In our previous house, Scotsgrove End, we had a small woodland area which when I first moved to the house had a very dominant, very tall and straight Scots pine tree at its centre. Unfortunately the tree died – we think the top got struck by lightening – and Steve, along with friend Clive, then fairly expertly cut it down. It needed to be a fairly expert cut, as if the tree had come down in any direction other than it did, it would have crashed across the A road running alongside the wood, which doesn’t quite bear thinking about!
With the tree cut down, Steve then found someone to come over and plank it for us so that we could leave it to dry out for a while in the shed we had there. It was really great wood, and also the smell in the shed while it was drying was amazing.
I’ve lost count of how many times we must have transported each plank of wood:
- from the wood to be stacked in the shed after it was initially planked
- from the shed into the guy’s trailer when it went away to be planed and tongue and grooved, and then back into the shed when it was done
- into the back of the van to transport up to Scotland
- from the downstairs garage to the upstairs room
- moved around many many times when various bits of work needed to be done (which of course was always in the place where the wood was piled)
- unstacked and then restacked for the 3 coats of woodworm treatment to be applied
- sorted, measured and counted – and then restacked into different lengths in preparation for laying
- and then – finally – fixed down!
Whilst I’d laid the engineered oak flooring in the upstairs room of the house, so was reasonably comfortable doing this flooring, there were two main differences: this was solid wood with all the variations that provides (including some slightly banana shaped lengths, created as the wood dried out), plus we had 3 different widths to make maximum use of the whole length of the tree. So added slightly to the challenge. The weather gods though at least were on side when I was laying it in February, which meant I could set the mitre saw up outside the garage door to cut the planks into the right lengths – doing the job when it was wet outside would have added a whole additional logistics challenge.
Once I’d done the main part of the room, we had enough wood left to do what will be cupboards and shelves in the sides of the room – so more fun (including back ache and multiple scrapes and bumps on head) in those triangular spaces!
After laying the floor, then had to be sanded and two coats of Mr Cornwall’s Super Duper Everlasting Light Oil applied – mad name for the oil, but it’s basically an easier to apply version of Odie’s Oil so suitable for big areas. (I was introduced to Odie’s products on the Lula James woodwork workshop I went to – the Lula James team now use these oils on everything, switching over from Osmo, as they’re just so much nicer to use, made of non-toxic natural ingredients and they smell really good.)
It is just so lovely that we now have this lasting part of Scotsgrove up in Glenmore. Scotsgrove was a very special place to live, and now part of it is in another very special place.
Continuing the reduce, re-use, recycle theme
Very few things in the garage accommodation have been sourced from new, perfect stock. Saved a lot of money, as well as given lots of things a second life:
- shower door from Facebook Marketplace – seller had bought wrong size by mistake
- Hansgrohe shower also from Facebook marketplace – damaged box, seller couldn’t return
- 2 sets of 2 wall-lights, both secondhand from Facebook
- water heater second hand – had been fitted but then electrician advised that electric circuit wasn’t suitable
- toilet second hand – just had to descale (now as new) and buy new flush mechanism and seat
- sink and tap also second hand
- oak door slightly damaged stock (but was easy to sand down)
- kitchen work top free from neighbour
- kitchen cabinets surplus from house kitchen (which was bought from Facebook)
- bathroom and kitchen fans both from Facebook – left over from renovation, seller had bought too many
- under-counter fridge, unused but people had fitted it before realising it was way too small for their needs, and the kitchen fitters had clearly just ripped it out damaging the top and one of the feet (so they couldn’t return or sell for anywhere close to the original price they paid)
- divan bed and mattress both second hand Visprung
- free secondhand head board which I’ll re-pad and cover using some foam that sourced from Facebook as part of old seat cushion plus a fabric remnant.
Just need to source some comfy seating now!