Stud adhesive

I kid you not. This is a name of a product that Jason and Mr Rooney, our walking-wounded builder, were using the past couple of days.

It's basically a thick glue like substance to stick the ceiling sheets to the ceiling battens. Wouldn't you love to work for the Stud Adhesive marketing department? I've already created a few campaigns in my head, all grossly inappropriate of course!

The new ceiling is in. Wooden battens will be used to cover the major seams in the ceiling sheets. It will also need to be filled and painted.

Studs at work using stud adhesive while listening to the dulcet tunes of 4BH radio playing such hits as Galveston sung by Glenn Campbell. A long forgotten goodie. 

There are so many double entendres in the building game. Jason called me on my mobile this morning while I was out running some errands. He wanted me to buy some hardener at Bunnings for Mr Rooney.

"I beg your pardon?" was all I could manage in response.

It is used in a two-part compound called Plastibond, which is a heavy-duty filler or plastic putty. The hardener makes it set. Jason calls it viagra for builder's bog. They used the compound to fill in the hinge rebates of the lattice doors on the deck which will have to be rehung to accommodate the new ceiling.

Anyway, it was an extremely productive day. The bulk of the deck ceiling is done. The window hoods are painted and ready to install. I learnt that hardener with Plastibond and stud adhesive are cool products. I also learnt that Glenn Campbell has an excellent voice.

And not one injury to report today, but I did forget to show you Jason's gashed skull from Friday.

Jason - AKA Scar Head - It's healed well after a couple of days.

He bent down to pick something off the floor and  knocked his head on the sharp end of a ceiling batten which was sitting on the deck rails. It was not pretty and he was not happy.

It's healing nicely after Mr Rooney performed first aid.

Insulated ceiling for the deck (and why I would make a great ambulance driver)

There are a lot of projects happening all at once at the Sow's Ear. It's hard to keep up at Action Central.

Jason took the day off on Friday to assist Mr Rooney, our stoic builder (you'll understand why...), to install an insulated ceiling on our deck.

exposed rafters on the deck. This photo was taken in winter 2010

Our deck has exposed rafters with a tin roof. It is almost unusable in the middle of the day because it is as hot as hell under there. I am not exaggerating either. We avoid using it during the heat of the day which is just crazy when it is such a great outdoor space.

So, Mr Rooney is helping us retro-fit an insulated ceiling. It sounds a lot easier than done, as the deck measures approximately 5.8m x 8m.

Jason and Mr Rooney have been working on it solidly for the past two days. They are extremely hardworking.

Yesterday was the measuring and preparatory stage. Since we are using hardiflex sheets for the ceiling it was important to get the right layout. It will be done in a brick pattern which distributes the load across the ceiling, as the sheets are quite heavy.

Metal ceiling battens were also affixed onto the rafters every 600mm. The foil insulation was inserted between the roof and the battens. Mr Rooney dusted himself with baby powder. He said it was to stop the fibreglass itch from the insulation. He was a sight to behold. I could've charged admission.

Once the insulation was in, there was an instant cooling effect or perhaps it was psychosomatic because it wasn't that hot yesterday.

The first of the foil insulation installed on the deck

The deck is insulated giving a space age effect

Today Jason and Mr Rooney concentrated on putting in the ceiling. They enlisted the help of a sheet lifter which was hired for the weekend. It was soon renamed the "shirt lifter". Appropriate really, given Jason's predilection  for being shirtless.

Sheet lifter

Shirt wearing Jason operating the shirt sheet lifter

The lifter was invaluable...especially when I had to drive Mr Rooney to the emergency hospital and Jason was left to his own devices for a while!!

Yes, Mr Rooney sustained an injury. The unbreakable Mr Rooney broke!

Don't worry people, he's okay now. Some nasty stuff got into one of his eyes. He thought he could wash it out but whatever it was did not want to be dislodged. 

His eyes were bloodshot, his nose was dribbling; he was not in a good nor attractive place. Again, I could've charged admission.

Off to emergency we raced. Luckily there is a good private hospital nearby. A small shard of metal was removed from his eye. It must've flown into his eye when he was drilling into a metal batten.

When we got back to the Sow's Ear, Mr Rooney put on his safety googles (as did Jason) and returned to work with anaesthetised eyes. Such a trooper. A lesser man would've gone home for a cup of tea and a lie down, but not our Mr Rooney.

Hardiflex ceiling on the deck, Mr Rooney wearing safety goggles

We are hoping to have it finished by tomorrow.

Timber and tin window hoods on Australia Day

For some people Australia Day 2011 was a sausage sizzle or a cold beer with your mates or even a day at the beach.

For us it was the day two timber and tin window hoods were constructed for the Sow's Ear. It seemed like the Australian thing to do.

This is the window hood on the front of the Sow's Ear.
The new window hoods will match this very simple style.

Jason and Mr Rooney, our expert builder, built two perfect window hoods from scratch to protect our bedroom windows from the weather. They did a marvellous job.

Here is a pictorial of the day:

It started with a plan scribbled on the makeshift work bench and a couple of lattes (very metro of them...)

Putting together the frame of the window hoods

Jason, the apprentice, nailing the timber battens to the frame.
Mr Rooney's laptop was used to calculate the correct spacing for the battens. There is an algorithm which takes the guess work out of it. 

This is gable roll or barge roll.
It is used as a decorative element (as well as for flashing) around the edge of the window hood.
It finishes the window hoods nicely.

The gable roll being nailed onto the window hoods. That's Son #1 doing the honours.

The completed timber and tin window hoods.
Don't they look fantastic?  They will need to be sanded and painted before they are installed over the bedroom casement windows

Well done Jason and Mr Rooney!

Gable roll for window hoods

Today, Mr Rooney, our military historian builder, sent me around the countryside to pick up building supplies. Like his girl Friday.

I was hoping to put my feet up and read a book in peace, now the two eldest boys resumed school today (Sshh! Don't tell Jason. I meant to say scrubbing the toilet or something)

Instead my mission was to source gable roll and to pick up other material from Bunnings. Mr Rooney is forward-planning for when he and Jason make window hoods for the bedroom side of the Sow's Ear. They're  making a start on them tomorrow.

Timber and tin window hood
Image from here

Anyway, my eyes have well and truly been opened to the time-consuming world of sourcing building materials. I stuffed up and bought the wrong thing even after telephoning a few places to see if they had the elusive gable roll.

Image courtesy of Stratco

Being the hapless blogger that I am,  I spent a good part of the day ricocheting from Tingalpa, home, Tingalpa, Capalaba...it's got a certain ring to it, as only Australian suburbs do.

I swear there's a couple of middle-aged blokes having dinner tonight talking about their day and about that dumb Sheila who didn't know the difference between rolled-edged flashing and gable roll.

Yeah, well I know now.

Two more windows went in this afternoon. It is starting to look very nice!

Thirteen

Maybe Jason's not so bad after all...

He came home this afternoon with 13 roses for our 13th wedding anniversary.

Thirteen years ago we still had good skin elasticity. Ah, those were the days...

Signing our lives away in 1998 at our no-frills wedding

Mr Rooney, our kid-friendly builder, came around today to do more work on the casement windows.

However, he got a bit side tracked helping the boys make timber "creations"...The boys loved every minute of it.

Son #2 harassed Mr Rooney throughout the day for the use of his nail gun.
 This is his version of a watchtower. That's son #3 in the nappy.

Mr Rooney helped Son #1 make an épée