Day 3 was the day we started what we came up for… rebuilding the decking.

Setting out and leveling was done the day before so the day started with a clean out of the stump holes which were dug well before the torrential rain last week and so were full of mud… and Charlton mud is red and sticky! Sole plates were tamped down, stumps cut to length and placed in holes and then backfilled ready for the bearers.

After laminating the timbers for the bearers and fixing them to the stumps I was finally able to start removing the star pickets which were holding up the verandah posts and fix the posts to the bearers.

One thing became obvious today… nothing is square in a 100 year old house which has been neglected, shifted when the stumps have rotted then shifted again when restumped, although if the truth be known it probably wasnt square in the first place!

Day 2 was to be dedicated to reducing the weeds and grass from knee height to something a little more respectable and presentable.

First task was to fill the jerry can so it was off to the servo in Charlton. Driving over the bridge into town you would never know that the Avoca river had caused such widespread flooding just a day earlier. Much of the water which had inundated roads and parklands had receded and the only hint that there had been major flooding was the sandbags stacked against some of the shopfronts as a precaution against the flood waters threatening the main street.

Once the jerry can was filled the mowing started in earnest and continued throughout the day until late afternoon when Phil came over to help set out for the decking subfloor.

Meanwhile Shirleen cleared a heap of timber offcuts, brick and miscellaneous rubbish and weeds from around the yard adjoining the back verandah, revealing a path leading to the outside dunny and what once was once the old laundry. She then moved onto hacking back an overgrown shrub which was encroaching on the driveway and rubbing on the cars as we drove past.

By early evening, with both our fitbits recording record steps for the day we decided to call it a day, shower and enjoy a much deserved wine.

A productive day.

We left a cold damp Melbourne early only to arrive at a colder and damper Charlton around 10:30 ‘ish after a largely uneventful trip up the Calder, the only excitement being negotiating the floodwaters over the road at Yuengroon Creek a little way outside Charlton.

Arriving at The Hilton we became a little disheartened at the state of the yard… the weeds were approaching knee high in places and some of the thistles a few feet tall, courtesy of the recent drenching rain, the rich soil and mild daytime temperatures.

After unpacking the cars and trailer we headed off into town to inspect the state of the Avoca River and were pleased to see that the flood water had receded almost a meter since the overnight peak at 7.55m. Even so the sheer amount of water left us gobsmacked… and the worms… lots of them, all over the road.

After a ham sandwich for lunch we pottered around inspecting the extremely muddy yard then setting up an additional bed in the front room so guests can sleep a little more comfortably when they visit.

The rest of the day was spent chillaxing in preparation for some hard work in the coming days.

Worms!!

Water Water Everywhere…

Our plan to spend 2 weeks at the Charlton House during the September school holidays rebuilding the decking was thrown into doubt just a week before we were due to leave when heavy rain in the Avoca River catchment caused major flooding in the Charlton township.

Whilst our house is well above the flood level, many houses to the south of the Avoca River remain threatened with the flood level expected to peak at around 7.5 metres the day before we are scheduled to leave Melbourne.

With further heavy falls predicted in the catchment the river may indeed rise further and threaten more of the wonderful community of Charlton.

We will be there to support you Charlton… see you Sunday!

Gordon Park, Charlton Vic – September 16 2016.

Our most recent trip, on the weekend of 26-28 August was very much a feeling of Deja Vu.

Our last scheduled trip had been cancelled following a death in the family so it had been 5 weeks since our last, and didn’t it show! Thanks to the wettest winter Charlton has had in years along with some mild daytime temperatures, the grass was over ankle high and the weeds, including nettle, mallow and thistle were approaching knee high!

So, after unpacking the car, the first order of the day (as it had been for the last couple of trips) was to get out the mower and brushcutter and attack the grounds.

After reducing the back yard weeds to a more acceptable height the mower was put to bed for the day and focus was directed to replacing the brittle plastic water pipe which, rather than being buried, was laid on top of the ground around the perimeter of the house exposing it to breakage, which is exactly what happened when we started setting out for the verandah stump holes.

Unfortunately we were a couple of fittings short, so Friday night was waterless and the chores we had penciled in for Saturday morning had to wait whilst we made an unscheduled trip to Home Timber and Hardware in Boort to buy some more pipe and fittings.

With water restored by early afternoon, the mower was once again put into action on the front and side yards. By late afternoon we were well and truly due for a well deserved rest, courtesy of the virus we had both caught earlier in the week.

An early evening second wind allowed me to clear out the garage ready to store the decking timber, and start reorganising the Hawthorn Room where we store a lot of our odds and ends.

By Sunday morning the virus had really taken hold and we were both feeling pretty ordinary so we packed up and headed back to Melbourne, although we did take some time out to visit a classic car show at Marong on the way home.

Hopefully next trip we will be over the virus and ready to start rebuilding the verandah deck.

Having had the all clear for asbestos around the lounge room fire place, the removal of the horrible brown tiles and cement sheet backing became one of our priorities for Election weekend. Other tasks were to continue laying the hardboard underlay on the floors and to cut the “grass” before it became unmanageable.

For something different this trip we decided to travel up the Calder on Friday evening so we could get an early start on our planned work on Saturday morning.

We got started immediately after breakfast and by mid morning decided to make a trip into town to cast our absentee votes at the Charlton polling booth. On the way home we took a minor detour to see if we could find a geocache located in the park by the river.

Whilst I trimmed the hardboard sheets to lay in the hallway, Shirleen set about  demolishing the fireplace surrounds, revealing burnt timber (the result of a chimney fire some years ago) and a mummified mouse!

After completing the underlay in the hallway and entry, efforts turned to fitting new blades to the mower so i could attack the nettles and weeds sprouting in the back yard.

By late afternoon we had finished our chores for the day and headed to friends Ross and Peggy’s for happy hour, where we met met a friend of theirs who was the cousin of John O’Brien our house’s previous owner.

Sunday morning we continued with the underlay in what is to be the study until we were feeling too sore to finish, so decided to start packing up ready for the trip home, which was highlighted by a couple of detours to find some more geocaches.

Overall we had a very productive weekend and we are very much looking forward to our next trip when we expect to start preparing to paint the study. WooHoo!!

Fireplace before

Fireplace after

Hallway underlay

We had big plans for Queen’s Birthday weekend.

I had taken a day off on the Friday and we were aiming to get to Charlton early afternoon after picking up a trailer load of hardboard underlay from the local timber yard first thing in the morning.

Unfortunately a truck fire on the Monash freeway meant we didn’t arrive at the house until late afternoon. After unpacking there was enough time to re-plumb some of the grey water discharge from the bathroom in order to reduce eliminate some boggy areas of the back yard, and to cut the remaining underlay around the fireplace in the kitchen before retiring for the evening, but not before cranking up the heating for what was anticipated to be a cold night.

Saturday morning we awoke to a typical Charlton winter’s morning, crisp temperatures but beautiful sunshine. Our plans for the remainder of the weekend were to complete the installation of the temporary kitchen then move on to renailing floorboards and installing underlay in the lounge room with the aim of being in a position to seal the kitchen and lounge floors immediately before leaving for home on Monday.

After gluing and stapling the underlay I had cut the night before we turned to assembling the remaining recycled office cupboards we had earmarked for pantry and “stove” (see the pictures for an explanation). We did take time out  from working inside the house on Saturday afternoon to clear away some of the debris left in the yard after the restumping and mow the “grass” (weeds) grown fairly tall since out last visit.

By evening we were extremely pleased to have both a very functional kitchen which should see us through the next few years, and a nicely mowed green yard, a far cry from the brown dustbowl it had been only weeks earlier.

Sunday morning’s weather was almost a carbon copy of Saturdays, although probably a little colder, with some frost blanketing the freshly cut grass.

After repairing a section of floor in the doorway between the kitchen and lounge, we set about nailing the floor and laying the underlay, working out an extremely efficient production line process to glue and staple the underlay whilst efficiently recharging the glue and staple guns without missing a beat – teamwork at it’s best!

We had earlier received an invitation to our neighbour’s for afternoon tea, so finished up for the day at around 3:00 and headed to Ken and Hazel’s for coffee, scones and muffins followed by a wine or two when we returned home for the evening.

Monday morning was again cold but sunny, and the only task remaining was to clear the lounge room of tools, timber offcuts and empty glue cartridges, and thoroughly vacuuming in preparation for sealing the underlay, which we finished by late morning.

With the car and trailer packed the last job was to pick some oranges from Philip and Janet’s orange tree and then head off home, happy with our achievements over the weekend.

Nailing the floor

Underlay in progress

Kitchen cupboards

The “Stove”

More cupboards and Pantry

Underlay completed

Back yard freshly mown

Frosty Morning

View from the street

Psychopup supervising in the yard

Whilst it was still Autumn for our latest visit to the Charlton House, it sure seemed like winter!

We arrived at the house on Thursday afternoon after some business in Bendigo on Thursday morning. It pelted with rain all the way up the Calder and we arrived to find the water tank well and truly overflowing and puddles where there used to be dust basins. 18mm of rain was recorded for the day.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking and setting up for the weekend, including fitting a new electric blanket and flannelette sheets to the bed and unpacking a new convection heater for the bedroom, given the weekend forecast was for temperatures only marginally above zero.

Friday I had further business and Mildura and we left Charlton around 8:00am aiming to get to Mildura by 11’ish. Shirleen had never visited Mildura so after completing my work there we went for a drive around town, visiting lock 11 then stopping by a local cafe for a delicious foccacia lunch. We headed for home under a blue sunny sky, but the closer we got to Charlton the darker the sky grew, with the heavens opening just after we arrived home and delivering a further 14mm of rain in a very short period. The trip home was also highlighted by some stunning rainbows and a wild emu Shirleen spotted in the mallee scrub.

After dining on a delicious slow cooked lamb roast we retired early planning on an early start on Saturday morning to renail the floors which had become very creaky after the restumping.

Bay late morning I had much of the kitchen floor renailed (except for one section which required replacement) and Shirleen had completely demolished and removed the one remaining kitchen cupboard which housed the kitchen sink, so we decided to make an impromptu trip to Boort to the hardware store to pick up some yellow tongue flooring and some hardboard underlay, with a view to getting the kitchen functional again.

By Saturday night the majority of the kitchen floor had been underlayed, and plans for Sunday’s installation of the temporary kitchen (remodelled from some disused office cupboards we acquired), we finished up for the day and headed off to neighbour’s Ross and Peggy’s for wine and nibbles, followed by a nice dinner at The East hotel.

Sunday, after several hours of cutting screwing and remodeling of the cupboards to facilitate re-installation of the old kitchen sink, and sealing of some large holes in the kitchen walls, we finally had a functional kitchen once more, so we called it a day and packed up, heading for home shortly before 3:00pm, satisfied at another productive weekends renovating.

Roll on Queens Birthday weekend!

6th May was our first visit to the Charlton House since the restumping.

The main purpose of this trip was to start preparing the floors for laying underlay in order to seal up the place from dust and damp, since the flooring had been disturbed during the restumping.

So, with a hired floor sander (courtesy of Bunnings), tools, and Psychopup in the back of the car we headed up the Calder excited about seeing the house level for the first time.

After inspecting both the restumping works, and the spot in the front yard where a large and very dead white cedar tree had been removed during the week, the first job for the day was to unload some of the furniture (particularly the bed) from storage in the sleepout so we could at least resume living in the house. We decided that until the kitchen and lounge room floors were underlayed, we would live out of the front room. It was a little cramped with bed, kitchen table, lounge chairs and TV/stereo all in the front room, but livable nonetheless.

After setting up the room, we set about cleaning the dirt which had accumulated throughout the house during the 2 weeks the contractors were there, then started sanding back the floors to remove all the glue, carpet backing and high spots ready for the underlay.

With the sun setting warmth quickly disappearing we packed up for the day and retired to Philip and Janet’s for a dinner of fish and chips and, of course, wine.

Saturday morning we walked into town for food supplies and tattslotto tickets and continued the work we started on Friday.

In the early afternoon Shirleen joined Janet for a trip to a CWA show at Bealiba whilst I set about repairing some dodgy sections of floor and removing the skirting boards in the hallway, then continuing with floor preparations.

We once again retired to Philip and Janet’s for dinner with the rest of the family followed by wine, and returning home for much needed sleep.

At around 3am Sunday morning we awoke to the sound of rain falling on the tin roof, and remembering that I had not covered the trailer properly, had to get out of my warm bed into the cold and damp to secure the trailer from the rain.

By 8am with the rain still falling we decided that we would continue on home after Mother’s Day morning tea with mum at the local tea rooms, rather than keep on working and traipse mud through the house and undo the hard work of the day before.

We forgot the camera this trip so there are no photos but I will make up for it next post.

Roll on 21st May!

Richard Windsor, who built the Charlton House back in 1920 also built many other houses of similar style around the Charlton area. Several of these, such as the one a few doors up, have cellars.

When we removed the kitchen floor coverings on our last visit, we noticed a small square of new flooring in the kitchen and quipped that perhaps it was a trapdoor leading to the cellar!

When we made the trip to Charlton to check on the progress of restumping we made an intriguing discovery under that section of new flooring… a small storage area measuring about 4′ long by 2′ wide and about 1′ deep, lined with flywire and a timber floor!

Whilst not quite the cellar we were hoping for it was obviously used in times past for some kind of storage, perhaps to keep food cool in the pre refrigerator days…

We were pleased to see that most of the stumpholes had been dug and the perimeter of the house had been jacked up and the stumps removed, although it was a little sad to see a heap of floorboards removed from the kitchen, lounge and master bedrooms allowing more light (and dirt) into the house than the windows and doors!

Our time at the house this weekend limited to inspecting the work that had been carried out during the week and raiding the fridge for beer and wine, and we cant wait for our next trip when we shall experience for the first time a flat and level floor.

The “Cellar” Door

Jacks under front of house

Stump hole

The”Cellar”

Floorboards Removed