Day 63. Painting and tiling

The young painter is back at work today, doing the rafters and ceiling. And the tiler is glueing in the tiles he cut yesterday. DE go and watch them before school. E talks near constantly at them: such a chatterbox, but can be infuriating.

End of day: Floor tiles laid; wall tiles 1/2 done.

Day 62: Sandpaper and drains

Early-ish a builder turns up and the sound of sandpapering fills the house (gently: he is doing it by hand): he is rubbing down the rafters before painting them. Good.

Somewhat later, Pete and Mr Digger turn up and ask if there is a set of plans, as they would like to mark out the kitchen foundations. Excellent... err, *do* we have such plans? Rustle up something, and leave a message for Ian for better. Later, they realise that the drains aren't going to work as they are, and we have fun suggesting things, and leave another message for Ian.

Back later: they have done some brick-saw work, cutting out the edges on the driveway (brickdust everywhere: hopefully it will rain soon), and the overall shape is marked out in red spraypaint on the grass. M sez via some channel that BtB has worked out a scheme for the drains. There is also one digger claw mark in the grass, but no more sign of it. Frightened off by our drains?

Day 58-61: not a lot: Valerie seen unknown

Not much going on, though promise of foundations soon.

Surveillance: M saw Mrs B's surveyor and a woman, and talked to them a bit. Only later do we discover that the woman was Valerie. Well, some action it seems, and their surveyor appears reasonable.

Day 57. More external render

The plasterers turned up to put on another coat of external render, so its a bit smoother. But: they couldn't finish: they had to stop because it was so hot that the plaster was drying too quickly!

Day 56. Phase 2 pricing.

The plumber comes in to do a little bit more pipework, but that is not the exciting thing, oh no...

Ian comes round at 6:30 and M and I discuss with him BtB's pricing for the kitchen extension to the front. Its what he put in his rough quote (ie, about 3/4 of the price of the kids room conversion), so that is essentially OK. There are some questions (where does the soil stack go; should there be an outside door into the kitchen or just a window; where are the kitchen units to go (M to design); should the floor boards continue into the kitchen (I hope so); should it be plastered or have exposed brick (plaster); etc etc).

day 53-55. Floor and pipes.

Today the base floor (insulation and chipboard T+G) got laid. We're leaving the hardwood nice flooring till the whole thing is done, to avoid heavy boots trashing it. But which way round should it be laid? Also Pete the plumber drilled holes through the living room wall so he could plumb in the radiator, though "plumb" is a misnomer since its plastic piping. The chipboard has the pipelines roughly marked on it in pencil, though I'm not sure why (to stop them nailing it?).

Day 52: Plastered inside and out

Plasterers back today, starting a bit earlier. Offer them a tea but they have their own. They end up getting the inside nearly finished top-coated, and the outside undercoated on top of the insulation. The "difficult" drum appears to be perfectly done and completely smooth: I'm impressed.

It looks like they may have been a teensy bit careless about slopping spare plaster onto the floor in the toilet - but they may not have realised that a functional toilet is to be re-instated so the hole needs to be kept clear.

Day 49-51: Plastered

Nothing friday or monday (except, sometime, I forget exactly when, I mentioned to Ian about the yucky plastic gutter and he said OK we can get a nice Al one; and that the window sill in the kids room is cracked; he said this could get fixed (or, covered in oak to match the floor).

Today Laker and Nunn, plasterers, turned up about 8:30 (maybe plasterers start late...) and set to. When I got back (they finish early: 3:30) they had done a bottom layer for the inside, having put up the stainless steel beading etc. Tomorrow they skim the inside finish we think. Some confusion (from me) about whether the inside needed to be baorded first: no seems to be the answer.

Talk to Ian again (because the sill is getting plastered in) and he had forgotten to mention this to BtB; ditto guttering.

Day 47-48: Shower back

Nothing weds; on thurs (but I only discover this on fri, when talking to a carpenter on another site...) the back to the shower has been boarded up, making ready for the plasterers sometime.

Meanwhile, Gavin is in hospital which is bad news for him and will probably slow stuff up a bit too. In particular, Ians talk with BtB is postponed.

Day 46: Skip and PWA

The skip is still there in the morning, though its been full for a bit. Resolve to phone BtB if its still there when I get back. At 2, it still is: phone: BtB is happy to report that he has already arranged for its departure and an hour later it is indeed gone! (And my respect for the power of hydraulics is increased).

Talk Ian: he will meet BtB on thurs for detailed pricing of phase 2.

PWA: not People With Attitude but party wall act. Discuss with Ian; M to talk to B; she does, and (surprise: they talk) apparently B (via her son in law) has indeed appointed a surveyor. Or will. So that is some progress.

Day 42-45

So... last week a bit of a blur, since we were mostly away. After Tuesdays hive of activity things slowed a lot. By the time we were back on thursday late, we had a new gutter (temporary we hope, since its yucky grey plastic) and the doors hung on their hinges. Good. Also the skip and the limestone have been inverted and some new stuff arrived.

On friday M reports a few noises at 8 but no action.

On monday no early activity. But when we get back the doors and windows have glass in them, hurrah, and the room is just about weather proof. The shower unit is in place, looking all shiny and with some dangly pipes, but the floor excavations in there aren't finished. And we still have a skip full of other peoples rubbish :-( A plaster came round and sized up the job but didn't start - its not yet all boarded out inside. Ian came round to deliver documents from Valerie about the party wall act served on Betty, who is refusing to talk about it :-(