BOGGER!

 Yesterday The Old Girl, when out on the deck by the recycle bins (IN MY TERRITORY) looked at the kitchen window and said "Matey, we need to get this window replaced".

Fear gripped my heart.

That expression needs embellishment with the sound of thunder, darkness  and flashing lightning but I don't have the computer skills and frankly, I can't be arsed. You can imagine it.

This window is a large and characterful one and, I think that it's still in pretty good condition. You remember that recently we replaced the kitchen French doors, the study window, the two East facing bedroom windows and the bank of North facing bedroom windows with modern aluminium fittings. These are great, and, admittedly the original wooden ones were in very bad condition  but I still like the originals.

I had a close look at what The Old Girl had been looking at and yes, there was a disturbing amount of rot at the bottom left corner of the outside frame. I tapped it. It sounded hollow. I poked at it with my finger. My finger went straight through. I fetched a screwdriver and poked some more. Big chunks fell out. I kept poking, prodding and rummaging and removed a lot of dry, almost desiccated timber remnants. When I'd satisfied myself that I'd removed as much as I could and was happy that the remnants were dry rather than wet I then sawed up and packed the hollow with pieces of dry weatherboard. This is probably kauri and long-lasting. I had bought some Builder's Fill from our local hardware store and mixed it up.

This is the first time that I've used this product and wasn't sure how effective it might be. I bought the smallest container (plus additive) of it to try it out. It mixed up well  but application was difficult as it set so quickly. I was relatively pleased with the result though. Job done.

If you look closely you can see the bogging work I did on the window frame.

I put it down to the fact that the builder's fill is a pinkish colour and stands out a bit.

It's also a bit solid and doesn't appear smooth.

As I started to gather up my tools I had another look at my handiwork and wondered what The Old Girl would think of it. Would she be happy? Would she say "well done Matey." I decided that she wouldn't.

Bugger!

I went to my toolshed (a space in the basement I created) and found the electric sander we bought in a hurry before Christmas last year because The Old Girl wanted to immediately sand down some furniture. The job was so pressing she didn't want to wait for th Boxing Day sales. Needless to say the sander was sill in its box, unopened and unused.

I assembled the components (sort of) and proceeded to sand down the bogging work. This was quite difficult as the fill set like fibreglass and I needed a mask to prevent breathing in the fine and dangerous dust. After about an hour I decided that it was near enough and wiped all the dust off and applied a thick coat of undercoat.

Job done!

Next!