Exterior Makeover Nearly Complete!
The past two weeks have been completely hectic, we have been at a bit of a standstill with the renovations due to some issues with the bathroom installation. The waterproofing was confirmed to have been compromised and the entire bathroom had to be taken down! As you can imagine this decision wasnāt easy…but a building inspection confirmed that if I proceeded without starting the bathroom again Iād have water leak issues which of course is the last thing I wanted. Iāve had some fantastic labourers come in and demolish the bathroom for me…all the tiles, the villaboard walls came down too, luckily we managed to save the floor and most of the framing. The building inspector was really lovely and had a look over my wall frames for me while he was there to look at the bathroom. Iām happy to say they got a tick of approval as far as meeting the building code but he also gave me some advice on extras I could do to further strengthen them which I implemented when we put it all back together! Iāll go into more detail next post and Iāll share the photos with you! The boys helped with putting back up the necessary parts of the framing and have also helped with the new villaboard sheets that have all been cut up and holes cut in them to allow for the wall taps and shower and toilet, all ready to be drilled up onto the bathroom wall frame. Iāll get back to the inside works really soon, thereās been bits of everything happening and the work site has been super busy and although itās been an awful kick in the guts the boys Iāve got helping have just been super awesome, Iāve gotta say thanks to Alex, Joe & Sunny for all their hard work and positivity around all thatās been happening!
Now let me share with you whatās been happening on the outside! Since I havenāt been able to do much on the inside as weāve been working around building inspections and new product deliveries, and Iāve had the three fabulous guys that did the bathroom demolition willing to work extra days to help me get on top of everything, weāve managed to get the entire exterior painted with a textured paint. The timber up top near the roof has been polished up with linseed oil, all the woodwork around the windows and door have been sanded and varnished. The outside front lights have been taken off and cleaned and painted, the rainwater tank is back in place and the down pipe repositioned.
But what Iām so super excited about is all the galvanised piping weāve put up to be used for the electrical conduit! Iād had the design in my head and scribbled on paper and after days of the boys helping me put everything together, piece by piece, the electrician has wired everything up through the pipes and weāre now ready to to the final touches and then weāre good to paint them! It was definitely an art project jigsaw puzzle to put together and even though itās not finished Iām so happy with how itās looking…it just completes the industrial look on the outside. Iāve put up a progress piccy for you to check it out and Iāll go into more detail on what I used in another post.
On the exterior paint…When I started painting the back wall I used a textured paint that I bought and wow I went through 20L just on the back wall. I had a google and saw that you can create textured paint by adding silica sand to regular paint…figured Iād give it a go and it worked like magic! I got a 10L can of regular paint tinted the same colour as the textured paint in a matt finish and a bag of silica sand and thanks to the boys the painting was complete and it matched up with what Iād done on the back wall beautifully. The roller I used is a textured roller and it has been cut to fit a 75mm roller frame to enable me to get into the ups and downs of the container wall easily. When I used the roller in the textured paint it was really well performing and lasted the entire wall with life left in it. But when the boys used it with the paint / sand mix the roller deteriorated quite quickly and we went through a few rollers! The finish looks fab and covers ever bit of patchwork silicone I had going on there and I think it adds to the industrial look Iām going for! Iām really happy with it! And I love the colour too…itās a colourbond selection āBasaltā.
The linseed oil…Wooden eaves that were looking really tired look absolutely fabulous after a good lick of linseed oil over it! We started of ragging it on but then used a paint roller and it went up quickly and with awesome coverage, itās made a huge difference to how the building looks!
The lights coming down and being painted and the extra coat of varnish on the windows and front door frame has just made everything pop and it finally feels like things are starting to go back together instead of just pulling things down. We used a satin black spray and satin clear for the lights and the varnish is the same as we used a few weeks back, just a fresh coat.
The rainwater tank was positioned in really well so it sat away from the house just far enough that my galv conduit pipes would fit behind it but not too far that the gap was too big lol I did think the boys were going to run away at that point, I think they moved the tank in and out about 6 times! And it was quite a similar scenario getting that rainwater pipe that sits over the tank on just the right angle, yep Iām fussy and I just love how these guys have worked with me to create the vision I had for the exterior and how theyāve been so positive and easy to work with!
Thereās still more to do, mostly just the little fiddly bits and of course the painting of the pipes. Iāll be back at it tomorrow and Wednesday to slowly finish everything off and Sunny will be painting all the galv conduit pipes. Iām hoping I get chance to put up another post with the exterior completely finished this week! Fingers crossed for me!
Again a huge thank you to Sunny, Joe & Alex. The awesome help you guys have given me has got me through these few weeks!
Iāve got dates for commencement of work on the bathroom and Iāll be working alongside the tiler with the help of the boys and Emily to complete the rest of interior, itāll be coming up really soon and Iāmš¤š»that itāll all run smoothly!
Iāve added in photos again this week of the products & tools I used and have talked about on this post!
Heaps to come so keep watching!
Thanks for reading!
Jen š”
