Peeling paint.... what the?!

Just finishing off the plaster job on the ceiling in the ensuite and what seems to be an old repair is bulging.

Just though it needed sanding back and re plastering but the moisture from said plaster is causing the old paint to peel away more so....

What the?!?!?!?

How to remove a broken shower soap dish

In both showers, ensuite and main, the shower soap dishes have been broken. How? We have no idea. A randy encounter that got out of hand perhaps? Or the bend over that ended in a cracking headache?

Either way, they're full of mold and need to go.

But would you believe it, Google provided no help in the world of shower soap holder removal. So we just made it up as we went along.

A trip to Bunnings meant a $30 electric grout cutter came home and we put it to work.

The ninja took the first 3 hours gingerly cutting the grout from around our dear holder, not a budge. But be buggered if we were going to damage the tiles around.

So little "grout cutter" became "violent stabby chisel weapon", as we sythed into the ceramic and slowly the bugger started to reveal its weaknesses.

The ninja took to it with flathead screw driver and the back of an axe to chip out more and more.

It took the most part of today, a grout cutter, axe and a screwdriver later and the deed was done. One down, one to go.....

Pipes out

Well, plumber came, dug and conquered.

After a nervous 2 hours digging and about 6 feet down, we uncovered power, phone and storm water drain before, boom! There she was.

Possibly crushed by the storm water that was on top, but no point pursuing, council won't do anything about it.

So, 4 hours and 2k later, we can flush and wash till the cows come home. But only sparingly.  Because now I'm paying for water....

The cop-knock

I had to work tonight and had left the better half at home. While sitting in the front room near the door, a sharp "cop-knock" rang out, much to her surprise.

But the biggest surprise was who made the knock. I believe it went something like this...

"Oh hi! My name is BlahBlah and I'm the ex-owner of your new house!"

Oh. That's nice. Care to explain why the place is such a mess!!!

Turns out he's chasing mail, all sorted now. But what a strange thing indeed...

Plumbing ahoy!

When we bought the man cave, we knew there were issues with the plumbing, mainly the drainage. And that was fine, we got what we needed altered in the price and, bob's your uncle, it was on the list of things to do.

But 3 weeks in and the drains are backed up once again after only having them cleared right before move-in, we new that this puppy was going straight to the top of the list.

So today was "let's rip out the garden" day. Let me explain...

- Drain goes under the house and connects with the council waste at the front right.
- Pipe that u-bends into said outlet apparently has broken.
- The never-tended-or-watered-before-in-its-life garden roots have sought after the moisture.
- Roots are blocking pipe, causing next-to-no drainage.

Plumber today declares, "oh, I'm going on holidays end of next week. We need to do it Monday at 7am, I'll hire the digger, we'll dig out and fix 'er up."

This lead to a mad dash to Bunnings for saws, a skip bag and other assorted stabby-jabby gardening apparatus.

Before hand?







4 hours later, this is our front garden.




So we're covered in spider bites and blisters. But a bloody good days work!

It started with a pie...

So the local Magpies are very friendly, as are the Butcher birds, which is great!

But today we discovered Maggie likes pastry... A LOT.

Short of being chased in the house, she finally settles for some crumbs while I retreat to the confines of the house to finish my Steak and Mushie in peace....

GIF of Maggie in action

I am a prisoner in my own home when pastry is around.

Ensuite before-shot - 3D photo is terrible!

So plastering in the ensuite has kicked off. I tried to take a 3D picture but so some reason I've ended up with 3 hands and sh!t's crazy....

3D photo of ensuite before hand (but after hours of cleaning before hand)

But you can see the cracks in the ceiling near the Tastic light, plus all the nail holes in the walls and these are my next mission!