Bogged Down

Its been a very quiet 4 months in the Dung Heap. Lots of the usual activities of life but not much DIY or anything household related to be worth writing about.

The back garden is still about as it was in August. Time and work constraints mean we didn't manage to get the concrete broken up or finish the second border. Oh well, spring is only 3 and a bit months away.

We did manage to finish off one of the water features. Its a glass segment sphere that looks great in the dark.



An unfortunate accident on holidays also meant the end of our camera. The body and electronics within still work but the lens has had it. Shame really as Nikon no longer make that lens. Our alternatives are to either downgrade to the closest match or fork out £££ for the next model up in the range. Chances are we'll save up for the better lens, but other household priorities have to come first.

One minor thing we had to get done was the bathroom. We had hoped to have moved it up to one of the spare bedrooms by now so tarting it up had been somewhat low in our priority list. Since we are going to have to keep it as is for at least another year out came the paint pots. The ceiling was the biggest concern as the paint had begun to peel and wasn't holding up well in such a humid environment.

Once again the previous owner's choice in tradesmen left a lot to be desired. They fitted a plasterboard dropped ceiling with recessed lighting. However the lazy b*stards didn't bother to properly skim the joint between the walls and ceiling. They cheated with a thick bead of silicone caulk. The other cheap skate cheat they got away with was to not install a vent fan. There is an opening window but that's pretty useless on a cold morning. As a result the room gets far more humidity than it should. This has led to mould on the ceiling and peeling paint.

All the caulk had to be removed and the edges cleaned up before painting could begin. They obviously had used plain old cheap emulsion instead of  paint designed for bathrooms. Most of the ceiling paint that hadn't peeled before now came off with the cauling. 

This shows just how rough and crappy the workmanship was.

We also took the time to clean down the small amount of wall what isn't covered in horrid brown tiles and freshen it up.

Dark plum it is. A vast improvement over the boring magnolia it replaced.  Excuse the poor photos. The iPhone for all its wonders has a rather crap camera.