Weekly update 24.04.2016

Bedroom 1 has had its final coat of paint, both on the walls and the window frames this week...

...it's all looking very bright!!

We managed to pick up these brushed chrome curtain rods for less than half price in Homebase. I bought enough for all the bedrooms whilst they were on offer.

I then had to make the bed... again!

...and add a few finishing touches.

So, with bedroom 1 now complete (with the exception of the door and carpet), I turned my attention back to bedroom 2.

You will recall that I've already done the floor and skirtings in bedroom 2 so next up was a thorough inspection of the sash window...

The old Fitch fastener has seen better days. It's not central to the window and some of the screws have stripped out of the frame. I will be replacing this with a new brass Brighton fastener.

The paint has flaked off in places and the remainder of the old muntin bar is visible so this will need to be stripped, filled and repainted.

There's a considerable gap between the lower sash and the staff bead so the sash rattles. Also, the lower sash won't stay in the up position so will need some additional counter weights.

The sash cords slide over the pulleys but the pulleys themselves no longer rotate, so these will also need to be replaced.

The weight pocket covers are in a very poor condition... this one looks like something has eaten it away at the bottom.  Probably not worth repairing so I will make a new pair.

The parting bead and sill are showing signs of decay. The parting bead will be replaced as a matter of course, but the sill may need further investigation.

There are lots of digs, dents and gouges on the frames.

 So... as with the previous windows, out came the staff beads, lower sash, parting beads then the upper sash.

Then the weights were extracted and finally the old pulleys (once I'd removed the many layers of paint that were holding them in).

The old pulleys are beyond repair, so new brass ones are already on order.

The slot for the parting bead needed a bit of clearing out with a narrow chisel.

The brickwork around the window also needed some attention so, with the sashes out, I took the opportunity to address this. I scraped out the rather sandy mortar between the bricks.

Then I applied fresh mortar to the joints, working from inside and reaching as much of the brickwork as I could without falling out!

Back to the frame, a bit of prodding revealed that the bottom corners were a bit soft. I chiselled away the worst of this, extending some way along the bottom of the sill...

...and likewise in the other corner.

Then, the tell-tale cracks in the paint on the surface of the sill were scraped away to reveal a deep area of wet rot lurking below.

This was "excavated" with a chisel until I reached reasonably firm wood.

After a couple of generous applications of Ronseal Wet Rot Wood Hardener, I filled the damaged areas with 2 part wood filler.

A temporary board was knocked up from a few bits of OSB and pinned in place to keep the weather out overnight.

The damaged wood was built up using several applications of 2 part wood filler, rubbed down with 150 grit paper between each...

...and once happy with the surface, I applied a coat of quick dry acrylic primer (this should hopefully make the process a little quicker than the previous windows where I used oil based paint).

 

As with the previous windows, the pulley rebates had to be extended to accommodate the new pulleys.

I found an old piece of timber, suitable for the weight pockets and cut it into two along its centre line. This was then planed approximately down to size and the front surface sanded.

Work on these will continue next week...

Weekly update 17.04.2016

OK, after a short break, skiing in France and Italy, it's been back to the grindstone this week!

As with the first window, the frame had dropped on one side so I needed to add a strip of timber to the bottom edge of the lower sash.  This was glued using PVA and clamped overnight before being planed flush with the existing timber and then tapered to fit the frame.

On the inner edge, I chiselled out a small rebate where the old muntin had been and back-filled with 2 part wood filler.

The screw holes for the old latch were filled with tapered dowels, cut flush once the glue was dry.

On the frame itself, the quadrant beading had been cut short by a couple of inches, so I whittled a piece of scrap timber to match the profile and secured in place using PVA and nails.

The existing counter weights (5lb and 6lb) were totally inadequate so, I replaced them with 10lb weights and attached new sash cords to each.

Meanwhile, the new parting beads and staff beads were cut to length and painted.

The rebates were enlarged to accommodate the new brass pulleys and the pulleys were then installed.

The new weights were then installed and the sash cords pulled through the casing using a weighted thread as before. The sashes could then be reinstalled and the cords connected.

The new Brighton fastener was then located centrally and screwed into position.

You may recall that this window was the one which had a pile of 2p coins propping up the old fastener. This is because the two sashes were out of alignment and, despite me having added a tapered strip of timber to the bottom of the lower sash, there was still a bit of a gap so I decided to fit a strip to the top of the upper sash.

I cut a piece of 6mm pine stripwood to the width of the sash then notched either end to accommodate the cords.

This was glued using PVA and held using a number of panel pins.

With the glue dry, I sanded the edges flush to the original timber, then filled any gaps with 2 part filler - not an easy job with the sash now fitted, but I wasn't going to start pulling apart again!

A couple of coats of paint later, it's complete.

 Meanwhile, still in bedroom 1, I have been filling and sanding the door frame.

The door latch plate has been relocated a few inches lower to match the height of other doors so the old hole had to be back-filled and sanded.

The skirtings have been primed and undercoated, ready for finishing.

The old handrail from the stairs was in pretty poor condition, particularly along its lower edge. I decided it was just about good enough to reuse, so stripped the damaged edge back using the power plane and sander. All the old paint was removed and 2 part filler applied where necessary.

A couple of coats of primer/undercoat to reveal any remaining imperfections....

...and mounting holes drilled, it's ready for re-fitting when the hall and landing are decorated.

Finally this week, I decided I'd had enough of using the old oilstone to manually sharpen chisels. As I would be using the chisels to rebate hinges and latches on the new doors, I bought a neat little wet-stone attachment for the drill. First impressions are not bad for a cheap'n'cheerful solution but time will tell!