Life in America - I made the move.

[Mr Zog]

Today I tackled the tiles that had to come out.


I used a cold chisel and a hammer to free the tiles up, and it took about 2 hours to get them all out.

Then I had to get the old tile cement off the concrete floor 

That took the rest of the day. After much trying of different methods, including using a spade to try and chop it off, I settled on using a hammer to crush the tile cement into powder, then vacuumed the big stuff up, then used a scraper to get the last bits off. Then vacuum again because everything was just dust.

But it's done. The floor is now perfectly smooth so that when I lay the flooring next weekend it will also be as smooth as possible. During the week, after work, I will undercut the door frames to just the right height so that the flooring can fit under the edges for a good finish. And I will clean up all the skirting boards / kick boards ready for reinstallation after the flooring is finished.

After the floor was done I did a bit of gardening, tidied up the front yard a bit. Then I mowed all the grass, but the weed eating can wait a week. I didn't have it in me. Right now the sprinklers are watering the grass. It's been very dry for too long now, and the grass is getting very pale. Some water will perk it right up 

Mrs Zog made a delicious bobotie for supper, some things about SA are just divine 

[big oil]

Today I tackled the tiles that had to come out.


I used a cold chisel and a hammer to free the tiles up, and it took about 2 hours to get them all out.

Then I had to get the old tile cement off the concrete floor 

That took the rest of the day. After much trying of different methods, including using a spade to try and chop it off, I settled on using a hammer to crush the tile cement into powder, then vacuumed the big stuff up, then used a scraper to get the last bits off. Then vacuum again because everything was just dust.

But it's done. The floor is now perfectly smooth so that when I lay the flooring next weekend it will also be as smooth as possible. During the week, after work, I will undercut the door frames to just the right height so that the flooring can fit under the edges for a good finish. And I will clean up all the skirting boards / kick boards ready for reinstallation after the flooring is finished.

After the floor was done I did a bit of gardening, tidied up the front yard a bit. Then I mowed all the grass, but the weed eating can wait a week. I didn't have it in me. Right now the sprinklers are watering the grass. It's been very dry for too long now, and the grass is getting very pale. Some water will perk it right up 

Mrs Zog made a delicious bobotie for supper, some things about SA are just divine 

I had to ask google what a bobotie is, looks like a good stick to your bones type of casserole. 

[Fudmucker]

I had to ask google what a bobotie is, looks like a good stick to your bones type of casserole. 

It is actually not a casserole, but a curry meatloaf with fruit and almonds...

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/157881/best-bobotie/

[big oil]

I had to ask google what a bobotie is, looks like a good stick to your bones type of casserole. 

It is actually not a casserole, but a curry meatloaf with fruit and almonds...

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/157881/best-bobotie/

Location location location, Fud!

[Mrs. Zog]

Yesterday afternoon I had an entire swarm of honeybees in the house, in the Florida room (i.e., the enclosed porch). I have no idea how they got in; the doors and windows were closed. I opened the doors and windows and all but a few found their way out. The rest I chased with the bug zapper.

Very strange. 

[Fudmucker]

A bee can fit through a hole around 1/4'' in diameter. (6mm)
If it is a slot 1/4" wide or high, they can get in in their swarms.
Something in the Florida room attracted the scouts, they flew back to tell their sisters about it
and they all came along to have a look.
If the queen bee came along and couldn't get out again for some reason, they would all stay with her.
Opening up everything could have let the queen out again.


Google local plants that discourage bees.
Spirit vinegar also discourages them so keep a few saucers open on ledges inside the Florida room.

[Mrs. Zog]

Thanks for that explanation! I try to be nice to bees, I know they're having a hard time in the world lately, but I don't want an entire swarm in the house.   

[Ri]

And here's me waiting for the darned garden designers to do their thing so I can put down 3 hives (apparently I have space for 5 but the family limited me )

[silvrav]

Thanks for that explanation! I try to be nice to bees, I know they're having a hard time in the world lately, but I don't want an entire swarm in the house.   

Most likely the queen, it can take only 30mins for the entire swarm to follow.

Have a gander here :

[Mr Zog]

Its been a rough week so far.

The worst has been a new client we are doing work for. It's an insurance company that covers household items like water pumps, geysers, etc. I have been out on a few of these calls already, and the amount of work involved in the paperwork, diagnosis, quotes, getting authorization... takes up HOURS 

Hours that I could have spent doing other jobs. And then the fuckers refuse the claim to the homeowner because of their fine print.

I hope the boss decides not to continue with them. I don't like telling a customer that their claim has been refused and they have to pay the full price to get their water back, after they have been paying their installments for years. And then they think I am the bad guy...  not lekker.

But the good news is that tomorrow is pay day. And this weekend I get to install the new flooring. 

[Mrs. Zog]

And here's me waiting for the darned garden designers to do their thing so I can put down 3 hives (apparently I have space for 5 but the family limited me )

Wow, are you starting beekeeping, Ri? (Stupid question, obviously.) Are you going to sell the honey, etc.?

[Ri]

And here's me waiting for the darned garden designers to do their thing so I can put down 3 hives (apparently I have space for 5 but the family limited me )

Wow, are you starting beekeeping, Ri? (Stupid question, obviously.) Are you going to sell the honey, etc.?

I've long wanted bees, they are amazing creatures. In fact there's a swarm in the ceiling of my bathroom
I won't be doing the beekeeping by myself, but hosting a beekeeper friend's hives. I might score honey for making space available, but I won't sell it myself. There are a number of beekeeper WDs on the forum who do sell honey though.

[Fudmucker]

Honey bees are having a hard time at the moment - especially on the Highveld.
It is dry (bees also drink water) and poisons in the environment are taking their toll on the swarms.
Guys up country can leave shallow containers of water with sloping sides
(old saucers and plates) with a little water in them for the bees and other essential pollinating insects. 

Don't have them too deep or mozzies will lay eggs in them. 

[Ri]

And put some stones or stuff in the plates for bees to climb onto in case they fall in.

Another idea I read was to grate or cut an apple into pieces, cover with water, and put out on a plate. Bees can drink the water and the pulp keeps them from drowning and once dry, you can add water again.

[ClimbingTurtle]

Honey bees are having a hard time at the moment - especially on the Highveld.
It is dry (bees also drink water) and poisons in the environment are taking their toll on the swarms.
Guys up country can leave shallow containers of water with sloping sides
(old saucers and plates) with a little water in them for the bees and other essential pollinating insects. 

Don't have them too deep or mozzies will lay eggs in them. 

We have loads of bees at home - we have 2 large bottle-brush tree's and at this time of the year its a constant loud buzz around them - its great!!!
We also have a small water-feature near the trees, we covered the top with a piece of solar pool cover to help with the evaporation, but the added benefit is that the bees sit on this to drink water - it always has load of bees!

[woody1]

Give the bees a watermelon

[grizz]

Never nice telling clients no, or that it’s going to cost a lot more.

Insurance companies suck, no matter how you look at it, like Banks, they are there to make money.

Lots of it.

[Mr Zog]

So this morning I started doing the new flooring.

I was already hard at it by 8am. I started off by moving all the furniture out of the lounge, stacking it in out little dining room, the garage, and the passage. Then I used my little Zoom-Zoom tool to undercut the door frame at the front door. After that I vacuumed up all the dust and cuttings and I did the floor again, just to make sure that it was as clean as I could get it.

Then I laid down the first strip of the underlayment, and started laying down the flooring. The first few rows were difficult as heck; getting everything straight, getting the spacers in place, and holding the first strips in place while I banged the next ones in. They had to clip in place, then you have to use a wooden block and a mallet/hammer to seat them properly. I had Mrs. Zog standing on the rows of flooring holding them in place while I banged them into place. As I was getting to the end of the second strip of underlayment we broke for a break and got y'all a couple of pics of the progress. As we progressed I had to move the big pieces of furniture onto the completed area so that we had space to keep going.

The pics of the progress:

[Mr Zog]

When I reached the start of the passage I broke again, to undercut the door frames in the passage.

Some info on the doorframes; unlike in SA where the (usually) steel doorframes are anchored into the concrete floor, the wooden doorframes here are anchored to the vertical 2x4's that make up the walls. So the frames of the door just rest on the floor, their actual attachments are to the walls. By undercutting them you do not reduce the strength or compromise their shape or fit. It just gives you a nice space to slide the ends of the flooring under to get a really neat finish. No having to cut fancy shapes into the flooring to match the shape of the door frames. Easy peasy…

When I talk about my "Zoom-Zoom" tool, I mean my Plunge Cutter. It makes loud zoom-zoom noises as it cuts the wood off, nothing to do with a Mazda advert   

Here are some pics of the zoom-zoom and it doing it's job. I found that a piece of the old ceramic floor tile that I removed from the front door area was just the right height for the flooring and the underlayment.     About 7mm. 

[Mr Zog]

We finally finished the flooring at 8pm this evening. 


I have not cleaned up the baseboards/skirting boards yet, and I have not fitted any transitions yet either. I will clean up the baseboards tomorrow morning and refit them, and then I will pop up to the Home Depot and get some transitions that will finish it all off. But I'll just get the cheap ones, as eventually we will replace all of the flooring and then we will get some nice transitions that matches both sections of flooring. 

I'll take some pics tomorrow of the finished job. Right now I am just relaxing in my chair with a stiff brandy & coke, allowing my aching back and hands to relax. Mrs. Zog is just as sore as I am, she also worked really hard to help me get this done.

I will say that all the hard work was well worth it, the floor looks frikken STUNNING