There has been further progress throughout the week on the pallets, where I have used a couple of evenings to start removing the nails from many of the planks. Today, I finished reclaiming the pallet wood from the pallets we have, and removed the nails from those too. All in all, not terribly exciting, although I was a little interested (I don't want to show too much enthusiasm for nails) in the different sorts of nails used.
Some nails were unnecessarily long, making my life difficult. Pallet makers, please refrain from using this ridiculously long nail:
Some nails were unnecessarily long, making my life difficult. Pallet makers, please refrain from using this ridiculously long nail:
Similarly, this little number with extra copper bits to stop them coming out was not helpful:
I was also surprised to see some raw plugs getting in on the action:
I apologise for the nerdy nail talk, it's just that after removing about 2000 of the things, you form something of a bond:
But it was all worth it in the end, as we are now left with a nice collection of reclaimed cladding material:
I need not string out the nail talk as another interesting chain of events unfolded today. I am subscribed to Freecycle and occasionally spot some give-aways that could come in handy. This week, someone posted that they had some wood available - old floorboards and alike - so naturally, I went to have a look.
The wood they had in the back garden was rotten and of no real use. It looked like some new owners had just moved in and had inherited a scrap yard in the back. So, upon looking around I noticed a couple of old lights, and a wooden trolley and some other bits that I fancied. I asked the chap in the house what I could take and he said anything except the sink (one of those big white porcelain kitchen sinks) and the wooden ladders. Great - I took the trolley and the lights.
Anyway, a few hours later, Marta gets a Facebook message from the homeowner saying that I had stolen things from the garden and if I didn't return them by 4pm they would call the police. It was about 4.50pm.
But, I was able to speak the homeowner before the coppers surrounded my house. It turns out the chap inside was the builder and had no authority to tell me what I could and couldn't take. We agreed it was a misunderstanding and everything was amicably resolved. I returned the wooden trolley, but was told I could keep the lights. So, despite almost having a night behind bars, I did end up with these:
The wood they had in the back garden was rotten and of no real use. It looked like some new owners had just moved in and had inherited a scrap yard in the back. So, upon looking around I noticed a couple of old lights, and a wooden trolley and some other bits that I fancied. I asked the chap in the house what I could take and he said anything except the sink (one of those big white porcelain kitchen sinks) and the wooden ladders. Great - I took the trolley and the lights.
Anyway, a few hours later, Marta gets a Facebook message from the homeowner saying that I had stolen things from the garden and if I didn't return them by 4pm they would call the police. It was about 4.50pm.
But, I was able to speak the homeowner before the coppers surrounded my house. It turns out the chap inside was the builder and had no authority to tell me what I could and couldn't take. We agreed it was a misunderstanding and everything was amicably resolved. I returned the wooden trolley, but was told I could keep the lights. So, despite almost having a night behind bars, I did end up with these:
I plan to renovate these and find them a home in the living area of the flat.
So all in all, quite boring actually, but we now have cladding (I am yet to see if we have enough to cover all the walls, but we shouldn't be too far off) and some industrial lights. Hopefully I will not have to put my foot through another pallet any time soon. And what had Marta been up to you ask...
So all in all, quite boring actually, but we now have cladding (I am yet to see if we have enough to cover all the walls, but we shouldn't be too far off) and some industrial lights. Hopefully I will not have to put my foot through another pallet any time soon. And what had Marta been up to you ask...