Painting the fretwork

Mr Kiwi is doing a fab job of painting the fretwork I bought the other day.

It's a mighty fiddly job, but Mr Kiwi is using his kiwi ingenuity, as the pic belows shows.

He's used 2 nails to support each piece - and has been letting them dry like that.

Each piece of fretwork is getting 2 coats of interrior/exterior undercoat, and then an enamel top coat.

Above: Two nails are used to support each piece of fretwork as it gets painted.

Adding new villa fretwork

Our villa was built in quite a plain style - it doesn't have the fancy fretwork that many other houses of this era possess.

So while we're sprucing up the front, we're going to add a few bits and pieces to give it a bit more character, and make it look more "villa-ey". It should give our house a bit more street appeal.

Above: The exterior of our villa is quite plain at present.

I did a good amount of research as to what I wanted; a bit of the research was online, but most of it was done by walking round the area with Mr Kiwi (and our dog) to see what we liked and didn't like.

We decided that we wanted to add a little bit of character, but not go overboard: we don't want the house looking too twee and frilly.

As the builders are now hard at work, I made haste to Bungalow and Villa in Morningside.

Even though they sell everything online now, I wanted to see the items for real before purchasing.

I was expecting a small shop, but it turned out to be huge showroom and workshop! They have just about everything you need for renovating a period home.

I bought:

• Large brackets x 4 (for the bay front)
• Teardrops x 2 (for the bay front)
• Small brackets x 2 (to go above the doorway)
• Finials x 2 (1 for the bay front; 1 for the garage)

These all come in treated paint quality pine, so our next job is to undercoat them and paint them in white enamel.

Above: The fretwork I purchased from Bungalow & Villa now needs to be undercoated and painted.

When I brought these home and showed Mr Kiwi, he exclaimed "wow, our house is actually going to look like a villa!"

Yesss! I can't wait to see what these will look like when installed onto the front of our house!

Project cost: $$ (materials only)

Installing Expol underfloor insulation in a villa

While the house is minus front steps, Mr Kiwi took the opportunity to install Expol insulation under the bedroom floor.

Usually this area is difficult to access and only has 2' clearance anyway. Plus it's muddy and full of cobwebs - as well as being criss-crossed with the ducting from our heating system. Not an easy - or a pleasant - job!

Above: The area underneath the bedroom floor doesn't have much clearance, plus there's heating ducting here too. Mr Kiwi has now blocked up the gaps in the weatherboards - there's no more daylight shining through!

The bedroom is south facing and therefore one of the coldest rooms in the house. It also has bare wooden floorboards: they look good, but are pretty darn chilly underfoot in winter! We may Expol more rooms later, but it's not a priority right now.

Expol is made of polystyrene sheets that fit between the floor joists. It comes in 4 different widths and has insulation value of R1.4.

Calculating how much Expol you'll need

The challenge with installing Expol in a villa is that these houses were built in a hurry, generally without plans or building regulations. Consequently, the floor joists were built by eye, rather than with a ruler, and the measurement varies from joist to joist.

In our case, the bedroom joists varied between 300mm and 500mm.

For now, we're just expoling under the bedroom - that's an area of approximately 20 square metres, which requires 4 packs of Expol.

But with the varying joist measurements, we needed to know which size to get.

Mr Kiwi went under the house and measured each joist. From there, he was able to work out how many packs of each size of Expol to get. The 4 packs he purchased were in 3 different widths, so if you're doing this job for a villa it's well worth measuring and calculating before you purchase!

What's more, not all the joists were parallel - many of them tapered. Many of the Expol panels had to be individually trimmed to ensure a snug fit. That's a slow job, and it took Mr Kiwi the whole day to install the insulation under the bedroom.

Home insulation subsidies from the NZ Government

The NZ Government is currently offering householders subsidies for insulating their homes. This is via EECA Energywise.

Alas these subsidies only apply when the insulation is installed professionally: it isn't available for DIY-ers. So no subsidies for us :(


Project cost: $$ (Materials only, for an area of approx. 20 square metres)

PS. I haven't included an "after" photo, as it's now pitch black under the house - it wouldn't be a very exciting photo!!

New wooden steps for our villa

When I first started writing this blog I thought I'd be able to write about each project in a complete article. But I've realised that home renovations don't work in such a neat and orderly manner!

Instead, you start one project which gives you an opportunity to do something else. And in the meantime, quite a few projects are under way till the original project is completed.

Therefore this blog is very much a diary rather than a neat set of articles. If I refer to an ongoing project I'll include links to related posts as much as possible.

So back to the subject of steps.

I've previously mentioned that the wooden steps leading to our front door are rather rotten. Well, they haven't improved over time!

Above: our poor front steps have seen better days! It's not just aesthetic: the wooden boards are actually rotten, and supported underneath by concrete blocks.

Above: Even the strategically placed flower pots struggled to disguise the state of our front steps!

Mr Kiwi has arranged for a builder friend to rebuild the steps. And that work started last week.

The stairs have been removed, and a new set is being manufactured off site.

In the meantime, we have a big gaping hole at the front of our house!

Above: The dog is having a great time watching the builders (she loves power tools etc.)

While the front steps are being replaced, we're also taking the opportunity to re-vamp the front of the house slightly.

Some of the weatherboards need replacing; and the joinery on the bay front tidied up. And as our villa doesn't have much fretwork or other details that villas of this era usually do, we'll be adding some.

Plus, we don't like the current colour scheme, so will be painting the front of the house in different colours. (Painting the rest of the house is a future project - it's a big job, and the front of the house is the priority at this stage!)

More on all of that will be posted here at a later date.

Landscaping the garden

I've decided that clearing the garden is a job for chainsaw-wielding professionals: it needs a serious blitz!


Before: this border was over-run with ladder fern and weeds.

So recently two of the team from Ace Landscapes spent a coupla days pruning, mulching and weeding the garden. They took away 3 huge truckloads of garden waste with them - and there's more to go!

This is Part 1 of re-doing our garden: getting rid of the stuff we don't want.

(Part 2 will involve getting a landscape plan drawn up so that there's a scheme to work to - and Part 3 will consist of implementing this landscape plan, which will probably be done in stages... so keep tuned for the progress!)

The guys did a great job... it would have taken Mr Kiwi and I more than a week (probably more like 2 weeks) to do the work that the Ace Landscapes team did in a day or two. Man they worked FAST!

The only problem with the much-emptier garden was that it revealed just how badly the paint on the fence along one boundary is peeling!


After: the border is looking a lot less cluttered - but it's revealed the peeling fence!
So last weekend Mr Kiwi and I made the most of the great weather and picked up a 10L tub of fence paint (British Paints - 4 Seasons) for about $130-ish from Mitre 10 Mega and blitzed the fence.

The colour we used ("Karaka") is a very dark green - it was exactly the same colour that was there before. It's a really easy-to-live with colour, as it's not too green (so that you'd be thinking, ew, that's really green) and not too dark (so as to be sombre). It makes a really nice backdrop to the lush green of the tropical plants in our garden.


After: the freshly-painted fence AND a weed-free garden. Lovely!



Above: unfortunately Minnie the dog ended up sporting a dab of "Karaka" on her (no, we didn't use her as a roller! She just has to check out everything we do very closely! And it was too nice a day to shut her away inside!).

Fortunately the paint is water-based so it washed off beautifully and she is perfectly white again :-)

Summertime is garden time...

It's been a quiet few months on the villa renovation front: too busy enjoying the New Zealand summer, and also earning the money for all the renovations I want to make!

At this time of year, it's nice to spend any spare time in the garden. Now I must admit, I'm not much of a gardener - I just don't have the required green fingers. I do appreciate a well-tended, nicely planted garden, but alas I'm just not skilled or motivated enough to do much about it. I give my plants some basic care, and after that the choice to live or die is all their own!

So imagine my surprise when last year's chillie plant not only came back to life, but is sprouting a fine crop of chillies! They're just about ready to pick, and I'll be freezing them for warming curries and casseroles in winter. Yum!

Another crop that's doing really well are my grapes: about 3 years ago I planted a vine of table grapes, and this is the first year they've really performed. In fact, I have so many grapes I'm not quite sure what to do with them all!!! Other than giving them away to friends!

They're very tasty - and have a strong, distinctive flavour. The variety is "Niagra" and I grew up eating these. In my native Switzerland we called them "Katzenseicher" which means "cat's pee" because of their strong flavour!

Though I'm a lazy gardener, I do always make sure that my two tubs outside the front door are looking smart: I just love coming home to some pretty flowers welcoming me! For summer, I've been enjoying big blue flowers with little white ones around them (I have no idea what they're called). The garden centre is a scary place when you don't know what you need, so I chose these 'cos I liked the colours. And as I was really busy with work, Mr Kiwi planted them up for me: he knows just how much I enjoy coming home to flowers. Aaaaah!

Here's Minnie keeping an eye on me while I'm taking photos!

(And a larger photo would reveal that our front steps are in need of re-building - the wood is just about rotten... the tubs are strategically placed to hide the worst of it!)

Great handiwork!

Mr Kiwi did a great job fixing up the walls and skirting boards where the gas heaters used to be.

Fortunately he had some spare pieces of gib board (plaster board) to use, as well as spare pieces of skirting board.

Though in the process we discovered that there are actually about 3 or more different types of skirting board used throughout the house!

Ms Mosty-Toasty

... and goodbye to the ugly gas heaters

The new heating system has been installed for a few days now and it's just wonderful.

The whole house heats up within ten minutes of the system being switched on. Lovely!

Very impressed with Climate Control, they popped round yesterday to double check the installation and make sure that we were happy and answer any questions. Now that's good customer service!


The next tasks...

• The old, ugly gas heaters have been removed and Mr Kiwi is fixing up where they were, which means adding skirting board, door frame, plasterboard, painting, etc. It's not particularly straightforward as there are so many different designs of skirting board and door frame throughout the house: matching them up will be a mission.


• I'm trying to track down more attractive floor registers.
  

• Insulation: there's some insulation in the ceiling already, but it could do with a top-up. And putting insulation underneath the floor boards will prevent a lot of drafts and heat loss too.

The heat is on!

Heating system installation - the verdict

Just 10 minutes after it was switched on, the house was noticeably warmer and your author is now deliciously warm and toasty. What bliss!

... And that's with the thermostat set on 22 degrees C and the fan on "low". The outdoor unit is quieter than expected, and I can't hear the vents... I suspect they may make a small amount of sound, but it's not audible over the sound of the rain outside.

The time spent researching the right system seems like time very well spent: ending up with exactly what you wanted is a very good feeling!

The installation isn't quite complete: there are a few things that need to be finished off tomorrow, and I'm very surprised at how much work the guys from Climate Control got done in just one day.

Climate Control come very highly recommended. Nice work guys! They left the house in a reasonably tidy condition too.

We will do a few extras for those finishing touches so it's all perfect:

• I'd like to replace the seven plastic air ducts (also known as floor registers) with more stylish metal ones which would look more stylish and in-keeping with our villa. No NZ suppliers have been found online so far, though there are some in Australia, so I'm hoping to find a supplier who have the right size (350 x 150mm) and is willing to ship them to New Zealand.

• Mr Kiwi is keen to anodise the metal air return grilles, of which there are three (450 x 350mm). We'll wait to see what colour floor registers we end up with before we send these to be anodised.
  

The ducting underneath the house takes up quite a lot of space, just as well that there was room for this without it getting in the way. The ducting used is insulated, which will help prevent heat loss from the ducts. It measures approx. 200mm in diameter.

The photo to the right is of the "indoor" unit, which is under the floor of the house. I'll photograph the outdoor unit once it stops raining!

Shopping: trendy mug at a bargain price

I just picked up this mug from The Warehouse.

The graphic black and white floral print is bang on trend, and at just $2.99 it's a bargain!

(I only bought one... I figured it's not quite Mr Kiwi's cup of tea... literally.)

The great fireplace transformation

Cast iron fireplace renovation - AFTER

The verdict

Wow, what a transformation! Even Mr Kiwi was impressed. This has to be one of the cheapest and quickest renovation projects to do.

However, despite my careful masking of the tiles, I did somehow manage to spray them. But this cleaned off easily with "Tub & Tile" cleaner by EcoSense/Melaleuca.

Finishing touches

These cast iron fireplaces can look a bit stark and bare if there's nothing in them, so some pinecones were placed on the grate.

If you don't have any pine trees handy, you can sometimes buy big bags of pine cones on Trade Me - they're sold as fuel for open fires.

The other option is to use rattan balls, like the one pictured. I'm not quite sure where you can buy these: florists may be worth a try.

Giving a cast iron fireplace a new lease of life

Cast iron fireplace renovation - BEFORE

There's an original cast iron fireplace in the bedroom. It doesn't get used and so far Mr Kiwi has used it as shoe storage. So now it's time for a spruce up!

Project cost: $

What you'll need:

• Masking tape.


• Newspapers.


• Dust sheet(s).


• Vacuum cleaner.


• Stiff brush/steel brush/steel wool.


• Stove black paint... all I could find was Plasti-Kote Projekt Paint "Woodstove", which comes in a spray can. Bought from Mitre 10 for $15.96. Otherwise my next stop would have been Dr Flue in Glenfield.
• Surgical gloves or rubber gloves: the spray can leaked through the nozzle as I was spraying and ended up with a very black index finger.

Clean the fireplace well with the brush and/or steel wool, and then vacuum up the debris. Then mask the surrounding areas well.

Before you start using the spray can, here's what it doesn't tell you...

• The spray paint STINKS. It's really bad, and harmful to fish etc. so remove any pets from the room and make sure they stay out.
  
• The paint also kinda lingers in the air and gets onto the surrounding area, so put down newspapers and dust sheets 2 to 3 metres surrounding the area.


• If the fireplace you're renovating is in your bedroom, make sure you have a spare room or somewhere to stay for the night. The paint is so stinky you won't want to sleep in that room that first night.


• Spray any removable parts (e.g. the grille and ash tray thingy) outside of possible.


• Ventilate the room well: open all the windows and doors to get a draft blowing through.


• To help get rid of the fumes, a fan heater can help.

I needed to spray at least 2 or 3 coats in total: as it dried, the corroded areas really seemed to suck up the paint, so these parts may need even more paint.

Links

Here are some websites which had useful hints and tips on renovating antique cast iron fireplaces:

The Victorian Society (UK): http://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/Homeowner/3996/fireplaces.html

The Antique Fireplace Company (UK): http://www.antiquefireplacecompany.co.uk/

Dr Flue (NZ) would have been my next stop for information and products: http://www.drflue.co.nz/

During my internet research I found that it was customary for all the cast iron to be black - as well as the flue/chimney bit on the inside. Mr Kiwi thought it was strange at first that I was even spraying the inside black... it might look like a lot of black right now, but I'm sure the final result will be fine!

New hot water system

Bye bye hot water cylinder, hello continuous hot water!

Last week we waved goodbye to our Parker gas hot water cylinder and had a Rinnai Infinity XR24 installed... for various reasons, it was time to upgrade.

We now have a biiiiig huge empty space in the airing cupboard where the cylinder used to be: hmmmm I can feel a towel and sheet reorganisation coming on!

Mr Kiwi took the cylinder apart: it's lined with a huge amount of copper, so that got sold to the scrap metal merchants and he's going to take me out for dinner with the proceeds. The outer part went into the skip with the other rubbish we cleared out last week.

Project cost: TBC

The verdict

So what's the new hot water system like? Bliss!!! The water pressure in the shower is so strong that it almost blasts you back out through the door! And we now have enough hot water to actually fill up our bath tub. Lovely!

Contractors

• The plumbing and gas fitting was done by Plumbing Magic.


• The electrical work was done by Jon King Electrical.

They all did a great job and come highly recommended.