New Rayburn tomorrow!!!!!

[bearded bloke]

OH has decided to clean and then paint the dark, soot ingrained bricks which were behind the old Rayburn, to help brighten up the kitchen

Tell OH to remove soot & dust with a brush & hoover NOT by washing off.Then treat with at least one (preferably two) coat/s of Shellac based primer this will stop the stain "burning" through & turning your nice new paintwork anything from buff to brown.
Primer is available from any decorators merchant or if you have a nearby B&Q ................
Zinsser Bin Shellac Base Primer Sealer White 1L, 5037898610177

[reetnproper]

Looks great Reet - you must have a lovely house!

Thanks Jeanied, it is now but it was in a pretty bad state when we bought it 9 years ago, with the original but rotten/rotting sash and york slider windows from when it was built which was in 1856. As OH had made a decent profit on the sale of his last house, we decided to get a local joiner to reproduce new wooden triple glazed sash and york slider windows to protect the character and look of the cottage rather than go down the cheaper uPVC route which, sadly, has happened to most of these 'Cow Cottages' in the local villages. It was pricey but so worth it.

Bearded,

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. As it happens OH had a large tub of Brick and Masonry cleaner from when he repainted the render 5 years ago, and so the brick work had now had:

6 Coats of Brick cleaner applied, scrubbed in and then thoroughly washed off;
A thorough going over with a wire brush and then hoovered off;
2 coats of PVA adhesive (as per the advice of the builder);
1st coat of Dulux weathershield textured paint (also left over from render repaint) applied before the PVA had had time to dry (also as per advice of builder);
2nd coat of Weathershield; and
1st coat of Dulux satin interior paint left over from when the kitchen was painted.

I think he plans to apply at least one more coat of the kitchen paint but it already looks much, much lighter and the old bricks haven't stained throgh the PVA and Exterior paint layers, so it must be working.

Reet
x

[Snadger]

Bearders,
I've looked at all sorts of cookery type stuff, including the above, and I havent seen anything that looks like a Rayburn. They just look beautiful, I thought the Cornue's were too angular and boxy. (Just my opinion of course.)

I agree spongy! (Never thought I would be waxing lyrical about a cooker!)

[Mikey]

Its not a cooker its a very inefficient boiler Snadger, that makes it man's territory.

[Glutton4...]

I am very very envious, Reet. My folks had an Aga/Rayburn when I was a kid, and they replaced it with modern cr*p and a plastic wood kitchen. We're all different, I guess.

I do remember one winter, that one of our cats jumped up on the hot-plate to get warm, and the smell of burnt cat feet filled the house for hours...

[Bren In Pots]

I am very very envious, Reet. My folks had an Aga/Rayburn when I was a kid, and they replaced it with modern cr*p and a plastic wood kitchen.

Same here G4, we moved to a modern house with a gas cooker when I was 12-ish come Christmas my parents bought the same size turkey as usual and it didn't fit so me and dad had to saw it in half.

[Glutton4...]

Nice one Bren!

[Headfry]

Reet - Is it tomorrow?????

[reetnproper]

Yes Can't wait and I'll post a pic as soon as it's installed (and running - warmth, hot water and indoor cooking, what a concept )

Reet
x

[Headfry]

TODAY IS THE DAY

Enjoy your day Reet....I'm so excited for you, if you can - please keep me posted
HF
x

[reetnproper]

It's here!!!!
It's plumbed in!!!!
It's warming the house and water nicely!!!!
And it's beautiful

The engineers had a couple of problems:

how to get it across the gravel drive to the front door;
how to get it into the typical cottage sized front door with deep step;
how to get it through our 160 yr old cottage, with its' typical cottage sized doors and rooms and in to the kitchen;
how to drill through 18 inches of solid, victorian brick to install the airbrick which is now a requirement of law. About 2 hours this particular part of the job took them and the Victorian bricks were so well made that they snapped 2 drill shafts, blunted 2 boring tools AND caused the drill transformer to blow its' fuse (literally) which then need to be repaired; and
how to empty the burning wood out of the firebox, without filling the house with smoke (and failing miserably) because the pipe out of the Rayburns' boiler started leaking as the water heated up.

Finally though the job was finished and with a huge thankyou to the fantastic engineers, Bess was safely installed in her new home and came to life:



We also got a fantastic Rayburn cookbook, an oven gauntlet, a baking sheet and a lovely roasting tin with rack, with her.

She's absolutely gorgeous and tomorrow I'll be able to cook in her - couldn't today because have to give the usual chemicals and coatings time to burn off and settle in.

I'm a very happy bunny

Reet
x

[Potstubsdustbins]

Lucky you, you must be chuffed to NAAFI breaks.

Mind it does look good, in fact right at home.

Colin

[chris]

Lovely looking kitchen there reet, I like all the spices lined up perfectly

[reetnproper]

Lovely looking kitchen there reet, I like all the spices lined up perfectly

Lol, OH is a bit of a perfectionist. If I had a closer shot you'd see spices all alphabetically lined up on the top shelf and herbs alphabetically sorted on the bottom Mind you, makes everything a lot easier to find when I'm cooking.

Reet
x

[chris]

Exactly how mine are (my shirts are all lined up in colours too, almost in the rainbow spectrum ).