Wife looking for some pretty curtains!

[KiwiKev]

I have been working on renovating our kitchen-diner here in New Zealand. It is a 1950s white weather board house. Amazingly even found the original wall paper from the 50s under four layers! The floor has cork tiles under which are blue vinyl and asbestos tiles - wife freaked out - but I think I can remove these with caution (advice).

We have a window - 65inches x 42 inch drop. We were thinking about some made in USA lined red buffalo check curtains on a runner. I found a company called Country Curtains but they have a limited range. Anyone got some ideas? A local curtain shop? Another online curtain shop?

We would appreciate suggestions.

Cheers.

[Tycer]

Warm them with a heat gun and they should lift off pretty well. Asbestos has to be friable to be a problem. The asbestos is a fiber encased in vinyl and is not friable. Don't sand the tiles and you should be A-OK.

[KiwiKev]

Thanks for that advice.

[Richardx]

www.hancockfabrics.com

Large fabric chain here in the States, check it out.

[Old Ironsights]

Warm them with a heat gun and they should lift off pretty well. Asbestos has to be friable to be a problem. The asbestos is a fiber encased in vinyl and is not friable. Don't sand the tiles and you should be A-OK.

+1 on this.

Also, when removing, keep the whole working area slightly damp (a cattle mister works well). It keeps any loose asbestos from being airborne and cools the room in summer...

[Tycer]

Also, when removing, keep the whole working area slightly damp (a cattle mister works well). It keeps any loose asbestos from being airborne and cools the room in summer...

Unnecessary if you use heat to warm the tiles. See page 19 here: http://rfci.com/wordpress/wp-content/up ... ct2011.pdf

[GonnePhishin]

She'd probably be better off going to a fabric shop and making her own if she is so inclined.

[KiwiKev]

Checked the fabric shop- no buffalo check in a simple red.

Been using one of these with the cork tiles which are glued to floorboards.


With the cork tiles stuck to the blue asbestos/vinyl tile they come up real easily. Well they did before we discovered what they were and the wife freaked out The glue is still sticky under them.

The floor boards are a New Zealand native timber called tawa. Apparently the whole house was made from timber milled locally.

[Tycer]

Read that paper I linked to. If you warm them you can slip a flat bar under them and they will lift pretty easy. The mastic never really dries and will be sticky mess.

[Gaucho Gringo]

Also have heard of using dry ice on them. Put the dry ice on the tiles and they will supposedly pop right up. Heard this from a couple of flooring guys years ago. Never tried it but have no reason to doubt the source.

[J Miller]

KiwiKev,

My wife is a seamstress aka sewist. She worked for Barrows upholstery and curtains in Phoenix for a time.

You can contact her with pics of the fabric directly if you want. I can PM you her email address.


Joe

[KiwiKev]

Or something like



At fabrics.com

Suitable for curtains?

[KiwiKev]

A very interesting article. I guess I will be following that advice closely.

[J Miller]

KiwiKev,

My wife says the smaller checks would make better curtains, at least we liked it better.

What kind of lining do you want, black out or regular lining?

Joe

[Old Ironsights]

Gingham theme Kev?

[piller]

Be careful with that asbestos. Don't get any of the dust in the air. One Uncle who worked for a company that demolished old buildings has Mesothelioma. There was a lot of asbestos in those old buildings, and back in the 40's through the early 80's, they were not required to wear masks. He breathed in a lot more of that junk than you would if you sanded your tile off, but there is no point in ignoring caution. I recommend using a good quality mask even working with a heat gun to loosen the tile.

[KiwiKev]

I think the missus likes the top wider pattern with regular linings the width of each curtain would be about 62 inches. A drop of around 60 inches allowing for a header- 3 inch header tape?

[rossim92]

Are you trying to get the curtains to match the carpet?

[Old Ironsights]

Be careful with that asbestos. Don't get any of the dust in the air. One Uncle who worked for a company that demolished old buildings has Mesothelioma. There was a lot of asbestos in those old buildings, and back in the 40's through the early 80's, they were not required to wear masks. He breathed in a lot more of that junk than you would if you sanded your tile off, but there is no point in ignoring caution. I recommend using a good quality mask even working with a heat gun to loosen the tile.

Mask, heat gun and vapor mist. Plus isolating each room from the other rooms with plastic as each room is worked on.

All in all, not difficult.

[KiwiKev]

Maybe a red 1 inch gingham would look better!

[KiwiKev]

You know I am going to hunt down some gingham samples of various widths and hang them up and see how they look. Stupid of me.

[KiwiKev]

Wife surprised me with some curtains she purchased. She changed her mind- not gingham or buffalo check but something completely different.