This week

We started to put the set together on Tuesday this week. Henry Jones showed us how to screw the flats together. We began in a corner, with at least two people on each side. Those on the flat side held the flats in place, made sure the edges were flush and one of them used a spirit level to check it was flat. On the other side one person also held the flats firm, while the other screwed them together at 2 foot intervals, starting near the bottom and working up. As more flats were added, more people were required to help keep the flats upright. However this was not a job that required the whole group. In fact the job was hindered when too many people got involved. So myself, Kirby Vincent and Vicky Leonard were taught by Simon to make the brackets to keep the set stable when it had been put together. To do this we needed two pieces of softwood roughly the same length. Two people held them in place, at right angles as in the diagram below, while the other screwed them together with 1 - 2 feet in between each screw.

If the others putting the set together required our help then we would leave this and help them, as the building was the priority at this point. We continued to make these supports until we ran out of wood!

On Thursday we took down on of the drawing room walls as it was 'floating' a few cm's off of the ground. We then rebuilt it with a piece of MDF underneath it (this was to check it was straight, as we weren't sure if it was the floor that was wonky!). However unfortunately it still still 'floated' a little. Rhyan, Vicky, Chloe and myself then went to buy the wallpaper etc. following some research into what was available (this will also be posted). We also had a look around to see if there were alternatives to painting a floor, as we felt we would not have time. We found that Lino and snap in flooring was too expensive, but that small tiles of self adhesive Lino were available at the pound shop. However, after getting back and discussing it with the rest of the group, we were not sure that this would be our best option.

On Friday we began to put up the wallpaper. In the morning, while the brackets were being attached to the backs of the flats, we mixed up some weak wallpaper paste. We applied this to all of the walls, above where the panelling would be. This was to prepare the walls, as if we had applied the wallpaper straight away they would have absorbed all of the past and the paper would have come away. In the afternoon we used a plumb line to draw a straight line down one wall in each room. It is to this that we would line up the edge of the wallpaper. But first we cut strips of wallpaper about a foot too long for the area we were papering (we needed 5 foot so we cut about 6). Then two people pasted these while myself, Vicky and Rhyan applied them to the wall. We did this with one of us up on the platform holding the paper at the top and matching it to the line. The person at the bottom then continued to match the line and the paper was smoothed down using a dry sponge. A wet sponge was used to wipe off any excess paste. The bottom of the paper which overlapped the panelling was cut off. This was repeated around all of the walls.