The best laid plans…

Another weekend has come and gone – and whilst we didn’t quite achieve what we had initially hoped to – we did get a decent bit of work done out at the Farm.

We’d hired one of those floor-scrubber thingys, so on Sunday morning we packed up the truck with that on board, plus the generator for power, plus an extra hose in case our neighbour Michaels garden hose wasn’t long enough to reach inside the shed, coffee, toilet paper, a couple of chairs, and the huge big extendable ladder – and off we went!

On arrival – we unloaded and discussed a plan of action.
First things first – set up an outdoor undercover ‘rest’ area – for when we needed a break.
Priorities right??!!?? :))

Then it was decided Sarah would damp down the floor a bit, while Suzey got the genny going, and the scrubber set up.
Sarah would sprinkle degreaser gunk on the floor, and would then get the ladder sorted, ready to start doing the gapping between the roof and the top of the walls.
While Sarah was gapping – Suzey would use the scrubber thingy on the first 2/3 of the floor.

And right about there is when alllll those well laid plans went floating out the window on a whoosh of winterly wind…..

Yep, the cement got damped down, yep – the degreaser gunk got sprinkled, and yep – the ladder even got positioned…
But whilst all this was going on, it was realised that there were a couple of technical hitches.

Firstly, the genny manual that we had bought with us did not in fact belong to the genny we owned – it belonged to a friends genny we borrow and returned about 6 years ago!
Secondly, even tho Suzey had gone purple in the face and just about given herself a stroke – that genny just did not want to spark into action.
Having had a couple of yanks on the handle – Sarah was a bit suss that it didn’t even feel like it there was any spark – and queried if the plug had been checked, only to be told it didn’t need checking – it was a brand new unit!
Okaaaayyyy…. (back off quietly, don’t make eye contact…)

So after spreading some of the degreaser gunk round the floor with a broom, up the ladder went Sarah, and resumed squirting seriously sticky expanda-foam into the small gaps, waaaay at the top of the building.

At this point neither of us could honestly say we were having a delightful amount of fun – but things need doing, and by goodness we were going to do them, one way or another!!

Now, let’s just say that that expanda-foam shit lives up to its name!!
You squirt a small amount into a hole, and within a few seconds – pooof – it’s tripled in size and looking like a big ball of honeycomb.
It was at this point that we then smoothed it off a bit, so that it was level with the beams, and then moved on to the next run.

Depending on reach, one can get about 7-8 ridges done before needing to move the ladder along to the next run.
So, moved to the next run, did that, looked back to admire run #1, and it had done another expandy session when no eyes were watching it, and it was bulging out every-which-way!!

Came to the conclusion after the third run, that there just is no ‘optimal amount’ of this magic growing potion one can stick in a hole…it’s either too little or too much….!
Luckily, it’s easily pared back with a Stanley-knife or similar, once it’s properly dried.

When it’s wet though – it sticks like bear-shit-to-a-blanket!!
It’s on the ladder rungs, under finger-nails (despite gloves!) on glasses, in hair, up forearms, on clothes, on broom-handles – you name it, it’s on there!

~sighhhhhh~

Anyways – in the midst of all this, there is suddenly the noise of the genny sparking into life.
Taaaa Daaa….!
Yaaaay…!
(and other such shrieks of joy..!)

So what was the problem?
Seems the spark plug had a plastic spacer in it that needs to be removed prior to use.
Who woulda thunk huh….?!?! :)))

So back to the planned use of the scrubber-thingy.
But before we get all gun-ho with excitement – maybe we should check if our genny will run it – being that we’re now using a different genny to the one we originally thought we were using..?

Yeeeep – that’s right!
Our darling lil genny doesn’t have enough ‘boof’ to run the scrubber-thingy.
Bugger!

So back it is to scrubbing with the brooms…….buuuuut – maybe we can still sort-of use it, even tho it isn’t connected to the power?
After all – we’ve hired the damn thing for the day – at least it could maybe serve a purpose other that something to lean the broom against?
Suzey being the taller of us two, tests the theory.

Yep, it’s heavy and clunky – but it’s scrubbing up a decent lather – and shifting some of the marks.
It’s hard going tho, and not too long before Suzey tires…
Enter Sarah, for her turn.
Fairs fair – this whole ‘simpler life’ business is a joint effort after all!

The handle get lowered a bit, Sarah lines herself up behind it, plants feet firmly, gives a good hardy thrust forward and —– nothing.
It doesn’t budge an inch.
Not even half an inch!
Whereupon the giggles set in….

Giggle-fest over with and try #2 ensues.
Same result – but it will move if dragged – just not when it’s pushed!
We quickly realise this just isn’t going to work with Sarah at the helm, and go back to Suzey on the scrubber, and Sarah on the broom.

Interspersed with a couple of rests (ie: scoffing premade coffee) breaks, we got it scrubbed about as best we could, with the tools at hand, and then commenced with hosing it off.
Turns out there is an ever so slight slope down to the back left corner, but with a bit of creative brooming, and using to hose as a mobile dam wall – we managed to get the majority of the surface water out.

We’ll head back later in the week to see how it’s cleaned up, and then go on to decide whether we’re going to have to give it another go-over, or if it’s ready for that big ole epoxy treatment!!

And on another good news front, after a truckload of research we’ve learnt we can at least do the epoxying stuff in stages if we don’t manage to get everything out of the shed all at once :))