In and Out Buildings - Thoughts and Research

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Thats really pawsh Paul. What surpises me is the builders of sheds do not cramp the tongue and groove timbers together like we did in the trailer business. Mind you, most timber sheds today use such thin boards that cramping would only bow the wood when it expanded. My two sheds have dried out so much this summer, its ridiculous.

Will you stain the shed or 'paint' it. By paint, I refer to a decent preserver like Sadolin classic.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Larry, more photos will answer your question. A bit grey today and other things to do right now before I take photos.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
We're swamped with tousists! It's the usual gorgeous here; Just the ticket for everyone especially those who have returned for a holiday here for the first time since the 1950's!
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
This weekend in Hampshire has been far from perfect. Heavy thunderstorms early Saturday morning ruined the weekend for all those travelling down from London. We are still cleaning up.

But I have just taken a few photos. Some are on “estate agent” wide angle as space around the motor house is tight.

The garage door entrance. The driveway is a future project.
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just to show the “wooden leaded lights!” And the rear wall painted.
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The workshop wall with French Doors. Yet to be painted.
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The workshop area:
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The garage entrance.
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Focalplane

Western Thunderer
The paint being used on the exterior after applying a liberal amount of Cuprinol 5 Star and letting it dry for 48 hours is

Sadolin Superdec opaque paint, main colour Jungle Green, window and door frames Obsidian. (yet to be opened). Two coats, at least 24 hours apart.

I do like Superdec opaque and will use it when I repaint the woodwork on the main house.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
More heavy rain today precluded any painting. The same weather happened last year when we bought the house but I hope this is not a "trending" event. But thoughts on the layout have been interesting.

Scenario 1

Car to be restored, placed sideways along the back wall, working area to the front. More room to move around the static car.

Scenario 2

Car being stored lengthways during winter in garage space, workshop area for other pastimes, basically the long term plan.

Scenario 3

Car now in summer use and in main garage at the front of the house. Plenty of work space! This assumes one car is sold or is driven to France for the "season". Right now that car isn't going anywhere, it is being rewired!

Electricity

The Motor House needs electricity! The good news is that we had a contract electrician working elsewhere on the property last week. He's from Venezuela, a country I worked in for a while and experienced what life is like there in a country with more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia yet whose government now imports petrol, they are so inept. Many of the Venezuelans I worked with in 2004 have left so it was no surprise to meet José with a "bom dia" greeting and the friendship grew from there. He will be back in a few weeks to give me an estimate. While he was here last week he worked two 12 hour days and then took off at 7:30pm on Friday to drive his van home to Preston for the weekend. Always smiling, always obliging. And my Latino Spanish improved a bit as well!
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
Very nice. A weather vane of suitable subject would be nice on there - useful too if you can see it from the house.

Mike
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Dave, Latin American Spanish is not necessarily Castilian, in fact it can be more like Catalan. Where bom dia is also used. Venezuela has close historical ties to Brazil as well. My area of interest was in the east, close to Brazil and the Orinoco Delta. Not only is the language slightly different from pure Madrid Spanish but country dialects can be different too. “cuyo” in Argentina is pronounced “koo joe”.

On a different continent, many Africans speak more “accurate” French these days than the French themselves do. These include the Congolese, Gabonese and Senegalese. “Comment allez vous” anyone?

However, I am not a linguistic expert, just someone who worked with the locals!
 

daifly

Western Thunderer
My time in South America was spent mostly in Buenos Aires (where there is a large Italian element to the language - it’s ciao not adios there), São Paulo and Caracas (where I only used European Spanish without issue). As a Spanish friend of mine said, Portuguese speakers understand you if you speak very loudly in Spanish!
Dave
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
As well as a weather vane, I have been thinking of some old automobile posters and enamel signs. I now rue the days I would drive past junk shops in Texas and ignore the old Sinclair Oil dinosaur signs as being, well, junk. I do have a Sinclair oil tanker in HO but that never had the dinosaur on it, more’s the pity. How ironic that Sinclair foretold where the once vaulted oil industry would end up.

But the best sign would be an enamel dark blue Riley diamond above the garage door. “As Old as the Industry, as Modern as the Hour”. But there are other priorities at the moment.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
More heavy rain today but I managed some exterior painting in the morning. Then with rain everywhere I swept and vacuumed one side and painted the floor with a product whose name I can’t remember as a conditioner to painting the floor “garage grey”. This endeavour will continue tomorrow which is supposed to be a dry day - ha ha! The SW facing wall remains rain soaked so cannot be painted.

Some garage mats arrived this morning which will really help my aging feet and knees in the years ahead. I still plsn to have more matting but these are modular so can be enlarged easily.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Dave, a true “Catch 22” situation at the moment. But you are right, of course.

Mentioning “Catch 22”, I wonder if this term is still in regular use? I would think not with younger generations, yet it seems to be just as appropriate today, if not more so.
 

John Ross

Western Thunderer
As well as a weather vane, I have been thinking of some old automobile posters and enamel signs. I now rue the days I would drive past junk shops in Texas and ignore the old Sinclair Oil dinosaur signs as being, well, junk. I do have a Sinclair oil tanker in HO but that never had the dinosaur on it, more’s the pity. How ironic that Sinclair foretold where the once vaulted oil industry would end up.

But the best sign would be an enamel dark blue Riley diamond above the garage door. “As Old as the Industry, as Modern as the Hour”. But there are other priorities at the moment.

If looking for a Weathervane it might be worth checking Dorset Weathervanes www.weathervanes-direct.co.uk I have just refurbished my garden shed and order this from them as it matches the theme of the O Gauge railway that I am building. DSCF6926.JPG
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Today has been dry so I tackled the west facing wall after it had been exposed to drying wind and some sun. I then gave another coat to the doors and a window. Before that I painted one half of the concrete floor. The other half will be done once the first half has dried and cured.

Tomorrow looks like rain so no exterior work will take place. I do have other jobs to do so maybe they will get some attention.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Rain, rain, more rain. I had forgotten about English summers! Painting the west wall of the Motor House has been stalled but other details have been attended to inside. The entire floor has now received one coat of garage floor paint (Polar brand, light grey) and now needs a second coat. At least this can be done when it's raining though the fumes are quite strong so I leave the garage door open.

Three wall cabinets have been ordered to mount above the three floor cabinets. These will mostly house manuals, books, spare parts and woodworking tools. I have ordered extra shelves to make more room to store small objects (lots of screws, bolts and nuts in screw top jam jars, etc.)

One good thing about reorganizing storage is that you find things that had been considered lost or mislaid. I whole jar of glass 25 amp fuses appeared yesterday. I will need some of those in the weeks ahead with a car rewiring job going on!

Our ground worker suggested that the outside exposed foundation slab be coated in a bitumen paint to seal the concrete from heavy rain soaking in. I found some roofing adhesive and after his reading the label I got the thumbs up to use it, thus saving the expense of yet another can of "stuff" But again, fair weather is required for its application. Come on summer, where are you?

Some pictures are due, perhaps tomorrow?
 
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