Paradigm shift - fixing the deck roof

The plan today was to put a final coat of paint on the back roof gable and to get that job out of the way. That was the plan.

Jason was just touching up some of the paint work when the deck roof he was standing on cracked to pieces.

He was standing on a very long plank placed strategically over a portion of polycarbonate roof sheeting. The rest of the roof is tin but there is a small section which has the laserlite stuff to shed more light onto the deck.

This type of old sheeting becomes quite brittle over time so you really shouldn't walk on it. The plank was the solution to allow Jason to access the areas he needed to paint.

The plank must've moved slightly and when Jason shifted his weight, the plank cracked the width of four sheets of the brittle roofing.

Cracked polycarbonate (laserlite) roof sheet

The hoo-hah that emanated from the deck roof was not good.

Off to the hardware Jason went. Apparently, the new sheets didn't fit into our my car very well and consequently there are some deep gouges on the car ceiling left by the sharp edges of the tin.

Hmmm...to say that Jason had a woeful day would really be an understatement. His demeanour was what I would describe as frightening. The kids and I were alert and alarmed!

Not even the 'pineappley' Sunday brunch ( a post on that later) I had prepared Jason could lift him from the depth of his despair.

Jason positioning the tin roofing. A minute after I took this photo, Jason stood up and noticed the sheet was out of position and promptly started to kick the sh*t out of it. I scurried back down the ladder to hide.

It took him most of the day but we now have a new section of deck roof. It might not have been the job planned for today but it was always a project that needed to be done.

Anyway, aren't we glad to see the end of that weekend!

Back roof gable

There's little reward for painting parts of the house that no one could possibly see from ground level. Like the back roof gable on the Sow's Ear.

(I lied. You can see it, the very peak of it, if you stand near the mango tree in the very far corner of our backyard.)

Jason painting the back roof gable. He's standing on the deck roof.

Jason looking buff in this photo. Just a gratuitous shot for his fans. You can thank me later Mr Rooney.

The job still needs to be done despite it not delivering much bang for our buck. Really, I don't know how much satisfaction Jason gets from doing these sorts of jobs? That's the bittersweet reality of renovating an old house I suppose.

It will be good when we finally tackle the façade though. And that's not too far away at the rate we are progressing!

Renovator's Rescue

You'd have to worry when a house for sale is advertised as a Renovation Rescue.

Neglected Queenslander - the outside creeping in

We drive past this house when we take the rat run to school each week day morning. It is an example of what happens to a Queenslander home when it is neglected. Actually, any home that is neglected.

This house looks to be in mostly original condition, give or take a few changes over its 75 or so years. I'm fascinated by houses which have been unaltered structurally...even when they are so dilapidated.

Interwar Queenslander kitchen

Original bathroom with terrazzo floor

Seeing these images reminds me that the Sow's Ear would've been very similar when it was first built. The facilities were really quite basic all those years ago.

Someone handy (with spare dollars) could really transform this old place. I'll be keeping my eye on this place to see whether it is renovated or detonated. I have my fingers crossed for renovated.



*images from here

House History - Zoila's written work

The Examiner by Zoila Stables, Galmahra,  May 1925 P.66
I'd like to have this framed for the house.

Late last week I received an email from the Fryer Library at the University of Queensland saying they had successfully obtained a copy of Zoila's book Tare Harvest. It was published under her pseudonym Eleanor Peters in 1936.

The book will be available in the reading room once it has been catalogued. The Fryer holds copies of the published work of past students at the University.

If you are new to my blog, Zoila was one of the original owners of the Sow's Ear. She owned it with her siblings, Florence and Stanley. The research I am doing on the family is part of my house history research about our home which was built in 1928. The home was in the family until Stanley's death in 1988.

The Fryer doesn't loan out books housed in the reading room, so I will have to sneak away on a quiet weekend to devour it. The book is a fictional novel set in South America - Zoila and her family lived there in the 1890s to 1900s.

Zoila's academic record stated she won a poetry prize - the Ford Memorial Medal - in 1925 and her work was to be published in Galmahra, the UQ student magazine at the time. I mentioned it to the librarian I've been corresponding with and she kindly scanned two poems that were in a 1925 issue.

She found a poem by Colin Bingham, identified as the Ford Memorial Prize Poem and in that same issue of Galmahra, a poem The Examiner by Z.C.M.S (which could only be Zoila Ceferina Mabel Stables!). Interestingly, her poem was not identified as prize winning.

It is very strange that she was not acknowledged for the prize, if she did indeed win the prize. Perhaps it was an error in her academic record? Or maybe it was because she was a woman they didn't acknowledge it? Or maybe it was published in another issue?

Who knows? But it is something I will have to investigate further.

Click Here if you'd like to read more about our house history.

Unreality of TV renovating shows

There is a plethora of renovating TV shows bombarding our screens in Australia at the moment. And unfortunately I am a sucker for it all. The Block, Top Design and now The Renovators.

It's hilarious that I would even be watching it since we are going through a long-term renovation here at the Sow's Ear. Jason doesn't get why I would be keen to follow these programs.

He says, "Why would you watch that when you can watch me?"

Too true. But it's all in the editing, Jason! The action-packed drama is condensed into one hour...rather than the many hours, days, weeks or months it takes for a project to be totally completed here! Not that I'm complaining.

Painting of the roof gable on this side of the house is finished.

So much more to do!

It is the unreality of reality TV that appeals to me! Where else but TV can you renovate an entire bathroom and bedroom within one week??

I've been getting a lot of emails (well, one) from readers, urging Jason and Mr Rooney, our travelling builder, to apply for one of these renovating shows. What do you think?

The tradie and the office worker...and their old fogey tunes. They'd put The Doug Anthony All Stars on the charts. Can you imagine? What a team!








p.s the lip sync is out on this video!