application. I wonder if that spatula might benefit from having it's corners slightly rounded.
 
AJB Temple":3pcx31yn said:
I will soon have to deal with some window reveals as parts of our house were plastered in the 1980s by someone who thought it fashionable to do a roughcast effect. We had most of this mess professionally replastered, and now inspired by Mike and the discovery of this roll on stuff, I am tempted to have a go.
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Why not try the real stuff. Lime plaster I mean. At least two coats. I did one of the internal window reveals down in the Borders using combings from our dachshund as the fibre. Other hairs are more traditional I understand. Oh, and temper your smoothing float (you english may call it something different - knock the corners and edges off). And use a derby. Wantonly perverse otherwise.

If a duffer like me can do it, I’m sure you can. I would hesitate at a ceiling, mind you.

I get my stuff from Masons in Salamander Street, but although they do online, I’m sure there must be somewhere nearer for you. But, last time I was there they still had their own lime pit.

The only other place I know that had their own lime pit was Grandison’s in Peebles. Now defunct I think. But wildly interesting if you are interested in cornices (I am). They did the ornamentation on our place in the Borders, and still had the original mouldings to replace stuff after the deluge of 2010. My parents were there a while back over some wee frittery thing, and mentioned I did that sort of thing; semi-seriously he asked if we wanted to buy the business. And this is the problem. No one wants to do it.

But I digress.
 
Good link ^^

Quite expensive?

I have actually used lime plaster and mortar in a previous property where I needed to replace some patches in a lath lattice wall. It's really nice stuff but unfortunately it disagrees with me. Have had eczema since kiddywinky stage and boy does that stuff exacerbate it if any gets on me.
 
It's totally fine if you are local and can pick up. So I agree price is good then. But we have to pay for transport unfortunately.
 
AJB Temple":1h7l4qxs said:
.....I will soon have to deal with some window reveals as parts of our house were plastered in the 1980s by someone who thought it fashionable to do a roughcast effect. We had most of this mess professionally replastered, and now inspired by Mike and the discovery of this roll on stuff, I am tempted to have a go.
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Reveals couldn't be easier. Just make sure that the existing plaster is reduced/removed enough so that the new plaster you'll apply doesn't stick out past the corner beads. Slap the plaster on roughly, walk away and leave it for half an hour. Trowel it a bit, walk away for an hour. Wet your float and give it a final polish.

Don't try to do all the window's reveals in one day. It's best to do the two sides one day, and the top the next. This way you will have a dry face to work up against. If you have two wet faces meeting at a corner, as an amateur you'll play endlessly trying to fix one, then the other, as working one face affects the adjacent one if wet.
 
Thanks Mike, attention paid. :text-goodpost: Its a double door plus window about 260mm deep. Houses fairly snug wooden blinds so plan is to sand or angle grind the rough stuff and end up with max 2mm plaster each side. Also have a whole wall to do where I used to hang guitars. Same rough plaster, but this time it will be inside a custom small walk in wardrobe (yet to make). Hence rarely seen but I hate it so much I will either plaster it or board it. Area that needs doing is about 12m2 at most.
 
The other thing I should have said about plastering is that it is messy. Messy as hell. Strip everything off the floor, or put ply/ OSB over it. It is also a wet job.....you'll dribble water around without fail. Clear everything away as far as you can before you start.
 
OK. Noted. The room at the moment is just studded out and insulated. Waiting to order panelling materials. Limestone floor laid, grouted and sealed. So I can easily tape polythene over it or use those flooring sheets you can get. I will almost certainly give the roller stuff a try as I am not at all confident with plastering and the amount I will save by using the pink stuff is not much and quite a bit messier (mixing etc).
 
I duly finished the plastering, and whilst it was drying I did a little turning. It's worth saying that plaster has to remain above 2 degrees C whilst drying, and I have essentially been working in an open outdoor space during a time where the temperature hasd struggled to get above freezing for 3 or 4 days. So, I blocked up all the openings and had an oil-filled radiator running. Anyway, as I was saying, I did some turning:

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Once that part of the ceiling was dry, I fitted the bit of round oak, and hung a light from it:

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I toddled off to Suffolk Timber at Chedburgh and came back with some nice bits of seasoned oak. These are for the cills/ window boards (they're neither really) which cap off the plinth panelling below the windows:

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Then it was just a bit of machine-feeding, and shaping with a router, but there were also some edges to plane:

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I also nipped off to buy some reclaimed Douglas Fir boards which had been used for casting concrete, somewhere on the continent:

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They cleaned up really nicely with various wire brushes:

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These are going to be used to line the plinth below the windows, with a paint-wash finish. I want them rough and grainy, so hopefully these boards are just about perfect. Unfortunately, they were an absolute pig to take apart. It took me about 5 hours to get 5 boards off:

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I cut the steel channel off from either end, but it was the three threaded rods which caused the headache. They were rusted solid in their holes, and nothing would shift them. It was as though they were epoxied in place. In the end I cut the tongues off, and wedged the boards apart. Even leaving an inch showing, and trying to drive them through with a sledgehammer was fruitless. They'd bend rather than move:

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It's fantastic quality wood, so the effort is worthwhile (I hope).
 
:lol: We sell our spare. We haven't had any spare for a few weeks now, as the lazy buggers seem to be withdrawing their labour.
 
:lol:

Mrs AJBT has veto'd keeping chickens. She thinks it will create problems when we are away. She is also aware that in winter I pretend the garden doesn't exist and she doesn't believe there are self feeding hens.
 
The Douglas fir is in-stick in one of the spare bedrooms, with a dehumidifier running. We'll come back to that in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I applied my finish to the oak shelves and then fitted them. This also involved fitting the second layer of 25mm insulation:

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I used mason's mitres in the corners because I was a little short of length on one of the pieces:

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The masons mitres look good though and with that width of oak standard mitres could easily open up and not look as good as they should. Seen too many window cills mitred and it looks terrible after a few months.

:text-bravo:
 
After getting to the stage, above, where I thought my next job would be cladding the plinth, I was disappointed to find the timber cladding moisture readings too high. So, I laid the floor instead. There are no photos of the process, but it is pretty simple: ping a string line, lay a bed of thick bed tile adhesive, drop the rumbled limestone flags onto it, push around to line and level. On to the next one.

I finished all the whole tiles one day, then did the cuts the following day, and the grouting the day after. Here is a photo of the finished floor, with stuff laid out ready to start the next job:

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I then spent an inordinate amount of time pushing bits of wood through various machines, which is a long way from my favourite woodworking fun. I had started off with this a while back:

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....which I re-sawed and stacked inside for 10 days to dry.

I then chopped those reclaimed bits of Douglas fir to length on a chop saw:

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After planing the edges to give me some references for the router table, I cut a tongue and groove on each, and then chamfered the arrises:

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I won't show you or say how I cut the relief cuts on the back, because I don't own a tablesaw, and don't like showing unsafe practises. Nonetheless, these cuts are really important because they'll remove any tendency for the boards to cup. By the time I finished making piles I reckoned I had spent well over 30 hours on reclaiming the wood and then working it to shape.......so it really ought to look good!

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Next, I brushed on a really thin coat of emulsion. So thin that it was probably 2:1 water to paint:

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Finally, with the floor dry, it was time to start fitting them. Here's the principle:

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Each board was secret nailed through the tongue, with 2 nails at each of the battens. Those pins have quite a bit of work to do, restraining both the edge they are in and the trailing edge of the adjacent board, so I doubled them up. I spent a long time on hands and knees:

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Some of the grooves needed relieving, possibly because some tongues had swollen due to the mist-coat I'd applied. I used the new toy, a side rebate plane, and it was extremely easy and handy:

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I had set the stone back a set distance from the insde of the plinth walls, and the boards fitted down into that. The gap will be grouted in due course:

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I glued and pinned the external corners, and rounded them over:

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Finally we could move the furniture out of the dining room and into place:

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There's still lots to do, but at least the rest of the house is now useable for christmas, and not just a furniture store. Next on the list in here is a proper pair of doors in place of the temporary one (and note the mat well):

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There's also 3 windows to make. But before I do all that, I think I'll build myself a new bench.
 
Mike, that's looking really lovely. It just needs someone who understands the idea of sitting down and relaxing for a while! :lol:
 
AndyT":26iil5ff said:
Mike, that's looking really lovely. It just needs someone who understands the idea of sitting down and relaxing for a while! :lol:
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Thanks Andy. Yeah, that's not me or my wife!
 
Mike G":2923rv4v said:
AndyT":2923rv4v said:
Mike, that's looking really lovely. It just needs someone who understands the idea of sitting down and relaxing for a while! :lol:
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Thanks Andy. Yeah, that's not me or my wife!
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As a TV gardener is keen of saying “needs a good dose of looking at”.
 
Mike, it is looking very good. I am interested in the thinking behind the wall panelling going below the floor?
 
Well, I did pause for thought on that. What swayed it for me was that if the floor had gone under the cladding I would have needed a skirting board. I'm not keen on them anyway in a cottage, and with a plinth only about 380 tall there would have been only a foot or so of the cladding on show.
 
That’s a super job, I shudder to think what the whole thing would have cost paying somebody to do it - badly!
There’s no way you would have been happy Mike, just a thought how on Earth do you manage not blowing a gasket at work every day?
 
I'm just catching up, Mike. For some reason I was thinking that this was just a porch, but given the amount of rain you folks get all year I entirely understand adding windows and (in future) the door. As always, it looks great.

I was surprised to see that this thread is now over 9 years old. I was thinking it was maybe 5 or even less. :)

Kirk
 
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