January | 2017 | CHARLTON HOUSE

I decided to take a day’s annual leave either side of the Australia Day public holiday to make for an extra long weekend to get a good run at the decking.

Leaving home at around 9:00 on Wednesday we encountered heavy traffic on the Monash with overhead signs indicating a rollover on the on ramp to the Bolte Bridge with lengthy delays. We decided to take a detour through the city, much to the delight of Skylar who was able to hang her head out the window as a result of reduced speed and take in all the smells of the city.

After our usual stop at the Calder Park service centre for coffee we made good progress, arriving at the house at around 1:30. After unloading the car we did some minor chores around the house and then just kicked back, in preparation for an assault on the tasks we had set for the next few days. Mine was to lay the decking boards and Shirleen’s was to continue preparing the entry for painting, and specifically this trip to strip the numerous layers of paint from the door and doorway.

For the next three days we did just that… decking and paint stripping, stopping occasionally to eat, drink and rest.

The end result, as can be seen below was worth the effort!

The west side of the house has been transformed… from this when we bought the house:

To this after this weekend’s work.

Preparations for our 10 day stay at The Charlton House started well before Christmas with a major grocery shop to restock the pantry and a trip to Dan Murphy’s to restock the beer fridge.

With trailer fully loaded with said groceries, beer and wine (oh… and some building materials) we set off mid-morning on Tuesday December 27^th with an extra passenger on board – mum had been visiting her sister in Melbourne for Christmas and we were bringing her home.

On arriving in Charlton early afternoon, we set about unloading the car and trailer and once finished went for a walk around the grounds to see what the warmer weather had brought to the damper ground of our September visit. Weed and grass growth had generally stopped but the fruit & citrus trees and grape vines, which Shirleen had spent many hours pruning, feeding and watering since we bought the house had flourished, and we look forward to harvesting some of the fruits of her labours in the coming months.

Our grounds inspection also revealed a huge hole, courtesy of some plumbing work we had carried out just prior to Christmas – the sewer had to be extended along the back of the house to pick up the new bathroom fittings and existing kitchen sink and this had to be done before I could complete the replacement of the decking, which was again the focus of this visit, along with the installation of some new waterpipes fixed to the decking sub-floor.

The weather on Wednesday was hot and overcast and humidity was high and we decided to limit the day’s work to a few odd jobs and then head to Boort to buy some paint for the plinth on the deck. This enabled Shirleen, who was still recovering from a broken ankle, to do some work whilst sitting down and not aggravate the swelling on her ankle.

Over the next few days we settled into a pattern of work which saw me continuing building the decking and Shirleen alternating between painting the plinth and sanding some of the dado in the entry hall, and of course her obligatory scraping off the flaking paint from the entry hall walls. Evenings of course were spent in the company of various friends and family for our now traditional five o’clock drinks and nibbles known as “fivesies”.

The plan for this trip was for me to return to Melbourne on Tues 3^rd Jan to purchase the decking boards given we were anticipating completing the sub floor by then. Unfortunately, because we had driven up in the station wagon (remembering we had an extra passenger and Psychopup of course) which can only tow the lightest of trailers, it would have meant returning to Somerville with Phil’s empty car trailer, swapping to the ute to tow the timber back to Charlton, then returning to Somerville to swap back to the station wagon to take back to Charlton. Instead we decided that Phil and I could make the trip in his car, reducing the number of trips required. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry – loading the 1075.8 lineal metre pack of decking onto the trailer proved problematic as the timber pack, whilst under the trailer’s carrying weight, was too long to allow enough weight on the tow ball to safely tow the load back to Charlton. So, after unsuccessfully trying to secure a one way hire of a larger car trailer we decided that the best thing would be to return on another day to pick up the decking. Accordingly, Shirleen and I decided to bring forward our return to Somerville to Thursday 5^th Jan and that I would take the timber to Charlton on Friday.

After an early night Thursday I set off for the timber yard early on Friday morning via the local servo to pick up a large trailer. This time there were to be no issues loading the timber and after a slow and uneventful trip up the Calder the decking boards arrived safely at around midday. By 2:00 pm they were unloaded into the shed and I was on my way back to Melbourne.

Roll on Australia Day long weekend when I can start nailing them down!