Hi All,
It’s been nine weeks now since the restoration of my place started. I’m at the stage where all the preparation work has been completed and now visual progress is being made.
As part of the process of picking up the house, lowering and bracing there were some rooms that weren’t being touched from a builders perspective, I elected to attack these also as there was no better time to do this. On top of the bedrooms, lounge and entrance way, the bathroom, laundry, toilet and kitchen have been fully gutted so that all external walls can be insulated and re-lined.
My house was built in 1951 and as such is full of solid rimu. The downside of this is the building methods of the day were that timber wasn’t bone dry when installed and over time the timber dries out and the walls are no longer straight. A few days were spend skimming the walls and packing where appropriate to correct this.
When it comes to repairing houses and renovations, the question I have asked myself on a number of occasions is where do you stop in terms of the things you do. I’ve probably spent more than I intended, however I’m certain that the final result will be worth it. My house colours were ‘colourful’ and dated, I’m very happy to have chosen a nice new neutral colour scheme that I will ‘colour’ through artwork and furniture.
The weatherboards on the north side of the house where the lounge extension was suffered some damage, so these needed to replaced. I also used this as an opportunity to move the power metre outside as the house needed to be fully re-wired as well as plumbed.
The ceiling stud height was 2.7 metres so I elected for the installation of a new Rondo ceiling. This is basically a form of suspended ceiling where the gib is attached to rails and lowered about 25mm. There were some external weatherboards that needed replacing around the rest of the house as they were damaged when the house was picked up (and stairs removed), and some holes around the kitchen and laundry where the old external vents were.
Yesterday they completed the re-lining the house – new walls and ceilings were installed.
Whilst work is going on inside, the builders started attacking the outside 
. I had an existing deck at the front of the house which was removed prior to picking up the house, the replacement one is a slightly larger and at the back a new 54m2 deck is being added.
The remainder of this week should see the decks completed and the gib stopping happening inside.
Nick.
Previous Posts
The New Adventure – Update 02 #EQC #CHCH
The New Adventure – Update 01
Fight or flight – Christchurch #eqnz
More photos are available here.