house

Renovating the sitting-dining room and other parts of my house

Roses alongside the front door © Ricky Yates

As I wrote at the end of my previous post, K & K, (as in K & K renovace nemovitostí Decín), besides renovating my study-bedroom, have also done work in other parts of the house. This is the promised further blog post describing and illustrating their work.

The ground floor of the house has only three main rooms – my study-bedroom, a kitchen and adjacent small shower room, (completely refurbished in January 2018), and a sitting-dining room.

The sitting-dining room, along with the adjacent entrance lobby, is the newest part of the house. As a result, there was no need to do anything to the walls, other than painting them white to lose the previous ugly dark orange. Likewise, there was no real problem laying a wood laminate floor matching my study bedroom, as the floor is solid, level concrete. One very nice touch was Karel junior, completely dismantling all the power sockets and light switches, thoroughly washing all the parts, before reinstalling them. Now they are as white as the newly painted walls!

A couple of before and after photos to show what has been done. The before photo dates from early May 2017, after the previous owners had moved out, but before I moved in.

Sitting-dining room in May 2017 with orange wall & linoleum on the floor © Ricky Yates

Sitting-dining room in May 2023 with white walls & a new wood laminate floor © Ricky Yates

The photo below is the view from the sitting-dining room, through the entrance lobby to the front door.

View from sitting-dining room through to the front door © Ricky Yates

Whilst this is the view from the sitting-dining room into the kitchen with the small shower room beyond.

View from sitting-dining room into the kitchen © Ricky Yates

The tiling on the floor of the shower room is the only part of the refurbishment work, carried out by Elefant in January 2018, with which I have had a problem. Only a few months after the floor was laid, a couple of tiles became loose and uneven. The Elefant tiler returned and relaid them. But in the time since then, a number of tiles have once again become loose with a couple of them cracking.

Damaged tiles on shower room floor © Ricky Yates

When I showed the problem to Karel junior and Richard when they came to assess all the work I wanted doing, they said the best thing to do would be to completely take up the floor and relay it with new tiles. So that is what Ivan, Richard’s Ukrainian colleague, did back on Saturday 8^th April. Below are two more before and after photos.

Old tiles completely removed © Ricky Yates

The exterior steps up to the front door are also tiled and a couple of tiles were loose when I bought the house in May 2017.

Loose tiles on the front steps © Ricky Yates

A few more have slowly worked loose since then. Whilst Karel junior and Richard said that their ideal solution would be to completely strip all the steps and start again, they agreed to re-affix all the loose tiles for the time being. They assured me that it would now be fine for this summer but couldn’t guarantee regarding next winter. Here are the steps following Richard’s repair work.

And with my plants returned to their summer position on the steps.

Another problem on the exterior of the house was this rusted up and non-functioning tap.

Rusted-up, non-functioning outside tap © Ricky Yates

K & K together managed to eventually remove it and replace it with this shiny new one which works perfectly and makes watering pots and flower beds much easier.

Finally for this post, the double-glazed window in the toilet, which was fitted back in November 2017, now has a wooden windowsill and attractive surround 🙂

Renovating my Study-Bedroom

I have now lived in my retirement home in Stará Oleška for six years. During that time the only major work I’ve had done to the interior of the house was the refurbishment of the kitchen and adjoining shower room in January 2018 when, for three weeks, I was living in the middle of a building site.

At that time, I did ask Elefant, the firm that installed my new kitchen and shower, if they would be interested in carrying out further work on the house. But they were booked up for several months ahead and also were really only interested in work that involved kitchens and bathrooms, installing units and fittings that they themselves sell out of their showroom in Decín.

Over the past five years since then, I’ve had work done in the garden and to the outside of the house, such as the completion of the lean-to. But nothing further has been done inside for two main reasons. Firstly, I’ve struggled to find a person or business, capable and interested in doing the various things I’ve wanted doing. Secondly, I’ve been dreading the prospect of again having to live in the middle of a building site whilst any work was done.

Just over a year ago, I had to have work done to the outside of my house after strong winds blew numerous tiles / asphalt shingles off my roof. As described in that post to which I link, my roof was re-tiled and repaired by K & K renovace nemovitostí Decín, a father and son team, both of whom are called Karel, hence K & K. Karel junior promotes and advertises the business using social media, especially Facebook. Videos and photos of their work on my roofs have appeared several times 😉

More recently, Karel junior has been advertising that he is taking on more people with different trades, so that they can undertake a wider range of projects than just roofs, downpipes and gutters. So in mid-February I contacted him, asking if he would visit so that I could discuss with him, the work I wanted doing.

Two visits followed, the first with K & K together, the second with Karel junior and his bricklayer Richard. Following those visits, Karel Junior gave me an approximate price for labour to which the cost of materials would need to be added. During the second visit, they indicated that they would be able to start work in about two weeks time which gave me a provisional start date of 27^th March.

After hearing nothing for several days, on Palm Sunday 2^nd April, Karel junior messaged me. He apologised for the delay but said he had been waiting for Richard and his Ukrainian colleague Ivan, to be available as their work, particularly on the walls of my study-bedroom, had to be done first before he and his father could do anything. Could they start work on Holy Saturday 8^th April? Despite this meaning that celebrating Easter wasn’t going to be possible, I felt that having waited so long for a start date, I couldn’t say, ‘No’.

My study-bedroom in May 2017 © Ricky Yates

My study-bedroom was the room requiring the greatest amount of work and is the oldest part of the house. In particular, the wall at the back of the alcove in the centre of this photograph, was extremely thin. In the top right-hand corner of the alcove, where you can see that a small amount of plaster is missing, it was nearly possible to put my finger right through it!

The photograph, taken in May 2017 just before I moved in, also partially illustrates another issue I wanted solving. The limited electrical fittings within the room were all fitted external to the walls, rather than being within the walls. The two power sockets were also halfway up the wall, rather than being near floor level. There was an identical fitting on the pillar on the opposite side of the room.

New wall being built in my study-bedroom © Ricky Yates

On Saturday 8^th April, Richard rapidly got to work building a new insulating wall filling the alcove, as you can clearly see in this photo. He also removed the old electrical wiring and power sockets. The new wiring now goes down behind the new wall and comes out near the bottom where Richard carved a hole in the pillar for two new power sockets.

What this photo also illustrates is the amount of mess this work inevitably created. Yes, that is my bed, covered with a couple of old sheets to try and keep it reasonably clean. And having nowhere else, that is where I had to sleep each night!

With the new section of wall completed, the whole of the wall on that side of the room was rendered, ready to be decorated.

Channel for new electrical wiring & power sockets © Ricky Yates

In the opposite corner, Richard carved a channel in the existing wall to both reposition the main light switch and to create four new power sockets, adjacent to where my desk is normally located. Up until now I’ve had an extension cord with three sockets at the end, plugged into a socket halfway up a wall pillar across the room, in order to plug in my laptop, printer and desk light. I have lived in constant fear of tripping over that extension cord and sending a whole load of expensive equipment flying across the floor.

New electrics installed & the wall rendered © Ricky Yates

By Easter Monday lunchtime, all the building and electrical work was completed.

And by the end of Thursday in Easter week, K&K had prepared all the walls and completely decorated the whole room despite no work being done on the Wednesday as Karel junior got serious toothache and had to seek emergency dental treatment 🙁

With the room being decorated white, it showed up just how dirty everything else was 😉 This photo shows the difference when a small section of wood beamed ceiling was cleaned. So I accepted Karel junior’s offer of my study-bedroom, kitchen and shower room all being given a thorough clean on Friday 14^th by himself and a young lady called Simona. The transformation was wonderful 🙂

On Saturday 15^th April, as well as giving all the walls a second coat of paint, K&K commenced the final part of renovating my study-bedroom – laying a new wood laminate floor. Unfortunately, progress was not as quick as they had hoped, because of the unevenness of the floor which became clear once all of the disintegrating linoleum covering it had been removed. One half is solid but covered with three different varieties of tiles. The other half is constructed of wooden boards, several of which needed to be more firmly screwed down.

Wood laminate floor partially laid © Ricky Yates

This photo was taken at the end of work on Saturday 15^th April. It shows the nature of the underlying floor with two of the three varieties of tile on the left and wooden boards on the right. It also shows the foam underlay on which the wood laminate flooring was being installed. And finally, my bed was back where it belongs.

Fully renovated study-bedroom © Ricky Yates

K&K completed laying the new floor on Monday 17^th April. So, a month short of six years from when I moved into the house, I finally now have the study-bedroom in the state I have always envisaged, except for bookshelves which is another topic. And K&K have also done work in other parts of the house but that needs another blog post as this one is already long enough 🙂

It’s taken a long time but, my Lean-to is finally complete

At the end of a post I wrote more than four years ago entitled, ‘Making progress‘, I featured two photographs of the incomplete lean-to on one side of my house. This one on the left, taken in May 2017, just a couple of weeks after I moved to Stará Oleška, and the one below, taken after ‘Jan with his van’ had taken away a whole load of unwanted items left by the previous owners.

In that September 2017 post, I wrote, ‘Once I’ve removed some remaining loose timber into the wood shed, then I plan to lay a proper concrete floor. After that, I hope to be able to hang the door that is already sitting there, propped up on one side, and create a dry and secure home for my mower and garden tools.’

Whilst soon afterwards, I did move all the remaining timber to the woodshed where it was cut up and used as firewood, everything else remained an aspiration until earlier this year. However, over the intervening period, whenever I found bits of brick, stone, broken tiles etc, in various parts of the garden, I stacked them by the open entrance of the lean-to so they could be used to form the foundation of the concrete floor that I envisaged being laid at some future date.

When, in the Summer of 2020, I found František and he came and laid a new path in my back garden, as described in this post, I showed him the incomplete lean-to and indicated by sign language 😉 , what I wanted doing. The project was put on hold over the winter, but during April 2021, he promised to come and commence work on Saturday 1^st May.

So in the late afternoon of Friday 30^th April, František deposited in my woodshed and/or garden, a cement mixer, numerous bags of cement, a metal door frame and various other materials. He promised to return in the morning, once he had collected a load of sand. Unfortunately, he hadn’t reckoned with 1^st May being Labour Day, a public holiday. Therefore builders merchants who were normally open on a Saturday morning, were closed 🙁 So on the Sunday afternoon, František came and took back the cement mixer as it was needed by his regular employers from whom he had borrowed it for the weekend.

There then followed a month of frustration as František’s van suffered a major breakdown and was off the road for over two weeks. Eventually, I got Kát’a to phone František with two suggestions. If he told me what quantity of sand was required, I would order it and pay to have it delivered. Secondly, he could ask my neighbour Milan, if he could borrow his cement mixer.

In the end, František became mobile once again and was able himself, to bring the required sand to my garden.

But he took up my second suggestion and, as I expected, Milan was very happy to oblige. So on the sunny evening of Tuesday 1^st June, a month after it was meant to happen, finally a new concrete floor was laid with a metal door frame inserted.

František was able to use all of the bits of brick, stone and broken tiles I had collected and his calculation of the amount of sand and cement required proved to be exactly right.

Further progress was made on Sunday 13^th June when František returned and, with breeze blocks covered by cement render, filled in the gaps surrounding the metal door frame.

Gaps surrounding the metal door frame filled in © Ricky Yates

He also helped me transport a kitchen base unit, which I had held onto since January 2018 when the rest of my kitchen was gutted, out of the house and into the far end of the lean-to.

Old kitchen base unit in its new home © Ricky Yates

There then followed yet another hiatus. I thought František was going to find a door of the correct dimensions. He thought that I was going to do so. I should add that the old door mentioned in the second paragraph of this post and which can also be seen in the first two photographs, was both the wrong size and the handle and hinges were the wrong way around. So in advance of František commencing work, I sawed it up and the wood from it is currently being used as kindling for my woodburning stove.

Once I realised the misunderstanding, I paid a visit to Obi, a German-owned DIY store on the outskirts of Ústí nad Labem, to try and find a suitable door. I went with my English-speaking Czech friend Kát’a, to try and avoid any confusion. We found a suitable door and arranged for it to be delivered on the morning of Saturday 21^st August. My VW Golf is unfortunately not big enough to transport a door of the correct size so I ended up paying over 1000 Kc to have it delivered 🙁

Here it is, propped up against the door frame.

In due course, František came to fit it. However, whilst the door was of the correct dimensions, it had its hinges and holes for the door handle and lock, the incorrect way around 🙁 At this point, I really did begin to think I was fated and would never ever see this project through to completion. I certainly didn’t want to spend over 1000Kc to get the the incorrect door taken back and the same sum again to have the correct one delivered.

The solution eventually came some days ago, with František taking the incorrect door back to Obi, accompanied by my receipt, explaining the problem and returning with the correct door. I promised to more than cover his petrol costs as well as paying him for taking a strip off the bottom of the door so it was the correct height and fitting the door handle and lock that I’d purchased back in August.

By the time František got back with the correct door, the light was fading fast. So I ended up using the torch on my mobile phone so he could see to fit the door handle and lock and adjust the hinges. Even then, we were once again frustrated as the door catch and lock wouldn’t quite connect with the appropriate holes in the door frame. Finally, František returned on the afternoon of Sunday 28^th November and, aided by an electrically-driven metal cutter, removed a small bit of the door frame. The door then shut firm and the key turned easily to lock the door.

Lean-to complete with locking door © Ricky Yates

My Vine

The house and vine in March 2017 © Ricky Yates

On the front of my house is a well-established vine. In this photograph, you can see the outline of it, in between and along the top of the double-glazed windows that enclose the verandah. The photograph was taken by me in March 2017, at the time I agreed to buy the house. It has appeared previously on the blog, in this post entitled, ‘The new house in Stará Oleška‘.

At some point in the previous six months, the vine clearly had been pruned for which I am most thankful. It was the only thing in the garden that appeared to have received any attention in the months before I purchased the property. I believe that once the previous elderly owners decided to sell, they chose to do nothing further to the garden, meaning that I inherited quite a jungle 🙁

Over the summer of 2017, the vine flourished, as can be seen in this photograph, taken in August that year, when I was painting the frames of the two windows under the apex of the roof of the house. However, it did also produce a healthy crop of grapes.

The vine after being pruned in March 2019 © Ricky Yates

In February 2018 and again in March this year, I rigorously pruned it. This is how it looked following its serious haircut in March 2019. But in both years, all my rigorous pruning has ever done is to encourage the vine to flourish even more.

As you can see in the photograph above, taken in late September this year, the vine took over virtually all of the front windows, making it almost impossible to see out!

However, it did once again, produce an excellent crop of grapes. These are some of the 2019 vintage!

One piece of helpful advice I was recently given was this. Whilst vines are known for growing prodigiously, if you prune them in the late Summer/early Autumn, rather than leaving it to the Spring, they tend not to grow as much. Therefore, deciding that I would like to be able to see out of my front windows next year, over the past two days, the vine has been once more thoroughly pruned.

Pruned vine 31st October 2019 © Ricky Yates

Here is the photographic evidence!

PS: You can also see my recently renovated & freshly varnished front door 🙂

Out with the old and in with the new

The old wood-burning stove with heat proof walls on either side © Ricky Yates

When I had the kitchen in my home completely refurbished, back in January 2018, other than the tiled floor and an overhead florescent light, the only other thing that was retained from the previous kitchen, was the wood-burning stove, because it was the only source of heating for the whole house. As part of the refurbishment, two heatproof walls were built, either side of the stove, in order to protect the newly installed neighbouring kitchen units.

Once the stove has been alight for a couple of hours, it does heat the house quite well. But the associated oven takes a very long time to heat up and it is very difficult to judge what should be the correct cooking time for anything one puts in it. Therefore since the kitchen refurbishment, I haven’t used the stove to cook at all, as I now have a very effective electric oven and hob.

Over the past year, I have toyed with the idea of replacing the old wood-burning stove with something both more visually attractive, as well as more heat efficient. My two concerns have been the cost of a new stove, together with the practicalities of getting the old one successfully removed and a new one installed.

Last week I bit the bullet. I visited the Mountfield store in Decín, from where I previously purchased both my lawnmower and chain saw, and ordered a new wood-burning stove. The one I ordered was in their sale, at half its normal price. So I felt I was getting a bargain.

The two staff members who I dealt with, both had some English. One of them was the one who had been most helpful to me when I purchased my lawnmower back in the summer of 2017. I showed them the photo above of the old stove, seeking confirmation that, as part of the deal, they would take the old one away when delivering the new one. They seemed to assure me, more than once, that they would.

I was also aware that I would need some new sections of metal chimney, as the smoke outlet on the old stove is on the right-hand side, whereas on the new stove, it is in the centre. Aided by the photo, the two staff worked out that I needed two new chimney sections which I duly purchased.

New metal chimney sections © Ricky Yates

At 07.03 on the morning of Monday 30^th September, I got a text message saying that my new stove would be delivered that morning and that the driver would phone me about thirty minutes in advance of his arrival. But when the truck did arrive, it was one man on his own, working for the Czech branch of the German logistics company, Gebrüder Weiss. He duly unloaded a wooden crate containing my new stove, but deposited it on my front path. No, he couldn’t take it up the steps into my house and neither could he take my old stove away.

The new wood-burning stove, sitting before the steps leading to my front door © Ricky Yates

A year ago, at an event in Decín, I met a fluent English-speaking Czech lady called Mirka. She runs a weekly English conversation class and invited me, as a native English-speaker, to help her with her class. It is something I’ve enjoyed doing this past year, and has occupied me for an hour on Monday afternoons, during term time. In turn, Mirka has twice bailed me out with Czech language problems, for which I’ve been most grateful.

Last Monday morning, I made a cri de coeur to Mirka, asking if she knew anybody who could help me out by coming and getting my new stove into the house and the old one out. Over the past few days she has been absolutely brilliant.

She first visited the Mountfield store to ascertain whether they would take the old stove away & install the new one. The outcome was that I had misunderstood what I thought I had been told at the time of the sale – it is a service they don’t provide.

Then, following an exchange of text messages, emails with photographs, and phone calls, this morning, two men with their van, arrived to sort out my problem. Fortunately, the younger of the two guys had quite good English which greatly aided communication.

Firstly, the the two guys successfully moved the old stove out of the house, down the front path to the side of their van. Then they dismantled the wooden crate, to enable them to move the new stove into the house. They discovered that the new stove was actually bolted onto the crate and it took a selection of their tools and mine, to get it disconnected.

The new wood-burning stove, duly fitted © Ricky Yates

But they eventually succeeded, and here it is in situ. And the two new sections of metal chimney that the Mountfield staff got me to purchase, were exactly what was required.

Amazingly, the two guys wanted no payment for their labours. As the old stove still works, they would be able to sell it on. I did press 500kc into the young man’s hand as some ‘beer money’, for which he was most grateful. And I certainly need to find a way of rewarding Mirka, and not just by helping with her conversation class which resumes next Monday, after the summer break.