Final touches and the BCO inspection

Now that I had done the plastering, well sort of done the plastering anyway, I could do the few final touches that were needed. There were nothing big, just fitting the CO detector at the right height, finding a pen to write on the information plate and then putting it up to the fuse board and making the two plates to close the chimney off.

The chimney plates were a little fiddly as I had decided to make them myself from stuff I had knocking about in the garage. The metal I used was going to be a pair of wheel arch guards for my old 7 style kit car, but I ended up using something else. It also means that they're titanium as that's what a mate had spare at work.

The plates were meant to overlap perfectly, but I must have made a slight error on marking out, and made the left hand plate with a wrong angle on it. Not that it matters as you can't see it and they're only there to ensure the hot air rises into the room and not straight up the chimney. Since I sealed the cowl to the chimney pot, there are even any noticeable draughts anyway. But it's something the BCO needs to see so now it's done. The gaps around the edges and between the sections of cement board were later caulked up. Now there's a skim of filler over the plaster, I just need to sand it all flat a final time, and it's ready for paint.

Oh, and the BCO has signed off on it all now too! Which is good, but for my £230 I've had the BCO here for maybe a total of 15 minutes across both visits! Hardly value for money, but it is still cheaper than paying a HETAS certified person to do it.

With the stove done, I've had a bit of time to faff about in the garage, and I've finally wired in the ring main. I've only been trying to get it done for the last 4-5 months! Not that it matters, as we've got the estate agents coming round on Wednesday to value the house. Looks like I'll be looking for a new place on my own soon. :(

Airwash system

Just a quick video really that shows the effect of the airwash system on a smoke bomb. The system draws fresh in from a top vent and then across the glass. This keeps the smoke from touching the glass, keeping it cleaner for longer. This video also shows the draw on the cold flue that I've got.

Plastering is much harder than I thought!

It's been a while, but with the Mrs recuperating and me being busy at work, I've just not had the time to get anything done other than fire cement the vitreous pipework and get the stove tempered with a series of increasing fires. For someone who is a self-confessed firebug, this was difficult to do!

Last weekend though, I did get the Sunday morning to have a go at the plastering. And it's something I've never done before, so I was a little apprehensive. I started off by removing a few loose/hollow sounding bits around the edge of the existing hole:

Then the wall was given two coat of watered down PVA. It maybe should have been just one coat, but it seemed to dry out fairly quickly, and the instructions on the bag of plaster said to wet the wall, so I did. Given that I've never plastered before, and this is a repair patch rather than an entire section of wall, I opted for Wickes One Coat plaster. It mixed easily, but seemed a funny colour. I'm used to plaster being a dark brown/tan sort of colour and this stuff was grey. Not that the colour matters, it just wasn't what I had expected.

So with the plaster mixed and poured into a bucket, I started with the edge bead around the cement board. This gives edge a hard metal finish that is also straight. Cutting and sticking the stuff in place with plaster was a bit of a fiddle due to the short sections needed, but it was done. I should have taken a photo, but forgot. With the plaster glue drying, I set to with filling the big hole in, starting on the left. To begin with, it seemed fairly easy to do. And building up the depth was going well until I got to the right hand edge and discovered the wall had what now seemed a massive bow in the existing plaster which I hadn't noticed before. I only realised this was the problem when I was struggling to match the levels. I could move the trowel one way and level the plaster, only to go across it again and score it quite deeply. However, I decided to persevere and sand smooth what was left once the plaster had dried. Whilst this photo is of the finished (well as finished as it's going to be for now) plaster, it shows the bow quite well.

With the top bit mostly done and now drying off a little, I made a start on the two narrow sections either side of the recess. Given that the bricks aren't straight, an edge stop bead would look a bit odd and just point out how uneven the brick work is. So I made the decision to attempt a hand formed angle. I doubt this was wise on my first go, but I figure I can always sand it back should I need to. There will be a certain amount of sanding and tidying to do anyway to clean the bricks, so a little more is no real hardship to ensure a smooth surface.

Once the corners were done, the top was given a smoothing over as best I could. This is clearly the bit that takes the skill. I was getting drag marks and bits sticking all over the place, no matter how wet I made the surface. But I did the best I could, and the rest will need sanding back to see how much filler I need! OK, it may have been better to pay someone to do this bit properly, but I'm glad of the experience if nothing else.

And with that it was left to dry. 5 days later and it's almost finished, so I can get the stove lit again. Whilst the surface finish isn't great, I hope to fix that this weekend with some sanding and filling. I also hope to get the metal closure plate sections done, the CO detector properly mounted and then find a pen that writes on metal so I can fix the information plate in place. All of this needs doing as the BCO calls on Thursday to hopefully sign off on it all!