Bedrooms are FINALLY Painted

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I have finally finished painting the bedrooms. I am very frustrated at myself for taking as long as I have, but at least I am finally done painting the bedrooms.

Originally we were going to paint everything in the colour “white shadow”, which you can see on the walls above. That would have included the door frames and the window frames, basically all the trim painted in the same colour as the walls.

Bedroom Painted White Shadow with Gloss White Trim

After we put the colour on the walls, with the white base coat on the trim, we decided to paint an acrylic gloss white for all the trim and the doors, with white shadow on the walls. We are quite happy with the results in the bedrooms.

Closet Door Painted in White Shadow with Gloss White Trim We did all the main bedroom doors in the same gloss white as the frames above. With the closet doors to the two built in robes we painted the trim the gloss white, but then painted the doors a semi-gloss white shadow (as on the left). I reckon that it looks pretty good as well, and should look great over the carpet once that is installed and the hardware is then put on the doors.

I’m still working on painting the hallway. We are going with the same style as the bedrooms, with the white trim and “white shadow” walls. Unfortunately I had some trouble with my final coat of paint on the cornices on the ceiling. The paint must of been off because my “flat” white ceiling paint when on glossy in places. I tried to cover it with some new flat white ceiling paint, but the gloss continued to shine through.

I have now had to reseal the cornice and have just tonight finished my second coat of Taubmans One Coat Ceiling paint. I am not sure if it has worked yet though, as the tint of white seems darker than the rest of the ceiling paint. I really hope that it’s because it’s wet, otherwise I have no idea what I am going to do about it. There is already 8 – coats on paint on the cornice now …

Stop the Sway in a Queenslander

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All Queenslanders are elevated and built on stumps. Depending on how high it is and on the construction methods used, sometimes the Queenslander homes can rock or sway, much like a boat does in a small swell.

Cross Bracing on the Stumps of our Queenslander We noticed this sway quite a bit right after getting our house lifted. If our son ran around the house, or if I took a wide stance and rocked back and forth, we could get it going so the rocking was noticeable in a glass of water. The sway was the worst when we first moved in after the house was lifted, but slowly we got used to it. My wife, who was pregnant at the time, wasn’t too affected by it, which says a lot.

If you have a look at the first photo you can see some of the metal cross braces that were welded between the stumps to help minimize the sway. Even with those cross braces though, we still experienced the sway. For us though the cross bracing was temporary, until the house was enclosed, so permanent cross bracing may be more effective at stopping the sway of the house.

External Framing Back WallThe sway in the house didn’t finally totally go away until after we enclosed under the house. There are two trains of thought that I have experienced when it comes to bracing under the house when enclosing. One is to use bracing ply, which you can see in the photo on the right, and another is to leave some of the metal cross braces in and build around them. Most builders from what I can tell recommend a combination of the two, although we did all bracing ply as that is what our architect drew up with the plans.

Termite Bonds

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After writing my article about if I should get a yearly termite inspection I have been reading more about termite protection on our house. One of the things that I have read about a bit are “Termite Bonds“.

A termite bond is very similar to a termite warranty that we have with our termite treatment. It is provided by the company that treats the house for termites and protects the home owner from future termite infestations.

There are generally two different types of Termite Bonds: a retreatment bond and a repair bond.

  1. Retreatment Termite Bond:
    The retreatment termite bond requires the company to retreat the house and property if a termite infestation is discovered in the treated areas.
  2. Repair Termite Bond:
    The repair termite bond not only requires retreatment of the site if termite infestation is found, but also requires the company to repair any damage caused by the termite infestation. The amount of repair covered will depend on what is written up in the original bond. Some bonds also require high deductibles on any repairs that are required, or any materials needed during the repair of the termite damage.

Like the warranty on our termite treatment, many termite bonds require annual inspections, and some may even require a top up of the treatment used. It is very tempting at those times to skip the inspection and let the bond expire (as we debated when our annual termite inspection came around), but if your house came with a bond, it is probably best to keep up with it.

Here in Australia the average repair bill for a house with termite damage is about $7000. Given that most termite bond inspections only cost about $200, it is well worth it if you live in an area that has termite infestation problems (like most of Australia from what I understand).

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My Friend Ryan Annoys Me

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I had my friend Ryan Booker over this weekend to help me with some of the painting under the house. I was extremely grateful for Ryan’s help this weekend, but like I said, my friend Ryan really annoys me.

I’ve known Ryan for about 9-years now and he is a pretty good friend. He is leading our current YWAM DTS at Reef to Outback and is newly married. But sometimes I get really frustrated being around him.

This weekend when he came over to help was one of these times that I got annoyed. You see, Ryan is a sign writer by trade and is very good at painting. So what really annoyed me this weekend was that in the time it took me to almost complete a coat of paint on the trim of one bedroom, Ryan completed three coats of paint on another virtually identical bedroom.

So I’m guess I am not actually annoyed at Ryan. I am actually more annoyed at myself…