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Welcome to our blog, menfranco general blog
and this post, fixing the landings
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Fixing the landings
Other repairs or renovations
Let us talk
about some of those building repairs or alteration that are usually done wherever
you happen to be: for instance here in Queensland most houses have a roof over
their patio (veranda) most houses have too much space for verandas, (these are
spaces that have a roof on them but they are open and have a hand rail around
for safety reasons if the building if off the ground) so if an owner feels like
that he is short of space in the house and he needs a small room for the kids
or a study, he could enclose some of the veranda space and have an additional
room at this house, because there is no structural alterations and the roof is
already there, this could be a D.I.Y. job, as long as you know enough how to do
it. Anyhow this is just an example how easy it would be to do some repairs or
small alterations to these timber houses.
I believe that every one of us would be able to do some D.I.Y
jobs, even if they are very small things like painting a room or two, changing
a door or window and then painting it to match the rest of the house, fixing
those timber treads and the hand rail of your staircase, as we have done in our
previous post; or repair or replace the timber flooring on your patio that is
becoming too old and unsightly just to paint and repaint it, in fact right now
I have this patio floor that is rotting away, because we have had so much rain
lately, it looks so bad that I think that some of the boards might break if a
heavy load is applied to it, so at least some of these floor boards should be
replaced presently.
So, let us
start with this very small job like changing a few timbers floor boards on the
patio, and let us work out a way how to do it cheaply, because we have in mind
that one day we might call some expert and renew the entire floor, when we have
some money to spend.
Now since I
have decided to fix the floor myself, I have to work out how to do it, and what
I need to do first of all. So I pick up a hammer a type measure and a piece of
paper and a pencil to work out what I need, because I want to see what it is
really necessary to replace. With the hammer I am going to do two things, one
is that I am going to drive in some nails that are loose and are sticking out
and a person can easily trip, the other thing is that I am going to tap on the
boards that seem rotten to see from the sound they make whether they are rotten
and need to be replaced, anyone can learn how to do this and it is easy to
learn.
Anyhow, I have
done that and I have worked out what floor board I need to replace, how many of
them and the quantity that I need to buy, so, now I have to go to a timber
supplier and buy them, and then I can fix the patio. And we will see how I
go?
Fixing those timber landings
Let us write
here a few things about how to maintain timber buildings here in Australia and
also in other parts of the world if the buildings are the same as here. In this
article we are going to talk about how to maintain those outside patios or
landings. But first of all let us explain to those that are not familiar with
these types of old timber buildings and also the reasons why we have those
landings outside the real building.
The reason that
here in Australia we have stairs and sometimes even patios or landings outside
the main building is to save space under the roof of the building itself, so it
is cheaper and also easier to build, the Australian climate is always rather
hot and in most places dry, so people like to live in the open and therefore
they don’t mind at all if the stairs and the landings are outside, therefore a
lot of the cheaper houses have these stairs and landings outside; now, because
they are in the outside they need more maintenance. Here we need to add that
even though the climate is hot, and in a lot of places is usually on the dry
side, it is not so all the time, so all those buildings that happen to be near
the sea side tend to receive too much rain, so they need more maintenance that
those building that are in a dry place. Anyhow, I think that here I have been
able to explain the reasons why we build them this way, and also the reason why
we need fixing those landings that we are talking about.
As you can see
from the title of this hub, this article is going to be a D.I.Y and also a
handyman point of view about timber buildings: We have to admit that all timber
building need more maintenance than concrete building, especially those parts
of the building that are exposed to the weather, because the timber rots away
easily when it becomes wet, so those timber landing outside need a lot more
maintenance than usual, they need to be painted every second year or there
about, they need to be looked after and those nails that every now and then
pop-up need to be driven and punched down, but that is not all, the worst part
of it all, is that they rot very easily, at least it seems so from our point of
view, because we need to fix and paint them more often that we would want to.
These types of
work that we are talking about here need to be done soon or later, and it would
be better if we do them as soon as it is obvious that they need to be done,
whether it requires fixing or painting or both, but sometimes it is not
possible to do them soon enough and they might create a problem; because,
sometimes it is obvious that some flooring may start to rot away to the point
where you need to replace them, sometimes this can be only a few single pieces
of flooring boards, at other times most of them, if not the entire floor
boards, anyhow today I have got to fix this long landing, which could also be
said that is an open patio or perhaps a long balcony, depending on the way that
you see it.
Today fixing this landing problem
Anyhow these
days I have this problem to solve; the edge of this long landing that was fixed
about fifteen years ago with hardwood timber that was supposed to last a long
time is again rotten away so I need to fix it again, I believe that the timber
that they sold us then was not properly treated, or it is the sign of the time,
because of some shortage of good mature trees, the timber mills use any timber
and some of this timber does not last as long as it used to last in the past;
because it starts rotting away too soon and very easily.
Now if you look at the photo beside here you
would understand what I am going to say next, I believe that this is not going
to be an easy job to do, because there is this long steel hand rail on top of
it and cannot be removed easily, as it would cost a lot to remove it and then
replace it again, so I have to try to remove the rotten timber from underneath
a short section at a time, while at the same time I prop up that section of
hand rail. As I have said this landing was renewed about fifteen years ago and
at the edge we used a larger piece of hardwood timber instead of the simple
flooring boards, because we needed some good grounds to attach the hand rail to
it, anyhow it has worked out all right for fifteen years or there about, but
now it needs replacing because it is rotten.
Today because
the grounds have rotten a bit more, I have decided to use a larger piece of
timber, so that it can bridge better the outside edge of the landing to the
timber joists, the timber joists come from the building itself and in this case
work as a cantilever, just like a very long balcony in a concrete building. Now
because the hardwood has rotten in a very short time, I am going to replace
them with treated pine slipper, because they are cheaper, lighter and easier to
nail, I know it is a new approach and most builders may not approve what I am
going to do, but I am going to try, I believe that the sleepers will last at
least as long as the hardwood did. Anyhow we will see how it works out soon;
and then we will see if they are going to last in a few years.
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Replacing the timber edge
I have started
to work to replace the old hardwood landing edge, with these new pine slippers,
it is going to be harder than I thought it would be, to remove the old edge is
very hard because there is the hand rail in the way, but as I said any other
way is going to be very costly, I know it is going to be a real struggle for me
but I am stuck with it. You see, we don’t want to spend a lot of money on these
landings of this old block of flats, because the building itself is becoming
old and in fifteen to twenty years is going to be demolished and a brand new
building will be build. We are saying this because this is how these timber building
usually last in Brisbane Australia, old timber building reach a stage when it
becomes necessary to replace the existing building with a new one; very likely
the new building will be a concrete building, nobody really knows, what it
would be the right thing to build, in fifteen to twenty years’ time, because
the local by laws may change and also the way we build seems to change
continually.
Anyhow the
other day I have pulled up some of the old edging and I have set the first
sleeper in place, but I still have to replace about another three of them, and
also remove and replace any other timber that needs replacing and then paint at
least what I have replaced; but really I am going to paint the entire landing
and also the steel hand rail that is rusting, it is going to be a long job,
since I am going to do it a bit each time, when I have some times to spare.
Anyhow I believe that it is going to turn out all right, and I am going to show
you with a new photo when I have finished.
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This is:
This is:
Menfranco general blog,
D.I.Y. stairs repairs or renovation
IS TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, something else about buildings
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Some personal and religious links:
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