WORKING WEEK - May / June 2000

Progressive degeneration .....
Married quarters had undergone progressive degeneration over the years, with the kitchen being too small and poorly equipped and the upstairs ceiling having suffered from water damage before the roof was repaired during the 1999 working week. The downstairs had been gutted following the May Day holiday weekend, and a new floor covering, identical to that in the main kitchen, had been laid in the intervening period.

The assault was led by Richardsons and Listers, assistance being given by the respective families along with other club members who had not knowingly reproduced and were less likely ever to call upon this particular club facility.

  Dave Dobson seen here balancing on the upstairs joists, arranges yet another electrical black out

  Some of us were not quite big enough to roller the ceiling unaided

Painting and cladding .....
Before anything else, the ceilings had to be painted. Several people developed signs of premature ageing with streaks of white hair; others simply came out in spots.

As in the main kitchen, it was decided to cover the walls with PVC cladding which came in 2.7m sections of 25cm width which are glued and pinned to the walls and the joins sealed with a minimal quantity of silicone mastic.

Brian Clipstone tries unsuccessfully to find a vertical  

A radical change of colour .....
The painting of the rear downstairs room was left to the choice of certain younger people and as a result it underwent a radical change of colour. Opinions varied, but it was generally felt to be better than before. The furniture thought it had got away with it, but the next morning found that it had gone a bright yellow colour.

Apart from the paint scheme, this room also saw another innovation for Penwyllt - our first PVC sealed double glazing unit. This was fitted without too much trouble and will hopefully be joined by many more similar windows in the future and solve the persistent problem of rotting frames.

Caitrin Richardson basks in the blue and green; Heather paints the radiator a more restrained white  

Meanwhile, upstairs.....
Meanwhile, upstairs the tried and trusted team of 2 x Dobsini, Dave Edwards and Phil Buckberry had removed the old ceilings and so-called roof insulation and fitted the new plasterboards. The taping was not made any easier when they ran out of PVA adhesive.

The fibreglass roof insulation was replaced and due to a slight misunderstanding about rolls and lengths, there was a 3-fold excess to requirements. It will now be possible to replace the old and probably ineffective insulation that was put back over some of the other upstairs rooms in previous years.

  Dave Edwards and Andrew Dobson tape the ceiling joints, assisted by a massive 80W of light

  John Lister with an attack of whiteknee; Ian Todd sulks in the corner

Progress was slow .....
For a couple of days, progress was slow as fitting the wall cladding took a considerable amount of time when it had to go around corners, into window bays, over doors and across electrical outlets.

At last however, that stage was completed and it was possible to tidy up the area under the stairs which under the old setup had really been wasted space.

Graham Christian precision varnishes the coat hooks  

The final stages .....
The final stages of the main work involved reinstallation of the cupboards, fitting of shelves and worktops, then reconnection of the hot and cold water supplies. The last mentioned task resulted in the usual acrobatics in an attempt to get it all to join up properly without leaking.

At the end of the week, the new kitchen still required an oven, some finishing work with a mastic gun, varnishing of the woodwork, and the odd electrical connection together with a few other jobs. It is hoped however, that it will be fully commissioned within the near future.

Even before work was finished, some members insisted on playing games under the sink