I was up at 6.00 am but the morning was very cold.

Ian rang me to see if I wanted coffee and I agreed - it was too raw to head out to site yet.

Eventually I packed all my tools and supplies and made a start.

My job today was to install the staff beading for one large window and its two small windows (ie only half of the beading is ready for installation).

On Jim's recommendation I had bought 6 small quick clamps and this really made the job a lot easier than when I worked on the kitchen window.

I found that my rough setup was pretty close to ideal in each case and just a few taps with the hammer and checks with the spirit level were all I needed to finish the alignment.

I added additional F and G clamps to lock the beading in place and then nailed down most of the beading and screwed down a few pieces that will need to be lifted later when I install the sashes. The large window took me about 2 hours and each of the small windows took about 1 hour.

Sunday

I had intended to spend the day at the movies - but when I woke up I was more in the mood for some exercise.

I walked down to my local Dome, had a coffee and then walked back.

Then, for some reason, I was keen to see how the patched door frame timbers responded to the belt sander.

I reworked the door sill. This had already been cosmetically treated once before - I just needed to sand off the excess glue from Thursday.

Then I tackled various timbers that had not yet been sanded as I was keen to see if the warm mahogany colour of the jarrah would show through the grey outer surface of the neglected timber.

The result was very pleasing but I could see that I would need to apply various patching to each piece another few times - this process is going to take me a few weekends.

I might do some more work on this on Easter Monday.

Monday

After a visit to Dome and an early morning walk, I decided to nip out to site.

I want to start the work on patching up the nail holes from fastening the external staff beading.

The first job out on site was to insert some foam filler "spagetti" around the installed window frames to improve the insulation.

In most places this was a snug fit but wherever the stripping was loose I added a few dollops of sealant to hold it in place.

After patching the nail heads I applied a top coat of oil based enamel over the previous patching done to repair the screw holes through the window frame.

I also applied top coat enamel straight over the screw fixings of the staff beading - these will not be patched and filled at this stage as I need to be able to lift one side of the beading to install the window sashes. I just want to give them some level of protection from the rain at this stage.

When I returned home I spent a few hours sanding down the last of the door frame stiles that had been patched.

I also tested out the "very runny glue" (HX epoxy) that I had bought from Permatech. I had a structural crack on one of the stiles - this is exactly the purpose of this glue - it works its way through all the fissures in the wood.

If you look at the fourth image below you will see a piece of timber with a streak of glue coming through some hair line cracks - this glue was actually applied on the opposite side of the timber and has worked its way through. I was very pleased with this (also Permatech had it delivered on the same days as I ordered it)

Tuesday

Back to work today, but in the evening, under temporarily rigged lighting I applied a second round of bog to most of the door frame timbers.