Intro
This is me trying to capture all the things I go through with a renovation and all the people i utilise and all the crap I learn mostly through doing it the hard way first.
Pre 22 May 2010
Wednesday I went through after a swim with Alex and I started sugar soaping the back room. Using a sponge and cloth.. couldnt reach high.. got sick of it quite quickly and knew i had to be back at sutho by 9-930 cos Con wanted to go home.. so I got like 1.5 walls done.. (i learnt later that there is a Quick and Easy way to sugar soap walls)
On Thursday Con & James went to Roselands and started on the job. Fucking incredulous was I to turn up at approx 7pm (its a PAIN in the bum getting from the city to Beverly hills atm.. train change @ wolli creek then a 25 minute walk including about 7 sets of lights that Im too scared to presume since the traffic goes in about 12 directions on the m5 overpass).. and they had ripped up all the parquetry, started sugar soaping, and already demolished the kitchen and hallway "cupboards".. Con in his overalls and James already pissed off to Penrith.. I was all ready to get changed and lay into some cleaning but Con had his fill by then and wanted to go get foods... So all i did was wander around taking photos and go to the loo. We got chineasy for dinner @ engadine. no tofu says my mum. ;)
22 may 2010
- Rubbish removal
- picked up floor boards
- Shopping
- Sugar soaping
- Puttying
I can barely type.. cigarettes, caffeine, beer and a hell of a lot of running around.
james picked me up @ 8:40am. I only got up at 20 past 8, ran around collecting a kettle, beer, coffee. Got to Roselands around 9:30. Listened to anamanamaguchi (sp) on the way.. pumped.. I wanna drive like James :) We called through maccas - 4 cheeseburgers, 2 large chips, 2 cappaccinos. $20. Dude has to use a key to open the register cos we paid with a fiddy? weirdness...
Parked nearby and ate and james in all his excitement and wogly animation chucked his chips everywhere. Dohness as chay had just cleaned his ute (shes so good).. within ten mins James proceeded to also knock his coffee all over the gear stick and then some. not a happy boy.
George arrived. Good strong handshake. Had a smoke, cracked open some V's and started shovelling parquetry into plastic bags. George parked his ute under the balcony, threw a couple of rolls of carpet into the tray then james started lowering bags down to him. Awesomely efficient system. Within an hour we had pretty much cleaned out the living room. once the bags were full we filled the plastic (rubber) buckets James had bought and George emptied them into the bags already in the tray. Took down the blinds and put them in the ute, took down doors, teh already demolished kitchen cupboards and any other rubbish that was laying around. We fit everything into the ute. Isaac arrived with the straps to secure the crap on the back. One trip to the tip... aww yeah :D
James and I headed out to Brookvale to collect the floorboards. We got amazingly lost in Warringah mall (it's like ikea on steroids).. YOU try getting out of there. We ended up with TWO entry tickets (found a nice way to fake being there less than 3 hours) and drove around up and down old pittwater road and beacon hill road around and around our actual destination. Parked in the back of the Brookvale hotel and rang Niels for directions which we fucked up anyways. Ended up getting the iphone out and doing what we should have done at the start - map :). Got there and it pissed down for about ten seconds.. James backed the ute into the storage area, Niels raised the forlift with the load on it so james could just slide the boxes over. we picked out the trimmings for laying between the tiles & boards, carpet & boards, and across the front of the sliding doors. Tas oak and beech.. cheaper to go with the long bits and cut them. James finished getting everything onto the ute while i paid... ~$2400.
James made me call gas weld to see if they are stocking the dewalt(?) 12inch drop saw with bonus work bench (or something or other whatever) and steve @ penrith very friendly chap says yes they are and so i request they put one aside for James and are they open tomorrow and yes they are and james is orgasmic and has something to look forward to and i probably wont see him tomorrow LOL
BUNNINGS GOES HERE!!!!
bunnings, bunnings, bunnings. When I have a WRX i will go to your carpark and rev because I love you.
Sooo.... on the way back from brookvale.. we called through a little pathetic hardware store that was too pathetic for our hardcore needs. We googled and iphoned bunningses and then james remembered rockdale so to rockdale we did hoon. I had my list and i was checking it twice and I was ready to spend a shitload of monies. I love bunnings. James loves bunnings. James says that any trady could probably live out of a bunnings without ever having to restock. I questioned his logic. We discussed how woolies is ready to compete with The Bunnings and perhaps investing 100 BILLION DOLLARS or something.. to compete effectively. We debated over the cost of stocking just ONE BUNNINGSES. I reckon approx a BILLION. theres a lot of nails in them thar boxen. twas fun. So we entered Rockdale bunnings from the back. LOL silly giggle here.
It was sooooo fun.. having a list.. and buying things.. and putting them in a trolley that I wasnt pushing :) We got... (uhh Htmls :())
- PPPPPPAINT..... undercoat, semi gloss acrylic, enamel
- paint thinner/stripper
- Funky fungal stuffs for the bathroom
- door handles well I was just supposed to look not buy but fuck it i bought
- taps well i was just supposed to look not buy but fuck it i bought YOURE A DRUG BUNNINGS A DRUG
- putty, gap filler, clear silicon, white silicon
- Bleach (well we got mould killer, it might do the same job)
- Scrubbing brush (hardcore -- to get paint off tiles)
- deadlocks for the windows.. (need one more)
- glue (no nails)
Ok it doesn't actually seem like a lot but the receipt went for aaaaages
The man who served us.. let's call him Jermaine because He looks LIked Jermaine... giggled at my attempts to point the barcodes in his general directions
Got back to Roselands and took up an initial.. easy load...
Started carrying up the floor boards.... I have never felt those muscles in my back.. james explained how to balance the box on my shoulder and just use my hand or the strap to keep it there. And that I should alternate shoulders otherwise one bulks up unevenly. We did 1 trip each with 1 box each then james started taking 2 at a time.. I think we ended up needing 9 trips each. It was a mission and I was nearly puking by the end of it. James reconed thats when I started burning fat not carbs. Well i just wanted to be sick. So i sat down a while. and recarbed with a beer
So we got everything upstairs eventually, sat out on the balcony on our makeshift seats (15L paint cans) and had a chat and discussed the plan. sugar soap.God I hate sugar soap. Anyways.. James took the brush and I got a cloth.. then James asked if there was a mop and thank fuck what a difference a mop makes. James scrubbed the walls and I mopped behind him with a clean mop. I kind of gave up on the second room and James took over... I LOVE MY BROTHER. He's mad. So I took more photos while I tried not to have a heart attack.
NOTE TO ALL PEOPLE: CLEAN WALLS WITH A BRUSH ON A STICK AND A MOP YOU WILL THANK ME
Urban dictionary note: how you goin... so.. im like.. we could turn left here.. but later on it gets all like .. "how you going"... yeah.. thats right. Fucking intimate and hectic. kind of like.. "it got a bit like hows your mum". Too much information.
Hokay so then james checked whether i had puttied before well I am sure I have previously under his tuition but we went through it again and mostly i was alright and sometimes I was not. There is a trick to it in certain places like where there is a large hole.. fill the MIDDLE and push so the air comes out evenly otherwise you get a little lump in the midst of your putty spread where the air pushes out. He explained it's like blowing air into a coke bottle.. its gotta come out..
James showed me how there is a "more" button when youre listening to the ipod on your iphone and you can listen to genre/artist whatever.. the shit you learn when you pay attention.
23rd May
And the pain was brought....
Woke up @ 8am in agony. I couldn't stretch or bend or lay still or move without hurting somewhere. Had some paracetomol and tried to get another hour of sleep in. Daddy woke me around 9:30 for bacon and eggs.. I could not move. My back was so sore and I could feel almost every muscle in my body.
Left the house at around 10am I think. Took vaccuum cleaner.
Maccas made me a bit sick