blog-the-builder

Finishing up

2006-08-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

I'm going to declare the day-to-day writing o this thiing over. Last week the skip left, thank goodness. This week Tim finished off the floorboards at the top of the stairs and the last piece of shower glass is in, but wobbly. There remains various bits of painting to finish off, which we trust will happen before too long.

Perhaps we can start putting the house back together for living in now...

Day 345-350. Mostly painting

2006-08-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

Mostly painting this week, and we're mostly finsihed now. As I believe is traditional, they are leaving a few irritating bits of stuff unfinished but hopefully will get done sometime.

Tim has boxed in the electric and gas meters in the hallway, making a rather nice looking cupboard out of it faced in the floorboards. Les the tiler has tiled the bath end in his standard not-exactly-brilliant fashion; and it needs some filler to stop leaks; but it will do.

Remaining: tidy up outside; a bit more painting (esp the stairs); uncover the stair treads; and do the floorboards at the top of the stairs. A days work if they actually set to doing it - any guesses for how long in practice?

Day 344. Guttering

2006-07-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

So its now thursday; oddly enough the "we'll be finished on wednesday" didn't occur, any more than any of the other finish dates have. While we were away they were supposed to have painted out the kitchen; they haven't. Of course it sat empty for months on end when they could easily have painted it then. But I think Bob has this fixed "paint at the end of the job" attitude. While we're on the kitchen, the ceiling seems to have a slight leak... at least, it was wet inside near the front... Gavin reckons a problem near the Velux, and promises a roofer to look at it. In fact I must remind him of that...

The render coat is now finished though. Its pink; an OK colour I think. Certainly we seem to be able to live with it.

Tim is working to finish the chippy type stuff: the panelling around the toilet looks good; around the bath is OK. He and Gavin are now putting up the guttering, which has sat in our driveway for so long.

And the painters are painting away. They should be able to clear at least the small, and D's, bedroom by friday, which would be rather nice, so that Ma will have somewhere to sleep.

Day 337. Pink

2006-07-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

I don't seem to be doing such a good job of updating this... mostly just hoping for the work to be over, with little success.

So, since last time, the painters have been steadily painting and the floor has steadily extended. Now it is down everywhere except the top-of-the-stairs, and in the entranceway and the music-room-to-be. We've scratched some of it already :-(

Today the plasterers came to put on the topcoat of stuff onto the render. Its supposed to be "like thick paint". Its pink, but it doesn't seem to me to be thick enough - the swirls underneath are still visible. It doesn't help that the instructions are in German. Shall I take a copy to Nikola?

We still need... skirting boards down (and painted). Painting in bathroom, shower room, kitchen, dining room. By friday? Hmmm... I doubt it.

Day 331. Flooring at last

2006-07-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

Gavin arrives sometime past 8 (in fact about 8:20, just as I email Ian to whinge about no-one turning up) followed by Carl and later Tim. Duno what Tim does; Carl gets in the consumer unit (ie, new fuse box) and Gavin is floor laying. When we get back, the kitchen is mostly covered, and the carpet in the dining is ripped up, and some latex spread to even out the floor. At extra cost of course, but how much?

This confines us pretty well to the living room: MED play Uno there, and we eat off a tray. Hopefully tomorrow will see better.

Day 326-330. Misc week

2006-07-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

Doing it by the week now, unless something exciting occurs. A fair amount of work done, though we are still suffereing from the Wroxham effect: Bob pulling people off to finish his own place (just this morning the younger painter turned up, began, and got called off 30 mins later). Hopefully the first rentals are this weekend and so that should stop now. Hopefully.

Not much mon/tues. Carl around a bit (hence, says Bob, no decorators, as they don't mix. Ha. Plenty of outdoors painting to be done). Wednesday was to be floor laying, but that got delayed to friday, and then, ahem, delayed till next week. So the answer to "are you *sure* you'll be finished bar snagging this week"? is "no", though never explicitly given. Ian seems to be fairly sure that Bob intends to be finished *next* week: this would be good.

Tim sets to and builds the cupboard in the corner of the dining, so thats good, and it looks good.

Were are we at? Old gutters are now off, and soffits and bargeboards painted. New guttering was delivered to the driveway a week ago, and only awaits putting on. Quite a bit more external painting to do. Internally the kitchen/dining, and the new kitchen, and the new stairwell need doing. And the bath/shower rooms need finishing off. And the floors. Errrm, well, lets hope.

Day 323-325. Shower :-(

2006-07-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

Wednesdays disaster was for it to become clear that the wetness of the carpet in the shower room was *not* overspill from using the shower, as we had been asuming, but instead seepage upwards from below. Argh. Get a plumber over, and the explanation eventually agreed on is that they failed to mastic the join of shower tray to walls at all, so its been leaking there. Hopefully that really is the answer, and not that there is some leak in the pipework underneath, otherwise we'll have out rip it out. This has also spread a bit into the linnen cupboard, resulting in the loss of "map projections" book, but not so bad there.

Meanwhile, painters at work.

Thursday/fri (/sat/sun) it does become clear that the water isn't growing and is probably retreating, so the mastic seems to be the answer. And Bob owes us a new carpet. When planning the project, of course, we totally neglected the pain/cost of little troubles like this. Les the tiler starts on the windowsills in bath/shower, and appears surprised that his grout or whatever has disappeared in the interval since he was last here. If he had actually come back promptly to finish up there would have been no problem.

Guttering turns up.

Friday: finally have to clear out the old kitchen/dining totally, to allow the last of the units to be ripped out and making-good to commence, in advance of painting and eventually floor laying. Only Les-the-tiler (who finishes the windowsills upstairs) and the elder-and-not-so-good painter in the morning; the other is doing something else in the morning. When I get back at 2:30 though they've all gone. Friday work ethic.

Day 320-2. Plaster and Paint

2006-06-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

Friday: Pete and Tim come to board over and then plaster the nominally-ex kitchen ceiling. We're not quite down to totally disrupted in there, but its close.

Monday: nowt. This is *rather* annoying. Complain.

Tuesday: painters turn up. They think they are here just today, and back to Norfolk tomorrow. Complain. Bob says they are here until finished: good; lets hope its so. Meanwhile, order flooring (£4k) of "engineered board" as its called: 20mm, of which the top 3mm is oak. Painters are doing the "music room" as we grandly call it; they have to shuffle out various boards that are in the way. They also get some of the ooutside started, hurrah.

Still no sign of the gutters, though.

Day 316-9. Misc, mostly Pete

2006-06-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

Not a terribly busy week so far. Pete does various plastering in the old hallway and makes messes where the kitchen was. Today the only action is Paul doing abit more tidying up outside at front. Pete the Plumber was supposed to be due tues but due to some - aha - miscommunication, errm, didn't tur up.

Decide that we are taking refurb of our bedroom, and the living room, out of the project. We just can't cope with more upheaval at the moment.

With Ians help, secure a "2 weeks from friday" promise from Bob for a finish date (with quibbles about a week more of snagging after that). To get to that, we'll have to get the flooring down too, which means getting a price. We're sort-of giving up on Ivan, as he is so hard to get in contact with and doesn't want to lay what we want.

Day 315. Pete mostly: old hallway

2006-06-16T13:52:00.000-07:00

Today mostly Pete plastering the old hallway. He gets most of it done; there is some stuff around the old doorway into the living room to tidy off though.

Also Bob "drops off" some samples of flooring, when I wasn't here, and apparently the quote from Ivan for laying same is in the post. Which means that the long-awaited deadline of monday for actually doing the laying is going to be missed, as even if we could decide on flooring in time, and accept the quote, they still need to get the wood. And... when the two "obvious" rooms are done (D's room, and the new room) where will they continue to? We need the hallway finished off first, obviously we think.

Also the top-of-the-stairs is not yet sorted: Crescent the stair people appear to have fouled up putting on the handrails (they put them on top of the chipboard floor, so they are too high; cutting them down to the correct size appears fairly easy though but for some unkown reason Bob won't do it, and Crescent apparently are shy).

I have realised now (far too late) that what we should have done is kept the old stairs. The area on top where the new stairs/landing is would have become a largish upper landing area, which would have lead onto D's room. Very useful for storage (!) and big enough to be a temporary 4th bed when required. And we would have got a small study downstairs. Not quite ideal, but soooooo much less knocking about.

Day 312-314. The horror, oh the horror

2006-06-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well, not quite as bad as that, but its getting somewhat grim, and long drawn out. And rather slow as well. Coming home to tidy up each day is a chore. And I (we?) am not looking forward to the next step, which is to clear out the kids room so it can be floored on monday, and clearing out D's room, ditto. Bob seems grimly determined that it will be done on monday, this being Ivan's booked slot. But, its not clear how he is going to continue come tuesday - things don't look ready to continue into the dinig room. Hmmm.

Tues: Pete is rendering downstairs.

Weds: nothing. Builders all called out to urgent job elsewhere.

Thurs: Barry doing the door into the kids room (frame straightened when I point out it isn't). The bathroom glass gets taken away to be sandblasted (I talk about this with Ian: will it be cleanable? Should the sandblasted side point outwards? Didn't we want frosted glass anyway? But this turns out out have little effect. The glass looks OK now, we'll have to see how the cleanability works out.

Get a current update on the accounts from Ian. We're about on track for the original estimates, which is good, though some things we thought were in, aren't (dining room cupboards), which is bad. Also the "balcony" or whatever to secure the D's-room-door outside has been forgotten, it seems.

Day 311. Windows, shower, door

2006-06-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

A hot morning. Leave Tim and Barry ripping out the windows at the back and replacing with new; Pete tPP putting in the new shower door; and Pete addressing the conversion of the front door to a window.

Back home (after they have left): try out the shower. Well its a lot better, and in usual use fine; but if the spray is pointed at the bottom of the door it leaks. Hmm. Windows seem to be in OK; there is some decorating filler to make good.

Don't think Pete tPP has done anything to investigate the "friday leak" which is gone now. The other half of the door (well, 1/4) is here; also tap not changed in bathroom. I rather suspect he found it too hot to work today.

Day 307-310. Decorators, Carpets, Windows

2006-06-09T14:03:00.000-07:00

Decorating continues apace on tuesday, and the corridor is finished. The bathrooms still need some work.

But its in a state that Mr Carpet can turn up and do his bit on wednesday, and indeed he does, so we have carpet underfoot upstairs which is nice. Indeed he is notable for his promptness and efficiency.

Also on Wednesday Pete turns up with a pile of windows, and stores them inside.

On thursday, he turns up with the glass, but no other building takes place. Meanwhile I'm trying to sort out between Bob, Ian and Ivan what state the floor-laying plans are in.

Friday Tim and Barry turn up to fit the new windows. Optimistically, this is supposed to happen in a day (oddly enough this doesn't work: we only get 2 in). It would probably have been better to do this before the carpets went down (really there is no reason they couldn't have been done a month or 2 ago, just like the gutters, ahem) but they do seem to have been careful. Tim is confused that the bathroom windows are clear glass, as are we. Nobody has told him or us that they are due to be taken out again and sandblasted to opaque. Seems an odd an inefficient way of doing it to me!

Later, panics (by me) about a leak - the plaster in the cloakroom cupboard is distinctly darkened and looks like water seeping. Oh dear. After many phone calls and confusions, with Ian out all day and Bob promising Pete tPP who prefers to head off to the pub, its to be left till monday as non-urgent. We hope so. Pete was also supposed to bring the shower curtain but that again delayed.

Day 306. More carpet; electrics; mess; floors and architraves

2006-06-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

Carl, Barry and Mr Decorator - whose name I don't know, sorry.

Barry finishes the flooring of the showerroom (sadly for him the end room is now full of children, so he can't saw in there, and has to do it outside). When I get back, he has mostly done the skirting boards and architraves as well. So thats looking fair.

Mr D is wallpaper stripping and prepping where the shelves were in DE's room, in preparation for painting tomorrow.

Carl does misc: I think he has put in a proper loft light; also gets the shower room fan in. Also makes some mess doing the bathroom fan, which is displeasing.

Still, progress. Mick Rule comes back to do the small room carpet, so thats another room ticked off. Perhaps we are indeed slowly chasing them out of the door... carpets are due in the rest of the upstairs on weds, so the painting is supposed ot be done by then. Lets hope!

Day 305. More plywood; more electrics

2006-06-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

Barry is doing more plywooding upstairs, to cover the terrible state of the floorboards (which are partly through age, and partly through having been ripped up). E's room is all ready for carpet, and B does the corridor and bathroom today. I come back at lunchtime (why? to check the oven is in OK... it is, and it works; thanks Carl) and notice upstairs that there is a big dip in the corridor... cos Barry has neglected to pack up the thick plywood replacement for the central boards. "Oh, we could latex the dip" he says... gurk. Phone Ian, who phones Bob, who phones Barry, who sets to ripping up the ply and replacing it properly. Hmmm...

Carl gets the bathroom and shower room lights in (this is nice in the evening...).

Days 302-304. Plumbing and Electrics

2006-06-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

Getting well behind myself...

Monday was a bank holiday, but nonetheless Brian the plumber came in to do some stuff. Or so we understand, we weren't here till he was gone. He had hoped to finish then, but in fact came in on Tuesday to finish off. That should mean that the floors can go down upstairs.

Wednesday we weren't around and I'm not sure anyone else was either. I did take a long phone call from Bob, explaining why various things were a bit later than expected but nonetheless going to happen Very Soon Now. When we get back, more plywood has been delivered and left outside, so I bring it in to prevent it getting wet.

Thursday saw the return of Carl. First off he and I lift the oven into place (I get a cut in the process, but its all right, no blood on the oven). Carl doesn't have a big enough socket to power it up, tomorrow we hope. Quick visit from Ian - review various things, including the mess that Crescent have made on various bits of the stairs. Then Carl goes off to chip in the lines for various sockets in the New Study, a dusty process, so I leave him to it.

Day 301: plastering, plumbing, flooring, planking

2006-05-26T14:57:00.000-07:00

Hmm, seems a reasonably active day, though a bit frustrating and messy at the end.

Pete plasters the study ceiling, though this does rather lead to a measure of mess and plaster on the old cooker. Hmpf.

Paul does some more work at the front, removing the old concrete and adding a second plank. Sadly he can't finish today, though he is last out, and reports that he will be off at Norfolk next week.

Brian does more plumbing, good, though can't quite finish due to lack of bits.

Barry the chippie is floor laying, and gets the new bedroom done and some stuff elsewhere, inc half E's room. He would have kept going, but ran out of plywood, due to someones ordering mixup. Sigh.

Hors-serie: Brian comes in on monday, which is a bank hol, to do some stuff. Not sure exactly what (hopefully the bit that needed our florr coming up); will check with him tomorrow.

Day 299-300. Pete and Paul; and Brian and Carl too

2006-05-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, a fairly big clear-up outside: the last of the stupid stack of cement blocks goes, and the area by the front door is cleared too, hurrah. Also, the kitchen sink and old units by it are cast into the skip, which gives us a nice big space to wonder what to put in it. We ponder the cupboards which will go round the corner.

Today, they are joined by Brian the plumber (who last appeared as Pete-tPP's mate, but now seems to be operative on his own; in fact now I think of it Pete was here briefly yesterday instructing him on what was where). This looks to involve the radiator in the bathroom, something in the "lumber room", installing the dishwasher which has turned up, and who knows what else.

Paul does more outside stuff: with the grinder, cutting an edge to our concrete; gravelling near the front door; putting in a piece of timber to hold back the earth at the side. Pete does stuff where the units were, chiselling off tiles.

Carl does more electrical stuff... there always seems to be more. Swap the insets in the study for pendants, since they give more light. HE doesn't wire in the hob, since there is only one cooker-power supply in the fusebox so would have had to disconnect the cooker. And he wouldn't have time to fit the new cooker. For that, he will be back next thurs.

All this activity is wonderful, but does raise the dust.

However, there are other things that need to be chivvied along. Phone Bob about the shower door, which we still don't have: Bob says thats cos it with Ian, to worry about vertical stability; Ian says that was all sorted and Bob should be ordering. In fact should have ordered it some time ago. Argghhhh... I hate circulars like that. Also have another go at him about windows and gutters which are now due late next week.

Day 297-8. Painters; plumber

2006-05-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

Friday: a bit more decorating upstairs. Bathroom ceiling I think.

Monday: Pete the plumber in early. This one was ever so slightly baffling, as it wasn't clear that he knew what he was doing here. As it turned out there was (a) a slight leak around the toilet pan to fix and (b) the pipes to the will-be-study radiator to move into the corner in the kitchen. Was he doing owt else? Hard to know...

Mr Carpet Man (Mick Rule) came today (bang on his time :-) and was very nice and saved us from the terror of far too many choices in the Carpet Mill or whatever. So we're having "neutral" in the spare bedroom and landing and bathrooms (M always preferred carpet; I wanted boards but it seems sensible to get something down, so M wins); red in E's room. All at 50 weight, whatever that is.

Talk to Ian (later) who has talked to Bob who agrees things are going too slow. Big items to get done: get the hardboard down on the floors upstairs this week so we can carpet next week; guttering; windows upstairs (again, ideally, to be done *before* the carpets go down).

Day 294-6. More painting; doors; and some tidying, by me

2006-05-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

Getting slightly bored with doing this day-by-day when not a lot is occurring. So, painting continues, and is indeed finished in the 2 upstairs bedrooms at the end, jolly good. It would be nice if the painters kept going doing all the other stuff needed, but they won't be back till tuesday. I hope that Tim will be around tomorrow to put down the plywood floors there, so we can use them this weekend.

Yesterday Tim was around too, hanging some new doors downstairs. A bit odd to have doors where we used to have gaps, but since they have no glass yet we can just step through :-)

I've done a bit of tidying at the front, moving some wood around and taking some gravel round to the back, so our drive is largely clear. Also I dismounted the cement mixer that used to stare menacingly at the road. I've started, slowly, to tidy and lay slabs at the back near the rear door. I've also just noticed that the lower panel on that door has started to warp a bit, probably cos of the rain and no gutters. Hopefully the gutters will arrive soon.

Also I fixed the basin upstairs which had a minor leak.

Day 293. Painter

2006-05-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

At last the fabled painting of the upstairs begins! We leave before he arrives (M says Les has been here too, though thats by description not name; perhaps he was doing more steaming; someone has been) but when I get back the ceiling and top of the walls has been done and some filling of rough spots too. We await more tomorrow...

Day 292. Sink upstairs; electrics too

2006-05-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

Pete tPP in to plumb in the sink upstairs, and the shower too (sadly, as Ian points out later, the fixings to the shower are wrong - plastic support bar for the shower head, and wrong tap-unit - should be as per the downstairs; however we can use it, though not with gay abandon till the door arrives.

And when I get back, Carl is doing electrics, nothing that we will use now, but keeping ahead of the painters upstairs; also moving some cables into permanent positions in the old hallway. I say, can you fit the hob in please; he says, no, cos I don't have a 45A isolator switch. Argh... if only we had warned him. Didn't think to.

Day 291. Sink

2006-05-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

Pete tPP in the morning to fit the pipes onto the new sink and disconnect the old one. Fortunately the tap does indeed fit into the hole that I+R drilled for it, I was a bit nervous as to whether they had checked.

So tonight I get to wash up in the new sink, hurrah. Already mess starts to spread onto our beautiful granite and needs to be pushed back. Slowly slowly slowly I am realising that we need to spend more time tidying the house! One day M will realise too :-)

So not a lot of action today, things creep along their petty pace. We are promised Carl and Pete again tomorrow, cos the upstairs is actually fairly close to done and just needs a little push to be done.

Day 290. Grout

2006-05-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

Les the tiler back today (such a shame he isn't called Watt) and finishes up the grouting. I come back after he has gone and pick a few bits of gunk out that he hadn't bothered to remove, sigh. Still in the end it looks fair enough, and M didn't spot the gunk till I pointed it out.

Day 289. Granite!

2006-05-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

No work from Bob today (Ian round for a look at progress, so I take the opportunity to whinge about slowness), but the people from Ivett and Reed are exact to their day, and fit the worktop quite efficiently, levelling up the units and Tims battens are required. It isn't quite as heavy as I'd thought: two fairly hefty chaps get to carry the 3m lengths though its clearly pretty heavy from the way they put it down. It took them from about 1:30-4:30 to put it in, including finishing the cut for the hob (that came with 4 holes cut for the radius corners, and half-sawn-through for the rest, apparently to avoid any risk of it breaking under its own weight, since the hob cut takes out most of the width). We're not allowed to stand on it anywhere, and indeed I think that their ideal would be for us to do nothing except look at it :-) Still it *does* look very nice.

Day 288. Pete+Pete

2006-05-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

Pete the bricklayer takes away some of our excess blocks that have been cluttering up the front garden for... well, months. Quite what else he got up to I'm not sure as we were out... more plastering I think. It looks like Tim was around a bit, as he has fixed a batten to the cabinet in the kitchen and boxed in the pipes that Pete tPP has moved into the corner of E's bedroom-to-be. No tiling... the tiler only works certain says, it seems.

Bob came around at 6 to talk to a painter-to-be; but he didn't turn up. So Bob promises us his, instead. Next monday apparently. A good talk with Bob otherwise. Point out that water has been coming in a bit at the new front door in all this very wet weather; the gutters are on order and will arrive in 2 weeks sez Bob. A bit frustrating as they could have been on order, and indeed fixed in, a month ago.

Day 287. No more tiling :-(

2006-05-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

For no very obvious reason the tiler isn't here today. And nor is anyone else when I leave, so I complain to Ian, pho phones Bob, who says Pete will be plastering (and indeed he is later: the shower room ceiling). Still doesn't explain the tiler: hopefully monday.

Day 286. More tiling

2006-05-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

Just the tiler here today... looks like the shower room is finished tiling-wise, and he has started on the bathroom. No grouting done... M wanted pale grey, and he had turned up with "grey, take it or leave it" (or have white). I'm leaving that one to M.

Day 287. Tiling mostly

2006-05-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

Tim (and Pete at some point, though I don't see him) shuffle the kitchen units across as required for the central sink; and Tim routes out its hole.

Mr Tiler (Les?) has come today to do our bathrooms. He isnt very keen on the Fired Earth mosaics M bought, probably just complaining-in-advance so as not to be blamed if anything goes wrong. Still he sets to.

At the end of the day Ian and Bob come round to review progress. The tiling looks... well OK, but with some flaws. Hopefully it will look better when the grout is in. I push a few of the tiles into place properly. So does Bob.

Day 284. Front step; templating

2006-05-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

Pete and Paul; Tim; and Pete around today.

Pete and Paul seem to be mostly engaged building the front step - by the end of the day this is done, though as I point out (at least) one slab is not level. Pete blames this on someone treading on it, but it wasn't me, and it needs fixing. Tomorrow.

Tim does misc upstairs (including first steps in patching the frame to the bathroom to re-hang the door outwards) to get it into a state for the tiler tomorrow.

Pete tPP - not sure what he is up to, but he is doing something, at least for the first half of the day - he is off as I return at 12 for...

The templater from Ivett and Reed. This turns into a bit of a marathon, because of The Sink. Oh no, not again. Why oh why can't we get these things arranged beforehand in good time? So... all is going well, until we turn to the hole for the sink. At which point he says, as a matter of course, "oh you realise that we cut out the whole interior" - the point being, its a sink-plus-1/2, separated by a narrow (2cm) ridge of stainless steel. But. You can't cut granite that thin, it would break. Argh. In many ways granite, whilst beauteous etc, is not an ideal material to make worktops from! After much to-ing and fro-ing and phone calls to M and not being able to bear going back for yet another sink, hit upon ingeneous solution: we just thicken the granite over that bit. It has to have approx 1 cm overlip anyway; so we will have to lose about 2-4 cm's worth of sink width depending on how tight the cutter decides to make it (partly this is cos the granite may chip when cut; hence the first cut has to leave excess in case a second or third is required).

Then... belatedly (how often do I write that?) realise that we'd rather like the sink centered on the window. Originally this was to be achieved centering sink+1/2+draining board - when we were going to have this "on top". And we arranged the units accordingly. But, now its underneath, the draining bit is non-obtrusive grooves, so we need sink+1/2 centered instead. But, we can achieve this by shuffling the 20 cm unit to the other end (first checking with Pete and Tim this is OK, technically). Sigh.

Day 283. Saved!

2006-04-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

Today I'm off to Reading early for GCEP(S) kick-off; so I anxiously cycle off wondering what I'm leaving behind. Phone M on the train back, and relieved to find all is well.

And indeed, all does seem well: the pipes are shuffled into place, the boxing is shrunk to the size it should be, the toilet functions (no washbasin, but I can forgive them that) and the bath taps work - I wonder if I dare to try to have a bath?

Outside, the slabs are grouted into place and we're now allowed to walk on them, and the side near the old front door is gravelled. So we look much neater outside than we have for a while.

Day 282. Disaster!

2006-04-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

Sort of. Tim is here doing the chippie-ing for Pete to come tomorrow to install toilet, basin and bath taps. This involves building boxing in the shower-room in order to hide the pipes and the soil-pipe vent stack. OK so far. But when I come back at 2 for a look, the boxing is massive and intrusive - the plans show it quiet in the corner, but it sticks out a foot. This is because Pete tPP has put the soil stack far out, and the gas pipe also. Arghhhh! This is (a) a waste of Tims time and (b) liable to prevent us getting a functional bathroom by the weekend and (c) fixable? Phone various people... no Ian; no Pete. Get Bob, who will call Pete. Argh! Depressing.

Outside, Pete and Paul are laying slabs and breaking up slabs and that bit looks good.

Later: go to Ians at 8, but its his birthday and he is having dinner with his wife. But will come round early tomorrow...

Day 281. Digging

2006-04-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

We have agreed plans (but, I think, no price... oops) for the paving/gravelling of the front edge to the kitchen. Today Paul and Pete set to digging, and its amazing what two well disciplined diggers can accomplish and how neatly it can all be done. Sadly this dumps a pile of topsoil into the skip, but we can think of nothing useful to do with it. Inside, Les the delivery man has morphed into Les the wallpaper steamer.

Day 280. Upstairs electrics and invisible plumbing

2006-04-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

Carl and Pete tPP here, Carl for much longer. Pete re-arranging some plumbing into the void, so to speak, which meant it had no visible effects as far as I could see. Carl gets most of the upstairs electrics fixed, it would seem, so we'll see him sometime next week, and progress on the upstairs bathroom should now be rapid (oh yeah?).

Day 279. Gravel etc

2006-04-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

I don't think any building happened today. We did get a bag of gravel, and some anti-weed membrane, and some concrete slabs delivered to clog up our nice clean driveway :-(

Day 278. Soil pipe and cleanup

2006-04-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Not all that much visibly to show on the building front today... the shower is now plywood-panelled in, and a new soil pipe now runs down the old-kitchen corner into the new waste system. I'm guessing there was more behind the scenes. Upstairs all the new doors are now on.

Outside, though, there has been a big tidy up. Firstly the hole by the front door is no more - Paul swiggled the soil pipe connections then filled it in. So we have less soil pile in the front garden and it looks much tidier. Also the skip area is tidied - well its all thrown into the skip awaiting a lorry, cos its full now (and Tim helpfully sawed up the old TV arial which was on a scaffolding pole so thats gone too - should I have kept a potentially useful pole - no!). And some of the junk near the new front door is gone too.

Day 277. And Pete tPP. Shower tray. Granite

2006-04-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today Pete tPP (the Portly Plumber, if you've been forgetting) joins the crew. I leave them to it. Not quite sure whats gone on... the shower tray is in place, and some waste piping for it and the bath next door. Also the shower valves and pipes in place. Meanwhile Tim has hung some doors.

In town, to Howdens (uselessly) and MFI (ditto) about cooker hoods - we have a problem with this, since we have a window at 2m and only 1100 mm between the sill and the worktop, which at a min 650 mm clearance leaves only 450 mm to fit the hood into, a thing we didn't think of before buying one... Bosch tech support suggest the DHU 635, which is not glorious but is practical and would definitely fit.

Later on, talk with Ian about general progress (its going as fast as can be expected, is his opinion) and his plans for the front: various slabs, and a step by the front door.

More interestingly, I've been to Ivett and Reed to inspect the granite we're proposing to buy for the worktop, cos one of their chaps felt we ought to see the veining, cos apparently it can have these flaws. Sadly he wasn't there, but a chap who didn't really think there was any great problem was there... So we went to look at the slabs. See pix above. RHS: me reflected in the slab, with the vein running vertically through me. Can't see it? Try the LHS pic, maybe full sized. You only see it in certain angles of the light, it isn't a structural weakness. To the rubbed finger it can barely be felt, with a thumbnail you can just catch it in a few places. So we'll live with that.

The funny strips at the bottom of the top RHS pic are other slabs, BTW.

Day 276. Also Carl: electricity in the kitchen!

2006-04-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

Tim and Pete back again, Tim hanging doors and Pete plastering (I've slightly lost track of exactly what, though). No Pete tPP - sadly there is a burst water main elsewhere (Harrys work, apparently :-) so he is off all monring; was expected pm but alas no.

But Carl sets to on the electrics. First off he is making sure Tim doesn't get ahead of him upstairs. Then he gets the kitchen electrics wired in to the main circuit via holes in the joists, as appropriate. Also puts in a socket for the washer and the drier (which were not scheduled to be there when we first planned the kitchen). We still need to get the lights wire in that corner down under the unit. Carl busy doing stuff till 5.

Day 275. Linen cupboard and some plastering and a toilet delivered

2006-04-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

After the Easter break...

Tim completes the linen cupboard, putting in the shelves and the doors, which have elegant knobs and magnetic catches. Still needs painting insied at some point. But, we have a useable linen cupboard, which is nice. Also hangs the door into what will be E's room.

Pete steadily plasters this and that, together with some chipping off of old plaster upstairs.

Early on I phone Bob to try to hurry along the toilet and washbasin upstairs bit. Late in the day the appropriate bits are indeed delivered, splendid, hopefully they can go in tomorrow.

Speculatively, I phone TG re the barn conversions at Rectory Farm. £1.25M "guide price", which is a long way above our means.

Day 274: Same again :-)

2006-04-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

More steady but unspectacular progress upstairs. Pete tPP moves the gas pipe across a bit to allow plasering. Tim puts in the fanlights with clear glass, and moves the cabinets downstairs upwards, and puts on their panels. Pete the bricklayer plasters up some more. The shower base is in the bathroom, but not put in.

Day 273: Tim and Pete and Pete

2006-04-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

Mostly Tim and Pete today, who (I finally realise for sure) are brothers. One of them (Pete I think) is also a good draughtsman, judging from the little bird drawn on the wall. The linen cupboard, and the ceiling of Mirandas room, get plastered.

Pete the plumber comes in the afternoon, and moves the washing machine into the new kitchen: we may need a longer hose to move it into the far corner.

The sanitaryware is a nightmare - the wrong toiler and washbasin were delivered last week. Argh. Apparently this always happens. Anyway, at the end of the day after all gone, a shower base is delivered, and the wrong bits taken away.

Both Ian and Bob come round, perhaps because we have been whinging about lack of progress recently...

Day 272: Pete

2006-04-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

Quiet day: Pete the bricklayer puts his plasterers hat on and quietly does two of the walls upstairs, and strips the ceiling in Mirandas room ready for plastering tomorrow.

Day 271: Tim and Karl

2006-04-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

Tim comes but doesn't start till 9:30, as arranged. He is putting in a frame downstairs (from new hall into dining room), then putting in the cooker-stack unit in the kitchen (so M can contact the granite folk to get the worktops templated). We're somewhat disappointed to have only one person here, though Carl is turning up later it seems, as there is a lot to be done upstairs. However with the wrong toilet etc not much can be done plumbing wise until thats sorted out.

Back 3:30: Carl has been around, so Tim has managed to get in the second side of some of the studwork walls in the two end bedrooms. Leave to pick up D as Tim is packing up but Carl still going.

Day 270-272: Happy Birthday to us!

2006-04-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, today (5th) marks the years anniversary of the building works. I have to say we hoped it would be over rather sooner, although some delays (Party Wall Act; Christmas) haven't helped.

Anyway, stuff for weds-fri occurred while I was away, so I only saw the end result, which is the upstairs has new studwork walls where they should be, but nothing much else, only our room remains inhabitable.

Sadly the toilet and basin that were delivered are the wrong sort, so that may slow things down :-(

Day 269: Reconfigured

2006-04-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

Well, the house is definitely different now. Out with the old stairs, in with the new.

So, where the stairs were this morning is now a downstairs room and two upstairs rooms, one big, one a bit pokey. There is a neat hole through from the bottom of the new stairs to the kitchen - and not even too much dust. I'll have to remember to turn the other way if I need the bathroom in the night...

-- Miriam.

Day 268: The fun begins...

2006-04-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

The builders don't turn up in the morning (this was arranged) but are well on their way when I come back at lunchtime: the carpets are up, the handrail is gone and the wall to the spare room is coming down block by block. Pete piles three breeze blocks on his shoulders and takes them out; Paul & Tim take out buckets of smaller stuff as they go.

By this evening, the spare room's wall, and its built-in cupboard, have vanished. There has been a bit of work in the bathroom, removing the fixtures. Tomorrow, the staircase is coming out first thing.

-- Miriam.

Day 263-267: Nowt except shuffling stuff

2006-03-31T08:08:00.000-08:00

Nothing really this week, apart from a teensy bit of Pete moving stuff around. But inside, we've been (well, *I*'ve been) moving stuff out of the kids bedroom into the new side, so that the builders can run amok there next week. You would not believe just how many books we have... and how many boxes that requires. Whew! And its not finished yet.

Day 259-262. Plastering by Pete, and a bit o' Tim

2006-03-24T15:05:00.000-08:00

Not doing so well at updating this... oh dear. Anyway, tues-fri mostly saw Pete doing plastering, calmly and methodically. So the new side is now all done, as is the kitchen (except one strip where the temporary pipes still run).

Other stuff: Tim finished off the side floor on tuesday. On friday he stuck up 5 of our new Ikea cabinets, so we can decide if we like the 3 over the lintel. Probably, though maybe they should be a bit higher?

Now we need Crescent back to fit the stair rail on (some backstory between them and Bob which I'm not fully party to) and we can start emptying upstairs, to allow the "big push" for the first week in April.

Day 258: Carl, Tim, Pete (x2) and a Mate

2006-03-20T14:45:00.000-08:00

The boiler doesn't turn on this morning either. Fortunately Pete tPP does turn up, and we receive from him the Wisdom of how to make it work: turn it off; turn on the black tap at half-height on its right until the pressure on the analogue gauge shows anywhere within the "ok" region; turn off tap; turn on boiler. And... nothing. Because its outside its on cycle. Override this and all is well.

However... all this (preceeded by shifting stuff around the room and out at the back), including Carl doing some hammering, is occuring around 8, which is far earlier than it should be on a Monday, as per our agreement with the neighbours and (we thought) with Bob. So get Carl doing something quiet inside (this is all news to him) asap. And make them some tea :-)

As it happens D is feeling sick today too (a good day for it) so M and then I alternate at home; so when I get back at 1:45 I can see what they are up to: Pete tPP has gone, as has Carl. Pete the bricklayer is now showing his secret skills as a plasterer upstairs, assisted by Paul. Downstairs, the insulation is down and the pipes are in and its mostly covered up by floorboards.

Apologies to the Mate, I don't know his name.

Hors Serie: the boiler

2006-03-18T14:32:00.000-08:00

This morning the boiler wasn't working. Odd. And it was a cold cold day, so also worrying. I go to visit it in the loft: error 22 it says: dry fire/low water pressure. Try turning it off and on: no joy. After a bit, realise that there is a pressure gauge, electronic and manual. Electronic says 0.4 bar; manual reads about zero; hard to tell. Try a few obvious things like the new stopcock; open it a bit more, but judging by the tap pressure it did no good. Of itself, pressure now reads 0.5 bar; off-on it and... it starts. And... keeps going. So maybe just a temporary drop in pressure? Not the sort of thing you want to have happening, though: needs investigation by Pete tPP.

Also some polystyrene sheets turn up. I put them inside, as they were blowing over.

Update: sunday: not working again. And doesn't recover :-(

Day 235-7. Carl

2006-03-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

Nothing weds or thurs (thurs should have seen insulation and floor laying, but twas late). Friday no obvious signs by 9, so I get impatient and phone Bob, who assures me Carl is due (or in fact here, as I was phoning from work). And coming back it does look like some stuff has been done. But not the kitchen top light? And we do have a pile of insulation outside. Hopefully enough.

Day 233: Tim and Bob

2006-03-14T11:24:00.000-08:00

Tim at work today putting the spiral stairs into alignment, finishing off the landing at the top (a grand word for a little space!) and building a studwork wall to separate off D's bedroom from the stairwell. It is now possible to walk from the childrens old bedroom to the top of the stairs, and thence either downstairs or into D's prospective bedroom. OR at least it was, until Tim put the sheet of insulation back, since the side is not yet tidied up inside and isn't yet part of the "inside" of the house.

2:30, Bob (back from the warmer waters of the caribbean) and Ian come round for a review of progress. I whinge about the vast amounts of sand that we have, and Bob admits there may be a bit more than is plausible, though we do need some to finish off the plastering. Discuss timetabling: Bob phones Carl who will come friday to finish off the wiring so the plasterers can finish the brick side of the wall, and indeed the last wall of the kitchen. Insulation (of the correct thickness...) is to be ordered so the floor can go down in the side. This is supposed to occur on wed/thurs (err...).

Day 232: Tim

2006-03-13T14:04:00.000-08:00

Tim has been around today. In the kitchen, he has put the right doors on so we did guess right. Also he has cut down the cooker stack so it fits: that loses it about 2-3 inches, which will have to get cut off the upper door, maybe.

He has also put plywood protectors on the new staircase, so it doesn't get rubbled by the heavy feet of builders. However it isn't fitted quite into place yet. We do have some bits of wood out front, they may have turned up after he left. Also there is a small (?test?) hole in the wall near the dining table, connecting to the hole cut in the outer skin.

Hors Serie: fighting the kitchen

2006-03-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

One of our weekend tasks was to work out which bits of the kitchen we have, and which we don't. As it eventually turned out, Ikea had correctly helped us order, and had correctly delivered, all the bits we need. But working out which drawer goes on which cupboard was tricky (the hard bit was realising that a 40 cm door that Tim had put on a cupboard, for symmetry, was really supposed to be half of the 80 cm unit for the sink).

M has had yet another idea, and we're going with it in slightly modified form: the worktop will now be an L all the way to the far wall, and the washer and dryer will be *under* this, both. That allows us some upper cupboards above, and also (since the washer has a smaller door) a lesser gap which allows more room for the fridge. With this version we can draw on the floor a 1m diameter circle that could be a kitchen table.

Saturday, two excursions: to Ivett and Reed who do nice shiny bits of granite that M has really set her heart on for the worktops. And they *are* nice. We like the "volga blue": dark black, with blue highlights/irridescence.

After that, to MFI. Cos: we have the wrong extractor unit. It just won't fit. This is where it gets confusing, cos in the shop MFI are fine and say: yes, we've sold you the wrong thing. But today on the phone the salesman is less accomodating. But we are going to change it, somehow.

[I forgot: the cool thing at Ivett and Reed was the gas fire with a remote control! Whatever next. Some more details]

Day 227-231. Stairs!

2006-03-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

Nothing except talk monday-thurs (can we get the drains bit filled in? No, cos the old soil stack still has to come out some time; why have we got 5 tons of sand in the front? cos of the plastering).

But friday! Ah... Mr Cresent of Cambridge is at last ready to install his stairs (thats a bit unfair: it would have been last tues except he got sick), turns up and begins. Meanwhile Tim is here doing more kitchen-y things. Pete tPP comes to move the temporary waste pipes out of the way so the cooker stack can shuffle across.

When I get back, several kitchen units are fixed in place nicely and have their fronts on and drawers in and indeed look nice. Hurrah.

More excitingly, the stairs are in! Mr C is gone; Tim explains that the stairs need to rotate a bit; also the handrail needs to fix onto the studwork wall he will build on monday, so isn't in yet. Tim will put a cover over the beautiful surface of the treads so they don't get ruined by heavy builders feet and children with mud on their boots.

Photos: flickr set is building 2006-03.

Day 225-6. Tim vs Ikea

2006-03-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

Nothing thurs; friday 11-3 Tim the carpenter comes in and wrestles with the Ikea units. Unsurprisingly for a proper carpenter he isn't keen on them, but he beats them into submission. This is good, because it clears the kids room of the flatpacks that have been clogging it up for months, and it gives us a chance to see how things will fit. We're not very good at doing it in abstract.

So... the cooker stack is too high by about 2". Possibilities: cut the legs down (bad for the line at the bottom); let it stick up over the window line at the top (inelegant); get Tim to cut it down somewhat. Probably go for the latter; this may cause some squiggling with doors. Should we order a cooker?

Also, the cooker stack, if put flush with the units to the corner, will be just on the edge of one of the vertical slit windows, and this will be inelegant. So we need to pad out the units by a fraction to push it towards the existing kitchen. And we need Pete tPP to re-do the temporary pipes a bit so the stack will fit.

We haven't got any worktop yet.

The units sit flush to the wall, so its not clear how the pipes for water will get around... need Pete for that. Possibly underneath, but Tim seems unkeen on this - don't know why.

Oddly enough, we seem to have all the nunits we wanted and needed, and nothing appears to be missing (except we don't have enough legs). To Ikea this weekend? (no).

Day 224: ...and a floor

2006-03-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

Today the floor of the kitchen got finished (or rather the chipboard layer is done; the proper floorboards will go down later). So now we can stand in it. One effect of this is that you get cold feet. Previously you didn't get cold feet cos it was concrete blocks and you wore shoes; now you have bare feet :-).

Email from BtB (actually Gavin, as Bob is off in the Caribbean; obviously we're paying him too much...): the stairs will not be this week, as the stair-folk are sick.

Day 222-3. Underfloor heating!

2006-02-28T13:19:00.000-08:00

Nothing monday; except we discover we've cut off the water supply to next doors downstairs loo. Oops. According to Pete tPP, this is because the original plumbing is somewhat eccentric: rather than indep supplies to the two houses, there is one mains take off (in our garden) which then feeds both houses. Quite how the old supply got to the back loos is unclear, but clearly its not feed cleanly from their side. Anyway, Pete has bodged a fix for now and S Cambs have been informed.

But *today* we have the long-awaited underfloor heating and flooring in the new kitchen. The pic shows this. The pipes are down, and are cut into the polystyrene insulation. The cold water pipe also runs under the floor, but at the edge, under where the units will be and away from the heat :-). The large cardboard box contains the cooker hood. Maybe that could go on the wall now? Some of the flooring is properly down - near the garden wall - and some just loose at the moment. Looks like it can be finished tomorrow. Then we can talk about putting the units in, hurrah!

On another note, TP points out the amusing http://www.blogthebuilder.co.nz/, about someone in NZ who wasn't happy with their builder. But sadly there are no details there yet.

The second pic is jus taken to show how nice and light the new kitchen can be, in the afternoon when the sun has come round.

Day 221. More 'ole

2006-02-24T22:31:00.000-08:00

Ah, *that* is what was puzzling me as I was tidying up in the bedroom: why doesn't the curtain rail fit back over the gap? The answer being (as yesterdays pic shows) that the doorway doesn't fit exactly into where the window was, but extends a bit across.

Anyway, today Pete finishes off the cut upstairs, and for good measure also cuts out the outer shell of brick for the corresponding lower door, but leaves the inner one in place, which is nice for our habitability. Also the new lintels upstairs and down are in place.

Paul is around today and a certain amount of clear-up takes place outside. Though I'm surprised how full our skip looks... till I realise that much of the earth comes from Kate and Chris on BW. *We* still have a pile of earth in the front garden from the trench for the new water pipe: its been filled in for days, but of course what came out won't go back in. OTOH Paul has done a fair tidy up near the new front door and all the brick rubble is gone from inside the new side.

On saturday (fine, sunny, cold) I take the remaining roof tiles into the back and stack them neatly. One more bit of the garden returned to us.

I hoover a bit in what was D+E's bedroom on friday; but its not till sunday that I finally clean it enough to put the bed and mattresses back in. So now the landing is mostly clear again. E could probably sleep there still, but the opening is not secure, so won't until I/the builders put a sheet of ply across it.

Day 220. 'ole

2006-02-23T15:18:00.000-08:00

No plasterers today, just Pete the bricklayer on his own, to cut a hole (joke from D: a man is trapped in an impervious chamber, with only a table inside. How does he escape? Answer: knocks his head against the wall until it is sore. Then uses the saw to cut the table in half. Then puts it together to make a whole. And escapes through the hole...) from the new side extension into E's bedroom. Since this also involves removing the wall that holds up the radiator, Pete tPP makes a brief appearance to lay the radiator down, since the hole may be there for a while (at least a week).

I come back after taking E to school, to finish shuffling things around (you can see from that pic that we pinned paper over the shelves; we'd had to dismantle E's sleeping nest on the floor; she and D are having fun sleeping in the same room for a bit). There is some chance of a door downstairs too, so I move the dining table. But, as you see from the pic, Pete didn't get through the upstairs (he was alone, which must have made things tricky).

Note space for new lintel above the block of infill bricks. The arco pole holding things up isn't really needed - he only put that in as he was going. The insulation sheet is just propped up in the hole; but all is secure because the side now locks, ta ra!

Tomorrow: rest of bricks out, maybe some work on the outer brick course downstairs, but no cut into the dining room we hope.

Day 219. Yet more plastering

2006-02-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

Yet more plastering, mostly smooth coats on the inside at the side. Now it looks pink instead of dark.

Also Carl around some of the morning, moving the kitchen light switch near the entrance door so it isn't *behind* the door when you open it :-)

Bob replies to my mail; breakthough upstairs can be done tomorrow; good. Remind him that there is a radiator on the wall. They may do the bottom too.

Day 218. Front door!

2006-02-21T14:39:00.000-08:00

Numerically this is still a day of plasterers, there are about 4+ of them. They occupy themselves with the inside side, as far as I can tell. Good work, but makes boring photos.

More interestingly, Tim and mate hang the front and back doors, so the side is now weatherproof and secure. There is still about 2 days of plastering left to do I think - certainly we still have several tonnes of sand left, and more got delivered today (I know cos I shovelled some of it off the pavement when I got home; our garden is a disaster zone but we can at least draw a line at our border!).

Day 217. Mostly plastering, some plumbing

2006-02-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

Builders noises at 8, which is wrong as its a monday; although they are fairly quiet noises. Hmpf. Mention this to Ian on the way in; he promises to phone Bob. And *I* phone Bob.

The builders are mostly plasterers, it seems, Laker and Nunn again, with a number of youngish assistants. For some reason we don't do them any tea...

Its a monday so I'm back late. The front garden seems as crowded, though the new water pipe has been connected; the pile of earth doesn't want to go back into its hole. We have a new skip, though I think that was there on friday. Must throw my old bike into it.

The plasterers have fine-coated the kitchen; and also done the garden-side ceiling in the new room. How they get it to stick on upside down I don't know; let alone keep it smooth. Pete tPP has done something with pipe to route our bathroom sink/bath down sideways, which means (I think) that he will be able to set to on the floor (tomorrow?). Unfortunately whatever he has done has left a small crack so we have a mini-fountain; I patch this with sticking-plaster.

Day 216. More lots

2006-02-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

Again, a big pile of vans outside come the morning. Rather overwhelming really, and not just in the quantity of tea required... and M has to go and ask a few who turned up really bright and early not to hammer before 8.

One of the more visible bits is the plasterers, who render the outside of the kitchen and the front and back of the side. Meanwhile the chippies plasterboard the side ceilings and stuff, so presumably the plasterers will be at that on monday. Also they put in a frame for the loft hatch and board it up.

At one point Pete tPP was here, but I think left soon after; not needed till monday.

A reminder that Febs pix are here. As you see from this pic, the front garden is rather full. Hopefully on monday Pete can connect the water pipe so the trench can be filled in which will reclaim quite a bit.

Day 211-215. Lots!

2006-02-16T14:30:00.000-08:00

I'm getting a bit behind time here, and was away for a few days, so here is a quick summary:

Last Friday: nothing, I think.

Monday, nothing too, in deference to the neighbours.

Tuesday: Pete tPP's "big day" when he swaps the plumbing over from the old to the new system. I wasn't here, but apparently it all went OK and he finished early. So now we have a new, functional boiler. The old one has been ripped off and thrown in the skip; the hot water tank is absent. The cold tanks in the loft are still there, but not connected. But we only have an on/off switch.

Wednesday: again, I wasn't here, but there seems to have been activity: certainly the front garden is even more of a mess than before... Pete (the Bricklayer) is digging a trench for the water pipe from the side of the kitchen to the stopcock in the drive and has got most of the way. The scaffolding has come down. The new drain thingy is plumbed in outside the front door, at least "upstream" sewage is passing through it, though ours isn't yet? Not sure. Chippies at the side, putting on insulation.

Thursday: a busy and unpleasantly noisy day. Four vans outside. Carl is on electrics, and indeed doesn't finish until five, getting the light into the new shower room (at last!). Also puts in the controller for the new boiler, so we can in theory programme it. Chippies in the new side ext, putting up more insulation into the ceilings. Later on, the plasterers come to prep up the kitchen for rendering, and perhaps the side ext too. But the main pain (for us, and (alas, since the sound travels) for the neighbours too) comes from Paul having to air-hammer through the wall and concrete in order to prepare for the new soil stack, which is to be lashed up somehow tomorrow. I think (hope) all the air-hammering is done, though. This leaves a layer of dust over the kitchen and spreads into the hallway too :-(. And the counter over the washing machine has to be cut out, and the machine moved; but it gets put back in again. Pete finishes his trench digging, though.

Day 210. Electrics, windows and plans

2006-02-09T14:37:00.000-08:00

Carl today, trailing reels of cable upstairs, and wondering where to put them down through, since the airing cupboard is going to disappear... he ends up putting them there anyway, with lots of spare wire.

When I get back, I discover that the carpenters have put some of the glass panels in: those at the top, and one at the back at the side, leaving the ones front and rear out, perhaps for avoid walking into them? And our new front door has a letter box, though the door itself is just propped up.

Now that the glass is in at the top, its really lovely late on a sunny day, as the light floods that corner: so I took aa chair up to sit in.

And then ian came to disturb me, and we talked over the internal plans: mostly where do the electrics go, have we got enough switches, and where and what type should he lights be.

Day 209. Nowt but pictures

2006-02-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

No building I could detect today, but I have uploaded some pics to flickr; and here are some of them. The others are here here. So: left: the boiler (open rectangular box to the L) and the "megaflow tank" (think that looks like a hot water tank, and is, but its unvented, so we have mains-pressure water). Note the vent from the boiler out of the gable end.

To the right, the tiling in its half-finished state (its now 95% done), showing merge with the existing roof. The tiles at the back aren't a perfect colour match; the ones at the front are.

Day 208. Yet more plumbing, and a start at the 'lectric

2006-02-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

Pete tPP around again, and yet more pipes disappear up into the loft. I did 100 ft yesterday, he says, and will do more today. But he really needs Carl the electrician to fix up some power for him. Off we go...

...and when I come back (by coincidence, with Ian) Carl is outside, hoping to get in, since Pete phoned him. Pete is off (its 3!) so we let Carl in and discuss moving the electricity and gas meters to outside (about £1k). Then Carl takes a quick look in the loft (oh! He's used copper pipes! He normally uses plastic) and then is off till tomorrow.

I point out that you can see the floor joists through a panel in the back bit; Ian points out that this will be opaque! Roof tiles OK too.

Day 207: Roofing and Plumbing

2006-02-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

Roofers footsteps on the ladder, then the dulcet tones of the brick saw going through tiles at 8:40. Time to get up... well past time, you might easily say. There is a tile missing in the front: yes says the roofer, its because of the scaffolding. Hmm, OK. When I come back, the back appears to be finished (bar one tile near the flat roof?) and the ridgeline is in place. Jolly good.

Meanwhile Pete tPP has been around, doing things in the loft. Not sure exactly what but there are lots of pipes up there... photo soon.

Day 206. Misc

2006-02-03T14:43:00.000-08:00

Not sure what happened today: as I came back, the roofers were just leaving. They have completed the "join" at the back where the new tiles join the old roof (slightly difference colour tiles; I guess this isn't too important; at the front, the colours match). And it looks like they have patched the rips they put in the tyvec.

Also we now have a glass pane in the kitchen side door, which is nice. Pete tPP was probably around up in the loft but I'm not sure.

Day 205. Plumbing and a new floor

2006-02-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

More plumbing, Pete is "lacing the boiler" which I think means putting in all the various pipes and stuff. Thats all off in the loft though. Meanwhile... Pete (the bricklayer) and Tim and chippy are here, though I'm not perfectly sure what they are up to: probably putting in the new floor on the first floor at the side. Jolly good. No sign of the roofers though.

Day 204. Roofers

2006-02-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

Roofers back today, much cutting of tiles (plumes of brick dust float towards Bettys, fortunately it a cold raw day and she is either inside, or away) and sawing of cuts in the gable end (to put the lead flashing into). By the end of the day they seem to have finished the front side, and say they will be back tomorrow for the rear, where they need to do some merging with the existing roof.

Ian came round, just passing, so we discussed this and that (like, could they make a start on the kitchen floor?) and what about those rips in the felting? (Ian has discussion with the roofer over this; he will patch them, but the don't agree as to whether its needed for waterproof-ness or not).

Day 202-3. Not a lot

2006-01-31T10:06:00.000-08:00

Brief view of Pete tPP on monday, though I don't know what he did. No-one on tuesday as far as I can tell: phoned Bob, who says roofers due tomorrow.

Day 201. Minor plumbing.

2006-01-27T14:35:00.000-08:00

Signs of Pete tPP today, but occaisional (he says this is a major call out day). So I don't know what he was getting up to.

Day 200. Flat roof and Plumbing

2006-01-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

Before 8, the flat roofer (M P Roofing I think; 07762 423928) is humping gas cylinders up the ladder at the back, and before I get up he is most of the way through the job - its only 3 foot square. Good: now the tilers can finish.

Otherwise, Pete tPP is here before 9, waiting for Ian, as he has realised he needs to check where the pipes are to go; I leave him and Ian to it. When I get back at 3 the bolier in on the wall, the flue sticks out, and there are two neat brick cores in the kitchen where he cut though. I kid him that they aren't straight: he replies that of course they aren't - they have to slope down. Oops. I haven't looked in the loft but apparently he has the pipes run to the boiler behind my woodwork.

[nb: I initially got the numbering of this wrong. It is day 200! Celebrate (err...)]

Day 199. Plumbing and glass brick window

2006-01-25T07:18:00.000-08:00

Mostly plumbing today. Pete has to drain the system down to fit the radiator back on the wall, and takes the opportunity to swap some of the radiator vales over (I said, why don't you use that clever stuff that freezes the pipes and means you don't have to drain? And he said, we only use that when desparate). Other misc stuff - I wasn't here.

Notice in this pic the new lintel, and line of filling bricks, above the window: when built, there was no real lintel, just some concrete, and resting on the old window frames. Which must have been a bit of a fiddle when they swapped in the double glazing whenever.

Today Pete the bricklayer does the glass block window at the side (since they are glass bricks this is a bricklaying job...); they have been around since before christmas. I think it got put off because it was slightly tricky to do the last ones from the inside, for obvious reasons. Happily, our relations with Betty are now OK (indeed she is invited over for tea today) and M asks her if Pete can put a ladder up on her side, and this is OK. So perhaps waiting was sensible!

Living with a newly, err, expanded kitchen is OK, though its cold (fortunately today is somewhat above zero, whereas yesterday was definitely below zero (outside, not in)).

Pics: see-also 2006-01 at flickr.

Day 197-8. Breakthrough!

2006-01-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

I don't recall anything happening on monday.

Today however is all go. Pete chips away at the wall into the kitchen, and by the end of the day we have a nice gaping hole into the new kitchen area. This gives us a nice feel of the spaciousness that we will get; and makes us cold. BtB had forgotten we had no lock on the kitchen door; we phoned up and a chippy is arranged to put the lock on. Meanwhile Pete tPP arrives to look at putting the boiler up in the loft. With the aid of the other Pete, the boiler and the cylinder are got up; a backplate fixed, and a sheet of thermal stuff found and cut. Pete also takes off the radiator in the kitchen on the wall that is no longer there; tomorrow he will move it to somewhere more useful.

There was some kind of problem with the drains, now rodded. I wasn't there for that.

Bob is around when I get back for lunch at 2. Talk this+that and schedule: flat roofer for tomorrow (there is a little flat roof at the top at the back about 3x3 feet); tiles finished friday. Pete will be in tomorrow changing radiator valves and fixing the kitchen rad. Spiral stair nears arrival.

Must put up pix of the big hole. There was far less dust and mess than anticipated. Perhaps someone more house-proud might have noticed more. We just got a v thin layer of dust to sit on top of the existing layer of dust :-)

I discuss with Pete tPP where the pipes etc are to go. All this is made up on the fly - or he likes to give the impression that it is. Its certainly not on the architects drawings, Pete just does his best as things arise. We'll need water and gas in the loft now, of course, and he will find some way to get it there.

Day 196. Plumber foiled!

2006-01-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

Carpenters here early, and set to putting in the last of the big white bits of joinery - the top frame at the back. Meanwhile Pete tPP is wondering where his boiler and cylinder are, since he is supposed to begin fitting them but they haven't turned up. I leave him pondering this; when I get back past 3:30 the kit is here but everyone else has gone. By co-incicence, today our boiler pilot light blows out (the high winds? the half removed baffles?) so its about time for a new one.

Day 195. Joinery

2006-01-19T14:31:00.000-08:00

Noises off as we lie in bed... its the 8 am builders again, first for some time. And its Tim and X, the carpenters, here to put our joinery in. Jolly good. First off they saw off the cill of the kitchen door... that seems rather bold, but I'm sure they know what they are up to! In fact, I've come to realise that there is an awful lot of stuff to this building thingy.

When I get back the front is in; the kitchen too; the back is 1/2 in.

Day 194. Tiles

2006-01-18T10:03:00.000-08:00

No-one around when I left at 11 (other than Ian with a certificate-of-work, which means that Bob is going to put another bill in!). I was expecting Pete the Portly Plumber, and perhaps the carpenters but no. However, when I get back just before 4 the roofers are still here, finishing their tea (when I think about it, perhaps working underneath roofers is considered a Bad Idea). And asking for a bucket of water to refill the van. Roofers seem to be a rougher wilder lot, though still nice folk. Just a bit further out on the edge, so to speak. They have got most of the first (street) sied done. They complain a bit about having to to-and-fro (battening and felting before cmas; tiling some, back tomorrow, etc) but thats between Bob and them. We just make the tea and pay the bills.

Photos. I haven't been very good about uploading those recently, its a bit of a faff. What I shall do is upload them to flickr. So the January 2006 and December 2005 sets are available. This pic shows E in the new kitchen, with the hole that Pete was patiently knocking out yesterday behind.

Day 193. Holes!

2006-01-17T15:16:00.000-08:00

Today was a day of much activity, or at least activity with visible results. It saw the return of Paul and Pete the bricklayer.

Paul did a lot of work around tidying up and dumping junk into the skip (not aided by it being the wrong way round...) so things look much better. He also sorted out the interior of the side extension which had accumulated all sorts of stuff piled around.

Pete started off figuring out where the hole from the side into the loft was to go. There is rather more than reading plans involved in this, he has to choose which course of bricks to go to and indeed work out where the ceilings are. Ian came down to consult; I went into the loft to move stuff away from the wall and remembered the beam that runs across at the end; that didn't constrain things too much. We ended up with a smaller hole than hoped for but big enough I hope; the hole is there and the lintels in place.

At some point some heavy joinery turned up: the frames for the side, front and back. I helped Paul carry the two back right angle bits to the back; this gave me my first taste of we-have-no-back-access-anymore, as we took them via Dot. In theory we could have gone through the field of course. They are big though.

pm, Pete was hacking at the front of the house, and has removed 1/2 of the width in the outer course of bricks below the kitchen windowsill. But this can't be knocked through till we're secure.

Carpenters are due tomorrow for the joinery; roofers thurs?

Day 192: Finished plastering

2006-01-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

Today only Mr Plasterer was here; not his ?son? Perhaps because there was only a bit to finish off. At the end, we have 3 walls (not the one of the house which is to be cut out) done.

Day 191: More plastering, sand and a skip

2006-01-13T15:44:00.000-08:00

The plasterers are here again, doing the inside walls of the kitchen today (ceiling yesterday). But only to rough-work stage I think.

The promised skip turns up. I have to stop the plasterers helping Mr Skip try to squeeze it into the drive where it won't fit - its going into the parking spaces. And it does. Only later do I realise its backwards, but happily Bob turned up during the process and he didn't notice either, so I phone him. He says they can turn it round.

We have a schedule from him: frames for the extension tuesday; roof wednesday. Boiler and tank... not sure.

Pete the plumber has been round and gobbed up a fix for the washing machine. Its still discharging onto the gravel, but at least it won't get blocked by the insulation. In fact all he did was knock a hole in a breather-brick... I could have done that, but didn't think of it. And it was a bit fragile, his fix, so I improve it a bit.

And just when I thought we were done for the day, 3 tonne bags of sand turn up. Manage to find space for them. It is astonishing how many tonnes of sand go into a house... I wonder if Bob knows how many in total? I shall ask him.

Later: tidy up a bit.

Day 190: plasterers and confab

2006-01-12T15:43:00.000-08:00

Plasterers arrive and are just setting up (and realising there are some things they don't know: but thats OK cos...):

Ian and Bob and Pete-the-plumber arrive and we have agood long talk about where things are to go (new boiler plus tank in the loft; adjusting side hatch to suit) and how to sequence; of course I forgot to take notes or get exact commitment to timings but I think things will start rolling along now.

pm: talk with Ian about the handle for the stairs: settle on 38mm round, which is the std. Wood would have been absurdly expensive. Realise (or Ian does) that we have no letterbox and the front door is all glass. Fortunately IIan phones Bob) thats the one door not yet made: so get brochures.

Plasterers do the ceiling of the kitchen.

Soir: at 23:59 decide on a mostly glass door with a wide centre bar.

Day 186-189: Kitchen electrics

2006-01-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

Not a lot that I noticed on fri, mon or tues (though I'm pretty sure I went to talk to Ian). But on weds Carl turns up to finish off the kitchen electrics, which is good in itself and also good cos it means the plasterers will be here tomorrow. He does a full days work and finishes at 5 in lamplight.

Day 185: Velux (#2)

2006-01-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

No sign of any builders when we leave today. And when I get back the tiles are not on (though have some been carried up?). But... the velux has been put in place. Progress!

Day 184-185: talks with Ian

2006-01-04T08:33:00.000-08:00

Day 184 was friday before cmas; day 185 is tuesday after new year.

Talk to Ian (and via speakerphone with Bob). Initially about the stairs: ordering the basic stairs is fine; the handrail is a problem. I wanted wood but they want £1,800 for it. Metal would have been £300 (perhaps). Maybe Parker joinery can do better? Bob to ask them. Expressing some dissatisfaction with slowness; Bob says Carl is due "this week" for the kitchen electrics and the plasterers are booked for next week; and then details the various other stuff that is scheduled. Probably OK. I ask about the tiling; Bob is surprised that it isn't done and promises to phone them...

Talk to Ian re the slightly ill-defined state of the upstairs plans: decide on floorboards throughout (inc bathroom) but they will probably be thinner (13 (14?) mm not 22) than downstairs. We also need to meet with him (later fixed for friday) to discuss the doors, etc that we want inside.

Day 183. Roofing (felt)

2005-12-22T15:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Pete said the roofers were coming; by 10:30 they haven't so I phone Bob, who assures me that they are. When I leave at 1 they still haven't turned up and I'm unimpressed. But, when I get back they have felted it over and left, so I guess thats OK.

Day 182. Rafters

2005-12-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

When I leave at 9 nothing is doing; when I get back at 3:45 Pete and ? are just packing up, having done more (all?) the rafters. Jolly good. They say the roofers will be around, and I think they themselves are due back tomorrow (and they've left some sawing horses around). Just the schedule, or the result of yesterdays talk with Ian? Welcome, anyway. Also a new pile of wood delivered that looks like its for battens.

Also the handles and locks and glass in the wet room door, *but* not totally satisfactory. Must point that out next time they are around.

Day 169-181

2005-12-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

This covers the period I was off in NZ, plus this monday.

While I was a way a bit occurred: the kitchen got its ceiling insulation, the electricals got a bit further but not much. And the gable end got to the top. But progress in general really rather slow.

So on monday I had a word with Ian, who agreed, and would contact Bob. Clearly we need to sit down and get a timescale in order.

Also hand to Ian two rather odd letters from building control, one of which says we hadve a stop order. Can't quite believe this, and Ian says he can sort it out: there is a new inspector on the block.

Day 168. Electricals

2005-12-01T12:22:00.000-08:00

Carl the electrician is hard at work all day, fuelled by occaisional cups of tea from me. He is putting the sockets into the kitchen, and complaining that it is built of concrete block, not breezeblock, and hence hard to drill. Also its hollow, so when he does make a space for a socket it falls out of the back... The supply for the kitchen will have to come direct on a new ring, and he works out how this will go.

Day 167. More roof.

2005-11-30T08:49:00.000-08:00

Noises off at 10 to 8, but they are quiet noises, of planks being moved and stuff. Outside, heavy frost, and the sun bloody on the horizon. So: make them some tea: its Tim and ? back to put some of the rafters up. Not all of them, apparently, because the brickies need to come to complete the gable. Its a bit tricky not being able to access the outside...

Bit of a poor photo, taken at nearly 4 so its nearly dark. You can see that the old useless TV aerial is now gone.

Day 165-166.

2005-11-29T14:32:00.000-08:00

Nothing monday; nothing at 8 a.m. today as we lie in bed thinking: it looks cold out there and listening to the news. But! As we're getting ready to go at 9, Tim turns up and starts up. Then stops to put his gloves on. It *is* cold.

Back at 2:30, after chat to Ian (worktops; granite still possible; and paying his bill). Carl is there too, and needs to check stuff about the kitchen electricals, OK. Tim has been busy cutting timber and building blockwork, and we have a roofline up.

Day 164: Deliveries and a radiator

2005-11-25T10:54:00.000-08:00

Rather early on a big Ridgeons lorry turns up with some roof timbers; however no-one is around to use them. Then an even bigger Ikea lorry arrives to deliver a pile of kitchen type bits, which all get carried through to the new room while I'm still a-bed. Then Pete arrives and takes about 15 mins to put the new radiator in place. Then he settles down to the main task, which is draining the system so he can connect it up via the living room. We leave him to it: with the front door open to let the radiator drain hose out, its cold. When I return, its all done, neat and tidy, Pete is gone, and its warm again.

Day 163: Velux, and a brief Plumber

2005-11-24T10:52:00.000-08:00

In the morning a Velux window is delivered. I guess that means we'll be having a Velux in the roof of the extension... I didn't know that! But it sounds good. Also a partial excuse for not putting any solar heating stuff in.

Pete the Plumber turns up too, looks at where the radiator is to go, and discusses replacing the valve upstairs at the same time (probably not worth it). Then he is off to another job, until tomorrow. He complains: at this time of year, wherever he goes is cold, and as soon as he fixes that he has to leave!

Day 160-2. Not a lot: talking

2005-11-23T10:50:00.000-08:00

Not a lot in the way of actual activity-type stuff. The weather has been chilly (but hasn't stopped the people from pushing on at the pavilion...). Talked to Ian about getting the radiator put in; maybe tomorrow.

Day 159. Piano

2005-11-20T14:35:00.000-08:00

No building on friday, but on Sunday we did some internal moving: the piano into the living room. This gets us far more space in the current dining area, at the expense of less space in the living room, but thats OK. Also we have to turn off the radiator near it, so may lose some heat. Also tidy up some shelves and M's music in the process.

Day 158. More scaffolding, and a blue line

2005-11-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

A bit more early building this morning, followed by a big lorry arriving with scaffolding poles and two men who knew how to use them.

And they set to, and raised up the scaffolding level to a second floor. Later on I took D on a tour of it, but wouldn't let E up: too high.

There had been some question as to where the new roofline will go; and would it cut through our shiny internet connection. I asked Ian; he has been around; there are now two thin blue lines marking out the top and bottom lines, and it looks like we're safe. Its a long way up there: the views are good. Everyone should have a turret to look out of!

Day 156-7: Further upwards

2005-11-15T11:54:00.000-08:00

Steady progress upwards yesterday and today. Pete and Paul on site all day. The new kitchen is gradually emptying of insulation and cement; the piles of bricks and blocks in the drive go down; the sandbags empty. And it all gets stacked up. The walls are now man-high on the first floor. Apparently tomorrow more scaffloding should turn up.

Paul queries the wireless aerial: isn't it in the way of the new roofline? Some uncertainty as to where it is to go. See Ian (by W.I.) and ask him; he will "take a look" sometime.

Cheap sh*t from Sweden

2005-11-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

The title a reference to John Flecks "Cheap shit from China", and I'm being unfair. What I mean is, we visited Ikea (Edmonson) to order our kitchen carcasses and stuff. Under £1000, inc delivery, which is fairly cheap. But then we weren't ordering worktop or appliances. And Bob and his chaps are going to assemble it for us.

The entire experience was fairly painless (apart from 10 minutes lost under the North Circular). Short Q's (to get to the kitchen people to order the stuff, at the restaurant, and later at the checkouts when we bought some more stuff - I couldn't resist the owl cushion, D got come chalk, and we got some pegs for the childrens jackets).