Flooring, floods and filters

Wow, I can't actually believe that my last post was about the Jubilee weekend! Sorry everyone :-/

I've been so busy recently but, unfortunately for Waki, with almost everything but the refurb! The main reason is that I've had the last 3 weekends completely hijacked by major local events where I have been volunteering for St John Ambulance, and my last day off work was used for doing the Swan hotels chalk boards again, though I have thoroughly enjoyed it all.

The fresh water tank in place under the sofa

So what have we done since the last post...?

We now have nice new vinyl flooring in the living area, which extends under the sofa and meant that the water tank could go back into place - though we still need to get ourselves a nice new filler pipe as the old one is definitely past it!

Wickes Beech wood-effect vinyl flooring

Ryan completed this task, glueing it all down with some particularly messy flooring adhesive which meant that we had to go over it with a scouring sponge and degreaser to clean it off - a job that still needs repeating a few more times!

We decided on the planks of vinyl from Wickes as they were well priced and should be slightly quieter and warmer to walk on than laminate (they're also easier to cut and there were several bolts in the floor to fit around). We chose to run them widthways to maximise the look of the floor space which I think works well, see below.

The water heater is under a cupboard under the kitchen area

The pump with the water filter attached

Ryan also managed to fix the existing water heater which wasn't working when we bought Waki. That saves us some expense for sure which is great news! Apparently the previous owner had tried to use it when it was frozen and it hadn't worked since so we didn't hold much hope for it, but Ryan took it apart and reconnected it with the gas bottle in the garden and it worked fine! It actually gets really hot, very quickly and now we can't wait to get the bathroom sorted out to use the shower too.


He then reconnected the pump and sink so we can actually use the tap too! We bought a water filter from Go Outdoors to freshen the flavour - though we also intend on using the Aquapure disinfectant tablets in the tank to stop any bacteria growth and a water filter jug as an extra taste improvement measure for drinking from. 


It was a nerve racking moment in using the sink for the first time since it was put back together as I could just imagine it not going into the waste tank for some reason and flooding the place (because that's generally our luck!) but it was fine so well done Ryan - you can now add plumbing experience to your list of talents! We did however have a bit of a flood moment earlier on when the residual water in the pump pipes went everywhere so not entirely smooth sailing, but then it did help clean the floor! :)

One last area of rot and mess!

When I had a few free hours I managed to cut out the kitchen cupboard openings so we can access the whole space easily. They just had one small door per cupboard which made it a nightmare to reach anything at the end, so we will have a set of double opening doors on either for full easy access.

We now just need to reline the one above the hob as it was a bit rotten inside like everything has been, and make some nice doors and then we'll be able to begin stowing things away. We want to line the cupboards in a plastic sheeting the same as for the kitchen walls so we need to go shopping again!

Spring Clean

(I'm a bit behind with my posting at the mo so sorry for the long gap!)

A good thorough Spring clean makes everyone feel better, and poor old Waki was certainly due one! It seemed that on every surface and in every corner there was dust and pieces of crumbled rot, with our wood and tools mixed in. I also didn't like the thought of trying to wallpaper with all of the grit and pieces of wood and foam floating about ready to get stuck to it before I could get it on the wall! :S

So despite the Bank Holiday rain (yes that's how behind I am!) we carried all of the bulky items out in to the garage for safekeeping and I set to work sorting and sweeping. We decided that the sofa and wall needed to be torn out as it was probably worse than the other side was, and as it was going to create A LOT of mess it would be best done now. 

The sofa was actually very simple, it was only attached to the wall with silicone sealant, and as the wall was so wet it crumbled away very easily so there's one upside I suppose! Ryan went outside and taped the open corner that's waiting for the bed support, and we shoved the heater into that corner to help it dry out. Hopefully we'll have a nice sunny day together where we can repeat the process of taking out that window and resealing it all. 

So once that was out of the way I swept up some more and used our old vacuum to clean the whole van. Much better!

You can easily bring a bit of magic into a Spring clean by adding some simple visualisation, I just imagined as I cleaned that all of the stagnant energy, rot and negativity that had been held up in the van for so long was leaving. I actually used the twigs of Hawthorn and Blackthorn that I gathered for my Ostara (Spring Equinox) blessing as an extra tool to get the energy out of the door which I felt was a fitting way to throw them out too! What is left behind I can now see as good, clean positive energy, with room for creativity. 

Go on give it a go and use a bit of Springs magic energy to clean up your life/house/mind too :)

Back to Bare Basics

Last weekend we finally got ourselves two days in a row to get the roof lining and walls off so have been working hard! The plan was to get the rotten plywood off and any bad battens out of the wall and ceiling so we could replace it all ready for everything to go back on.

From previous investigations I had discovered that the best tools were my trusty hammer and chisel so I got started on a rather frosty Saturday morning (see the picture of the window right! >) while Ryan was at work and managed to get pretty much the whole ceiling layer of ply down, then got back to it again on Sunday with my aching arms and finished the walls too.

Me & my trusty hammer!

Peeling back the layers

After two days of wielding that heavy hammer I feel like I should have one arm like Popeye, arhg,hrh,hrrr!

As with anything we do, it took much longer than expected as there was a lot more damage than we had previously thought hidden away (see pics below), but all we can do is keep going and at least we'll know it's been done right so will last as long time.

Another composted batten!

The extent of the damp issue around the window.

The awning was attached to the side we needed to expose so we devised a rope system to safely catch it and lower it to the ground, all went well and we leant it against the van while Ryan toddled off into the garden to clear a space for it. Things suddenly got interesting when I was still inside ripping off the wall ply as I felt a peculiar rocking motion to the van and, naturally assuming it was someone rocking the van for a laugh (a regular occurrence with our friends!), glanced out of the window to see the scenery moving past! I scrambled to my feet screaming something at Ryan who wasn't in earshot just as the awning smashed into the ground, and rushed into the cab to jump on the brake pedal! At that point my heart was beating out of my chest and, (having a little adrenaline freak out!) I left Waki in the middle of the street and sprinted into the back garden to shout something I can't remember at a bewildered Ryan! :S Thankfully the awning seems to be mostly OK with just a couple of bent bolts, luckily no-one was driving passed at the time, and we stopped just before Ryan's car which was parked on the grass directly behind it!

Daylight!

Ryan helped get the roof beam cut back, and the battens out of the walls, though seemed to be finding way too many patches of daylight for my liking and we agreed that since I had mastered the chisel technique I should carry on with that (despite the complaints from my right bicep and shoulder!) and so he climbed back aboard the roof to investigate the leak issues at their source!

Ryan staring on the roof beam

The rot has now been cut out of the main roof beam, expanding foam sprayed in to fill the wavy edge and another strong beam capped on for support. All the wood we could get to we painted with a rot treatment for piece of mind. We've put in a new upright support post just behind the cab and sorted out the bow in the wall due to the sagging weight that was there when we got her. Ryan applied his expertise and used a hydraulic car jack with a piece of wood on top of the bed platform to take the roof weight while we worked! The side window was taken out so we could do the battens around it, though we didn't get to finish cleaning up around it to re-seal as we run out of time on Monday so we've just put a few of its clamps back on to hold it place for now.

Ryan's done a fantastic job and kept me going when I started stressing, (like I always do when things take longer than I want them to!) so thanks Ryan, I love you! xx