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The Bakehouse Fishroom


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#21 humbug

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Posted 17 June 2015 - 10:57 AM

Not too much to report, but we are making some progress.  We have pulled up the rest of the cement floor.  We’ve removed the last pieces of roofing, which wasn’t easy because the iron had been built right into the wall and required a lot of chipping of stone/mortar and the liberal use of the angle grinder. 

 

It’s an odd angle, but this shot is taken from above the internal wall.  It shows the remains of the gutter that ran along the wall, now flattened and corroded, and shows the trench we have had to cut into the wall to remove the roofing iron.  This will all be made good once the new iron is installed.

 

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We’ve had a replacement gutter formed and that’s now sitting with our growing pile of building materials.  Replacement roofing timber has been ordered, and we’ve located 600+ bricks to match the original quoins (60 mm bricks are hard to find in decent condition!!!)  Finally got a quote from the stonemason, so hopefully we see action there soon!!

 

Not much to offer in the way of photos, but we have been enjoying a bit of an archaeological dig in the rubble under the floor.  It looks like we have uncovered the remains of an old rubbish dump, with butchered bones, bits of pottery, broken glass bottles, remains of an old lock etc, indicating either that there was occupation on the site before the building was erected (odd because we think it’s the same age as the house), or it shows that fill was brought in that included the rubbish.  The nicest find to date is this lovely little intact ink bottle that showed up today.

 

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Lots of decisions still to be made on the build.  I’m undecided as to whether to have the floor in the fish room sloping towards a central drain built into the floor, or if I just have a gentle slope on the whole floor towards the “back door” with a drain running just outside the door.  I can see pros and cons to both.  I’m trying to consider that the room may not always be a fish room (perish the thought!!) Still some thinking required in that direction. 

 

Eventually we will come to a standstill on the building until the stonemason works his magic, so thoughts will turn to setting up my side drops, building a couple of sumps, and perhaps starting to put together some of the plumbing.



#22 benno87

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Posted 17 June 2015 - 02:22 PM

That is awesome humbug you are a hardcore fish nerd I love it, all those kms to rip down a fish room in Sydney and bring it back. The having to restore an old ruin completely to set it all up. You deserve a huge pat on the back for effort and motivation. Thanks for the read, btw did you hire that skip bin from old nick in gawler if you don't mind me asking?

#23 chocky

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Posted 17 June 2015 - 03:01 PM

I just wanna say awesome post 

 

and i love your dog Captain.. what a sweet heart :)



#24 humbug

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Posted 17 June 2015 - 03:48 PM

Yep, skip came from Nick :)



#25 humbug

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Posted 17 June 2015 - 04:13 PM

I'm working on gathering bits together that I need for my air system.  I estimate I'll end up using somewhere between 55 and 90 air outlets.  I usually work on 2-3 litres per minute per outlet (particularly with deeper tanks) when sizing an air pump, so I think I need something around the 160 - 200 lpm range.  I'm using a Resun LP-100 on one of my other fishrooms, and I have another spare one which I'll use to get things started in the new room, but don't feel that would be enough once I'm up to full capacity. 

 

Any recommendations on which way to go for larger capacities?  Am I better off using two diaphragm pumps, or should I be looking at blowers? 



#26 chocky

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Posted 17 June 2015 - 06:44 PM

I think linear ones are better
Quieter and lasts forever
Lemme find a link. ..

#27 benno87

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Posted 17 June 2015 - 07:35 PM

Yea I thought that looked like one of nicks bins, him and his wife were my best mates foster parents as a child.

#28 chocky

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Posted 18 June 2015 - 09:53 AM

http://www.nitto-aus...catSrc=products

 

something like this? i'm sure u can probably get something local. (i'm not sure how much they are) 

 

some info from a goldfish forum i follow:

Linear piston compressor = loud, powerful and need muffling/ bleed off.

Linear piston blower = silent, powerful and automatically adjusts to back pressure so no need for muffler/bleed off.



#29 Angelo

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Posted 18 June 2015 - 01:06 PM

great journal and some serious dedication. looking forward to future updates. 



#30 humbug

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Posted 18 June 2015 - 02:41 PM

Thankyou to everyone for your kind words.  They are much appreciated :)

 

Well, we had a tiny win today.  The one thing you can say about setting up a fish room . . . . . . they are absolute MONEY PITS!!!!!! 

Every time you turn around there is something else you need to buy.  Some expenses are big, others small, but together they mount up to far more then you ever reckoned on.  When planning a project like this, cost out everything you think you need to spend on, add the amounts up, and multiply by three.  If you are lucky, the value you come up with might even amount to half what it ends up costing you.  :o

 

The work we have been doing on the building has created a large pile of rubbish.  We decided we needed a clean up to make work going forward easier.  In particular we needed to get rid of the huge quantity of old roofing iron.  There was also an old hot water heater and an ancient stove here which we have been tripping over for years.  We tossed it all on the trailer and took it down to the local scrap metal place. 

 

440kg of steel!!!!  $44 bucks in our pocket!!!  The very first income (and probably the last) from the project!!!  Hmmm – not that it will go far.  It won’t even pay half of the GST on the new iron :wacko:

 

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#31 benno87

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Posted 18 June 2015 - 02:49 PM

Will be plenty of awesome fish to sit back an admire though, oh yea and plenty of water changes hahahaha

#32 humbug

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 09:23 AM

Zero progress to report on the fishroom.  Still waiting for the stonemason.  He was supposed to start a month ago.  :angry:

 

I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking about options for insulating the room. I currently have two other small fishrooms, one in a cellar and the other in a sectioned off area of our large shed.  The cellar is always toasty warm, but despite significant efforts to insulate the one in the shed, I still feel I’m battling a bit against the cold cement floor when I’m trying to keep the temp up in there.  I suspect I’ll have the same situation in the new fishroom.

 

Soooooo – I’ve been pondering floor coverings.  I can’t say that I’m the most careful of fish-keepers and I have more than my fair share of spills.  Water change days invariable leave me sodden and the floor awash.  I have learnt to wear rubber boots in the fishroom as a matter of course.  That means anything in the way of a floor covering would have to allow good drainage and not remain damp underneath.  It also needs to be readily cleanable. 

 

A formed, sealed vinyl floor like they use in hospitals would be idea – but just not within my budget.  I was at Bunnings today and saw the rubber mats designed to be used under kids playground equipment.  They would provide excellent insulation and drain very well, but would possibly be dirt traps.  Also not exactly cheap.  Perhaps some of the industrial rubber matting that’s around might be an option. Marine carpet is another one I've contemplated.

 

Anyone have suggestions for things they’ve tried and either worked well or failed dismally?


Edited by humbug, 09 August 2015 - 09:31 AM.


#33 Buccal

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 09:53 AM

Fake turf turned upside down ?

#34 humbug

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 10:06 AM

I've actually looked a bit more closely at marine carpet.  Its surprisingly cheap - around $12.50 per square metre from Clark Rubber.  That's about a third of the price of the cheapest of the other options I've looked at.  Might be worth getting a bit and putting it in one of the other fishrooms as a trial before committing further.


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#35 ice

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Posted 12 August 2015 - 06:35 AM

Great read, looking forward to seeing this all happen :)



#36 humbug

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Posted 17 September 2015 - 03:01 PM

Yeh!!!  I finally have some progress to report!!!  I was starting to wonder if it was ever going to happen. :rolleyes:

 

The stonemason started work yesterday and things are finally happening.  I’ll post some progress shots a bit later.

 

I’ve been having a bit of a play with the free SketchUp software package.  Already we have found it very useful to help visualise the building to work out placement of the doorways, but I’m also hoping that going forward it will be useful to help with designing the plumbing runs.  I’ve found the software very easy to learn to use, and drafting what I have done so far has been very quick.  Thought I’d share a little animation which might give you a better idea of the crazy building and just how crammed this room is going to be once set-up. :unsure:

 


Edited by humbug, 17 September 2015 - 03:04 PM.


#37 dicky7

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Posted 17 September 2015 - 04:57 PM

W ell done  good to see the mason has started work... I take it the walls and roof will be insulated well  I reckon ya wont need  much heating in the fish room with all those tanks squeezed in ... coming on  nicely :welldone:  :goodjob:



#38 humbug

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Posted 17 September 2015 - 06:44 PM

The roof will be well insulated.  Unfortunately the racks are going to be a really tight fit, so I just don’t have room to insulate the walls.  The plan is to attach a decent thickness of polystyrene foam to the backs and ends of sumps and tanks.  Heating will be a combination of heaters in the lower tanks and sumps, plus room air-conditioning.  We are also looking at putting a veranda across the front of the building (the wall with the doors) to provide shade in summer.  This is the north side of the building and hence the wall that gets the brunt of the sun.

 

 

This is how the front of the building looked before the mason started work yesterday. 

 

 

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The mason has started on the hole which will become the double door into the fishroom.  The ragged holes were bashed in the front, possibly in the 1950’s, so the building could be used as a garage.   In the right hand opening cement blocks were used as pillars and a massive amount of cement and brick was used to bog up collapsed sections.  First step was to prop up the upper section of the wall so that the old lintel can be removed.  Much of the cement has now been dug out, and sections of the blocks have been cut back.  The mason has elected to leave a centre spine of blocks in place in the wall and build stone around them, rather than risking a further collapse of the upper section of wall by removing them.

 

 

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My husband had previously built a couple of door frames, and the larger one is in place in the opening.  The mason is now starting to build the quoins on either side of the frame, and is backfilling with stone as he progresses upwards. This is where we are after two days work. 

 

 

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Edited by humbug, 17 September 2015 - 06:44 PM.


#39 humbug

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Posted 25 September 2015 - 05:11 PM

Sorry to bore you lot with a stack of building shots, but I’m getting such a buzz out of this project and I need to share with somebody!!!  It’s not all directly fish related, but it does contribute to the story.  I can’t believe just how much of a lift seeing the rebirth of this old building is giving me!! 

 

Much of the materials we are using in the project are recycled.  The bricks came from a demolished building - this sized brick is very hard to locate and we fluked finding a pile a friend had stashed away in his yard.  Much of the rock was recovered from the buttress walls we have knocked over, or just found lying around in our yard.  Our place has just a thin layer of topsoil over sheet limestone, so rock accumulates every time we dig a hole to plant a tree.  The rest of the stone has been brought in from a ruined building about 20 minutes drive from our place.  During the week we made a trip up to a slate quarry in the Clare Valley to hunt through their discard pile.  We managed to find a couple of decent pieces of slate which will be fashioned into doorsills for the two new doorways. 

 

But I’m particularly enjoying watching the transformation of this ugly duckling into what I’m hoping will become a real asset.  The larger of the doorways has now been completed and the ugly buttress walls extending from the front of the building have been largely removed.  This week the major project will be supporting the wall above the left hand opening before removing the old lintel.  Once that’s out of the way that section of wall can be rebuilt. 

 

To show progress to date, here are a couple of before and after shots.

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A closer shot of the new doorway to the fishroom

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The slabs of slate we got to craft into doorsills or the doorways.  The larger piece is around 7 foot long.  I have no idea how my husband and I managed to man-handle the thing into the back of the ute!

 

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We are finding lots of interesting archaeology, some which helps to tell the story of the place, and some which just leaves more questions.  It now looks as if the building was built in two different stages.  The right hand side, which will become the fishroom, was the original kitchen for our house, and hence would have to have been built at the same time as the house in 1865/66.  But the left hand side pre-dates that, indicating that there was a least some earlier habitation on the site before the house was built. We think it was a stable, or at least housed livestock of some sort.  It appears it may have been partitioned into three stalls.

 

We have uncovered a couple of rubbish piles.  The most recent one we have found probably dates to the 1950’s or 1960’s and includes all sorts, including the remains of a child’s tricycle and an old fishing reel. 

 

Scratching around in the dirt in front of the building we found these, probably from a handgun and a 303?  The handgun shell is flattened at the end, and has red brick dust impressed into it, which makes us think someone shot the bakehouse . . . . . . thankfully they didn't kill it!  :rolleyes:

 

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I’m off on another crazy road trip next week – this time without the dog.  I had planned to head to Melbourne once the fish room was operational in a quest for more fish, but an opportunity has come up earlier, so what the heck . . . . let’s go on a two day LFS crawl anyway!  I have to be sensible and not buy any fish, though.  The tanks I have running at the moment are absolutely stretched to the max!!!



#40 benno87

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Posted 25 September 2015 - 07:50 PM

Awesome stuff there love the new doorway, always lookin forward to new updates to this thread and can't wait to see it finished, so tell me this, if you goin to melb for a 2 day lfs and can't get any fish, what exactly are you getting then? Hahaha cheap tanks maybe?




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