Day 109 - Boiler Working

Finally some more success on the heating front. As promised the engineer arrived with the required part and with a little bit of work and Nigel putting in a isolation switch in for the boiler (apparently a requirement) we now have a working boiler. A couple of airlocks removed means everything is working at last.

Everything is now done apart from the snags, we have a friend who is in the trade coming round tomorrow night who said he would give us a hand......and have a beer with me of course :)

Day 108 - Boiler

Phil was here and I was off decorating with two brave volunteers, my folks! We are decorating the stairs and landing so its a three day job and Phil is here to complete the final plumbing work now that I have decanted the oil barrels from the patio into our new oil tank.

Problem 1 - Two leaks in the internal pipework, the first a minor dripping in the study that needed a little solder on the join, the second a poor seal on a radiator valve.

Problem 2 - Open valve on the second bedroom radiator has meant we have water coming through the kitchen ceiling through a light fitting, thankfully its sealed for fireproofing so its still OK.

Problem 3 - Duff boiler, well this one was the show-stopper. The boiler is broken, Phil says its the second one out of two to have this problem but the engineer came over and says he will have the required part for tomorrow morning.

Not a good day, still no heating although the landing is looking good with its first coat on all the walls and ceiling.

Day 107 - Coving Complete

Now that Roger and Phil have done the final internal plumbing the boxing for the pipework has been fixed on the wall by Richard and the coving completed in the utility room. Wood trim has been completed around the stairs and filler applied to various around the house. All but done now.

Richard is off now to finish work on his house, Paul has to lay us a new drive and Phil has to install our new oil tank to hook it up to the boiler.

We have now been left with the task of creating a snag list of things that aren't quite right or incomplete. We now await out bill and final pieces before we write up our closing summation.

Day 106 - Finishing Touches

Richard and James came round today to continue the finishing touches to the woodwork. They have got the handles on the landing cupboards and got the doors running correctly on their tracks to give us some useful storage on the landing.

The skirting has been tacked on the wall temporarily in the new lounge to make the place feel finished even though they will have to return to lay the wood flooring.

The cupboard doors in the kitchen have been tweaked to make them all open and close properly without rubbing against each other.

Not much left, a little coving and the odd strip of wood round the stairs/doorway and we are all done.

Day 105 - Electrics Complete

Nigel finished wiring up the under cupboard lights in the kitchen as well as the extractor fan in the utility room.

Paul arrived early and cleared the back patio and front of any spare bricks and tiles that I no longer need. The RSJ has gone as well as the plastic guttering that was left over. The place is looking decidedly better. He has also said he will order me some more pea gravel to replace the drive covering that ended up in the footings.

Roger was here again working on the boiler, it looks as though it is all piped in now and the minor change required to reroute the study radiator has also been done. We are STILL awaiting the oil tank.

Day 104 - Boiler

The boiler is in, Richard, Roger and Phil were here today and it looks as though Nigel was here too.

Nigel has put some small lights in the kitchen for the under counter areas and the glass display cabinet, these were part of the original Magnet order and were delivered but I dont think they were keen to tear into the wall again, a little whining at Richard to get them back in as requested seems to have done the job though.

Roger and Phil have finished the plumbing run over the landing and its now been rebaorded with new chipboard. The boiler is also on the wall with a collection of pipes running literally everywhere!

Its a big brute and looks man enough to heat the place, though with Luce spinning the dial to 'lava' temperature at any given chance we will see how it lasts. The oil tank should be with us this week so fingers crossed we may get done this week.

Day 103 - Gallery Landing

A surprise came in the package of Richard this afternoon, we didn't expect to see him but from what I can gather I think he wants to get this job done as its run and run. Some of it our doing and some of it his admittedly. He was here trying to get as much of the landing railing done as possible, although there was not enough spindles to complete the job.

Phil was here with Roger Sherwin to get some of the plumbing done, Phil said last week he still has over a weeks work here to finish the job, Roger is here to try to fill the gap as Phil is running about between jobs at the moment.

The plumbers have started ripping up the landing floorboards again and running the pipework from the garage where the boiler is to the new water tank. So far the run is in but the floorboards look a little worse for wear!

Day 102 - Small Bits

Today Richard and James were here clearing up some of the minor snags and bits missed so far. The list is still quite impressive.

1. The Juliet balcony has been fitted.
2. Missing window board fitted in the study
3. Upstairs french windows sealed on the outside
4. Missing guttering fitted to porch
5. Broken guttering fitting replaced
6. Hole drilled for utility extractor fan ready for Nigel
7. Cleared out all their tools in the lounge
8. Screeding some parts of the kitchen to get a better level on the floor
9. Screw in faceplates that were left off while plastering

This weekend will be one of painting and tidying up, the boiler is in the garage and I have ordered the oil tank for arrival this week. Phil says he still has a good few days work to get the boiler rigged up and I will have to transfer all the oil to the new tank when its in position. Richard is off all next week as he wants to get on with his house as a moving date is imminent and he is at the plastering stage.

Day 101 - New Steps

Today Richard replaced the steps from the kitchen into the new lounge, the previous ones were a little on the steep side as they were designed based on stairs. The new ones I requested have a deeper tread and adding a second step has made it less steep. In short a much improved solution. The same has been done to the utility steps.

Generally today has been a 'bits 'n' bobs' day other than the steps with little annoying things being completed. Tomorrow Richard wants to clear up some of the other little problems on what he calls his snaglist.

Day 100 - Downstairs Doors and Lights

Day 100 and it looks like we are on the finishing straight, how long that straight may be is a different question but it certainly looks like a week or two and the guys will be done.

Richard and James got the final downstairs doors on today including all the handles.

Nigel put the smoke alarms in and wired them to the mains on both the landing and the downstairs hallway. We now have heating controls for the boiler system and the boiler itself has arrived and is currently awaiting fitting in the garage. The fan and light unit has been put up in the master bedroom although the fan isnt working at present.

Finally Nigel put up the 4 outside lights around the house so he is all but complete except for minor pieces and the boiler wiring.

Phil has managed to get the the third bedroom to the radiator to give it a second feed after we emptied it the night before. He has also changed the waste on the sink in the bathroom which in the words of my father-in-law developed 'a weep'.

Nigel has also wired up the dishwasher and the waste has been done by Phil so the kitchen is looking pretty good despite not having a floor.

We still have the galleried landing to complete on the list of 'Big things to do' and of course the boiler needs fitting but the end is nigh and everyone has done a good job moving forward today.

Day 99 - Rads

Phil came today to fit the remaining radiators and towel rail, the cloakroom has its new rail which means it is now complete except for a final lick of paint on the pipework.

A new radiator has been put in the study replacing the old one with the under-window style, finally a radiator has been put in the hallway as with the extended length of the room having knocked through the porch the nearest radiator is now in the kitchen.

Paul came and filled the old waste from the toilet and the hole that had been made for the bath waste in the previous bathroom, I have been left a note to bond the floor in the kitchen ready for Richard and Ashley to put a final self levelling compound on top prior to your truly tiling the floor.

Day 98 - Utility Room

We had Richard, James and Phil here today fitting the rest of the kitchen and getting the plumbing in as well.

The Belfast sink in the kitchen was fitted with Richard routing the required holes and grooves as well as on the underside to prevent leaking into the cupboards below. The utility cupboards and sink were also fitted including the waste. The kitchen is fully operational now except for the electrics for the dishwasher and the lighting that came with the units.

James spent most of the day talking about surfboards having become a proud owner of a new board!

Whilst the builders were off-site (we were on holiday and wanted some peace!) we have managed to draft in Luce's folks for some painting, the hallway had had a coat of white emulsion ready for some flavour of off-white Luce will choose. The ceiling in the hall is done thanks to Dave and the master bedroom just needs a second coat and some edging doing to finish it as well.

I have tiled the majority of the bathroom so hopefully Phil can plumb in the shower and put on the shower door. The house is starting to feel more like a home. Back to work next week so things will no doubt slow down again but its looking good.

Day 97 - Cloakroom

Today Richard had his mad sidekick back, James. He was very quiet in the morning and as we were on holiday too the noise soon built and James was back to his old self.

I laid tiles and grouted the downstairs cloakroom ready for Phil to refit the toilet and painted the final five downstairs doors ready for fitting. Richard and James continued on the kitchen fitting the trim to the tops and bottoms of the units. We are still without some units and the Belfast sink which are all due on Thursday of this week. Here is how it looks...

With most of the units fitted I cleared the front building yard with James and managed to pack everything into the skip ready for removal, thats the last one so everything had to go, this required some manual assistance....

In the afternoon Phil turned up to fit the toilet back in after tiling. We finally have an action shot of Phil Marsden doing his thing.

In all the day was very productive, the cloakroom is ready for painting although Phil still has a towel rail to fit. The kitchen is all but done except for our missing units. We have told Richard he is free to go and do something at his place until Friday as we need some R&R and to enjoy a bit of our holiday. Friday we should have the final kitchen pieces and be able to get the kitchen finally fitted....then its more tiling!

Day 96 - Kitchen Fitting...again

Without James here to do the running about Richard had to do three trips round Peterborough and Stamford to pick up bits and pieces for the kitchen that were missing or required or needed swapping out. By the time he got back from these trips there was little he could really get done other than some more extras to the kitchen.

Day 95 - More Kitchen

Richard, Phil and Nigel got here early today with Richard without his sidekick James but he did manage to get stuck in. In fact, Rich was still here at 7pm this evening trying to get as much of the kitchen done as possible on Lucie's request.

To be fair he must be over halway, all the the base units are fitted (except a replacement we are due), the worktops in the main kitchen area are on and fitted (and even oiled!) and we have fronts on most of the cupboards.

Tomorrow he is going to get to Magnet to pick up the missed pieces and various odds and ends we have changed as we have gone on. Right now its looking pretty good though...

Once we have the finishing touches on and a few more panels it will be a nice homely kitchen.

Nigel has put in the isolator switches so we dont have to have the fans for the bathrooms going every time we turn on the light switch. We also have working lights now in the new lounge and a switch downstairs to operate the landing lights which was a pain to have to run up and down to turn on/off.

Phil has carried on with the secondary feed to the radiators, the dining room is complete now as well the upstairs second bedroom.

With one day left this week before we have a weeks holiday we are hoping the kitchen will be all but complete tomorrow (If Magnet have a Belfast sink in stock) and maybe the electrics will be complete....we have a control unit left to fit (undecided at present how the TV points will be wired).

Day 94 - Pipework & Lights

The kitchen worktops arrived today, we have also found out the soft close fittings are not as standard on the kitchen so we are replacing a unit that didn't have soft close drawers. The fittings for the doors we are sourcing ourselves as the cost from Magnet is something in the region of £5.35 a pair, eBay doing them for £1.20 each.

Richard started cutting down the deep wall units for the second 'L' shape in the kitchen so we can keep the main space and still make use of the wall space. Its starting to feel more like a kitchen now.

Phil has started doing the additional work we asked of him, turning all the existing radiators into a two-feed system so that the radiators in the house heat together rather than one after the other. So far he has done all the pipework for the front lounge, study and hallway. The final pipework has also been completed in the cloakroom which we hope to get the tiling on the floor for this weekend.

Nigel has done every faceplate now and every light. We have extractor fans in the upstairs bathrooms all working as well. The spots are in the lounge and kitchen although the lounge is not yet operational. We are just missing our boiler now and we would be pretty much in a fully functional state.

Day 93 - Kitchen FItting

The kitchen has arrived from Magnet, not first thing in the morning as requested but early afternoon. The units are all assembled so the hallway currently looks like this....

As does the garage and much of the new lounge. We do have the base units in so we get a rough idea of how it will look.

Phil has fitted the downstairs sink and put the pipework in behind the base units for the sink. Nigel has got more faceplates on, we also have two spotlights in the dining area in the kitchen and some fused units upstairs for the towel rails in the bathrooms. We also have extractors fitted in both bathrooms.

The kitchen worktops didnt arrive today as expected but I had a nice call from a lady at Kitchen Surplus who said that the problem was with the couriers and they would have them with me in the morning. Richard left me his usual 'Wot no worktops?' message on a piece of card on the cooker, a true man of the 80's era.

Day 92 - Coving Complete

Ashley was here first this morning and the task was coving, personall I thought this was going to take him at least a couple of days but its complete.

In every room...

Apart from the study we are all done with plastering and coving, this room will have to be revisited in the future.

Nigel has managed to complete more of the electricity points, ethernet ports, TV points and a shaver point. The way he is moving I should think another day and all the faceplates will be on.

We have a mysterious water patch on the landing we are unsure of. Richard took the floorboards up last week as we thought it was a leak from a pipe having added the unvented system. There are no pipes under that area though which led us to point at our cats, a couple of sniffs of the floor later and they were free from guilt as well. It keeps coming back though so if anyone has an idea then post a comment as we are at a loss.

We have had a delivery of our cooker hood ordered from AKD Appliances on eBay. We were expecting wooden kitchen worktops today but its a no show......maybe tomorrow when we are also expecting the remaining downstairs doors and our Magnet kitchen.

Weekend Work :(

I spent Saturday taking up the tiles in the kitchen ready to level the new floor.

We borrowed the demolition tool required from Richard but after 1 tile the gear failed leaving old fashioned Bill-Power to finish the job. It looks worse than it was although my blisters say different.This was Sunday, we stripped the hallway with the assistance of a steamer unit from Paul. It worked a treat and comes highly recommended. We only have 1 surface left to scrape clean, my study.

So finally after clearing the kitchen ready for the week ahead I took this shot, from the picture it looks like we are a eauropean peasant family.......

Yes Luce is posing....

Day 91 - We're Cooking!

The oven is in! After a few issues finding various power runs Nigel has got it running and TV Tony is now a long distant memory. The consumer unit is in the utility room at ceiling height to hide the 'mess' (thats a Luce quote). We also have lighting in the bedroom we are using after a couple of days trying to find it. The kitchen has a makeshift light which saves us having to carry a lamp with us everywhere we go like Florence Nightingale.

The kitchen worktops are due to arrive on Monday and on Tuesday we expect the rest of the Magnet kitchen. Richard is on his own next week but Nigel and Richard are starting to make this hosue feel more homely.

Day 90 - More Elastictrickery

Nigel has cracked on with the wiring hopefully we will have a working oven by Friday. We spent a good 30 mins this morning trying to source fire-safe downlights to use and have come to nothing. We are hoping a supplier will turn up with the goods!

We have skirting now in the hallway and architrave to match, things are starting to look normal, something is amiss!

Day 89 - Doors On

The doors I spent sealing last night have been hung, the skirting has begun in the porch and hallway and the skirting and architrave has been started and completed in the front lounge. With the new door on the front lounge and the dining room these rooms are officially complete except for a little electrical wiring and minor PVA seal on the woodwork.

The porch is now looking pretty good, the floor tiles have been taken up by Richard in order to fit the new skirting which is now looking pretty good. The porch is still dark (and always has been) so looks like we will need a light flooring and paint for the porch and hallway. Under the tiles we have this pleasant yellow and brown tile effect, I think it will have to stay :)

Whilst I was taking snaps I thought I would show the step Richard has put in from the kitchen to the lounge.

Looks like TV Tony has gone for good, he hasn't responded to Richards calls or e-mails and so we have now got a new electrician coming tomorrow, we have been left a message by Richard saying 'Cooker and lights in by Saturday'. Sounds promising to me.

Day 88 - Steps

Richard is back raring to go and finish the job, he is moving house and his isn't built yet!

Richard and James got all the steps in for the upstairs and downstairs. The height of the steps on the downstairs may be a little high but Richard assures us all will be OK when the wood/tiles will be put down.

Richard also managed to sort out some of the kitchen layout with Karl at Magnet Trade, looks like its going to be Padstow design (requires acrobat reader installed). We will be sourcing the worktops ourselves as they only do a 27mm thickness and we would like the thicker 40mm worktops so I am off ebaying tomorrow.

We also have the first of our downstairs oak doors as well which I spent the evening sealing ready to be put up tomorrow. The spindles have also arrived along with the handrail. Hopefully tomorrow we will have a complete upstairs.

News on TV Tony.....well he still hasn't returned and is no longer answering calls so looks like we might end up with a new electrician. The ball is now in Richards court who has to make the final decision. Over the weekend the cooker arrived and we are dying to be able to cook real food again rather than defrosting something and nuking it in the microwave. I think the electrician story may run and run.....

Day 87 - Porch complete

The porch has now been completed. Steve has finished the plastering and James has now got the delivery of coving ready to do all the downstairs rooms except the study which still needs more work.....in the future we will have to revisit it.

Its a bank holiday weekend this week so no people present until Tuesday.

Day 86 - Porch Roof

James and Ken arrived and plastered the roof. With Richard away James had to do the running about which meant he didn't get much done himself. The roof looks good though so I can't complain.

Steve carried on working in the porch boarding the walls ready for plastering. He also finished plastering the front lounge.

Day 85 - Front Door

We now have a working front door, a guy from the window company came out and did some tweaks to the door edging and got it straight in the opening. With great success too we now have a working front door.

Steve plastered the ceiling although I am unsure if the roof is rainproof yet as roofer James hasn't showed to get the tiles on. James has removed some more of the trim from the old porch opening and its starting to feel like one room now.

This is what remains of the kitchen. The only unit still standing is the broken dishwasher that would prbably be marked as chemical waste due to whats living round the back of it.

The sink has been moved into the utility room and the old pipework running down the interior walls have been moved as well. The water supply pipe is the only thing left.


Phil has rigged us up a working sink and washing machine and with James help we have at least somewhere to wash up. Its not ideal so the sooner we get this kitchen ordered the better.


Steve said he will be back tomorrow and depending on what else we want doing based on how the finances are that could be it for a while. James will be back too. Still no Tony.....

Day 84 - Porch Boarded

We didn't have roofer James today due to some cock-up but we are told he is due Wednesday. The man came to look at our front door that isn't fitting perfectly square and I am told he will be here Wednesday to make it right.

James got the plasterboard in on the porch ceiling and Steve got the fireplace wall plasterboarded in the lounge so all in all its starting to look like a finished house except for a little woodwork and plaster. We are still miles away from getting some electricity in the new rooms though and using a torch to go to the loo is wearing a little thin......where are you Tony?

Tomorrow is going to be woodwork in the new lounge according to James and Steve might be able to finish plastering the study to make that room ready for Phil.

Day 83 - Plastering Hall

Steve plastered the hall ceiling today bringing in the new area from the kitchen, the cloakroom has also been completed. A rough skin has been done on the kitchen wall ready for skimming and the study has the same.

Plastic fascias have been put on the porch but doesn't match the existing peak on the sitting room so thats going to require a few words with James tomorrow. Paul has completed the brickwork ready for roofer James on tuesday. TV Tony has made a shock appearance and done a couple of bits here and there but still hasn't completed the first fit.

James is in charge tomorrow so its any guess what happens :)

Day 82 - Goodbye Kitchen

The kitchen was next to the skip. It has served us well for the past couple of years but quite frankly it had to go. The cooker is now stationed at the front door prior to delivery to the tip and the cupboards were destroyed by yours truly.

Steve continued his endless plastering this time the cloakroom and parts of the kitchen were done. Richard was here with Paul finalising construction on the porch roof and getting it ready for roofer James on Tuesday of next week

James will be here on Monday to put the fascia on ready and Paul will be on site too. Richard is away next week as he has a holiday taking his Mum on a cruise....isn't he a nice boy to him Mum.

At the end of the weekend here is the state of play. Upstairs is pretty much complete except for facia plates on all the electrics and lighting fittings. Some more minor woodwork to do on the stairs and in the second bedroom. Downstairs the plastering still needs work on two rooms, the kitchen needs a minor skimming on a couple of walls. Again the electrics need work as do the plumbing for the extra radiators we have discussed with Phil. Making a guess I would say we have 2-3 weeks left. We are still awaiting kitchen quotes.

Our sad looking kitchen.

Day 81 - Porch & Plaster

Today we have seen some good progress. Ashley and Steve along with James and Richard have screeded the new extension in the utility and lounge.

We have been told to stay off it until Saturday when it should have dried out enough to take our weight.........most of us are keeping to the rules.

The walls in the cloakroom and the study have been prepped ready for a final skim to complete these areas ready for woodworking to commence.

And whilst we are on getting near normality now is a good time to show how we are living....

This is our existing lounge at the front, complete with plastered on carpet and brickwork as well as trailing electric wires. Fun.

But thats nothing compared to the kitchen which is looking rather sad now lit only by a builders halogen lamp.

No kitchen picture would be complete with yours truly washing up.

Day 80 - Power Cut

Today the chaps didn't get very far due to a powercut, we have some bits done but without power that means no power tools, no cutting, no mixing, no screwdriving. In short today was a write off, some minor work was done on the walls in the kitchen and some light switches were run in but basically not good :(

Day 79 - New Fireplace

We have a new fireplace courtesy of Paul and Derek, Paul got a nice hug from Luce at the news of a fireplace being fitted, it made his day. Probably due to the fact she was only wearing a dressing gown at the time!

Richard and James have nearly completed the skirting and architrave upstairs and its looking really nice, upstairs is starting to feel more complete. Phil has fitted the second towel rail in the main bathroom as well. We are missing lights, electric/TV/Ethernet points and some tiling and we will be feature complete upstairs.

Downstairs Steve has completed (almost) the plastering in the old bathroom, now the new seating area of the kitchen. TV Tony has also been about today doing some electric points in the kitchen and DISCONNECTING THE COOKER! We had to beg cooking facilities off the folks who as always were diamond in making us welcome.

Paul and Derek have done a fine job creating the look that Luce was after in the old lounge, with a bit of plaster and a lick of paint I think we will get a nice feature fireplace.

Day 78 - En suite fitting

Phil was here this morning with Richard and James, Richard is off this afternoon but they are hoping to get the kitchen plasterboarded ready for the plasterers to finish the job ready for kitchen fitting. James will then be on skirting and architrave in the afternoon.

We had one quote back from B&Q at around the £7k mark fitted for the new kitchen but are still awaiting quotes from Magnet and Howdens before we make a final choice.

Update: Got home and they have completed the plasterboarding of the kitchen ceiling and James has got the skirting done in the new master bedroom.

Phil has the sink, toilet and towel rail in the en suite.

Lucie has three designs from Howdens, Hazel the designer has done a cracking job and the designs are all fresh and quite modern looking whilst keeping the traditional look we want to keep in the house. The next question is how much they will cost!

Day 77 - Upstairs Doors

We now have five more upstairs doors to finish the job all with handles and looking pretty good. When the architrave and skirting is on it will look almost complete. Tomorrow I am going to be laying the floor tiles in the en suite with Dad and then Phil can carry on Monday with fitting the en suite fittings.

Tony has finished the lights in the ceiling in the new kitchen. This will allow Richard and James to do the ceiling plasterboarding next week.

Day 76 - Nobody

Nobody here this morning, Richard is having the roof put on his bungalow down Park Road so he is trying to juggle at the moment.

Expecting people tomorrow.

Day 75 - Utility Walls Done

The utility room walls are now complete. Phil has connected the old radiator from the old bathroom and made use of it in the utility room, the other two radiators and the moved one have also been piped up ready for the flooring over the top.

Hazel came round to talk to us about Howdens kitchens and said she would go away and draw up some plans for room designs, hopefully for early next week.

Tony has been about too doing pieces here and there. We have electric points inside the old lounge now and the white trunking on the outside of the house has been removed. He can't really move on with the kitchen due to waiting for the designs to return so we are a little held up now.

Day 74 - Bye Bye Porch

The porch has gone, pretty quickly too, this was the porch as we left at 8.30 this morning.

The plasterers have been busy too prepping the utility room walls ready for skimming which will finish that room except for the floor screed.

The hallway looks like this now with our hanging light switch.

Richard was at our house till 11pm last night helping us choose skirting and architrave(sp?), also chosen were handles for the 16 doors and the doors themselves, we are going for oak 4 panel doors downstairs and standard white 4 panel for upstairs. After he left we finished clearing the house of anything left around, we now have two storage rooms looking like this.


Phil has been busy today, not only do we have an upstairs sink now but we also have two radiators.

One in the new master bedroom and one in the new rear lounge.

Richard has been busy out and about today, he dropped in on Lucie at work to make sure she was happy with the handles and then picked up the doors, by the end of play 5 doors have been fitted in our new storage areas.

We have Hazel from Howdens tomorrow evening to talk to us about the kitchen design.

Day 73 - Full House

Lucie had a call from Richard today, the house was full, Tony, Phil, Richard, Derek, James, Ashley and Steve.

Tony has been finalising some runs and doing some preperation work for the plasterers who want to carry on with the utility room.

Phil has removed the pipework from the old shower to prepare for the plasterers coming into the kitchen. The radiator in the study has also been removed ready for one more in keeping with the new shape of the window.

Richard & James have removed some final beams from the kitchen ceiling and removed the old kitchen door and brick surrounding it, now making it part of the hall. The plasterboard from the old bathroom ceiling has been removed in preperation for plastering.

Derek has finalised the brickwork around the window in the study and done the final bricks in the new cloakroom.

I am guessing tomorrow the plasters will move into the old bathroom/new kitchen area and make the ceiling and walls good.

Lucie and I spent a good part of the weekend talking to kitchen fitting companies. We spoke to www.kitchensdirect.com and had someone draw up a plan but at 10.5k it was a little steep for our budget considering we already have some extras chalked up on APR's bill and likely on TV Tony and Phils too.....only time will tell.

Day 72 - New Lounge Plastered

The new rear lounge is now complete. The room has been fine skimmed and cleared up, its looking big and a lot cleaner now!

Day 71 - Plasterers Return

Today the '3 Muskateers' rough skimmed all of the new lounge, its now gone all echoey in the downstairs even from the open plan kitchen.

The floor looks like 10000 Romans have marched through as its covered in the thick plaster they use for the base material.

Tomorrow they are skimming it to finish that room. TV Tony has returned and done a couple of down runs that were missing and started work on the study putting in extra sockets and the two ethernet runs.

Day 70 - Upstairs Plastering Done

Steve finished the stairwell off today doing a grand job of skimming over the existing Artex after scraping it as flat as possible. The arcitrave around the doorways has been removed so Richards list of tasks is growing. Richard has been away working on a work colleagues wall that needed removing, I don't expect him back until next week.

Day 69 - 'Ballroom' roof plastered

Today we had a trio of plasterers in to do some work on 'The Ballroom', we now have a plastered room and the windows/doors in the room have plasterboard round them and the edging is all ready for the walls to be done.

Upstairs the end wall of the stairwell has been completed as well and the faces have all been edged ready for completion.

We have moved upstairs in the hope of passing the mess as they go downstairs in the next couple of days.

Day 68 - No More Shower!

I think this picture speaks a thousand words, kitchen meets bathroom. As you can probably gather its getting interesting living here at the moment. Where once stood our shower is now a mass of twisted pipes and what once was our main sink is now merely for show, the kitchen sink is now the only sink in the house and we are showerless.

On the upside the order is back in for the shower units that were out of stock at Victoria Plumb during the first order and the en suite is all but complete as far as plastering goes, Richard has been in today and built out the back walls the correct distance to allow for headroom.

Plastering is moving on apace, the landing cupboards are done and initial scraping and skimming has taken place on the stairwell. We have decided now is the time to move back upstairs so we can pass miss out on the horror downstairs whilst upstairs returns to some sort of normality.

Dat 67 - Bathroom Fitting

We have a bathroom, at the close of play on day 67 Phil left us with an upstairs toilet and a bath both of which worked....all be it with a little leaking....but nevertheless its a step in the direction of humanity.

Dave came along on Saturday and managed to remove more of the concrete surrounding the back door to allow some steps to be made and make good the side of the house, sadly at this moment flags are out of the picture so its going to be a mess for a while but at least its clear.

He even posed so we could get him in the blog!

Day 66 - Plastering again

A day off to pick up tiles meant we didnt get a lie in but it did mean we could be at Topps Tiles early to pick up some floor tiles so that Richard could lay them in preperation for Phil who said he would fit the bath at least on Saturday morning (another lie in lost!), the delivery from Victoria Plumb was perfect and the merchandise looks the part too.

Luce chose some that weren't bank shattering despite it being a case of 'choose what you like' so in all this extra job has been quick and easy.

Steve finished off the bedroom which is drying out quite quickly in the heat, he says Monday we should have a team of three plasterers so that should see a good chunk of the work done.

Day 65 - Plastering Continued...

Today was a Steve only day, he has managed to finish the hallway upstairs and has started work on the master bedroom.

Its been hot again so Steve left early and I can hardly blame him.

Day 64 - Landing Plastering

Steve and Richard have come up trumps today considering its been damned hot. They spent the best part of the day sweating in the heat of the upstairs with the windows closed, apparently plaster goes off too fast if it gets too much air, which meant they had a good sweat on.

The main part of the landing is complete, the second bedroom is complete and with a bit of skirting will be habitable again. The master bedroom is all ready for plaster with all the edges beaded and taped as required for the plaster to adhere to.

At this rate I think we should be all plastered within a week, soon find out.

Day 63 - Spotting 'n' Sticking

Steve the plasterer arrived today and along with Richard they have finished upstairs ready for plastering, Steve has spotted 'n' stuck the final plasterboard on the exposed blockwork so that only leaves the exposed blockwork downstairs (which there is more of!) and then the plasterboard is complete from the plasterers point of view.

Day 62 - Kitchen Clearance

With the kitchen being added to the job and being fitted around October time Richard wants to get all the electrical work and plastering done at once. This means our poor kitchen has to suffer now. One wall has been cleared except for our dodgy oven that trips the power everytime we use it anyway.

The ceiling of the existing porch that is being rebuilt has also been removed, Luce is worried about spiders!

Just when things are starting to straighten up something else starts.....still some way to go yet but hopefully we should have more plastering commencing sometime this week. No Tony or Phil yet this week though Phil was here Saturday morning doing some final bits and bobs and attempting with me to seal the leaking tank, its all out now and standing on the old patio.

Day 61 - Tank Disaster

Today I came home from work to find the outside of my oil tank wet, on further inspection it has managed to crack and is slowly dribbling oil out down the path.


The tank was last filled just before the summer and as we don't use it at all during the summer the 1000 litres they last put in is now making its way down the path and evaporating away!

With that in mind and some assistance from APR who lent me some containers I am currently watching it slowly drain from the tank, and I mean SLOW, its taking hours.

I will have to have a chat with Titan who make it and see if its still under warranty. If not its going to be about £1000 for a new tank.

On to building and the like, Tony has chased out all the wall for the runs inside the old lounge. Next will be disconnecting the old runs from the outside of the house and then bringing them back inside to clean up the look on the outside and do it how it should have been done from the start.

Day 60 - Mini Doors

The chaps only did a half day today with a comment coming via SMS to Luce that she had better get the kettle on, them builders! Anyway Foxy has put some mini doors on for the storage areas so it won't feel like some portal into Narnia in the back of the cupboard.
The plaster from yesterday is starting to dry.

And we have some odd 'mini coffins' in 'the ballroom' and I have no idea what they are for unless we have done something to upset Richard.

I forgot to mention yesterday that this is the message left for us yesterday by Foxy and Co., it reads 'Bill could you please cut your grass as it is makeing the site look very untidy!!!'.....Luce replied writing something about Richard and Lady Boys as he likes his Thai holidays. I don't think this is the end of the banter so watch this space.