I spent several minutes this morning staring at the radiator trying to remember which ‘tool’ I used for scraping the paint off; then I remembered – old stanley blades. I’ve no idea how many of them I’ve got through; but it’s quite scary.
One side of the radiator is now stripped back to a joyous black / cast iron layer. One other side left to strip; then sand it, then clean it, then painting. Oh, so simple ;)
In addition to which, my productive morning has included attacking brick’s brake lights, which are hopefully now working. I can’t actually tell; but if not it’s definately an earthing issue. The brake lamp holders look like someone’s rather cruelly dipped them in rust inducer and then placed them conveniently near the sea on a particularly humid day. I spent several minutes attacking both of them with sandpaper (yes, I know, but I’ve run out of emery paper). Having produced something akin to steel (rather than the attractive iron oxide layer that was there before) I produced lamps which at least are now both on, but I can’t tell if the brake lights are working. If not then I guess I’ll have to give it a more thorough clean. It may be the brake light connector that’s gone as well, which concerns me as it’s also corroded quite badly and would be a pig to replace.
I’ve also cleaned up (a little) the space behind the washing machine and dumped some fresh concrete into the (two!) holes where mice could potentially have gained entry. I knew there was one, but having cleaned up a little a second became apparent. it’s not there now though… I felt guilty buying ready-to-mix concrete because it was so much more than getting sand/gravel/cement, but it’s so handy to have around (really!) because I can just wander out scoop some into a bucket, add water and lo, I have concrete. Hopefully that should fix those pesky mice (although we finally caught one on Friday night, and had to stop and let it go free elsewhere).
Hrm, oh yes, and I’ve grouted the wall where the radiator goes. That can be ‘polished’ later, leaving just the painting of the skirting board on that wall; I’ve sprayed the last bath foot with it’s first coat of primer, and done the second coat of primer on the two shelf brackets. Distressingly I’ve run out of propellant in the primer can; it’s quite annoying ‘cos it’s blatantly got a fair amount of primer in it still. Anyhow, few coats of gloss should see that last foot sorted which’ll mean that for the first time in goodness knows how long that bath will actually have a complete set of feet.
And finally in my busy morning of catching up I’ve put silicone sealant round the sink. It was terribly frustrating. I’ve never been great at silicone sealant, but I’d got some quite neat looking ones around; but this one just went a bit pear shaped. For some reason when I smoothed it, it went lumpy. I’ll have to see what I can do to fix that, but that’s a job for later I feel. It’s not perfect, but it’s servicable.
