The entry hall, part 2

It's nice when things go smoothly, and the past three weeks have been fairly plain sailing for getting the entry hall as far as possible without having our new front door, despite a week away on business.

I'll keepthis quick, and there'sa short vid at the end in case you don't like reading.

So here's how it was at the last update:

After the walls were patched a bit, I stuck on the wall heating panels with foam.

Then installed the piping, leading the ends up to the distribution manifold upstairs through ducts I had laid months before.

At the same time, the opposite wall, which I had already repointed, needed some plastering to hide the ugly top part.

And done.

The bottom steps were tight against the wall at this stage, as I'd added 3cm to the thickness. So, to plaster over the heating pipes, I needed to get the steps out of the way. These were somehow glued on, so i used a car jack to pop them up, and carefully manhandled them out of the way.

And then plastered the whole lot, except the areas directly beside the entry door, as that would have to be blended in once the door is installed.

After letting it cure acouple of days, i turned the heating on to help dry it out. This would have been the ideal time to put some screwsin the wall for pictures, as you could see where the pipes are!

The opening between the entry hall and adjoining cellar area (where the beer cellar is) needed to be closed off, so we bought a cheap door in the local DIY store, and I built a frame to hang it on.

A quick assembly and a few coats of varnish to keep the door and frame clean, and it was ready to install.

And already quite the transformation! The ceiling was primed with a plaster primer, containing quartz sand, and although I bought a plaster to apply with a trowel and finish with a roller, I think we'll just paint it as it is, as the texture is quite ok! Less work too. Once the front door is in, and the remaining bits of plastering done, then the final paint job will be done. In the meantime, I'll start on the vaulted cellar, to try and get into the same standard as the beer cellar (not to mention making a door for it).

We also finally got a new TV, and to replace the kitchen sideboard that we'd used for the ancient thing we've had till now, I tarted up a lovely board I found in the barn, giving it a run over with the Makita brush sander, and oiling it with worktop oil. The lice edge and grain are really nice, so all I need now it to find proper legs for it, as it currently rests on a pair of old speakers.

And that's it! today i started prepping things to set up a satellite dish, and a couple of small projects, but more of those anon. For now, a live view of the entry hall as it is now:

The entry hall, part 1

I don't know how many parts this project will have, as what seemed like an straightforward set of tasks in my head seems to have turned into a cascade of lots of interdependent jobs, some of which I didn't want to tackle just yet. However, I'm re-energised (somewhat) and want to get this done.

Essentially, the entry hall is ugly as hell, apart from the two natural stone walls and the sandstone door frames. The rest is bare blockwork, ugly fake marble tiles and stairs, and a hideous door.

The door is obvious. We need a new one, and must get one, it's just a matter of deciding exactly what type, but it has to be in keeping with the style of the house of course. And once a new door is in, the walls have to be plastered, but before that, they need to be insulated, and a bit of heating installed, to temper the hall a little in the really cold months.

But we also need to sort out the floor before the new door, and that means lifting the tiles, then pouring some self-levelling screed to build uo the level, as the old screed is falling apart and coming away with the tiles. And if we're doing that, we should get the front step sorted out before the door comes in too. And we need a couple of internal doors to separate cellar space from hall space. And the second vaulted cellar should be done before the hall floor is done, to avoide mucking new tiles and doors up.

And if I have to lift the tiles and pour screed, then the treads of the stairs will have to come off to let me access that corner. And they might break, as they are stuck fast, which means I have to accelerate the plan to swap out the treads with wood...

You see?

Anyway, it's going to be great to have a nice entry hall in a couple of months!

And here's a live view.