Stencilling finished

The stencilling has now finished, the picture rail and skirting board are now being worked on. The two end corners were in a bit of a mess due to the old water damage.

As in the front rooms, someone at some time in the past had plastered in sheets of hard asbestos and these were left as it seemed a bit silly to take them out and then having to replaster. The walls were cleaned up, flattened out and then a coat of paint put on, from a distance it looked fine and the decision was made to just add another coat of paint. The skirting boards were a bit more difficult and minor but awkward repairs were made which included correcting previous repairs from the past. The right hand photo below had its own problems which are still being worked on.

 

When the floor joists in this room were replaced (before this blog was started) the floor boards on this side of the room had dropped about 2 ins(50mm) due to wet rot and an attempt was made to put the new joists in at the correct height BUT that meant taking down the bookcase, 7ft high(2 metres) and 13 ft long and which is bolted to the wall. The floorboards were jacked up as high as possible and left with about a 1ins gap between the skirting board! There is quite a draft coming through here from the space below and it needs to be plugged.

Here is the under floor space, which in the middle is 8ft deep
 

The picture rail was sanded down and painted but without taking all the paint off, the red was to bright. Now, sanded down, painted brown, then painted red(actually ruby starlet), this gives the depth of colour wanted. As before, the top moulding of the skirting board is being stripped and the flat portion just sanded, this part will now be painted brown first.

Before and after(with xmas decoration) pictures -