We got a cricut

 

OK I will be honest I have mixed feelings about this idea as after seeing what cutting machines do and how wasteful they can be I'm concerned it will be as bad as it is good 

we purchased a maker 3, there are currently 4 machines the company sells and this is one of the newest ones available, and it can do a little more than most of the others available, I was going to purchase a joy as it is small and less versatile than the bigger machine.

There is a lot to learn, and it feels intimidating, but we will get it home and see what we can do and what we how we can reduce the waste from making with it 

Why did I buy a cricut?
I purchased a cricut for quite a few reasons, I found there is a bigger supporting groups on facebook and YouTube tutorials, there is one supplier of them that you can get support, training, and back up in store and online so to me, I think that's a good start and the best place to learn about cutting machines.

I purchased this in the shop because of the advice and no pressure to buy one more than another, on the website the company do sell another product from a company called silhouette but they don't carry these machines in the shop, nor could I find a shop that does sell them locally to see if one would be a better purchase than the other.

Looking at things on the internet moth media and company info, I felt the cricut was a more beginner orientated machine to use 

sites to start looking for help on both machines:

google 
Cricut
silhouetteamerica.com
HOBBYCRAFT

Bay window stains

 From earlier on this year we had a leak from the gutter which we got repaired as soon as possible, but the water was leaking directly over the bay window and in turn was leaking up through the moulded seam and leaked into the roof and stained the sealing of it. 

I let it dry out and painted a few times with bright white emulsion, but the stain kept returning, so I felt it was time to seal it for good 

From Toolstation 

So after the 1st coat and 2 hrs do dry, I can confirm the stain seems to have been covered, and no visible sign has returned fingers crossed 

The paint says it can be painted over with any paint, we will see when i get some more emulsion 

Painting the walls

 While the scaffolding is still up I decided it's an idea to get the front wall painted around the top window and area I won't be able to do while on a ladder, so while it stopped raining it was time to give it a coat of magnolia paint.

I went and got a tub of exterior masonry paint and brushes, got out a wire brush to clean off the loose paint and dirt and started to paint the upper wall, it looks better with the cracks in the cement and the older paint covered over.

You can't see it so well in the picture from last night, but it's looking a lot better this morning in a normal light, ill try and take one if it stops raining 

Sprung a leak

Ok yesterday we found a tiny weep from the bathroom radiator so I thought I'd invest in a new one as the plumber had to disturb the old one.

I found a towel radiator for the central heating system that I can fit a heater element to it and it's on offer at the moment.

It a chrome 1200x500 mm radiator to hopefully warm the room and dry the towels

I think it was a good price for it, on offer it was £39.97p from Toolstation

I will see over time how well the radiator lasts but for now it looks very nice.

I also need to get the electrics heater element wired up and see he that goes as it's a smallish 250watt unit

Why fit an electric element to a central heating system you ask? Well the towels won't dry if the heating system isn't on or warm them on a cold day if the heating hasn't switched on.

I also purchased this from Toolstation

Pre planning the dining room floor

Seems easy enough and gives you the basic idea for fitting the laminate to the floor I'll find out when I get that far

Tiles on the hall floor

Well I decided now the walls are plastered it's time to get on with getting some flooring down and make the house look like a home.

I have two places that I can place the flooring down on, the hall and the dining room

I want to get on with the laminate but I'm waiting on the plumber to move the radiator from the kitchen to the dining room to give us some more space out there.

So it's time to get some tiles down in the hall. It's a messy job but it needs doing, I purchased a dry mix of floor tile adhesive and it's not easy getting the mixture right.

I think I got there in the end

So I got the under stairs part down, what do you think?

I plan to lay the tiles then fit the skirting boards over the top.

Let's hope it looks better than it is at the moment.

The tiles are from Wickes

The plasteres have returned!

Well today they returned and to my surprise the house has had all it's plastering done. 

Now we have to wait for it to dry, then I can get the skirting boards down and ready the front room for carpet fitting.

Update

Ok we have been waiting on the plaster to come back in and finish his job as we can't get any flooring or skirting boards fitted until he dose his bit.

He has confirmed he will be back in on the 4th of January to carry on.

It's all getting closer to being able to move in hopefully by mid jan

Waiting on the plasteres return

So this evening I cleared some more skirting boards and carpet gripper from the front room and dining room.

I also cut the ends of the nails that would not come our with the claw hammer I got out the Parkside rotary tool

More to come about the rotary tool once I have used it a bit.

More damp treatment

Well I got over to the house this evening ani I decided the outer wall in the hall needed damp proofing as a precaution. I drilled out the holes under the stairs and in front then filled the holes with the injection cream.

You can see the white cream filling the 12mm holes I have drilled to help seal the cement joints between the bricks and above the damp course.

Some light on the subject

Well after some thinking we decided we needed some more kitchen space and the dining room needed some more light.

They was old wooden frames an needed to be replaced so we had a few quotes for them to be replaced.

We went for a company called safe style. We also decided to get the window in the dining room opened up into a door so to allows more light in the room and block up the door way in the kitchen giving us some more lower counter space but allowing more lots of light as it's a full length window

Today they came and done the job, it was dark when I got home so I could only take the inside ones

Hard workers

Ok before we got the house I got some tools and previously had some tools that I have been using over the last month and a bit of ownership.

One of the things I have is a set of five pry bars by roughneck. From tool station the link is Here.

These are the three bigger bars and they have been amazing for all the work I have needed them. 

I have used them to lifting floorboards, Prying off the old well fitted skirting boards, leavening out well seated nails and screws from the walls and they have taken a beating from a 4lb hammer forcing them where I need them to go!

For the money they cost me a while back I am truly amazed how good they are and they look the same shape.they were when I got them and I don't think I have been gentle with them.

Rating 5 out of 5

I took the plunge!

Ok looking in all the rooms I have to replace all the skirting boards in I have decided to get a mini circular saw.

I decided on a mini one as I have no need to cut huge bits of wood currently I need to cut a lot of 13mm thick pine wood at various angles to place on walls.

1st one I purchased was from Toolstation by draper it was 600w and cut to 27mm depth.

It looked to be what I needed, it didn't say if it did angled cuts bit it said max depth at 90 degrees so I purchased it.

On opening the box I found this plunge saw to just cut straight cuts  and allowed various depths so it was no good for what I intend to use it for.

I looked on Amazon and found the worx Wa429 it cuts deeper 46mm, can plunge and will cut to a 45 degree angle, video on the link. My only concern is it is 400watt and less rpm than the draper so it could stall when cutting.

It arrived Saturday in a sturdy looking hinged plastic box. 

Out the box it looks nice and felt quite light 

This is the back side where you can set the blade depth you require 

This is the front where you can set your blade angle 

These are the steel blade and the ceramic blade 

I had a quick go at cutting up some old wood at 45 degree angles and here it is not yo bad for a quick go 

Can't worm my way out of this.....

Well today we decided to see what was causing the soft floor boards in the front room. We lifted the carpet for a better look.

My bet was they was rotten.

Ok the 1st one appeared like I was right it looked like they had rotted from age so we cut back the board to tidy up and make it so we can fit new boards.

On removing the other rotten bit of floor board we found it not to be rotten!

All those tiny holes are from wood worm and itl looks like we have a lot of wood worm.

Multiple sections need replacing to get rid of the brittle wood and replace it with new sections of board.

On inspection of the joists so far I'd dissent appear that there is an issue with them

I went off to collect supplies of new floor board and see if I can find something to treat the wood

On my return we cut some planks to size and fitted them into the spaces and nailed them down. 

Now to treat the wood to make it wood worm free!

Ok this was not cheap but it was available at the time to start treating the wood and killing off the wood worm!

WARNING: this product is very harmful to animals, humans and to the environment. Wear rubber gloves and eye protection. Wash thoroughly if it touched your skin!

Getting plastered!

Well it's day one the plasteres are in and fixing the walls I can't wait to see the finished job.

Moving in

Well today we start to empty the storeage container and take it to the house.

It's not an ideal time bug I'm running out of time, unless I pay another months rent!

The need for speed

I found it hard going trying to strip this wall paper from the walls as it seems to have a coating on it. Even with the steamer I have it seems to be tough to remove.

I had a look about and found a tool called a scorer

It has three sets of spiked wheels designed to dig in to the paper and allow the damp or steam to get into the paper under the coating on the paper.

I will test it in a few rooms and let you know how I get on with it

Electrical safety tool

Ok with all the old sockets and wires in the house that will need to come out or just electric sockets that need to come out, you need to test them before you cut or unscrew them.

I purchaced a non contact a.c. voltage detector pen from screwfix for £9.99p it has two led's for detecting.

You press the on/off  button the green led comes on,

 if you place it near a switched on power socket the red led will flash with an auditable beep to warn you the socket or wire is live

As an added bonus it has a white led and it acts as a torch this could be very useful if your working in the dark for some reason

It is powered by two aaa batteries and appears to work on a basic socket test and 3 core cable test 

More to come.

Man tool No:3

So another gadget I got. A distance laser measure it's brilliant. It can measure.

I purchaced it for approximately £15 from AMAZON.

Apparently this unit will calculate square meter and cubic meter

Man tool no:1

Well I found out that a man tool will be a valuable thing here to remove the plaster and stuff from the walls and drill the holes.

Meet the bosch sds hammer drill found on AMAZON

I will review the item after I have used it for some time