I know I've been slack

We haven't done much in the way of renovations of late... Although Gav did dig up the broken sewer pipe. The bit that connects the bathroom to the sewer was more than broken... Will have to find some pics!!

The smell was bad!

Who in their right mind plants trees next to or on top of clay pipes??

Anyway I gotta get ready for tomorrow... And yes I will find some pictures!!

currently 20 inside

finally - I have photos! enjoy! we are!

Here are the photos of our first fire of the season (half way thru winter)!

It is sooo lovely to not be rugged up in blankets and clothes and still be cold!

Thanks to those of you who helped with the creation of this master piece!

Credit goes to: God - for giving me Gav who did a wonderful job with

                                  the slate and flooring and support for the floor!

                                  And for giving us supportive generous family! 

Gav - for putting up with my demands, and for creating such a wonderful functional master piece!

Dad - for helping with putting the wood on the walls and sealing the slate with Gav and any other job you

          did! (I heard a rumour that you paid for a few extra tools!)

Mum Carole - for also helping put the wood for the walls up and grouting and any other job you did! (as well

                       as the other blessings you both gave us - ie: microwave, frypan...)

Mum Jan - for the finances to pay for the flue to be put in!

I just want the world to know how much we appreciate you all! Thank you so very much - without your help we would probably still be freezing our butts off!

fire flue thingy

The guy came around today! I guess you could call that progress... he said that he has a few more fires to install.... I knew I would have to wait - but this is ridiculous! Yes - I am just a little sick of waiting for unknown lengths of time! If the rest of the house didn't need work done on it I would say that this is our first and last project!

The problem there is the roof needs to be re-done (of which we have so far asked three builders and one roofer to do the job - the first one vanished and still has not gotten back to us with his promised quote, the second one did the quote and then started putting us off with the excuse of there were more "pressing" jobs and our leaking roof could wait, then he finally confessed that he wasn't going to do it at all... the third bunch are like the first - not answering their phone or replying to messeges left or getting back to us with a quote... and the roofer promised to come and do a quote and he must have gotten lost trying to get to us! Cause he hasn't shown up either!) You can see my frustration with dealing with builders! Not very happy with them at all!

We'd probably do the work ourselves - but some of the work needs a builder to do it! Like all the stuff in the roof that needs to be replaced due to rotting from the roof leaking!

It has been suggested to us to do this spray on stuff that is like a coat of paint but it seals all the holes and basically means that re-roofing can be put off for another 10 years or so! But that is totally ignoring the serious problems of lack of structural supports in the roof! And the other rotten beams and such things! So not going down that particular road no mater how good it looks on the outside!

flue

Gav talked to Mike today - he went on a short holiday for the long weekend we didn't know about (but that is another story)... Anyway - verdict is that Mike would be dropping around either today or tomorrow morning! Well, today is almost gone and he didn't show - so here is hoping that he is a man of his word and actually comes tomorrow morning! If he does - there will certainly be photos posted! and hopefully a fire!! Yay... so sick of frozen toes and fingers!

9.50 pm - 6 degrees inside

we are still waiting and getting colder inside! this morning it was 5 degrees when I got up! we haven't heard from the guy who will be installing the flue - hope he gets back to us soon! last time we spoke with him he said we were number 9 on the list... I wonder how far  up the list we are now - he's had pretty much 2 weeks of fine weather!

I am wearing 4 layers of clothing and I'm wrapped in a blanket and I'm still cold... I want my fire on now! getting a little sick of waiting!

fire corner

Slate stacker stone... What painful stuff to work with... especially if you have to cut it!

The plumes of dust are amazing!

I don't reccommend anyone breathing in the dust! And if you have allergies - don't even go there! Yes it looks really good when it is up and sealed. But the process of getting it there is way too much!

Here is Gav just about to start cutting... I took a couple of photos and got out of there!

His hair turned grey everytime he cut a piece, he had thick slate dust all over him!

He was the priveleged one of the three of us... he had a breathing mask on!

Here is the last line of stack stone going up...

Finally, my floor is no longer covered in pieces of slate! The noise and dust are soon to be over...

Instead the house will be filled with the horrible stentch of slate sealer!

But for now... once this lot is finished, the top little bit will need to be grounded off so the mantle piece will sit in and be level! Then the fiddly job of grouting can begin!

The end has almost come!!

Here is my father helping get the wood for the walls up!

I went out shopping with Onjahlika and my step mum and while we were out, dad and Gav got the mantle piece in and some of the wood up!

The wood took two days in all... if it had just been me and Gav doing it - the wood would have taken a lot longer...

Gav was out the front cutting the wood to the right length and sanding it, while mum and I were helping dad get it in place.

When he was up the ladder we would pass the drill and nails and whatever else he needed up to him!

Here it is... the wood part is finished!! And the room feels so much warmer!

The wood has been coated with a clear sealant! My father kept asking my if I wanted it stained to make the wood even darker... while that would have been nice to darken up some of the lighter pieces - I kept declining! As it is, the dark with the light looks rather good!

The slate sealer was ferral in smell... we had the window open all night! Just to try and get rid of the smell...

And the fire box looks good in it's place!

Ignore the fact that I forgot to remove the news paper off the handle!

The next thing to do is to get a guy in to install the flue!! We discovered that we need a licenced guy to put it in! So we are still waiting to have a fire!

Oh how I would love to report that it is all finished...

A photo posted of it with fire going is going to happen if not this week than next week!

fire box

It's in!!! Yay!

No fire yet tho!

We need a plumber to put the flue in! Apparently we need a cetrified person to put it in!!

Hey - we are one step closer to having a warm fire at night! And it looks really good!

I have to go thru my photos and find some... then I need to actually take the time to post them!

Before I go tonight... I need to say thanks to my dad and step mum for travelling down from Hervey Bay to come help us get the corner finished and the box in place!

Movie calls...