Jerry's renovation blog

[Jerry_Atrick]

Yes.. I quite like this shed (though a bit out of my league): https://www.realestate.com.au/property-warehouse-nsw-tocumwal-151477276

 

[nomadpete]

It'll be a weight off your shoulders when the job's finished.

 

[facthunter]

I think that's been on the Market for a While. A lot bigger than I need. Be hard to air condition, also. You would need insulation. It's HOT sometimes. Geelong is not a bad Place. to live. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

The fact it is still on the market means it is overpriced. I follow a few Aussie real estate and commercial real estate sites, and this popped up on those about a month ago. One I am looking at a few "doors down" has been on for a long while@ https://www.realestate.com.au/property-residential+land-nsw-tocumwal-203580220

 

Any of these properties on for more than a few weeks is overpriced. There is also a new subdivision on the airfield: https://www.realestate.com.au/property-residential+land-nsw-tocumwal-204059628

 

Geelong is a lovely place. I bought my laptop in Geelong in my last trip and the centre of the city has really been freshened up. I am not sure Octave would want me close to him 😉 And, although Ford has gone, the old factory looks fantastic and has a hotbed of tech startups. 

 

Tocumwal gets hot - I have spent many a summer for long times gliding there with my terry-towel hat on. But the heat is, by Melbourne standards, dry and very bearable.. As a young bloke, I much preferred the cold, but as I get older, I enjoy the heat much more. But one of the drawbacks is of course, it is a bloody long way from the coast. 

 

 

 

 

[old man emu]

14 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

where the new plaster doesn't seem to have been mixed properly and is flaking away..

I've been watching a video of a renovation being done to a house somewhere in England. I think it is in the London area. However, they had the same problem of the plaster not adhering to the walls. My thought is that since the temperatures have been unusually high over the English summer, the plasterers had no experience of mixing plaster in such conditions. They maybe mixed it as usual for temperatures and humidity of a normal English summer and the plaster dried out before forming a strong bond. 

[facthunter]

REAL plasterers would  be rare. It's usually something like sheet Gyprock where you just Plaster the Nails, Joins and Cornices. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

We're edging closer to completion, but of course, there are still battles to be had. The builder and I took a look at the dilapidating render on the "front" wall. We picked a little bit of it and a lot came off. He has already done a bit of work (covered up due to assist drying without too much moisture or direct sunlight apparently screwing it up. But you can see the patches that still need work:

    

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

       

 

Has to put the above in a second post as the first was putting them in upside down - like the first picture in this one.

Edited 9 hours ago by Jerry_Atrick

[rgmwa]

Hope you make a bit of money on this palatial residence one day. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I doubt it at this rate. We should break even though. 

 

Anyway,the builder ordered 14 bags of red sand thinking it was more than enough.. We have to get another 10. Here are some photos of today's progress: 

 

Notice he is recreating the original fake brickwork in the render.. pain of a job!

 

The sparky is in today moving the broadband and industrial virtual access points so we have full wi fi coverage through the house. They will look a bit like smoke detectors in the ceilings. 

 

 

[nomadpete]

6 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Has to put the above in a second post as the first was putting them in upside down - like the first picture in this one.

Blame A.I. for that - it can't work out we're in southern hemisphere where everything is downside up.

[nomadpete]

Oh what an endless task! 

 

4 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

broadband and industrial virtual access points so we have full wi fi coverage through the house. They will look a bit like smoke detectors in the ceilings. 

Well how do the heritage experts feel about that? I hope you make them look like 18th century smoke detectors?

 

 

[nomadpete]

Just out of curiosity, what is the building made from? It doesn't appear like it was stone or bricks. And I would never have guessed they would use lime plaster on outside walls. 

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Parts of the building date back to the 1200s, but the part in the photos above is from the 1600s. The render is over stones and mortar. Some of the stone is cut to look like brick, but it is mostly stone. The render is a sand rander of some sort to give it the colour. I personally don't like it and wanted to take it all off and expose the stone, but the cost to do it was astronomical. In shoirt, some of the building is original stone, some is cut stone, and some is your bog standard red brick (or the Somerset equivalent). We do have lime render on the walls of the front door. We originally had damp all through that wall in the living room until a plasterer noticed it was a concrete render (put there by builders fixing a wall that was crushed by a fallen tree). So, we had the cement render taken off and lime render put on.. and in about a week, there was no more damp!

 

Re the wireless access points - they were approved by the listed building officer. For small things like that, it is a simple application, some photos and a yes or a no. There is no cost (unless you want to challenge their no). As the place had most of its original interior features sold off before it was listed, the listed building officer is very reasonable - well that and the fact we have restored a lot of the building to its former glory (e.g. taking out all the PVC windows and replacing with wood - can't remember the type but apparently what would have been used in the last extension of the place in the 1800s).