Romania - Clive's House and Excursions

[Iwan]

Happy to say we've just arrived home.

Chas' rear sliding window frame sets arrived safely along with the suitcase carrying illicit unsmoked bacon, an assortment of British sausages and some garden plants we can't get here

Sorry not to get to see Iwan, Chris, Karl or Frank, which was my intention. Time flew by so quickly. We did get to see Chas and Dervis's (rather pleasant) sister though (and I think my wife was glad she chaperoned me on that trip...).

Lots of new toys to install on the Truck in the weeks to come...

Hey no worries Clive. . One day we will meet up! Alexy has arrived arrived back in Romania and has your rear oem load cover with him. . Time flies my friend!

 

[Chas]

Must add, thanks to Chas, I'm replacing my rear sliding side windows soon.

The frames on mine are damaged and the aluminum is blowing.

Thanks Chas for your kindness and the wonderful cuppa served up by the lovely Mrs. Chas.

My pleasure Clive, it was good to see you and family again and glad to see it all got home to you undamaged.

 

[clivehorridge]

Remember we talked about tung oil Clive ?

I have been using tung
over the past couple of weeks on my inheritance (glad it was my job to take the unwanted to the tip) and i have to say its ability to penetrate is astonishing .

This here has perhaps never had a finished coat and it's least a few decades old having spent its life hidden between the arm of the sofa and the wall with a daily newspaper on it .

View attachment 47296

Its soaked up half a litre and could probably take more but Helen's been sneakily giving just the top another coat when i've left it 24 hours to soak . As you can see the top has now dried flaky which means it won't absorb any more oil but i expect to wipe that away with turps once i'm satisfied it's all as dry as it will get .

Yes I remember Shayne, is that something that would protect against the elements, and would it be feasible to do the outside of the house (price-wise I mean and as protection)?

My concern is whether it would get through the existing varnish without having to try to remove the existing varnish (hard to imagine a worse job than trying to sand off all that stuff on the whole house...).

Looks good though...

 

[clivehorridge]

My pleasure Clive, it was good to see you and family again and glad to see it all got home to you undamaged.

Thanks mate, and Ana's very proud of her matching magnets...

 

[Shayne]

Yes I remember Shayne, is that something that would protect against the elements, and would it be feasible to do the outside of the house (price-wise I mean and as protection)?

My concern is whether it would get through the existing varnish without having to try to remove the existing varnish (hard to imagine a worse job than trying to sand off all that stuff on the whole house...).

Looks good though...

I would by a bottle and experiment on a bit that can easily be replaced you never know it might work with what you've got or even lift the old stuff as it's going on ? Its not cheap by the bottle but long term a barrel might seem cost effective ?

 

[clivehorridge]

I would by a bottle and experiment on a bit that can easily be replaced you never know it might work with what you've got or even lift the old stuff as it's going on ? Its not cheap by the bottle but long term a barrel might seem cost effective ?

OK Shayne, I'll give it some thought.

Thanks!

I've got one or two other priorities for the moment but I do have to get to it sooner or later...

 

[clivehorridge]

Hey no worries Clive. . One day we will meet up! Alexy has arrived arrived back in Romania and has your rear oem load cover with him. . Time flies my friend!

Yep, he phoned me, he's leaving again soon, but he said he'd be in touch... and many thanks...
Time is flying mate, I can't believe it... Scary stuff!

 

[StarCruiser]

Yes I remember Shayne, is that something that would protect against the elements, and would it be feasible to do the outside of the house (price-wise I mean and as protection)?

My concern is whether it would get through the existing varnish without having to try to remove the existing varnish (hard to imagine a worse job than trying to sand off all that stuff on the whole house...).

Looks good though...

Is it actual Varnish Clive? Usually here it's some sort of microporous stain like Sikkens or Sadolin which generally last quite a while. What wood is it?

 

[clivehorridge]

'Fraid so Rich, it's a natural pine (dunno which one, probably a mixture but I know it won't be Larch) and we've been using the only thing easily available here which is called "sticky varnish" and it is.

Sticky I mean.

The original house wood has been up about 11-12 years now and the extension wood about 5 years. It's darkened over time (which is now a good 'honey pine' sort of colour), and I suppose stripping that off would lighten it again to an extent, but I think Shayne is right, as an oil is introduced, the old varnish would likely lift off naturally.

There's a lot of it (area I mean) and I'm not going to attempt any of it. I'm sure if I gave someone the job of trying to strip it, it would be a waste of money and they'd probably make a right mess of it The wood is in a sort of ship-lap configuration, very hard to access with lots of the usual nooks-and-crannies you'd expect on a wooden structure.

It needs doing this summer (we try to do it every 2-3 years) so I'm thinking ahead. It'll probably take 20 gallons or so to do it right.

Sadolin and some other brands are available here now, but ideally, they need to go on to previously untreated wood. I don't want that "painted" look that some treatments give and having used Sadolin in the UK before coming here, I really don't think that would "go-in" like the oil Shayne is recommending.

Hey-ho, we'll see.

 

[StarCruiser]

'Fraid so Rich, it's a natural pine (dunno which one, probably a mixture but I know it won't be Larch) and we've been using the only thing easily available here which is called "sticky varnish" and it is.

Sticky I mean.

The original house wood has been up about 11-12 years now and the extension wood about 5 years. It's darkened over time (which is now a good 'honey pine' sort of colour), and I suppose stripping that off would lighten it again to an extent, but I think Shayne is right, as an oil is introduced, the old varnish would likely lift off naturally.

There's a lot of it (area I mean) and I'm not going to attempt any of it. I'm sure if I gave someone the job of trying to strip it, it would be a waste of money and they'd probably make a right mess of it The wood is in a sort of ship-lap configuration, very hard to access with lots of the usual nooks-and-crannies you'd expect on a wooden structure.

It needs doing this summer (we try to do it every 2-3 years) so I'm thinking ahead. It'll probably take 20 gallons or so to do it right.

Sadolin and some other brands are available here now, but ideally, they need to go on to previously untreated wood. I don't want that "painted" look that some treatments give and having used Sadolin in the UK before coming here, I really don't think that would "go-in" like the oil Shayne is recommending.

Hey-ho, we'll see.

I have been told about Tung Oil before as being really good stuff. That's about all I know about it. It does rather sound like the 'Sticky Varnish' is doing the job if you've got through that many years without problem. Stripping it would be hell i'm sure. I've not heard of Tung Oil being used for such a project. I guess if it were suitable there would be large buckets of it available.

The only comparrison I can make is to teak oil which I've applied to both our Iroko (closed cell) garden furniture and cedar step to our cabin. Both when left outside soon looked as though they had had nothing on them.

Try it I suppose like Shayne says.

 

[Shayne]

I think tung can be had in red or gold tint . Its still the preferred choice if you get a wooden fishing trawler built and your talking half a million squid for a bare hull so that should say something about its performance . That stool is a redwood of some kind and the oil used yellow . It an be thinned as much as 40% with white spirits .

 

[StarCruiser]

I think tung can be had in red or gold tint . Its still the preferred choice if you get a wooden fishing trawler built and your talking half a million squid for a bare hull so that should say something about its performance . That stool is a redwood of some kind and the oil used yellow . It an be thinned as much as 40% with white spirits .

Sounds like I need to try some on my Cedar cabin step. I let the Iroko go silver as I got hacked off with trying to coat it. Took far too long and I hate painting or the like.

 

[clivehorridge]

Friday 5 August 2016

Seems there's not been much action from us lately, not that we haven't been out and about, just nothing too exciting, or different enough to post.

More of the same maybe, but this weekend carries two firsts for us.

The first first is taking a Friday off, so having arrived at the house yesterday (Thursday night) we had 3 days ahead of us to do what we wanted.

The second first involves camping. We're not campers. We did it once, soon after getting married 13 years ago this August 24th (SWIMBO suggested adding that bit). We have a tent, it's small, cheap and cheerful. We're not over-landers or anything, so there's no fancy mods to the truck, no fridges, trailers or anything other than a roof rack!

Anyway, we chucked everything we thought might be of some use into the truck and drove all of 30 km to a nice spot in the mountains, in a valley actually, by a small mountain stream.

It's a bit busy with like weekenders, but the nice thing about owning a Land Cruiser, is you can drive up the river (literally) to the spot where nobody else can, to have a grass patch all to yourself. So that's where we are just now, relaxing as it goes dark!

 

[Shayne]

Imagine pitching your tent on the flat , your never going to get a roof tent or trailer in your christmas stocking if she's comfortable act your age man

 

[Chas]

That looks idyllic Clive but you meanie, making Ana sleep outside, what about all those bears.

 

[clivehorridge]

That looks idyllic Clive but you meanie, making Ana sleep outside, what about all those bears.

It's called "baiting" Chas, the Bears go for the sweeter meat, and we stay couched up in the tent, cosy-like.

(There's black vipers in this area too)

 

[Chas]

It's called "baiting" Chas, the Bears go for the sweeter meat, and we stay couched up in the tent, cosy-like.

I can't believe you said that poor sweet little thing.

 

[clivehorridge]

View attachment 104802 I can't believe you said that poor sweet little thing.

Aura wasn't too impressed either Chas, but Ana saw the funny side of it!

We've been "suffering" lately from the heat, day and night in Bucharest, but here, it's actually feeling quite cold tonight! Enjoying the fireside at the mo, but we could get a bit chilly before dawn.

36 C forecast for tomorrow, so we won't be cold for long...

 

[StarCruiser]

Sounds hotter than Hungary Clive. It was 33 at the Hungaroring when we left the GP. It was pretty humid and oppressive. Had 36 c of dry heat last year in Salzburg. Any cafe with air con was rammed.

 

[clivehorridge]

I find Romania to have a drier atmosphere, certainly when compared with th UK.

It's been fluctuating between 30 and 36 since June, when it was thundery and quite a lot of rain, but next to nothing since.