fix up my house

Groan! The white ceilings in both bathrooms are looking spotty from the steam. I really disklike painting ceilings, as it gives me a pain in then neck (literally). Guess the sooner I do it, the sooner it will be finished!

The outside walls of the complex together with the boundary walls are currently being renovated and painted. The painter is so painstaking (read slow) that it is literally like ‘watching paint dry!’

Anyhow, it will look great when finished.

I’ve varnished all the wooden window frames and internal doors. Did a bit each weekend so it wasn’t too much of a slog.

Summer has now arrived with a vengance (with some days > 30C + humidity). That’s my signal to put away all the maintenance equipment till after March 2008!

Over the years I have installed some dozen free standing terracotta pots with indigenous plants in the courtyard. These tend to be “green” and any flowering, while attractive to birds and butterflys, small.

So I have now attached a number of terracotta pots (flat on one side) to the courtyard wall facing the sun and planted petunias. They are already blooming (pink, mauve, white etc) after a week and really give the courtyard a cheerful look, especially as it is the dry winter here and the next rains are only expected in September.

It is a really easy way to cheer up a retaining wall.

Spent Saturday morning puting on a first final coat over the replastered part of the wall. Then spent Sunday morning painting the final coat. Then (groan), found part of the existing paint was lifting due to the (now fixed) rising damp.

So I completed the walls except for the corner with the problem. Then scrapped off the old paint in the corner and put on new plaster primer paint. Went and watched the Men’s tennis final from Roland Garros for 2 hours; in between sets, put on the first final coat in the corner; more tennis (I was rooting for Federer so of course he lost!), then applied the final final coat. Finally got the mess cleaned up and the furniture back in place in time for supper!

2 weekends ago I painted the replastered walls (interior and exterior) with plaster primer.

1 weekend ago I painted the exterior walls with the final 2 coats (looking good).

This last weekend I took a break but bought the interior paint. Hope to complete this coming weekend! [I really love this painting business (not)]. :(

The workmen are on site today to fix the rising damp problem in the one room. They are busy removing the exterior and interior plaster from the wall (ouch!). Then they will inject a damp proofing chemical into the brick wall before replastering with damp proofing plaster.

I must then wait some weeks before I can repaint inside and out. At least that will be the biggest problem fixed (after years of ignoring it) :(

I actually got the lounge repainted a few weekends ago. Ended up the 5 litres of spare paint. So I’ve sold that paint to a collegue at a deep discount :(

Everytime I save enough to do (costly) repairs to the house, I start planning my next holiday trip. On returning home, I’m broke again!