Rendering Resumes

In October last year we began to have some problems with the render. The render went on ok and looked fine when wet but dried very blotchy and with lots of cracks.

Freshly done render

More fresh render

Blotchy render

Lots of cracks

 At first we thought that the problem was that the render had been getting wetter and wetter as he weather got warmer and it had reached a point where it was too wet, However in retrospect this seems to be a wrong assumption. We are not sure what caused the problems with the render, it may have dried too fast or the weather been too warm. As other walls were done after the blotchy ones and they looked fine.

Subsequent walls looked fine

We tried to have a second coat put over the three blotchy walls but this did not go well and when it became clear that the second coat would not go on smoothly we had no choice but to chip off the whole wall of render and start again. This was done for three walls the two largest in the main room and one in the back bedroom.  Two of the walls were really soft even though it was about two months since they had been done and the render came off really easily. the other wall on the north side of the main room had some soft patches and some really hard patches.

Render chipped off bedroom wall

 The first wall we chipped off looked fine when first done, then started to dry blotchy again, but in a different way the second time.  Ironically another wall done on the same day and with the same mix turned out fine. When the second wall we had chipped the render off was redone it too looked fine to begin with but when it looked like it was starting to dry unevenly I wet it down several times and it ultimately dried with an acceptably even finish. We were not keen to redo the blotchy wall we had already chipped off once and tried to get some lime paint to match, but our test patch showed that the colour was not a close match and even two coats of the paint did not cover the dark and light patches underneath.

The first wall that was chipped off looked fine when first re rendered

Wall done the second time when drier

And drier again

Wall done on the same day and same mix turned out fine

Redone wall that was wet down after rendering

Test patch of lime paint

John, who had been doing our rendering, had a new baby and a full time job and no longer had the time to work with such a frustrating and inconsistent product. We looked for someone else to render the outside of the house. When Brett Smith from Shoalhaven Cement Rendering came out to give us a quote, he did not know how the product would go on so he picked up a trowel and did a small wall. The wall was wet down a few hours after it was done to slow the drying. The wall looked great and he go the job, which was later extended from just doing the outside of the house to finishing the inside as well.

Brett's test wall

It was pleasing to see work on the house resume. Worried that the earlier mixes were too wet Brett started with a slightly stiffer mix, however it proved hard to get a smooth finish and we went back to the wetter mix that John had used.

Halfway through the first wall

First external wall complete

One more picture because it looks so good

Work then progressed on a difficult wall that had been half done previously and had only half the window reveal done. Brett did an admirable job joining the new and old render and rendering the reveal on a very crumbly section of hemp walling around the window where a large chuck of hemp had fallen out.

Wall with join and freshly done window reveal

The window headers and reveals then threw up a new set of problems to be resolved. The render was not very sticky and did not like sticking to the window headers. On the next wall the decision was made to use a thin coat of a wetter mix on the window headers and to do the window reveals first before the rest of the wall. This way the window reveal could be done and the render stick then as the render stiffened any minor fixing up could be done. One thing about the hemp render it does not respond well to being fixed up or touched up once done as this tends to roughen the surface. It is much better to put the render on and leave it alone.

 

In the second week into the rendering 120mm of rain overnight at Culburra delayed further progress.  But when work resumed on the external walls Brett's decision to go around the corners when the first wall adjoining the corner was done proved to be a good one and the second wall adjoining the corner could be feathered in leaving a soft gently rounded corner.

 

Heavy rain cause the creation of a temporary lake

Nice softly rounded corner

Almost looks like the house is done

Most of the walls left to do on the inside were the first and second coats on the Magnesium Oxide board. The hemp lime render and the Magnesium Oxide board were not a good mix. The render needed to be done in two coats and even then the first coat had to be done with a slightly stiffer mix and barely stuck to the wall. It was very difficult for Brett to get a smooth finish of the MgO Board and one of the walls has started drying very patchy. We will have to wait a few weeks and see if this evens out as it dries or remains, in which case we may have to paint it as a 'feature' wall. In the entryway with a thin slightly wetter mix for the second coat the render went on a bit better.

Second coat of render on MgO Board

Entryway render going on second coat of MgO Board

Render still wet on MgO board

The Great Wave Mosaic

I am a fan of Japanese woodblock prints, particularly landscapes, I also love the medium of mosaic so when I was free to tile a whole bathroom however I wanted, I chose to tile my shower in the famous watery themed print “Under the Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai, more popularly known as "The Great Wave."

An original print of Under the Waver off Kanagawa

I bought tiles to break up into mosaic pieces as this was the only way that I could get the specific colours I wanted and have all the tiles the same thickness, which made them much easier to work with. With a colour photocopy of ‘the wave’ in hand I used the old fashioned grid method to transform it into a 1800 x 2100mm drawing, with a few minor changes to make it fit to the size of my shower. I then mosaiced each of the two 900mm shower walls separately. I cut, smashed and nibbled the tiles to the right shape and laid them out over the picture in sections the width of a piece of contact, then rolled the contact over the top to hold the pieces in place.

The first panel I laid out on the floor, which was good as I could see the whole picture at once but working on the floor was not good for my back. When complete I cut the mosaic along the grout lines into panels of about 300 x 300mm. The second panel was done on a large bench 1.5m wide but not long enough to hold the whole panel, so I started working at the top and pushed the panel up the bench as I went when the tiles got to the edge of the bench I cut them off into the 300 x300mm panels. The panels were packed into a box in the order that I would put them on the wall, which meant that the panel I finished last was the first to go up. 

Final section made up on the bench, with contact on top

Mosaic being cut up into sections

Sheets of mosaic packed into a box for transport

I was worried that I would have trouble putting the approximately 300 x 300mm sheets on the wall, but this was unfounded and the mosaic went up surprisingly easily. I spread tile adhesive on the wall, in wide bands sufficient to take a row of mosaic sheets, then, careful to line up the first piece straight, I pressed the sheets onto the wall. To try and push them on flat and not have an undulating mosaic surface I pressed them on gently by hand and moved them into the right place then pressed them down with my rendering hawk, which is a flat square of metal about 300 x 300mm with a handle on the bottom. Then when the whole row was done I went over it with my level, which covered the whole row of the mosaic, and pushed down to make sure it kept straight across the row. I later did this vertically too. 

Three quarters of the mosaic on the wall, hawk and level at bottom

The following day I peeled the contact off the front of the mosaic, a few pieced had not adhered properly and I had to go back and put them back in, but this was not bad considering the number of pieces in the mosaic. Unfortunately several of the pieces that had to be put back in did not sit flush and are a bit uneven, but this is hardly noticeable over the whole piece.

Mosaic adhered to the wall

I was very happy with the finished look and how it almost seamlessly bends the corner however, when I grouted the mosaic with white grout the white sections blended together and the grout lines in the dark section became more prominent. I am not sure if I like the look of the mosaic with the white grout and am worried the white of the wave does not stand out enough against the alabaster background. However, I will wait until I finish the rest of the bathroom before I decide to make any changes.

The whole mosaic project took me well over 100 hours, I think, and it could be as much as 150 hours. It is hard to tell as I did the mosaic over 9 months. The first section with large amounts of the same colour was put together quite quickly, once I realised how long the detailed sections would take I was too far into the project to stop and so I persevered and I am proud of my achievement.

The finished mosaic

 

Deck Joists and garden mulch

Notwithstanding that the inside of the house was still a workzone, later in January, my friend Martin joined us for a weekend, camping in a tent out the back. Work continued apace on the decking, disguising the lack of work being carried out on the rendering.The concrete forms around each of the foundations were removed. They had been made with scrap timber held together with two nails from the farming nailer in diagonally opposit corners ad two screws resued from the formwork in the other two. This meant that they wer easy to take apart with the impact driver.

With the bearers all secured in place it was just a matter of cutting to length, squaring and attaching the 90 x 45 treted pine joists. But prior to this we removed any vegetation left under the deck area and covered it in a layer of blue metal. This was done to proide good drainage under the deck and try to prevent grass growing there. the joists were then attached with two galvinised skew nails from the fraiming nailer where each joist crossed a bearer. I enjoyed the speed with which the joists went on.

L shaped side deck

Front of house with decks

Main front deck

More thought was required for the curved deck and my friend, Martin, helped me work out where extra bearers and joists and blocking between the ends of the joists was needed to support the curved edge of the deck.

The curved deck

Prior to Christmas I had ordered a truckload of mulch from a tree lopping company. It arrived unexpectedly in mid January. The pile was so big that before we spread it out we had to climb over it to get from the back gate to the house. We spread out wet newspaper, leftovers collected from the local newsagent, to surpress the weeds and mulched the back section of the garden. It was amazing the transformation it made, take it from building site to a home. Two passionfriut plants were also oplanted along the back fence. A while fig tree, gifted by a friend, was added to the garden. While we were not on site our neighbours Leslie and Don, who are avid gardners, have lovingly watered and fertilised our passionfruit and figs and hev even protected them from the digging paws of the bandicoots.

The mulch pile

Newly mulched garden

Digging Holes and Deck Foundations

Traditionally over the Christmas/New Year period the building industry shuts down, but for the owner builder it just provides some additional (paid) work free time for more building. Two deliveries arrived on 23 December just before the industry shutdown, the blue metal and the decking timber, readying us for our building holiday.

Structural and decking timber arrived from DIY Timbers Bomaderry

Some time ago in the schedule I had planned to build the decks over the Christmas/New year period.  The earlier assumption had been that the rest of the house would be finished and the decks would be the final piece of work. Needless to say the house was not done by Christmas and hold ups with the rendering meant that not even the inside was finished. The absence of completed accommodation meant that we were unable to invite friends down to assist with the decks and landscaping. Despite it not being the most ideal time in the schedule, as the external walls had not yet been rendered, the deck construction commenced.

There were three separate decks to build, with two of them turning a corner. All the decks were close to the ground being about 350 – 400mm off the ground so instead of using posts I planned to attach the bearers directly to post stirrups concreted into the ground. To try to keep the structural timber as high off the ground as I could I used 90 x 70mm laminated treated pine as bearers and 90 x 45mm treated pine joists. The decks were attached to the house with 90 x 45mm treated pine ledgers. These small timber sizes kept the depth of the timber shallow but necessitated more posts/stirrups.  

A well planned Christmas present of a Rotary Hammer drill was put to good use attaching the ledger boards to the concrete slab of the house with Dyna bolts. Although cheap the Ozito Rotary Hammer drill was very heavy to hold it drilled into the concrete easily, probably aided by the new unblunted drill bits it came with. The ten ledger board timbers, each requiring several dyna bolts, meant that the Rotary Hammer Drill more than paid for itself with the time it saved. 

Ledger boards installed and bearers being placed

 Not everyone takes a break in the New Year and my neighbour Gary informed us that the fencers would arrive on 2 January to put in the new fence. This meant that we had to remove the old fence before they arrived. Gary got out with the chainsaw cutting off the rails and we each took turns of the sledgehammer, somewhat therapeutically, bashing off the palings. The old hardwood timber fence was not wasted and Gary had arranged to redistribute it to friends and neighbours to use as firewood.

Therapeutic fence removal

 We hired a two person petrol driver post hole digger with a 330mm auger from Kennards in Nowra to dig the 35 post holes for the deck footings. We hired it on 31 December as 1 January was a public holiday we had to return it on 2 January and in effect got one day free. We had never used a post hole digger and despite brief instructions from Kennards we had great trouble getting it started. With some help from neighbour, Gary, the machine was finally stated. We started digging, thankfully Ben had control of the throttle as I had to use every muscle in my body to hold the beast of a machine and stop it from flinging me around in a circle. It was hard work. We had to keep lifting the auger out to shake off the soil. Then we hit solid clay and neither the machine nor I could go any further. The Alan Staines “The Deck Building Book” had suggested using 600mm deep concrete footings however, given that the engineering for the house concrete slab had only required the piers under the slab to go down to the undisturbed red clay layer, we figures that was good enough for the deck too.  

 

We started with the holes for the deck between the main and back pavilions. It was a hot day and the work was so hard that we only got through five holes in half a day. The soil was compacted and we hit patches of clay before we got to the solid clay layer. The work was extremely physically demanding then our spirits were crushed as we cracked through a storm water pipe that I had misjudges the location of. After this it was decided to dig two further holes, considered too close to the possible location of the storm water pipe, to risk using the auger on, by hand. Our work was thankfully put on hold by the need to join friends and a New Years Eve celebration.  Len Beckett, our fabulous plumber, came by and fixed our stormwater pipe on 3 January, in time for our conctrete to be poured on 6 January.

Cracked storm water pipe

Damaged pipe uncovered

With 27 holes left to dig on New Year’s Day we set ourselves a target of 10 before lunch, 10 after lunch and the remainder the following morning. However our technique improved, in particular in knowing how much soil could accumulate in the auger before we had to list it out and empty off the soil, as if left in too long the auger was almost impossible to lift and it take out too early it just wasted time and energy. We dug a number of tricky holes in awkward corners and close to the house, then got faster again as we moved to the front of the house where the soil was deeper before the clay was reached. As we moved away from the house to the holes for the larger front deck, where I presume the soil had not been compacted, the holes got easier to dig. We reached our target number of holes for the day and then kept going. With only 3 or 4 holes left there seemed no point leaving it to the following day and so finished all the holes. 

Holes dug

Post hole digger/auger in background

Although we had both worn gloves our hands paid a price for the assistance of the mechanical auger and we had blistered hands. I determined with a day like that on New Year’s Day every day for the rest of the year would be better than that day.  

Sore blistered hands

Meanwhile the fencers set to work on the new fence and despite the heat had the whole thing done in two days.

Posts and rails went in

The finished fence

With the concrete arriveing on 6 January, the first day back at work for the Ezyway mini concrete truck company, I had a couple of days to put in the post stirrups and bearers. The stirrups were attached straight to the bearers instead of posts and I levelled and propped the bearers up on chocks of timber so that the concrete could be poured straight into the holes. All was not smooth sailing, the difficulties we had with the post hole digger meant that some of the holes were not as accurate as thety could have been. This particularly caused a headache on the largest deck as the bearers had to be joined in the middle over a stirrup, which of course had to line up with a hole. A pep talk from neighbour Gary kept me going and helped me accept that stirrups not quite in the centre of the holes were not the end of the world.

Stirrups and bearers in place, ready for concrete

The deck starts to take shape

On 6 January the concrete arrived at 10am. I should probably have asked it to arrive earlier as it was a hot day and the concrete started to go off quickly before I could level it.  The truck driver from Ezyway was a deft hand at attaching and removing chutes from the truck and reversing it into just the rights spot so that the whole of the front deck was poured straight from the truck into the holes. We only had to wheel barrow the concrete into the holes for the decks around the back, saving us a lot of work. In the heat however, the concrete started to go off before I had time to level it and give it an incline down away from the stirrups, so the ones in the sun are a little lumpy. I should not hae worried, after all they will be underneath a deck!

Concrete in place

Temporary forms used to keep concrete contained