![\"tiling](\"http:\/\/www.lesguis.com\/images\/1402\/1402010.jpg\")
<\/a>Quite a few years ago I was at a car boot sale at Hexham with Dave Boustead (whatever happened to him?) and amongst the objects that I picked up was an ancient Rawlplug electric tile-cutter, for a couple of quid if I remember correctly.<\/p>\nAnd this morning, we had bright blue skies and not a cloud in sight and fully-charged batteries by 11:00 and so after I’d put the second coat of varnish on the wood that I’ve been fitting, I wheeled out the tile cutter.<\/p>\n
It needed cleaning and a little oiling and so on but to my surprise once I’d loaded it up with water we were off. I did a few test cuts and then set about the tiles.<\/p>\n
There are loads of design faults with this machine – I can think of a hundred ways to improve it – but it did the job as I asked it to do and, to be honest, it cut them better than I could have done. So no complaints from me.<\/p>\n
By lunchtime, they were all cut and cemented to the window sill. All they need now is to be grouted and I really do wish that I had done the window in here like this now.<\/p>\n
This afternoon, I started on the definitive version of the stairs to the attic. When I built them in 2009 I was constrained by time and also by the width (60cms) of the wood that I had at hand. None of this now though. High time I did them properly using real wood and with real rails. <\/p>\n
This means, in effect, removing the rails, cutting them down so that they fit behind the plasterboard that I’ll be fitting, and then cutting up floorboarding to 67cms which, apart fom giving me three strips to a length of 2m, fits perfectly upon the new rails.<\/p>\n
It’s taking me ages to do this as you might expect, but it looks much better than scrap chipboard and the like, and takes my weight so much better..It’s looking much better already and there’s only one tread fitted so far.<\/p>\n
With a brief interruption for rain (i had to fecth in the washing) I was well away when knocking off time came round.<\/p>\n
I’m clearly enjoying myself.<\/p>\n
And while I’m on the subject, the Xantrex charge controller in the barn, the one that packed up last autumn, has now miraculously sprung into life. <\/p>\n