Wednesday - Finished the painting of the hall, stairs and landing. OH was out working, so I had to do the hard bit by myself too!! That meant getting out the ladders and climbing up over the stairs to reach the highest drop from the ceiling to the stairs, then, using the step ladders on the landing, reaching out over the stairs to reach the bit where the ladders had been removed. Scary!
OH arrived this afternoon and changed the position of the light switch in the bathroom. Why anyone would want to have the switch half way along the bathroom wall, I don't know - though OH did have a guess which sounds plausible. It seems (judging by the join in the ceiling and the matching join in the landing wall) that the bathroom and toilet used to be two separate rooms, but have been joined into one. That would explain why there are two lights in such a small room! The switch, which is a pull string, is just one of what would have been two switches - one for each room. If the other one had been a wall switch, it would explain why the previous owners retained this one, even though it was practically hanging over the bath, rather than next to the door. In fact, it would have been next to the second door, before it was removed.
Using a toothbrush, I then cleaned the window frame - it looked like it hadn't been done for years and was black with grime.
I also cleaned the windows and we removed the carpets. There was some 'delightful' lino underneath the flooring, a relic of a bygone era; at least it sort of matched the yellow paint on the walls!
It didn't cover the whole floor, though it must have done so at one time
Having removed the underlay and the partial lino covering that had been left behind, I found several floor board nails under the underlay, not hammered into the boards, but just lying on the floor.
I also cleaned the windows and we removed the carpets. There was some 'delightful' lino underneath the flooring, a relic of a bygone era; at least it sort of matched the yellow paint on the walls!
It didn't cover the whole floor, though it must have done so at one time
Having removed the underlay and the partial lino covering that had been left behind, I found several floor board nails under the underlay, not hammered into the boards, but just lying on the floor.
Under the window, there has either been a leak of some sort (not sure where it could have come from though, unless it was a previous radiator), or else something has been spilled on the floor. The lino was stuck to the floor at that point, though it wasn't too hard to remove. The lino backing has discoloured the floorboards, making it look much worse than it actually is. I gave it a good scrubbing, so all should be well.
The gripper rods around the room had been nailed down on top of the lino in places, so rather than remove the grippers, we cut the lino along the edge of the grippers and removed the excess.
All it needs now is the floor sweeping and/or hoovering, and the floorboards resetting where they have been raised for some purpose - they are either not level (one end of the room) or the board has been cut in such a way to make it sink when you stand on it - ie, there is nothing below to support the board end. These are tasks that must be done tomorrow in order that the carpets can be laid on Friday.
The gripper rods around the room had been nailed down on top of the lino in places, so rather than remove the grippers, we cut the lino along the edge of the grippers and removed the excess.
All it needs now is the floor sweeping and/or hoovering, and the floorboards resetting where they have been raised for some purpose - they are either not level (one end of the room) or the board has been cut in such a way to make it sink when you stand on it - ie, there is nothing below to support the board end. These are tasks that must be done tomorrow in order that the carpets can be laid on Friday.
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