Well, you just knew that I couldn't stay away from the Trainbarn for long, didn't you?! The quality of materials, design and workmanship are so outstanding that I just had to post some photos.
Firstly, the framing.
All the timber is from Carramar Timbers in Killarney, Qld, and as soon as it arrived it was obvious that it was of outstanding quality. As each piece is used, our Chippy confirmed how good it is, with each piece exact size and straight and really well sawn. The truck driver delivering it was also very knowledgable and offered some great advice about installing the tongue and groove Ironbark. If you're within cooee of Killarney and need some timber, I couldn't recommend them highly enough.
Secondly, the tongue and groove Ironbark flooring.
We've only installed a small section so far, as it is quite time consuming. I've given it two coats of oil, with another one due once the nail-holes are filled. It looks absolutely amazing!! I've elected not to sand it, as I didn't want it too smooth and slippery, and it isn't laid as tightly as you would lay flooring inside, to allow for moisture changes.
I've been using Feast Watson Timber Oil, which I really like and I think it looks great! Regarding the title of this Post, my late father, bless him, a) would never call either my brother or myself by our correct names- I was usually called George- goodness knows why, and b) according to him there wasn't a timber surface on Earth which wouldn't benefit from one or more coats of 'Estapol', which I believe was a polyurethane-based varnish available here in Oz in days past. Of course any varnish exposed to our high UV would eventually start flaking off, hence my preference for oil. Funny the things you remember about your folks.
It's really great to see it all coming together, and getting very close to (exterior) completion!! More painting of the verandah roof tomorrow, as it's way too hot for anything else.
Most of my recent blog posts, I hope justifiably, have been about the Trainbarn construction progress, but there are a lot of other things going on around Whistlestop, so I thought I'd post some photos of a different part of the property.
General maintenance, particularly mowing, is an on-going process. Fortunately our grass stops growing during Winter with the frosts, however with good rain recently and warmer temperatures, the last week or two I've been catching up with all the mowing and tidying-up. Picking up all the fallen sticks and branches and mulching all the fallen leaves is hard work, but the end result is that it looks great.
This is the dam at the front of our place, looking towards the front gate. The Trainbarn is up the track to the right of the photo.
I enjoy mowing, though not particularly when it's 33 degrees like it was today, and dry as chips. The end result is definitely worth the effort though!!
At the risk of being tedious or monotonous here are another couple of pictures of the soon-to-be-completed Trainbarn.
Not great photos as the lighting was difficult, but the latest progress is that all the plumbing for the rainwater runoff is installed, except for the actual downpipes themselves. All the corner trim etc is also now finished, so the one big job remaining is the verandah floor, for which the stump-holes have already been dug.
I'm looking forward to tidying up the area in front, particularly the path to the steps. The trenches for the plumbing were dug in extremely dry conditions and the ground turned to dust. We've had good rain since, but it's still a big mess compared to what it was like previously.
Anyway, I'm obviously extremely happy and proud of how it's going! More painting still, though!
It's been quite a while since the last Trainbarn update. Things are moving along, although perhaps a bit slowly, and I've had a week off with the flu, which was really frustrating. Anyway, my painting of the verandah is now progressing well.
The portico over the entryway is all finished, including the painting. It looks exactly how I wanted it to look, I couldn't be more happy!
We've been organising the verandah floor, and this will happen soon. It'll be traditional tongue and groove ironbark, which I think will look great.
All in all, it's getting very close to being finished externally, which I'm looking forward to very much! Then I can start on the inside, which, after all, is what it's all about!
