Young Paul learned his craft by working with his father and he has equal skills in dry wall work. He works hard, works fast, but is a bit more careful and methodical than his father. Paul returned to the Perth area about a month ago after a 4-month visit to Tibet. He has a lot of experience in meditation and self awareness and we spend much time talking philosophy, ethics, the human mind, etc.
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| Living Room |
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| Living Room |
The great thing about Paul Jr. is that he has arrived at the house every day this week at 7-8 AM and we have made great progress. (Yesterday he worked until 6 PM.) Paul Sr is providing good support with daily visits to provide advice and bring material. On Tuesday afternoon we handed Paul Sr a huge list of the materials needed to finish the interior work (excluding painting and floors) and he delivered the items the next day.
This is Thursday and I am taking the day off in order to have lunch with some of my former colleagues at Murdoch University (and do whatever private business that I can cram into the rest of the day, such as writing this blog). On Tuesday the living room and hallway were handed over to me for painting and I have painted their ceilings (2 coats) and have laid the first coat on the living room walls.
The office will be completed this week. Paul had to spend much time in constructing the framework of the manhole access to the attic and in modifying the upper part of the jarrah wardrobe to accommodate the slightly lower ceiling. (All six upper doors must be trimmed along the top and for good measure all six of the larger lower doors will be trimmed along the bottom to make them even.)
On Monday I spent several hours stripping the "sitting room" next to the dining room while Paul worked on the office room. Yesterday we had the ceiling up and today Paul will work alone to put up the wall panels after completing his work on the office.
After agreeing on where the door handles of the kitchen cabinets would be fitted (60mm from the lower edge, 60 mm from the vertical edge) he constructed a template and used it to drill every hole for the handles. I will fit them myself when the structural work has been completed because I do not want to peel off the plastic coating of the cabinets while there is any danger of accidentally scratching one of them while moving construction materials through the kitchen.
Tomorrow (Friday) I will rejoin Paul and we will also work on Saturday. Paul has his own client list and is starting to ramp up his building business but in the meantime he has plenty of time and will work for me as long as I require his services. This is very, very good for me because I can now be confident that the structural work on the interior of the house will be completed sometime next week. (Hooray!) This will include the installation of the kitchen plumbing by Paul Sr, fitting all of the skirting boards (which I am sanding and varnishing), fitting all light and power fittings, installing the flue for the kitchen exhaust fan, some minor trimming in the kitchen cabinetry, etc.
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| Living Room After First of Wall Paint |
At that point I envision a long pause in the structural work during which time I will work alone on the painting the ceilings and walls, treating the paneling in the dining room (probably with Danish Oil), and the very big job of sealing every floor of the house, which will require punching down hundreds of nails and filling in the holes, lots of belt sanding, cleaning to a very high standard, then laying down the 2-part estapol.
I hope to spend the winter living in the house and dedicating some time for badly needed maintenance on the boat, which has not had an antifouling since Mexico several years ago. Once burning is allowed again I'll engage in another round of cleaning the property, starting with the burning of two huge piles of building materials at the burning site.
As Spring approaches I'll begin planning the re-cladding (ie new siding) of the house with Paul. It will me up to me to choose the material, profile, and colour. If we plan it right, the job should be straightforward along the lines of the roof replacement.
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| Sitting Room Stripped, Two Ceiling Panels Up |
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| Sitting Room, Looking to Dining Room |
The final phase will the the very expensive concrete work for the driveway and car port.
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