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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 1, 2016 17:43:45 GMT 2
The paint/varnish stripper was lathered on quite thickly as it is about the consistency of honey. Left for half an hour and then scraped off with a scraper. You can then see the bits you've missed and re-apply the stripper. Wait again and then scrape that off as well - When you've finished with that, best thing to do is get oodles of warm soapy water and give the whole thing a bloody good wash down. Then do it again to make sure. Run your fingers around the edges and if it still feels slippery because of the goo, rinse that properly as well. Needless to say, you must at all times wear protective gloves, protective goggles, not use heavy machinery at the same time nor drink and/or do drugs and strip. Condoms can also be supplied if you still feel extra protection is necessary. Me being me I wore a pair of shorts and a T shirt and was bare foot. I'll leave it overnight to dry and give it a coat or two of stain/varnish tomorrow - Now the pool - It's empty, obviously. The builders said to drop the water level down to 50cm below where the leak is. As the leak is only 45cm from the bottom, this necessitated the whole lot coming out. I had covered it in preparation for the winter but it looks like I'll have to do it again when it is repaired and re-filled. You can't leave a pool empty for any length of time as it affects the concrete by drying it out and it will crack. Plus the weight of the water helps the concrete keep its shape. A level down, where the side of the pool is, is an outhouse. This is where the electrics for the pool pump is (are?). Looking through the doorway - I've chipped the render away and you can now see the side of the pool. The black oval near the top is where it is weeping. You can see how the chlorinated water and concrete have discoloured the white covering. This is what first drew my attention to it, I saw where a dirty mark was forming. You can also just about make out in the bottom third of where I've chipped out, the concrete that is the thickness of the bottom of the pool. The pipe to the left is where, inside the pool, I connect the pool vacuum to clean it when the pump is operated. The pipe goes down and further to the left to connect with the rest of the plumbing by the filter and pump - I'll keep you updated. I'm sure you are on tenterhooks.
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Post by auntieannie on Oct 1, 2016 21:18:17 GMT 2
sounds nasty, Mark!
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Post by Voy on Oct 2, 2016 0:42:07 GMT 2
must say I agree with Slow, and quite like the "rusticated" look of the forgotten side... but I do understand the need to make it all weather proof and sound..
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 2, 2016 7:17:33 GMT 2
If our bathroom wall on that side didn't start showing some damp then we may never have done it.
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 2, 2016 16:25:15 GMT 2
Gave the table two coats of varnish this morning. It doesn't look a lot different to when I started. But all the worn away patches have gone. Also, you know how when you have a bunch of people round and invariably you are one chair short? And usually there are a couple or more kids? Well, I've solved that problem. Two of the kids can sit together at the end on the new bench. I always end up with a load of off cuts that aren't good for much other than lining them all up, sticking them all together and making a bench out of them - The workers should be here in the morning. We'll see how they get on.
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 3, 2016 18:10:20 GMT 2
Update Day 1 The workers are quite reliable and turned up on time this morning. The boss, the technician and I had a walk round and looked at what needed doing. The boss then left to go for his breakfast. The two workers then set to and unloaded their wagon and started chipping out the concrete at the side of the pool. When they'd got down far enough it looked like this - The hole was washed out, left to dry and then this stuff ("....fast curing polyurethane sealant/adhesive with permanent elasticity.") - Was liberally applied - It'll need some time to dry and then I suppose, but not certain, they'll want me to fill the pool back up before they cover it with concrete and see if it leaks. In the meantime they began to erect the scaffolding - As usual they needed to do two jobs at once and realised the cement mixer was too far away. It was down on a track easily accessible to vehicles where they'd dropped it off. But, it needed to be closer to the house. So the 'lad' hopped in this little digger thingy after hooking up the mixer to the back and commenced to drag it through the olive trees. Unfortunately I think driving it is not something he had a lot of practice at - However, after a bit of a steep learning curve he mastered to controls and set off, winding his way up from the track between the trees - Eventually at his destination - He was happy now, as though he'd passed the first test of the day - After several hours of putting up the framework, in the blazing sun, they set about chipping off the old surface so there was nothing loose underneath the new render - As usual as well there is just the technician and a lad to mix stuff for him and do the majority of the labour. They started at 8am, had half an hour breakfast at 10am, another half an hour at 2pm for lunch and they keep on until they stop. When that will be I've no idea. It is now a little after 6pm, sunset is at 8pm so I expect maybe about 7pm they tool up and sod off. More tomorrow. It's exciting, isn't it?
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Post by Voy on Oct 4, 2016 14:50:19 GMT 2
so.... did they show?
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 4, 2016 18:03:33 GMT 2
Yes, as my last post shows a photo of the lad. They came again as normal this morning and will be here at least all this week and maybe next week as well.
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Post by ninchursanga on Oct 4, 2016 18:50:01 GMT 2
Now I had to check when this thread was started...2012. This is quite a project and each time I tune in here it looks better and better. I wish I could built bookshelves like that. That is a skill I really want to learn as well.
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 4, 2016 20:32:47 GMT 2
I'll nip round tomorrow and bring some tools.
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 5, 2016 18:20:43 GMT 2
Update Day 3 They've been at it a couple of days and nearly finished putting on a base layer of cement. There's just the top right to do. That'll be finished of in the morning and then they can start slapping on the white render. My pool is still empty, the boss says maybe tomorrow I can start filling it to test the repair. The problem is it takes about three days or so to fill but I'm away this weekend so it might be I won't start until Monday. They are on target so far anyway -
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 9, 2016 13:01:34 GMT 2
Update Finish - They just need to do a bit of clearing up and I need to paint the two grills at the bottom. The top ones I did last Thursday after the workers had gone home. As I've been away the pool is not full so when they come tomorrow I'm not sure quite what they'll think. I did warn them to give me plenty of time. We'll see what happens. But, this major job, the last job, is done -
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Post by Scrubb on Oct 9, 2016 18:57:21 GMT 2
Wow - a real transformation! Good luck with the pool.
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 9, 2016 20:06:54 GMT 2
Thanks. We'll see tomorrow.
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 10, 2016 17:08:48 GMT 2
The saga continues. I filled the pool up enough to go past where it was weeping before. And it is still weeping. Not by much at all though and hardly noticeable. If I clean the spot I have to wait a few minutes until a drop of water appears. In any case it isn't right and I wondered if the workers this morning would see it. They did. If they hadn't then I'd have pointed it out. I did then wonder if they'd not say anything but just finish it off. But no, they told me and said they needed to order some very special stuff which will take a few days to come. It may be here by the end of the week but my concern is more that I may have to drain the pool again. My neighbour would be happy about this because the water runs down to irrigate his olive trees though. I'll let you know.
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 25, 2016 20:53:36 GMT 2
The very last update (probably) - the pool was finished and not leaking any more. But there was a bit of problem elsewhere. We get our water from the village about a kilometer and a half away by means of a plastic pipe running across the fields through the olive trees. Mains water in effect but because the pipe isn't full bore the pressure is a bit reduced, but no matter. Every October the farmers run a tractor, with a large hook shaped piece of metal called a 'ripper', through the fields to help with irrigation when it rains over the winter. There is a certain point I have found in one of the fields, in a dip, where our water pipe isn't quite deep enough. Hence the ripper breaks the pipe, spewing water all over. But the driver doesn't notice because it takes a while for the water to come to the surface.
As the pipe still has to go about a kilometer to the house we don't know this has happened, apart from a gradual reduction in pressure, for at least a day or two. By this time we've lost probably fifteen to twenty thousand litres of water from the cut off pipe (I've worked it out, trust me). Four years ago this happened, I repaired the break and Mrs M told the farmer. Three years ago the same thing happened and the same words were had. Two years ago again and we absolutely made sure the farmer knew exactly where and how etc etc. Last year nothing happened. We thought we were saved. Last week he did it yet again.
I got man in to repair it (2 hours at 15 euro and hour so quite cheap). The repair lasted a day and a previous connection must have been strained and disconnected. The man came back and did it for free. But then, due to the vacuum that had built up in the pipe on the house side, a load of mud was sucked in. This blocked the pipe, fortunately only for an hour or so until the water pressure behind it dissolved the mud and it freed itself. Then all the taps in the house needed cleaning as the little sieves/filters in the spouts were caked with mud. Now it seems ok again.
The solution of telling the farmer obviously doesn't work. A different solution of paying a man who has a trenching attachment for his tractor to bury that section deeper would cost some money but I don't think too much, probably about 100 euro. But I've tried a different tactic. I have a two metre fence post and have attached to it a large board painted in fluorescent yellow, with the word 'AGUA' painted in fluorescent blue on it and a double headed arrow pointing where the pipe runs. This I've stuck in the ground at the point he normally cuts it. Cost zero as I had the stuff laying around.
I'll let you know next October what happens.
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Post by shrjeff on Oct 26, 2016 11:49:55 GMT 2
wow, who pays for the lost water?
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 26, 2016 15:13:37 GMT 2
Me. We've tried to get something from the farmer but he says he needed have given permission for the pipe to go over his land and we should have buried it deeper anyway. To fill the pool, 64,000 litres, costs us about 70 euro, so once a year it is a cost of 15 to 20 euros, which we don't mind paying to keep the peace. He could refuse us having the pipe which would cause us no end of trouble.
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Post by Baz Faz on Oct 26, 2016 16:22:00 GMT 2
His trees are well irrigated so maybe he'll give you some olives. I can let you have a recipe for curing black olives (green olives need different treatment}.
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Post by OnlyMark on Oct 26, 2016 18:29:06 GMT 2
Out of the five of us in my family, not one likes olives. Sad really. We'll use oil for salads and cooking but that's about it.
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Post by slowcoach on Nov 10, 2019 13:26:56 GMT 2
While I remember.
Our street has quite a steep gradient from one side of the houses to the other. The nearby street that runs at a right angle to ours has a steep slope from front down to their backs. One of them is two stories at the front and three at the back so a similar if perhaps opposite layout to yours. The original use for this basement via the front door was as a livestock enclosure via the small rear courtyard. It is becoming a winery and they have ripped the mangers out. I wish they had told me, I should have liked to see it, as was.
Having a separate floor for overnighting the livestock would have been very posh, but not as warming as keeping them on an occupied floor.
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Post by OnlyMark on Nov 10, 2019 18:38:13 GMT 2
I have the mother in law staying for a few weeks most summers in the lowest floor where we had the food troughs. Whether that can still be classed as livestock, I'm not sure.
There was s staircase inside that joined that level with the living accommodation. I made sure that came out so she doesn't have a heart attack when I'm walking round bollock naked as it's too hot.
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Post by auntieannie on Nov 10, 2019 21:21:38 GMT 2
lol! hilarious!
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Post by slowcoach on Nov 11, 2019 5:19:13 GMT 2
I worry about the horses.
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Post by OnlyMark on Aug 10, 2020 20:54:08 GMT 2
Thought it was about time for a short update to see what the outside of the house looks like now. Especially as I’ve nothing to do today. As you walk in from the outside door into the courtyard there is a set of steps in front of you. We’ll take these in a minute - But first a look around the courtyard. Yes, we have a lot of grills, but if we don’t have them, we can’t get house insurance. It’s a cross I have to bear. At the far end you can see two sunbeds, a chair and a wall - all nice and white as it’s in here I’ve been painting. This is where we regularly have a film night. The projector sits on the chair and projects onto the wall, we have some drinks and snacks and when it is dark enough, we relax in the cooler evening and watch something far from intellectual and closer to Wallace and Gromit or Best Marigold Hotel. There are no neighbours so we can have it as loud as we want and not disturb anyone - Then a look around - Up the steps to the middle floor and the access to the house itself (the bottom rooms are separate and have no access to the main part of the building. They are guest rooms with their own ‘facilities’. You can see centre of the photo a sign post - I’ve shown this before but we’ve added to it. It is a list of places we have lived and are important to us and pointing in the direction the city is - Looking down into the dirty yard (patio sucio) where we hang the washing etc. Plus you can see three solar panels which are purely for use for the pool pump. They are separate from the main house solar system - Through a gate to the back of the house - This is just before going through - Looking left there is an area on ground we have done nothing with for now. There seems no need anyway so we just leave it. It grows three metre tall thistles though and plenty of wild grass/flowers in the spring. In the summer when it is all dry it is a fire hazard so we always clear it - Moving further - This is the back patio which after about 11am is always in the shade and there is a door direct from the kitchen to it. Quite handy - The other side of the house - Back in through the gate and the part I seem in the summer to spend a lot of time in. The pool -
The village from the pool patio, and is uphill about 1.5km away - That’ll do for now.
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Post by auntieannie on Aug 10, 2020 21:16:15 GMT 2
gorgeous! I'm well jealous!
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Post by Netsuke on Aug 11, 2020 7:03:02 GMT 2
An oasis of nature.
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Post by sophie on Aug 11, 2020 7:35:16 GMT 2
Looks wonderful.. I think it would be a great place for a pissup once travel happens....
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Post by OnlyMark on Aug 11, 2020 8:39:19 GMT 2
You'd all be welcome.
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Post by Baz Faz on Aug 11, 2020 13:11:49 GMT 2
Well, I am mightily disappointed. I was just looking at the first photo of steps and woosh, it vanished to be replaced by a postage sized square. I clicked on that and got a new page telling me to post my pictures here. I know I have missed about 30 photos. What a shame as everyone else is so enthusiastic.
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