OneGuyFromBarlick

Maz, the kids in Oz sent me pics of their beach party.... I told them that unfortunately we have neither the beach or the weather!
I had a good couple of hours in the shed but had to stop, I was getting on so well I overheated the motor on the grinder! I shall be back in there this morning......
As for your pipe Maz, double bugger!! It must be a bad length of pipe and it's reached its sell by date. Hard luck!
At the moment I'm enjoying the full moon in a clear sky but it's come in cold again.

Marilyn wrote: ↑01 Jan 2018, 22:46 Luckily our guests weren't still here this morning. Hubby was in the shower when there was an almighty BANG and the sound of hissing running water. Pipe in our pantry wall burst again, almost at ceiling height, just above the new join the plumber put in a few weeks ago. Kitchen rapidly flooded as water cascaded down the wall. Had to run out in my nightie to turn the water off.
We have emptied the pantry yet again, mopped up what we can and the plumber is on his way. The gyprock wall in the pantry is looking pretty mushy in parts.

Oh no! That's awful Maz, you must be wondering where it could happen next.

We managed to get it sorted by mid afternoon, and have had some sort of heat valve/pressure valve installed...plus more excavations higher on the wall against the ceiling. I managed to get a shower about 3pm. Unfortunately the pipe that has burst twice now in the pantry wall extends upstairs to the upstairs bathroom. The plumber is worried he will not be able to reach a further burst from downstairs. Upstairs, we have beautiful polished Jarrah floors. To have to tear those up would be both costly and tragic.
But the pantry is so damp smelling, I can't put food back yet, so the kitchen is a mess.
I had it open for ages to the breezes coming through the back doors, but now that we have closed up I have put a big container of Damp Rid in there and will review tomorrow. I'm not holding my breath, I think it will take days to smell dry.
Two loads of wet towels washed.
I'm exhausted. Hubby says one more disaster and we are selling! This is the 4th kitchen flood in 12 months...

Some of the outlying farms which ran on local spring water found it was so acidic that a copper hot water cylinder would only last about three years. The answer was to install stainless steel cylinders and pipes. An expensive solution but in the long run cheaper and less destructive.

Drying out the pantry using a combination of a blow heater and warm winds wafting through open doors and windows.
Kitchen still in a mess.
Four guests for lunch on Friday, so I'm hoping things will be ship shape by then...

It begins to look like bad pipe Maz. Was it the same sort of burst? Ask your plumber if any other houses in the area have the same problem.....
Alternatively, is your water supplier having a problem and allowing pressure spikes in the supply mains. That happened in Barlick a couple of years ago......
I shall be going quietly forwards with the cutters...... Hopefully no more squealing motor!

The plumber is a local. He has never seen this problem before.
The builder seems to have used correct pipes etc.
We need to replace the internal pantry lining on one wall, as it has swollen and just pulls away now. David needs more time to think about it...he seems a bit stumped as to where to begin just now (I think partly because he doesn't want to deal with it. I keep finding him in the pantry running his hands over the damp wall but he doesn't seem to progress beyond just looking. He did pull some of it away this morning and swept it up, but then retreated back to his computer!)
Meanwhile, I am refusing to put our food back in there because the wall is smelly and rotten.
Guess it will be down to who weakens first!
( if I did put the food back, it is far too easy for him not to deal with it because everything looks normal if you shut the door!)

I don't blame Dave for taking his time Maz. Potentially you have a big problem and before you get into reinstating some hard decisions will have to be made. I'll bet he is thinking hard about renewing all the pipework up to the bathroom.
As far as the floor is concerned, water can appear to have caused severe damage but if you have patience and let it dry out it will go back to its original shape a bit of refinishing will make it as good as new. Wood is designed to absorb water and then let it out.

Busy couple of days, clearing out the greenhouse before we demolish it and move it to a drier spot. It always has a moat round it when it rains. Yesterday it was inside too, a very sludgy wet mess. Today we have taken another load of garden rubbish,to the tip, old broken and unwanted pots, frames for climbing plants, and general detritus.

This afternoon I carried on tbe tidying inside. I took my sewing machine in yesterday for a service as it keeps jamming mid seam. So I have taken the opportunity to tidy up the art cum sewing room. Not much throwing but a good clean. I could clean behind the sewing cabinet that the machine sits on as I could move it without all tbe wiring getting in the way. I have tidied up the magazines, leaflets etc too. I feel very pleased with myself. What to do tomorrow. I feel some drawer tidying coming on or a dusting of my Toby jug collection.

Sounds like an early onset of Spring Cleaning and a determined woman Sue! I know what you mean about corners where you can't get in to clean easily. I felt the same when I moved the grinder and was able to have a clear out!
I shall be continuing the campaign to have a box full of sharpened cutters for the mill. It will soon be time to spend money on castings! Must have a project to follow on.....

The usual Friday shopping and small tasks but some time in the shed where I am getting my cutters into a corner!



I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and spend money on the castings for the next project, a steam hammer. Thick end of £300!
I was asked the other day "Why the obsession with the shed?". I don't see it as obsession but more therapy. What happens to you if you don't keep active mentally and physically and stretch yourself by learning new things! Besides, I enjoy the fact that I can do things that most people can't..... Thank God I built the shed up over the years when I was earning money and managed to hold it all together through some very rocky patches.

I did 4 drawers, but the fifth stopped me, it didn’t need clearing just tidying but it was full of nostalgia so it remains as it was. The girls school reports, newspaper cuttings of swimming successes and academic successes. Photos of the grandchildren when they were born, their first thankyou letters, their first home made cards to us, even the cats vaccination cards. A couple of things I kept of my mums, and a wallet of photos sent by my inlaws some 30 years ago( why they are not with the other photos I don’t know) gosh I looked slim!. Funnily they were photos of the girls on the beach a Broadsands, Devon, where Mum and Dad lived as yesterday Julia put a picture on facebook of her two on the beach at Broadsands yesterday. They are taking a short break in Devon for Julias birthday which was yesterday.

Today things start to return to normal, back to my craft group.

Stanley wrote: ↑05 Jan 2018, 05:30 The usual Friday shopping and small tasks but some time in the shed where I am getting
I was asked the other day "Why the obsession with the shed?". I don't see it as obsession but more therapy. What happens to you if you don't keep active mentally and physically and stretch yourself by learning new things! Besides, I enjoy the fact that I can do things that most people can't..... Thank God I built the shed up over the years when I was earning money and managed to hold it all together through some very rocky patches.

I know the feeling Stanley, I feel lost without my sewing machine. I spend most of my free time on it, if not making something then teaching myself a new skill. Hobbies are not cheap are they, luckily once I have bought the machines, of which I have five ( three here , two in France) The raw materials ie patterns and fabric are less expensive, but sometimes I do have to think twice at the cost of the fabric I really want. Why three machines, they all do something different. I also happen to be my fathers daughter. We called him gadget man

Going up to school this morning for training in new procedure for invigilators. Get to test it next week, two GCSE exams next week. Then on to Skipton at some point to pick Sally up from the station after taking Ruby home yesterday. Might have a curry tonight, first time we have been "home alone" for the best part of a fortnight with grandparent duties.

Sue, I know exactly what you mean by the seemingly random and worthless 'nostalgia items'. Their value is the fact that they trigger off memories and that's the attraction for me.



Here's a good example. You can't imagine anything more ephemeral than this but it has been sat on top of my dresser for over 25 years. It's the place marker from Janet's wedding reception and as such opens up a vast tract of memory. I believe that such things are good for you.....
As for 'gadget man' that hardly does justice to the wealth of expertise and experience that goes into a good sewing room or a shed. Again, very good for you!
I shall be playing out in the shed with spiral grinding and nursing Mo as he starts to make Jess' wedding ring.....

Mo came but he was late.... We had a bit of shed time together. I sent him home with a copy of the South Bend Company's manual on 'How to run a lathe' and told him to memorise it!
Then of course I was thrown into confusion by my credit card account! Today I shall be cooking and washing on free leccy but not pushing to get in the shed. I know the dangers of shocks and will be taking it easy.....
Later at 08:30. All my early morning tasks accomplished. I am clean and so are my clothes and the washer is loaded. All food preparation done and I am ready to fire the oven and all four rings on the hob up at 9AM. I love watching the smart meter monitor having a fit as the load comes on! Normally I'd have half an hour in the shed but this morning I'm taking it easy....... I need to regroup after yesterday's alarums and excursions!

I shall have another easy day, not so much to recover but more because I have finished Norman's 2011 book Vanished Kingdoms and will start on this 2017 book on global history.

This morning I shall collect my sewing machine from its service. A fault was identified and rectified. This afternoon is French , then art this evening. All back to normal. Yesterday, being without my main machine, and Bob being out most of the day I took the opportunity to set my self a skills session with my other two machines. A worthwhile exercise.

Always is Sue. I do it in the shed.
I went in the shed this morning to have a good clean up, return my grinder to the end mill grinding configuration, put all my cutters and grinder accessories away in the right places and have a good general clean up. Part of that is washing my shed coat to get all the grinding dust out of it! In other words I have a straight edge and will wait until I have my new card and am sure the fraudulent transactions have been credited before ordering my steam hammer castings.....
So I have a tidy straight edge, another exercise that is always worth while!

It was yesterday, rather than today but I was mainly doing it. The demister function stopped working on my car and it turned out to be a remarkably quick fix and cost me nothing other than time. All the flaps, that control the air flow, are operated by small electric motors with a worm drive. The motor that opens the demister flap become stuck, initial thoughts were a replacement but at £70 I thought I'd take a look myself. 5 small bolts to remove the glovebox and there they were, all in plain sight, 2 bolts to remove the motor, release a few clips, a good dollop of vaseline into the plastic gearing and away we went. I can now see where I'm going again

I can remember the day when you opened the windscreen a touch..... Cars are far too complicated these days!
I shall be writing articles, time to build up the stock pile again at the BET.

I wrote two articles yesterday and might hit three today..... Very satisfying.

Back to yoga and pilates yesterday. It was tough! Also back to sewing , my machine is beautifully smooth. Today. I have my monthly sewing lesson, with three toiles for fitting. Hopefully all be good and I can get on with the real items, a coat, a summer top, and floor length evening culottes

"floor length evening culottes" That's got my imagination going!
No shed again, two more articles churned out and more to come.... So nice to be on top of the job!

Long baggy trousers Stanley