Thursday 31 May 2012

Day Four

We were a little worried about how the floor would look after we had put more compound on it.  When we got there hurrah it had worked and it was completely level, spot on ( with a slight fall to the door in case of spills etc)!!

We went back to tiling in the section where the boiler was but unfortunately the tile cutter stopped working so we could only get so far with a cheap manual tile cutter, we only have two corners to do though in that section, Gina lay the majority of the tiles in that section.  Meanwhile Mark finished the front tiles into the toilet room and was doing the cutting for Gina to lay. 
Then onto the main room, we figured out the centre point of the room and decided the way the tiles fell to centre a tile on this point.  We also decided to run the tiles lengthways so we didn’t have to match the two little sections if we ran them the same way which I think we would have struggled to do.  While Mark did that and made sure it was measured perfectly I started grouting the section where the boiler was.  Mark cut the garage door down to make sure it opens over the tiles and it does.  By this time it was 11pm and we couldn’t do much more so we decided to call it a day.  Another late night but we could really see the progress today and it is looking great!!


Wednesday 30 May 2012

Day Three


Finally we got to start a bit of tiling – hoorah!  We prepared the surface in the middle of the room with some PVA ready for more latex compound to just fill in the middle again as there was still a bit of a dip, probably half what it was though.  Then went off to do some agility training with the dogs for half an hour.
By the time we got back the PVA was nicely dried but we decided to leave the filling till last so we could work easier.  We started with our tiling in the boiler section, first off we had to put some PVA down again but this time it needed to be tacky for us to then be able to get started.  We had a small pot of adhesive and grout bought as our big tub just wasn’t enough, this stuff was a nightmare to use and we managed to only get it to cover half the area it should do!  Thankfully when we opened the big tub (a grey adhesive and grout) it was a lot easier to us.  So we lay what we could in that section, Gina had a go at doing some tiling as well.  Moving on to the toilet room we could only lay three tiles as we couldn’t get to the back nor could we do right at the front as we needed to put a bit more compound down on the step.
Time to mix up the compound and lay it down in the main room.  Hopefully this is drying okay, it looked level enough when we left it!  Left at 10:30pm today but we took some of my homemade lemon slice to give us a sugar boost half way through!!



Tuesday 29 May 2012

Day Two

Mark did a bit of research and found some latex levelling compound so off we went prepared again. 
As it was dark when we finished painting there were a couple of patchy bits so I finished those off.  While I was doing this Mark brushed some PVA over the floor to seal it.  Once dry we tried to figure out where we needed to put the compound on the floor.  I helped Mark mix this but left the rest to him! 
We had a look at the level when it was touch dry and it’s still not quite flat so just need to put some more compound on in places but need to wait 16 hours for it to dry first, weren’t too late tonight, we left at 9pm J

Monday 28 May 2012

Utility Project Day 1

Well I took Mark to mum’s to start the tiling of the utility floor.  She has wanted it done for a while and had been looking at employing someone to do this but not had any joy in finding anyone.  So I thought while she was away in Wales it would be nice to get it done for her so she can return to a nice surprise.
However we got there and realised the floor was not very level.  We removed the paint that was on the floor with the aid of a heat gun and wallpaper scraper as well as a wire brush.  This was a nightmare job, so I started painting the walls while Mark did this and we swapped over to give our arms and hands a bit of a rest!  Once I start painting I have to finish and can’t leave it half done so it wasn’t until 11pm we left! 
We had made a really good start and floor was ready to level!

Friday 25 May 2012

Drifting!


We had a fabulous day together thanks to Buyagift!  As Mark has only Wednesdays off and I have the usual Monday - Friday job we don't get to spend much time together, so combining a day of driving fast cars and a day together - what more could we want??

It was The UK's Fastest Blogger and consisted of us drifting Caterhams round a coned off area at Silverstone.  It was a great day, the sun was shining and to top it off Mark won the day and I came 3rd!!


Mark's full write up of the day is on his blog & Gina's on hers.

Here's the video of me driving:


And the video of Mark driving to come:

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Cupcakes

One of the teams at work were having a cake sale as they are taking part in Race For Life. So I had a pink theme going on.


First time I had attempted two tone icing with my Wilton 2D tip. Didnt turn out too badly.


I decided on a chocolate cupcake recipe with baileys buttercream icing :).


They went like hotcakes!

Monday 21 May 2012

Adams Agility Show

Just a 5th place for my little old white dog in Anysize, clever girl.


Though we did have a really good show and just had little mistakes, for a more in depth review click here.