We were joined by Emily and Abbey on our trip to the Charlton house this Labour Day weekend, so we decided to take two cars. I left directly from work on Friday afternoon, and the females of the family, Shirleen, Emily, Abbey and Skylar travelled up on Saturday morning. Being a long weekend we were expecting slow heavy traffic, but the opposite was the case – the traffic wasn’t overly heavy and the trip seemed quicker than normal.

As a result of taking two cars I was able to load up the ute with some excess furniture we decided might be useful at the house – a couple of small cupboards and a folding table. After unloading them on arrival I set about clearing up the room we had been using as a work/store room so that we could re-purpose it as a bedroom (as originally intended) so that Emily and Abbey could have have a room each providing both privacy and independence. Once cleaned I set about assembling the bed, hanging a curtain and laying some rubber underlay on the floor to protect feet from nail heads, given we hadn’t yet prepared the floor as we had done in the remainder of the house.

This trip was also to be a little different due to the fact the we had no hot water, as the electrician had disconnected the power to the HWS in preparation for moving it from the east side of the house where it could be seen from the street to the west side, where it would be closer to the bathroom and out of sight.

After an early rise on Saturday morning I started setting out string lines for the decking sub-floor at the rear of the house, and contemplating the order in which I needed to do things. I soon realised that two things needed to be done before the joists could be cut and hung – one of the timber plinths had warped to the extent that it couldn’t be straightened into place, and an old twisted and termite ridden bearer and bottom plate on the kitchen wall, from which I was planning to hang the joists needed to be replaced. Shirleen and the girls arrived shortly after so I took a break from deck building to help unload the car, play with Psychopup who was behaving as if she hadn’t seen me for a month, and catch up with their latest news given I hadn’t seen them since Thursday evening.

Throughout the afternoon I continued working on the decking whilst Shirleen took up from where she left off last visit, attacking the front garden with axe, mattock, saw and rake, ably assisted by Emily, Abbey and Skylar, whilst Abbey also got to work on scraping the flaking paint from the entry hall walls.

Philip & Janet, Shirleen and I had already decide that for dinner that evening we would take mum, who had turned 86 a couple of days prior, to Timeless Treasures and Tea Rooms in Charlton for dinner, where Bruce and Annette, the proprietors, make the most wonderful pizzas. We had an lovely evening and mum was especially appreciative of spending some time with her youngest granddaughters.

Sunday’s work started with shovel and wheelbarrow on dirt which had piled up under the house during the laying of the sewer – I wanted to be sure that there was sufficient clearance under the antcaps to prevent those pesky termites from feasting on the subfloor. This was followed by draining of the hot water service so it could be relocated, and making good the water supply so we could at least have a shower that evening, albeit cold!

Work ceased at around 3pm when Ken and Hazel visited for a “High Tea” – scones, pikelets and Ken’s famous zucchini cake, in celebration of Kens birthday next week.

Around 5pm we headed off to Ross and Peggy’s for our almost obligatory “fivesies”, but not before removing weatherboards from the wall where the hot water service had been relocated to, so that the plumbing could be concealed in the cavity. That night, Emily and Abbey decided they were bored and wanted to scrape some more paint from the walls, and much to our delight they finished the job!

Monday was a typical “prepare to go home” morning – tidying the house and yard, securing building materials, taking photos, putting out the rubbish and bidding farewell to the wonderful place we cant wait to call home.

Until next time…

Paint flakes

Foliage gone

All ready for plumbing