Another Tradie Arrives

So today I had yet some more Tradies come round to do some work.

First I had Marshall Batteries come round. Geez - they just don't make batteries like they used to. That last one of mine they replaced this morning (was from Marshall as well) only lasted me eight years - shocking, absolutely shocking!

But this arvo was the visit from a Tradie that will progress the train shed - the Sparky.

So this bloke pops round and we have a discussion about the new shed and what I want to do with it for wiring and air-con. You know, how many lights, how many power points, the air-con, the separate power board in the shed from the house etc. So after that important information session, I got him to disconnect the 240 volts from the old shed so I can proceed with demolition.

Easy enough job for him - it's his job after all. The old cabling came across the yard and in through the besser brick wall at the back of the house into the rear stairwell. It actually went up in the wall for about a metre before coming out near the power box. The red arrow is the cable in question.

First switch he flipped got the power off, a pair of side cutters cut the old cable, a pair of flat nose pliers untwisted the cable joins and re-twisted the remaining wires. Back into the protective plastic junction box and screwed back into position. Power on and he proves the power is no longer going to shed - ie that the correct lines have been severed.

Old cables get ripped out of the wall and we are done!

All I have to do is get some Spak Filler and fix the inside and outside holes and it's done. 

No bill in the mail here either. The nice chap said leave it a month or so until we do the wiring in the shed - combine it all into one bill - I like this fella.

Friday the 17th Part II

or another heading would be - "Dang, I forgot the photos".

OK, they might not mean much, but it is of the old bits on the shed. So photo one is of the water out from the shed. It was only to carry out the old washtub water, and went out to this concrete junction (blue arrow points our way) with a small steel grate on top. From there it went down into the ground to meet up with the clay pipes that went off to where ever they go...

The red marking shows the area dug up to find and do the capping off.

Once this was done, they turned off the water at the street and capped off the inwards flow of water to the shed. When I came out to inspect it, it had me bamboozled as to why they cut the copper pipe above ground (red arrow).

Makes perfect sense when you think about it. They were about to dig a hole in the ground to then cut the pipe and cap it off. They cut the above pipe so there was very little water left in the pipe to run into the pit.

So they dug their pit, cut the pipe and then soldered a cap on the end of it. Water was then turned back on and all checked for leaks. Since all was good, they then back-filled the hole. Did a tidy job too.

 Then it was time for me to say goodbye and the famous words came back "the bill will be in the mail".

So that was Friday's Tradie's work.

Yup, It's Friday

Being that it is Friday, the plumbers turned up as arranged - on the dot of 07:30 this morning.

They have of course left by now, but the copper pipe has been welded off at below ground level and the old clay waste water pipe has this weird and wonderful plastic and rubber gadget clamped into it as below ground level.

So the shed is now isolated from the water systems - tick.

Next step is to get the shed disconnected from the electrical power systems. I have looked and it definitely not a job for me, so arrangements have been made and a Sparky will show up on Monday to do the disconnections.

I'll also have a chat to him about connecting up the new shed when it comes time and wiring in all the fluorescent lights I have for the new shed, plus air-conditioner of course.

Short and Sweet

OK, after a hiatus of 12 months of basically sitting on my fat ar$e and doing nothing about my own layout (but still working on the club one of course), I have started preparations for getting rid of the old shed so I can get final signoff on the new one and therefore be able to start using it!

Step one was the fixing of the locks on my roller doors on the garage so I could put valuables in there. Well, the Locksmith has now come, worked and gone today. Garage is lockable again and I have moved some more gear in there.

Step two is to get the services to the old shed removed. Well, I've just made the appointment with the Plumber and he'll send his bloke around this Friday morning to cap the water in and the water out of the old shed.

Then there is the sparky to arrange and the demolition crew - all in due course. But at least I've started progress again.