Preparing and Priming the stairs

Progress has been a bit slow on the hallway as of late, so I really needed to do something to give myself a boost.  Little effort for maximum benefit.

The stairs really needed painting as the old yellow and mustard coloured paint look was really starting to get tired!  But first a little prep...

There were some big old gaps between the steps and the steps had taken a battering with the amount of staples and nails that had been put in them over the years.

So, I started by filling them in.  Some of them were really quite large so I started with Gripfill, hoping that might do the trick.  Some also needed some stripwood to fill the gap as it was that large.

Unfortunately, even in areas with a small amount of filler, it shrunk quite a lot on drying and it all cracked up.

Round 2 of filling.

I went back to my trusty deep gap filler from Toolstation.

There was one particular hole which wouldn't retain any filler.  So I got a little crafty.  I cut out a small section of foil from a foil tray (narrow enough to just be able to fit through the hole) and pierced a small hole in the middle.  I then got a pierce of string and knotted it underneath.

[It just happens there was a big hole in one of the stairs, and one hole in the floorboards on the landing - the following photos are of the landing, but I used the same technique for the stairs]

I then put some gripfill on the upper side of the foil (the side with the longest length of string), and carefully poked it through the hole.

Once I had poked it through, I used the string to gently pull the foil up  and make contact with the underside of the floorboard.  I used a piece of tape to secure the string just whilst it dried, and then added a little more gripfill to try and fill the gap a little bit to start with.

Once dried, the string can be cut.  The hole on the landing I topped up with wood filler as this would be stained to match the floor, but the hole on the stairs, I filled with deep gap filler as this would be painted.

I intended to use Johnstones Acrylic Eggshell Paint in Brilliant White as it claims to stay white and not yellow over time.  I will see how it lives up to those claims in time.  But to use this product it advises you use Johnstones Joncryl Acrylic Primer.  A bit of a sand of all my filler first and I was good to go.

What a difference a bit of paint makes!  I also LOVE the contrast between the white and the wall colour. Yum!

I also discovered the joys of masking tape, specifically yellow Frogtape (for sensitive surfaces).  It has paint block technology to give a really clean edge.  I'd never really had much success with masking tape and it always bled paint underneath.  Confession - I always figured it was for people without any skills to paint a straight line.  That is until now! I LOVE it!

It saves so much time.  Rather than faffing about - just tape on, paint (not even taking any particular care), tape off. Done. I'm sold.

That's only the primer on the steps, I still need to prep  and paint all the spindles and banister on the stairs (a job I'm putting off as I know it will take ages!), as well as properly paint the steps with the top coat, but progress is progress nonetheless, and I'm chuffed.

Making a new loft hatch

The old loft hatch was pretty gross. The trim was coming away and it was covered in bumpy artex. By leaving it as it was, it was ruining the ambience in our (slowly getting there) hallway.

I had my dad kindly cut out a piece of 18mm plywood months and months ago using his jigsaw. (My dad is a bit of a badass with a jigsaw, and I know I'm most certainly not! This was also in the days before my circular saw became a big part of my life). But alas, it sat in the spare bedroom for months, waiting for me to do something with it. The piece of board I used was actually a bit warped, but was the straightest piece in the pile at Wickes so determined as I was, I decided I could make it work.  We used the old loft hatch as a template.

I started by trying to make it as flat as possible by attaching two battens across the board.  One of the battens (the one at the edge) would be used to help attach the hinges, but the one further in from the edge was just to try and make the board straight.  There is no reason why one of the edges of my battens is at 45 degrees. It's just that was a scrap of wood I already had in the garage and I couldn't be bothered to cut it straight!

I pre-drilled through the batten, but not the board.  I then had to use screws that would just go into the board without popping through the other side, as the other side would be visible!  I managed it though.

The trim was also an important part of the whole thing.  I had bought some D-shape pine moulding for the job.  I also dug out my mitre box and hand saw, as whilst I LOVE my circular saw, I don't think it was quite up for this job. One of the trim strips was completely on the board (so that the door could actually open and not impinge the hinges!), but the other 3 sides were half on the board and half covering the dodgy bit of plastering.

 I secured the trim to the board with some small nails, and used the nail punch to sink them into wood. I then covered the nails with a bit of filler. My 45 degree cuts weren't quite perfect so there was a bit of a gap between the pieces of trim.  More filler required!

Once the filler had dried and I had sanded it, I put on the first coat of paint which was the primer. I used the same paint as I would use for the stairs, Johnstones Joncryl Acrylic Primer.  It's very quick to dry and the odour is minimal so it was quite nice to work with.

I tested the hatch out to check it all fitted, but came across a small problem with the loft ladder.  The batten I installed to keep the wood straight was hitting the bottom of the ladder legs so I needed to move it. (I actually moved it and then realised I moved it the wrong way -doh!)

I've bought some new butt hinges, and the plaster patch up is almost done - so not far off a finished product now. Stay tuned!