Day 95 - Interior doors arrive

Delivery today from Howdens with the interior doors. We went for the oak ones, which feel pretty solid. Ironmongery has also arrived, so good to see what we ordered properly now !
Another poor day weather-wise which has held the joiners up a bit outside. The cladding is now complete on the East side though, and just a wee bit more to do on the South. Will be the West next I guess.
Nobody else came today (tiler was on another job, sparks tomorrow, slaters are never about.....)
Lets see what tomorrow brings.

Day 94 - More coving up

Some of the lads came out on Saturday - unfortunately with the weather being so wet the joiners didn't stay long (they were looking to get after the cladding outside). However both the taper & the plumber were here for a bit. The taper managed to get coving up in the existing hall (so now joined up with the extension), the diningroom & the 'original' front hall.
The plumber fitted new radiators in both the diningroom & the new front vestibule (they're not piped up yet though). He also got the heating back on again - was nothing more than a trip switch (but was labelled up wrong).
For my part I replaced some more of the hideous roof spots in the laundry & hall. Old spots have been removed & the hole replaced with a piece of plasterboard & filled. New ceiling light fittings also popped in. Looks much better & much lighter !

Day 93 - Tiles arrive

The tiles for both the new wetrooms arrived this afternoon, which is a really fast service from Atlantis in Aberdeen. We've kept the floor & wall tiles the same for both, but have changed the detail finishing tiles to differentiate between the two. Tiler is planned for Monday, so we should see the furniture etc being installed towards the end of next week.
Slaters were on site today & tidied a few areas of the roof up (flashing wise), installed the ridge covers on the SE corner, and also got the flashing place at the new front entrance. No sign of the finial going on - maybe they're saving that till last.
Painting foreman was on site & discussion had on the expectations of windows finishing (and general quality of paintwork). Some 'alignment' done, so I think things should move on smoothly from here.
Joiners have been busy outside getting the larch on & have made a brilliant job profiling the lengths to match in with the existing house brickwork.
Tomorrow it looks like there's going to be another house full - plumber is back to carry on with the drains & heating work, whilst the tapers & painters are coming to carry on in both the new & existing parts of the house.

Day 92 - Painting inside starts

The painters have started in the house and have put the first coats on the walls & ceilings. Natural Calico for most of the house, with the exception of the study & Jenny's room. Some of the window frames also had their first coat of stain on them too, however it's not up to expectations, so there's some remedials to be done (unfortunately). Painters back tomorrow, so should get sorted out.
Ames taper was also here today (which we didn't expect) and has made a start where he can to the existing house. Some bits have been done prematurely I think though as there's still some sockets needing re-sited.
Joiners were busy outside (decent weather at last) and have put up some more of the larch cladding. Really starting to take shape out there & looking more like a home.
Spark was here and has got the power onto the extension now (garage still to do yet). This is great though as at last we have light in the evenings in there, which lets us get on with things.

Day 91 - Now we have central heating !

Well, at least there's heating now on in the existing part of the house rather than the new radiators & underfloor heating in the extension. Should get the rest up & running in the next few days.
The new controls clock has been installed in the hot cupboard, and with the heating pipes now going in there it's mucho hot ! Will need to get some slatted shelves in there for towels.
Joiners have been really busy today & got both the new front & back doors installed. Both look really big, bright & airy, which is just what we were after.
Sparky was also here & got on with installing the back boxes (all done now) and has got the faceplates on upstairs now.
Bathroom tiles were ordered today, so we should see them arriving in the next few days. Also picked up the tile steel trim on the way home.

Day 90 - Hot water back on

True to his word the plumber got the hot water back on from the new hot tank today. Unfortunately the sparks didn't pitch up as expected, so he had to sort the wiring up himself. At least we'll get a shower now !
The 3 radiators have also been put in on the 1st floor, so it's looking really god now what with the plastered walls etc. Just waiting really for the top window to arrive now to get that area more complete.
Elsewhere the joiners started back on the external larch cladding. However only managed to get a few planks up on the South & East sides before the driving wind & rain put them off. Not the best of weather & probably as well the slaters never turned up either !

Day 89 - New hot water tank

Plumber here most of the day and has installed the new hot water tank & associated pipework. Unfortunately we've no hot water till tomorrow (once the sparks get the immersion connected up) but at least the hot & cold water is at the same pressure (at last !!). New tank is about twice the size of the old one, and has proper insulation on it etc.
Joiners were working in the garage today & have installed the new windows & the door. Still to complete the finishing off, but it looks really good & is amazingly bright now.
Tomorrow the slaters will be back & we should see the finial installed - will get a photo of that !

Days 87 & 88: Coving goes up

The ames tapers (plasterers) were back on Saturday & Sunday to continue with the plasterboard finishing in the extension. The lads also fitted the coving in place - which looks really good & matches the existing house perfectly. They haven't moved into working the dining room & laundry areas yet as the joiners still have work to do there.
I also stripped the wallpaper off the 2 remaining walls of Jenny's old room in preparation for the new entrance vestibule being decorated. Also removed all the old tiles from the laundry room wall, so we can get that area cleared up a good bit when the decorators are in there.
Not exactly sure what this coming week is going to bring, but think we'll see the finial finally get put into place & the final roof works completed, which will be good.

Day 86 - More internal work done

Work continued in the hall area connecting the 2 buildings & also at the new front entrance. At the front door the outside wall still hasn't been angled out yet, but we're probably waiting for the windows before that happens. In the hall, the new cupboard has been formed & the doorway into the laundry is also in. Feels fine & big.
The joiners were also working in the outside workshop & have now boxed in the underfloor heating zone valve manifolds, so that looks fine & neat.
Although it's Saturday tomorrow, the Ames tapers are due back again, so it'll be all go come 07:30 I imagine...

Day 85 - Old bathroom knocked down

That's the old family bathroom demolished now, so now the 2 ends of the house are joined up, and the view from one end of the hall to the other is huge ! Looks really good, however now it's freezing as the new part of the house has builders in & out of it all day, there's no power & the heating's not on yet. Soon though.
Progress was also made installing the new boiler & pipework, and it's looking pretty tidy. All the old water pipework for the heating has now been removed from the hot cupboard, and once the new tank goes is, things will look a lot neater in there. Still on the heating, and the zone valves manifold has also been installed now & has been mounted on the wall. All labelled up too, which is great.
Bit of work for me to do last night now that we have more internal walls up (and open a bit). Ran TV cables to both Katy & Alice's room, and also a network link to Alice too. They won't be hooked up for a while, but at least the cables are run. Same deal for the network link in the hall, so the DSL connection shouldn't be disrupted again (until the phone point is moved).

Day 84 - Boiler install

The new central heating boiler arrived today along with the underfloor heating manifolds & associated pipework etc. Plumber has started installing the boiler in the garage, and already looking like a mass of pipes (which I like !). Not long now till we do some kind of pressure test on the new underfloor pipework, which should be good.
Slaters were also here today (3 days in a row !!). They've been carrying on with the lead flashing & have also put the ridge tiles on the pyramid roof. Could be the finial install tomorrow.
Joiners have been working mainly in the existing house. Plaster board & insulation has been installed above the new front door, and it's easier to see the shape it's going to be now. Also had to re-route the hoses to the shower in our ensuite as they were in the road.
Still without a landline phone, but we've still got the internet available. Hoping to get the phone point etc sorted out in the next few days.

Day 83 - Break on through to the other side

Well today was the day that the builders starting knocking into the existing house. Had to happen eventually !
What was Jenny's bedroom wall & window have been removed, as have part of the dining room & hall walls (and what was the electric cupboard). New partitions are up & we can see the shape starting to appear. Looks much bigger than it was (although it indeed is I guess !). The sparks are back again tomorrow along with the plumber to sort out the piping & cables that are now hanging about.
The slaters were also here and have carried on with the more tricky areas. A fair few bits of lead flashing have also gone up too. They'll be here till the end of the week as planned & will install the guttering. I was also up on the roof again this evening & managed to replace the 4 cracked/broken tiles on the front porch, so good to have got that done.

Day 82 - The roofers are back !

Been nice weather today, which is a first for the roofing lads being on site here ! They've done a lot in a day and have now mostly completed the roof over the outside workshop & corridor, along with the join in the roof between the existing house & the extension. Lead flashing has been put in as required. The intention is for the roofing works to be complete by the end of this week. Not sure if that includes the gutters.
Still on the roof, with it being a nice evening I managed to go up and pour the moss treatment on - unfortunately the stuff didn't go as far as I'd thought, so I only got half way through. Will get some more chemical tomorrow hopefully & finish off tomorrow night. Whilst on the roof I also took down the old TV mast, so looks a bit tidier at the chimney.
Joiners were also here today, and have mostly been carrying on with the window sills. All downstairs has been done, and only a couple upstairs to do. Unfortunately they've damaged some of the new plasterwork, but those lads will be back at the weekend.

Days 80 & 81 - Ames taping begins

As the title says, the tapers were here both Saturday (all day) and Sunday morning. They've made really good progress & the house has been transformed ! Still a way to go, and the plaster/filler needs time to dry out, but looking good !
The joiners were also here on Saturday morning & continued with the window sills upstairs.
In between the rain (which was going on all weekend !) I managed to get the remaining sections of the existing roof cleaned up & the moss removed. When we get a dryer spell I can apply the moss killer & preventer stuff.
Work this coming week is to start in the dining room, so we've been busy clearing that out ready, along with the cupboard in the hall & the laundry area. Not sure how long it's going to take at this end, and it's going to be a bit disruptive...

Day 79 - Tidy up for tapers

The tapers are expected any day now, so a lot of time was spent today tidying things up in the house to get ready for them. Some walls were still put up though, and now the entrance to the guest room has been completed, which evens the hallway up around about where the stair is going.
The plumber has also been busy sorting the pipes out for the bathrooms & for the central heating - pipework has now reached the garage.

Day 78 - First windowsill goes in

The lads have started on the window sills upstairs - they're MDF type material with a wood veneer which can be stained. Look fine so far, and seem to be glued in place rather than nailed (so quite neat). Also a lot of work done out at the workshop - the partition is in place, insulation in & most of the plaster board in place. Wood strapping has been put on the outside wall near the heating pipes too & the sink drain hole bored through the wall.
Plumber has been carrying on with the bathroom pipework. Looks like all the water feed pipes are now in - shame that the plasterboard has had to go up & down a few times to achieve this....
Clean up planned for tomorrow, and apparently we'll see the first of the tapers on Saturday.

Day 77 - Shower pipework going in

The plumber was back today & has installed the shower valve boxes & associated pipework into both the wetrooms. In addition to that the water pipes & basin drains have also been installed to match roughly where the bathroom furniture will go.
The wetroom shower trays had a further skim of concrete onto them, which has removed the dogs paw prints !
Plaster board has continued to be installed - this time in the outer workroom - looks like another bit of the house now ! In addition the fire proof board has been completed & most of the roof sections are now done.
The lads have also been out with the cement & brinks & begun patching up the workshop wall & join to the main house. In addition the path at the rear of the house has been repaired (where it was dug up for the drains).
The stairs were measured up today as well, and Doug brought round some sample spindles. Think we'll go for the simple oak design, which will be nicely understated. Not sure how long this will take to make, but it can't go in until the plaster board is finished off.

Day 76 - Roof starts again !

The slaters returned today - and at least the rain cleared up for them as the day went on. They've got most of the dormer at the South side completed now, and have also stitched together the old & new roofs on the south too. Looks good ! Hopefully they'll be here all week, and we should see the roof completed in that time.
Inside the joiners carried on sorting the partitions & more work was done in the 2 bathrooms. Shower trays were sunk into the concrete & the basin wastes fully hidden into the walls. Once the concrete is set, there's a wee bit more skimming to do, but that should be it.
Work was also going on in the outside workshop. Insulation has gone into some of the roof space * the corridor wall. The fire proof board has also been started in the wooden section of the roof between the 2 areas.

Day 74 & 75: Many partitions

The lads were here all day Saturday which helped push things along quite a bit. Progress has been made on the ground floor & all the partitions are now up & most of the plaster boarding is complete. There was some additional fiddling required to move the bathroom (x2) partitions out a bit, but this has now been completed & the rooms are better for it (at least all the furniture etc will go in !).
Insulation has also been getting installed in the ground floor partitions - we've gone for the denser stuff so we'll get a bit of sound insulation as well as heat.
Doug was round on Saturday too for an update session & took the opportunity to go on the roof to see what the finial will look like - just great ! Expecting the slaters here this week to finish the roof off & fit the finial (no sign yet though, and that's Monday gone by !).
All going well we should have the tapers here on Monday, which will be a couple of weeks work. In that time the rest of the team will be doing the garage/workshop areas, external cladding & the dreaded 2 x entries into the existing house !

Day 73 - Partitions go in

Really pleased to see that the partitions have mostly all been fitted now, and you can get a much better sense of how the house goes together & the room that we'll have. There are a few issues to sort out though with the 2 bathrooms as the partitions need to be moved out (and turned around in the case of one), but we can address this easily enough.
The sparks were also back today & have marked up the cables as necessary & have also run the room stats for the heating engineer.
Some things for me to get on with this weekend in terms of moving some cables about, but best to get after it at this stage rather than wait.