Work on the old apartment
Dec. 12th, 2011 10:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzIt's progressing steadily. The inspection's result was a big list of things to be done. I still had my mother's car parked out front, and on Saturday morning we drove at a leisurely pace to Rotterdam to get rid of some of the things on that list.
One thing that needed doing was removal of the tiles. If I had known that NoKey didn't even put these in himself, I'd have argued harder about them, but I just didn't know. NoKey got them from the previous owners, and now we're the ones who have to get rid of them.
We bought stone chisels and some cleaning supplies and set to work. I thought I was pretty good with a hammer, but it turns out I'm not as good as I thought. By the time the tiles in the hall were gone, my left hand was as tender as a good steak.
Underneath the tiles is a layer of tile glue, which is hard to remove. Chiseling it off goes at a square centimeter per minute and there is much more to be done next to just the tiles. I also had a go at the kitchen and bathroom, using a lot of detergent and de-greasing solutions on it. At some point the fumes got to my head and I needed to sit with a cup of tea.
Saturday evening we called it a night around seven-thirty and we went over to the chinese restaurant of our neighbours (the Wongs). We had some small-talk with Kwok-Lung (sp?) and enjoyed a very tasty dinner. Too bad we forgot to take the suitcase with our blankets along, or we would have spent the night at the old apartment and started bright and early the next day. Now we traipsed home instead.
On Sunday we went back and continued work. NoKey focused on the tiles in the kitchen and after I'd recuperated from the long drive I set to work on unscrewing screws, pulling nails and plugs out of the wall and filling all the holes I could find. I cleaned the windowsills and took the towel rack and some small herb cupboards from the wall. Slowly but surely we were getting somewhere. NoKey had already removed the carpet in the bedroom, and we put all the large thrash in there.
[ ] Empty apartment and shed
[ ] Remove carpets (50% done)
[X] Remove tiles hall and kitchen
[ ] Level floor where tiles are removed
[X] Clean bathroom
[X] De-grease kitchen tiles
[X] Remove cooker hood
[X] Clean ventilation
[X] Remove nails, screws and plugs
[X] Fill holes
[ ] Remove lamps and place crown toes
Not a bad job for two day's work!
When it got dark, we packed our things and drove to Houten, where we went out for pizza with my mother and Luc. I couldn't keep the car forever, so Mom dropped us off at the station and drove her car home, while we tried catching a train home with some of the klus supplies.
Next up: remove carpeting in livingroom, sweep and vacuum floors. Lug all the garbage and tiles downstairs where it's easier to place in the street on the 21st, and then as a final thing, level the floor by pouring egaline or some such on it. I'm confident we can finish this off in the upcoming weekend.
One thing that needed doing was removal of the tiles. If I had known that NoKey didn't even put these in himself, I'd have argued harder about them, but I just didn't know. NoKey got them from the previous owners, and now we're the ones who have to get rid of them.
We bought stone chisels and some cleaning supplies and set to work. I thought I was pretty good with a hammer, but it turns out I'm not as good as I thought. By the time the tiles in the hall were gone, my left hand was as tender as a good steak.
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| From 11-12-11 |
Underneath the tiles is a layer of tile glue, which is hard to remove. Chiseling it off goes at a square centimeter per minute and there is much more to be done next to just the tiles. I also had a go at the kitchen and bathroom, using a lot of detergent and de-greasing solutions on it. At some point the fumes got to my head and I needed to sit with a cup of tea.
Saturday evening we called it a night around seven-thirty and we went over to the chinese restaurant of our neighbours (the Wongs). We had some small-talk with Kwok-Lung (sp?) and enjoyed a very tasty dinner. Too bad we forgot to take the suitcase with our blankets along, or we would have spent the night at the old apartment and started bright and early the next day. Now we traipsed home instead.
On Sunday we went back and continued work. NoKey focused on the tiles in the kitchen and after I'd recuperated from the long drive I set to work on unscrewing screws, pulling nails and plugs out of the wall and filling all the holes I could find. I cleaned the windowsills and took the towel rack and some small herb cupboards from the wall. Slowly but surely we were getting somewhere. NoKey had already removed the carpet in the bedroom, and we put all the large thrash in there.
[ ] Empty apartment and shed
[ ] Remove carpets (50% done)
[X] Remove tiles hall and kitchen
[ ] Level floor where tiles are removed
[X] Clean bathroom
[X] De-grease kitchen tiles
[X] Remove cooker hood
[X] Clean ventilation
[X] Remove nails, screws and plugs
[X] Fill holes
[ ] Remove lamps and place crown toes
Not a bad job for two day's work!
When it got dark, we packed our things and drove to Houten, where we went out for pizza with my mother and Luc. I couldn't keep the car forever, so Mom dropped us off at the station and drove her car home, while we tried catching a train home with some of the klus supplies.
Next up: remove carpeting in livingroom, sweep and vacuum floors. Lug all the garbage and tiles downstairs where it's easier to place in the street on the 21st, and then as a final thing, level the floor by pouring egaline or some such on it. I'm confident we can finish this off in the upcoming weekend.
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no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 11:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 02:12 pm (UTC)Egaline is quite simple to use. We've done our hallway with it already, toilet still needs doing today. Still, the inhabitants of our apartment had used the stuff near the doors (and only there...) and it was quite bumpy. They even sawed off a strip of the doors because they couldn't open/close otherwise. We had the housing association take care of it. Got a better leveled floor and new doors.
Succes met de laatste loodjes!
~Brenda~