This morning I painted a coat of grey onto the new timber on the RH side of the boot door frame and the steel frame that links this to the corner pillar, ready for the corner timber to be fitted. I also spray painted the two gusset plates for this section so this can all be assembled now.
Whilst the paint was drying I cut away the next rotten pillar down the OS and made a replacement. This is also ready for fitting, probably the first job tomorrow as the rest can be done whilst the glue sets.
Today I started with removing the RH boot door. This once again required the screws to have their heads drilled off. Having removed the door, I was able to remove panelwork along the top of the boot opening and down the RH side. This revealed extensive wet fungal rot in the base of the two pillars at the RH side of the boot opening and this will need to be repaired by jointing new lower sections of timber.
Right-hand boot door frame timbers
RH corner of boot door frame
I started the job of replacing the rotted timber by cutting both the pillars just below the corner horizontal (with the hole) visible in the picture. I cut a step into the good wood in order to make a strong joint with the new timber.
Today’s work continued where I finished yesterday with removal of the nearside (LH) boot door. Having drilled the heads of the fixing screws for the hinges, I was then faced with the problem of extracting the remains of the screws. In order to give something for the mole grips to grab onto, I dabbed the Mig torch on the ends of the screws and built them up a bit. This had the additional effect of introducing heat into the screw and they came out with little trouble after this treatment.
Next I removed the LH panel work surrounding the boot opening. Final part of the day was spent removing the remains of rusted screws and drilling and plugging the holes with dowels. A survey shows far more rot in the RH side of the boot opening and wall timbers.
Left-hand rear corner and boot door frame timbers
Timbers forming the top of the boot opening and base of the rear window