Monday 10 December
Another day of action.
Up in the loft, the new wash hand basin has been plumbed in..
...and the new short projection "back to wall" toilet pan is in place. To my relief and delight, there's enough room to get in and out of the small cubicle without a problem and use both the wash basin and toilet with ease! They have even boxed in the pipework - a much neater job than before.
The rest of the bannisters have been put back on the landing...
....and the last little bit of tiling above the glazed panel in the shower has been put in ready for grouting, then the rest of the shower can be installed. Then the extractor will go in and the new shower will be useable after a good clean up!
Downstairs, the wash basin in the ground floor loo has been plumbed in, and the pipework concealed behind a panel, with just a neat bottle trap exposed.
Fireboard has been put in place under the stairs, along with the last little bit of wall which separates the kitchen/diner from the hall. The whole lot is now ready for skimming.
Boring to look at, but keenly anticipated by me, the new consumer unit is in place and boxed in under the stairs on the hall side of the dividing wall, and they have started making the electrical connections. All being well, by close of business tomorrow, there will be light and power in the kitchen which doesn't rely on wander leads plugged in elsewhere in the house.
There have been some other works too...
...the original mantle has been made more secure against the chimney breast wall in the dining area, the mouldings around the edge replaced, and the sides and top tidied up with new strip wood.
Skirting boards have been removed in the hall ready for the ply subfloor to be laid on Wednesday. The floor tiles were ordered today, will arrive on Wednesday and be installed on Thursday, if all goes to plan.
Architrave has gone up around the frame of the door to the downstairs toilet/utility room...
...and the frame to what will be the door from the hall into the new kitchen/diner together with its (soon-to-be) glazed panel above:
The skip is due to go tomorrow (not sure if another one will come in its place or whether this really is goodbye to the last one!) and a man is coming to plumb in the gas hob. I've put the builder in touch with the kitchen designer who will explain how to remove the drawer in the cabinet directly below the hob to access and connect the gas supply more easily without damaging the cabinet.
There was an email from my neighbour this morning. For once it's more good news than bad. He's pleased that the fence between our gardens is now at the right height (it was lower than it should have been initially, giving no privacy to either of us). He's also pleased that some flashing on the guttering which had worried him has been sorted out to his satisfaction, and that the gutter on his own lean-to has now been restored to its original length. It had overhung the boundary and the builder had cut it a few inches too short when replacing it after the extension was completed. He's still a bit concerned about one bit of guttering, but that can be dealt with, I'm sure. So, on balance, a positive communication this time around.
Last but not least, the glazed stained glass panel on the front door which had been damaged by the builders is restored and back in pride of place. Yay! I have passed the invoice on to the man in charge to confirm that he is going to pay the bill direct, rather than me paying it then passing the cost on the builder.
Tuesday 11 December
Early morning flurry of activity as the man is coming to connect the gas supply to the hob today, and no one can figure out how to remove the drawer in the unit below the hob to access the gas pipe. However, some communication between myself, the kitchen designer, the partner of the man in charge and the gas man and it was sorted out. When I returned home, the hob was in place and connected up so it looks like the man was satisfied that the Regs had been copied with in terms of the door height of the extractor unit over the hob. Phew! The cooker hood door can stay as it is...
By close of business, recessed lights had been fitted in the ceiling in the kitchen area...
... but other light fittings (wall lamps, track light and pendant lamps) still not installed and the power has still not been connected up so I can't use the new fridge freezer or give away the old appliances currently in the front room which need to be gone by Friday lunchtime to make space for the sofa which comes out of storage then. This is worrying, as they can't work on Thursday while the hall floor is being tiled, and all under floor work must be finished by the time the new floor is laid. The plywood sub floor is due to go down tomorrow. I hope they can work round that, otherwise we have a major problem!
What the builders have done is to skim plaster the new partition above the stairs in the kitchen area...
...and grout the tiles in the new loft shower cubicle, which I cleaned up in the evening to get the muck off the glass shower door and frame before it sets hard.
Also in the evening there was a text from floor fitter who was due to lay the plywood subfloor in the hall, lobby and downstairs loo/utility room tomorrow. His job has over run. He won't come until Thursday, but he will lay the sub floor and tiles in one day, so that we can walk on it on Friday, when things come out of storage. That gives a one day window of opportunity for the builder to crack on with under floor electrics tomorrow. Quite a relief, provided they do it...
During the day, I liaised with the kitchen suppliers - the small replacement door for the wall, cupboard and replacement wirework for a base unit is due to be delivered early next week. The larger door maybe before Christmas or maybe not. I'm not worried about that. It's the storage space I need at the moment!
After a few email exchanges with the kitchen designer, I've reached a decision about the back splashes in the kitchen. Steel panel (either brushed or mirrored behind the hob - samples to be agreed) and grey tinted mirror glass elsewhere.
Lots of deliveries due tomorrow - floor tiles, washing machine, tumble drier and pull out unit for the tall cupboard in the downstairs WC/utility room. My head is buzzing thinking about priorities now we are so tight for time with stuff coming out of storage this Friday and the family arriving for Christmas the following Friday. However, I have done some Christmas preparations. I've bought a Christmas tree which is sitting in a bucket in the garden, and agreed with the family about presents. A little bit of progress on that front!
Wednesday 12 December
I woke up well before 6am, trying to work out how to get everything done in the next few days. Feels like Mission Impossible... But I have made a decision about a microwave/grill and ordered that, so it should be coming soon. Another thing ticked off the list.
Quick chat with the partner of the man in charge who's here today, with updates about deliveries and what needs to be done before the floor tiler comes tomorrow.
It's been a busy day for deliveries. First up, the pull out wirework unit for one of the cupboards in the downstairs WC/utility room. Next the washing machine and tumble drier. Then the floor tiles for the hall, lobby and downstairs WC/utility room. Things get stacked up in the dining area, while waiting to be installed in their new homes.
By close of business, the appliances have been put into in the "laundry cupboard" in the downstairs loo...Difficult to photograph until the proper lighting has been installed in this small space. I will need a little folding step up to reach the top of the tumble drier, but there's space to store that on top of the washing machine, along with washing powder (though I would have preferred the shelf on which the tumble drier stands to be lower, if I'm honest...too late now).
The plasterer has been busy during the day. The sides and tops of the replacement windows in the loft room and loft stairs have been skimmed and finished. The cills will be replaced at the bottom of each window to complete the fitting...
...The electricity supply to replace one of the wall lights in the loft has been installed and skimmed over....
Downstairs, holes in the ceiling where outlets for light fittings had been drilled in the wrong places have been filled ...
The cables for the dimmer switches to be fixed on the end panel of the tall larder unit have also been cut it and skimmed over above the top of the units...
....and other areas of rough plaster elsewhere in the room have been skimmed over, ready to finish the decoration.
Boards over the screed in the dining area have been taken up and put in the skip and the place generally de-cluttered. Then re-cluttered, as bits and pieces being stored in the downstairs loo/utility area were taken out ready for the floor in there to be tiled tomorrow.
The electrician has also been busy, connecting up the new lighting and power circuits, relocating a power point from the inside to the outside of the coat store, installing the "Scaleguard" on the incoming water pipe and connecting it to the electricity supply behind the dishwasher. This is a gadget which generates magnetic pulses to stop limescale building up on the inside of water pipes and "wet" appliances...it doesn't soften the very hard water we have here, just keeps everything moving through so that limescale doesn't build up. That's the theory, anyway. Whether it works in practice, only time will tell.
Although they worked until 7pm, second fix electrics still weren't finished today so I continue to rely on work lamps plugged into wander leads from the main house power circuit to light the space and provide power for electric tools. What I hadn't realised until the builders left, was that the power to the combi-boiler had also been switched off, so another day and two nights without central heating or running hot water, relying on the fan heater for warmth and the electric shower in the first floor bathroom for all hot water. And just when the coldest day/nights of the week are forecast...
My last job of the day was to sweep up and vacuum the areas where new flooring will be laid tomorrow, take some "Before" photos, and think about the best way to use my time when I'm effectively marooned above ground floor level when this happens.
Here are the "Before" photos of the hall, lobby and downstairs loo where the new floor tiles will be laid tomorrow:
Thursday 13 December
The floor man arrived on time, around 9 o'clock. He left materials on the front path and went off to fetch his workers ready for the off.
I had a quick session with them when they arrived to point out the extent of the areas to be tiled, then left them to it, cutting and laying the plywood sub-floor.
I've been camping out in the front bedroom with the fan heater, kettle, cup, coffee, milk in a cool bag, some biscuits, bananas and a sandwich for lunch. Ever the optimist, I'm hoping to be back downstairs for the evening meal!
Part of the day has been spent trying to sort out arrangements for the old fridge and freezer to be collected by a "Freegler" as soon as the new fridge freezer is up and running and I can move the perishable food across into its new home.
It's a bit of a logistical nightmare...can't move the food until the power circuit for the new kitchen diner is completed and the appliances can be switched on, which will happen some time tomorrow morning, I hope. However, the space currently occupied by the old fridge and freezer in the temporary kitchen in the front room is where the sofa will go when it comes out of storage tomorrow afternoon, so they really ought to be collected before then.
There was lots of interest when I put these things on Freegle, but trying to find someone who can pick them up in a narrow time slot in the middle of the day is proving to be difficult. It looks like either the food may have to sit in cool bags for a while, or the sofa be stored temporarily in the dining area along with other stuff until the old fridge and freezer have been collected...but then I would have to find help to move it into the front room when the space has been freed up. Cool bags it will have to be I think, if push comes to shove...
For a large part of the day, I've been up in the loft, reorganising the builder's stuff, clearing and cleaning a space big enough to accommodate some of the things which will come out of storage tomorrow - mainly paperback books in boxes and a rolled up carpet.
Before...
During....
After...
The "after" photos don't actually convey the hard work involved in shifting bags of plaster, industrial tile clutter and boxes of ironmongery, then getting rid of the plaster dust, scraping gunk off the floor and washing down ready to put down an old bedspread and blanket to demarcate an area where stuff can go when it comes out of storage. I've cleaned down the stairs too...The vacuum cleaner gave up before me...I'll need to clean the filters, they are totally bunged up...My back is playing up too, not surprisingly.
But seeing the progress downstairs has been encouraging! Even the man delivering the external lights commented how good the tiles looked - a modern twist on traditional Victorian tiling, just right for a house of this age which is being refurbished.
By 7.15 pm, all the tiles had been cut and laid, but it was too late by then to do the grouting. That will have to wait until after the builders have left on Saturday when no one will be coming and going for an hour or so while the grouting is done and then has a chance to dry out overnight. At the tiler's request, I've covered all the tiles to stop dust and dirt getting into the joints before they are grouted so no "After" photos for now, just one showing an assortment of table cloths, blankets and black plastic protecting the floor for the time being...
The partner of the man in charge has been in touch to see how I am, and how the tiling is going. I think he was worried about leaving me in a house with no heating on a very cold night/day. Final gas inspection booked for Saturday (I may have been a bit premature assuming that all OK with the height of the cupboard door above the hob. We shall see....)
...The builders will be back on site at 7.30am tomorrow morning. Another early start. All I want for Christmas is a lie in...and a clean, relatively dust-free house...and a working kitchen, laundry, boiler, heating, hot water....
Friday 14 December
Awake before 5am. Try as I might, I couldn't get back to sleep so made a cup of coffee, got up and dressed and was downstairs by 6.30am for breakfast. When the partner of the man in charge arrived not long after 7 o'clock, I was busy pulling out spacers from the floor tiles now the adhesive has set, and gathering up bits of cardboard used to identify the tiles laid last so I didn't walk on them last night.
During the morning more stuff has been shifted out of the house to clear space for this afternoon when my things are coming out of storage. They have started putting the extractor unit in the loft shower...
...the fitting inside the shower (which is a combined light and extract unit) has yet to be put in place, but the rest seems to have been installed.
The electrician is working hard on the second fix electrics. By close of business, the new fridge freezer was up and running (albeit connected temporarily to a light switch!) so tomorrow I can transfer food from the old fridge and freezer and contact the Freegle people who want to take them away. Then I'll have some space in the front room for the sofa. I can now use the recessed ceiling lights in the downstairs WC, lobby, kitchen and dining areas. No more work lamps! There are still light fittings to be installed and sockets to be connected, but it's a good start.
At lunchtime, I checked around to make sure that there was still cleared clean space ready for things to be stacked when they come out of storage. To my dismay, the area I had cleared, cleaned and protected with an old bedspread in the loft had been populated by the builders stuff.
What bit if "please keep this area clear" didn't they understand, I wonder?
The afternoon was spent at the storage facility with two men and a van, taking everything out of my lock up unit, transferring to the van, driving home and transferring everything to either the new kitchen diner, or upstairs to the loft. The whole process took 3 hours from start to finish.
Just one obvious casualty - a drawer damaged when it fell out of a chest of drawers as it was being carried up to the loft. Everything else seems to be OK, looking at the boxes now piled up in the kitchen/diner, waiting to be unpacked and put away. My plan to have shelves up ready for the books didn't come to fruition due to the continuing building work, so where to put stuff requires a bit of thought....tomorrow, I think.
Saturday 15 December
Before he left last night, the electrician said he'd be back today, around 10 o'clock. But he didn't show up. For once, I didn't hassle. It's good to have there house to myself once in a while. Having thought about what go do with all the books (in the absence of any bookshelves being fitted yet), I've decided to take the paperbacks up to the loft, stored and stacked in plastic boxes, leaving the (mainly large) hardback books downstairs stacked in boxes in the alcoves either side of the fireplace in the kitchen diner.
In the process, I'll empty the cardboard boxes, some of which will be returned to a neighbour who lent them to me back in May, the rest will go on Freegle for people moving home or with big presents to pack and wrap.
During the day there were more deliveries... a large jute rug to put down in the dining area so there's something nice underfoot for Christmas before the final floor finish is laid mid-January; some spice racks for one of the shallow kitchen drawers, and an indoor/outdoor mat for muddy boots which I'll leave by the front door until the coir matting is down at the entrance. Also delivered was the microwave/grill combi-oven, which should make cooking the Christmas meal a little easier as an adjunct to the main oven.
And the gas man came, inspected the boiler and the hob and has signed them off. Yay!
By close of business, I'd made progress on lots of boxes and shifted all the food out of the old fridge and freezer in the temporary front room kitchen and into the new integrated fridge freezer into the new kitchen. By 7pm the old appliances had been collected by a Freegler who was delighted. At 8pm, the man came to grout the tiles laid on Thursday in the hall, lobby and downstairs loo. By 9.30pm, he'd finished. Just enough time for me to take a few "after" photos before falling into bed exhausted.
Sunday 16 December
I'm trying hard not to panic about being ready to host the family at Christmas; the adrenalin is spurring me on. I spent most of the day transferring paperbacks up to the loft in my backpack (so as not to damage my spine) and storing/stacking in plastic crates under the eaves....
...with other odds and ends at the opposite end of the room. This should leave enough space for the builders to finish what they have to do up there, and for the bed to be made up in the middle of the room. The room won't be decorated in time for Christmas, but it will be clean, warm, comfortable underfoot (when the rug goes down after the builders have gone) and with a comfy bed (new mattress ordered today, to be delivered on Thursday in time for the arrival of my daughter and her partner who will be sleeping in the loft next weekend and over Christmas) a working shower, loo and wash hand basin, and somewhere to store clothes and personal stuff.
Downstairs, there's been good progress but there's still some way to go. I need help stacking and shifting the really heavy stuff (hardback books and framed prints weigh a ton!). However, it's all set up now to move the big sofa into the front room into the space vacated yesterday by the collection of the old fridge and freezer, and move the table and chairs out of the front room into the kitchen diner, ready for our first proper meal in there next weekend. Not long now and I'll be able to put up the Christmas tree, still sitting in its bucket in the garden and dress the house for the festive season, now the Christmas decorations are out of storage!
I managed to get out an hour or so before the shops shut to do my first bit of Christmas shopping, but no time to get cards. I think it will have to be electronic greetings for a lot of friends this year...
One of my neighbours called by today to pick up the cardboard storage boxes she loaned me back in May. It's been a while since she last visited and a lot has changed since then. She loved the floor tiles and was impressed by the spacious feel downstairs, in the hall, loo/utility room and kitchen area (a relief to me too, as I'd been worried that I might be trying to squeeze too much in, making it all feel a bit cramped).
She also though the loft looked bigger, even though the shower takes up a bit of the useable floorspace...It's because the old under-eaves cupboards have been removed, so you can see right to the end of the room, even though the ceiling height is too low to walk around in this area.
Her positive reaction gave me the reassurance I need that all the thinking, planning and design decisions have been worth while...notwithstanding 7 months of upheaval, noise, dust, disruption, and inconvenience ...Even now, it continues...the kitchen is now spread over three rooms: washing up in the bathroom until the kitchen sink is plumbed in; food, crockery, cooking and baking stuff in the new kitchen; table top oven and kettle still in the front room as no working cooker hood or electrical sockets in the kitchen proper. People talk about the workspace triangle - no more than two metres between sink, oven and fridge. Mine are separated from each other over two floors and three rooms at the moment. But not for much longer, I hope.
Another big push next week then, all being well, we will be able to prepare food, cook, eat and wash up in comfort in one large "zoned broken plan" space. Bring it on!
I will barricade the front door and won't let the builders out until they make it possible....
Another day of action.
Up in the loft, the new wash hand basin has been plumbed in..
...and the new short projection "back to wall" toilet pan is in place. To my relief and delight, there's enough room to get in and out of the small cubicle without a problem and use both the wash basin and toilet with ease! They have even boxed in the pipework - a much neater job than before.
The rest of the bannisters have been put back on the landing...
....and the last little bit of tiling above the glazed panel in the shower has been put in ready for grouting, then the rest of the shower can be installed. Then the extractor will go in and the new shower will be useable after a good clean up!
Downstairs, the wash basin in the ground floor loo has been plumbed in, and the pipework concealed behind a panel, with just a neat bottle trap exposed.
Fireboard has been put in place under the stairs, along with the last little bit of wall which separates the kitchen/diner from the hall. The whole lot is now ready for skimming.
Boring to look at, but keenly anticipated by me, the new consumer unit is in place and boxed in under the stairs on the hall side of the dividing wall, and they have started making the electrical connections. All being well, by close of business tomorrow, there will be light and power in the kitchen which doesn't rely on wander leads plugged in elsewhere in the house.
There have been some other works too...
...the original mantle has been made more secure against the chimney breast wall in the dining area, the mouldings around the edge replaced, and the sides and top tidied up with new strip wood.
Skirting boards have been removed in the hall ready for the ply subfloor to be laid on Wednesday. The floor tiles were ordered today, will arrive on Wednesday and be installed on Thursday, if all goes to plan.
Architrave has gone up around the frame of the door to the downstairs toilet/utility room...
...and the frame to what will be the door from the hall into the new kitchen/diner together with its (soon-to-be) glazed panel above:
The skip is due to go tomorrow (not sure if another one will come in its place or whether this really is goodbye to the last one!) and a man is coming to plumb in the gas hob. I've put the builder in touch with the kitchen designer who will explain how to remove the drawer in the cabinet directly below the hob to access and connect the gas supply more easily without damaging the cabinet.
There was an email from my neighbour this morning. For once it's more good news than bad. He's pleased that the fence between our gardens is now at the right height (it was lower than it should have been initially, giving no privacy to either of us). He's also pleased that some flashing on the guttering which had worried him has been sorted out to his satisfaction, and that the gutter on his own lean-to has now been restored to its original length. It had overhung the boundary and the builder had cut it a few inches too short when replacing it after the extension was completed. He's still a bit concerned about one bit of guttering, but that can be dealt with, I'm sure. So, on balance, a positive communication this time around.
Last but not least, the glazed stained glass panel on the front door which had been damaged by the builders is restored and back in pride of place. Yay! I have passed the invoice on to the man in charge to confirm that he is going to pay the bill direct, rather than me paying it then passing the cost on the builder.
Tuesday 11 December
Early morning flurry of activity as the man is coming to connect the gas supply to the hob today, and no one can figure out how to remove the drawer in the unit below the hob to access the gas pipe. However, some communication between myself, the kitchen designer, the partner of the man in charge and the gas man and it was sorted out. When I returned home, the hob was in place and connected up so it looks like the man was satisfied that the Regs had been copied with in terms of the door height of the extractor unit over the hob. Phew! The cooker hood door can stay as it is...
By close of business, recessed lights had been fitted in the ceiling in the kitchen area...
... but other light fittings (wall lamps, track light and pendant lamps) still not installed and the power has still not been connected up so I can't use the new fridge freezer or give away the old appliances currently in the front room which need to be gone by Friday lunchtime to make space for the sofa which comes out of storage then. This is worrying, as they can't work on Thursday while the hall floor is being tiled, and all under floor work must be finished by the time the new floor is laid. The plywood sub floor is due to go down tomorrow. I hope they can work round that, otherwise we have a major problem!
What the builders have done is to skim plaster the new partition above the stairs in the kitchen area...
Also in the evening there was a text from floor fitter who was due to lay the plywood subfloor in the hall, lobby and downstairs loo/utility room tomorrow. His job has over run. He won't come until Thursday, but he will lay the sub floor and tiles in one day, so that we can walk on it on Friday, when things come out of storage. That gives a one day window of opportunity for the builder to crack on with under floor electrics tomorrow. Quite a relief, provided they do it...
During the day, I liaised with the kitchen suppliers - the small replacement door for the wall, cupboard and replacement wirework for a base unit is due to be delivered early next week. The larger door maybe before Christmas or maybe not. I'm not worried about that. It's the storage space I need at the moment!
After a few email exchanges with the kitchen designer, I've reached a decision about the back splashes in the kitchen. Steel panel (either brushed or mirrored behind the hob - samples to be agreed) and grey tinted mirror glass elsewhere.
Lots of deliveries due tomorrow - floor tiles, washing machine, tumble drier and pull out unit for the tall cupboard in the downstairs WC/utility room. My head is buzzing thinking about priorities now we are so tight for time with stuff coming out of storage this Friday and the family arriving for Christmas the following Friday. However, I have done some Christmas preparations. I've bought a Christmas tree which is sitting in a bucket in the garden, and agreed with the family about presents. A little bit of progress on that front!
Wednesday 12 December
I woke up well before 6am, trying to work out how to get everything done in the next few days. Feels like Mission Impossible... But I have made a decision about a microwave/grill and ordered that, so it should be coming soon. Another thing ticked off the list.
Quick chat with the partner of the man in charge who's here today, with updates about deliveries and what needs to be done before the floor tiler comes tomorrow.
It's been a busy day for deliveries. First up, the pull out wirework unit for one of the cupboards in the downstairs WC/utility room. Next the washing machine and tumble drier. Then the floor tiles for the hall, lobby and downstairs WC/utility room. Things get stacked up in the dining area, while waiting to be installed in their new homes.
By close of business, the appliances have been put into in the "laundry cupboard" in the downstairs loo...Difficult to photograph until the proper lighting has been installed in this small space. I will need a little folding step up to reach the top of the tumble drier, but there's space to store that on top of the washing machine, along with washing powder (though I would have preferred the shelf on which the tumble drier stands to be lower, if I'm honest...too late now).
The plasterer has been busy during the day. The sides and tops of the replacement windows in the loft room and loft stairs have been skimmed and finished. The cills will be replaced at the bottom of each window to complete the fitting...
...The electricity supply to replace one of the wall lights in the loft has been installed and skimmed over....
Downstairs, holes in the ceiling where outlets for light fittings had been drilled in the wrong places have been filled ...
The cables for the dimmer switches to be fixed on the end panel of the tall larder unit have also been cut it and skimmed over above the top of the units...
....and other areas of rough plaster elsewhere in the room have been skimmed over, ready to finish the decoration.
Boards over the screed in the dining area have been taken up and put in the skip and the place generally de-cluttered. Then re-cluttered, as bits and pieces being stored in the downstairs loo/utility area were taken out ready for the floor in there to be tiled tomorrow.
The electrician has also been busy, connecting up the new lighting and power circuits, relocating a power point from the inside to the outside of the coat store, installing the "Scaleguard" on the incoming water pipe and connecting it to the electricity supply behind the dishwasher. This is a gadget which generates magnetic pulses to stop limescale building up on the inside of water pipes and "wet" appliances...it doesn't soften the very hard water we have here, just keeps everything moving through so that limescale doesn't build up. That's the theory, anyway. Whether it works in practice, only time will tell.
Although they worked until 7pm, second fix electrics still weren't finished today so I continue to rely on work lamps plugged into wander leads from the main house power circuit to light the space and provide power for electric tools. What I hadn't realised until the builders left, was that the power to the combi-boiler had also been switched off, so another day and two nights without central heating or running hot water, relying on the fan heater for warmth and the electric shower in the first floor bathroom for all hot water. And just when the coldest day/nights of the week are forecast...
My last job of the day was to sweep up and vacuum the areas where new flooring will be laid tomorrow, take some "Before" photos, and think about the best way to use my time when I'm effectively marooned above ground floor level when this happens.
Here are the "Before" photos of the hall, lobby and downstairs loo where the new floor tiles will be laid tomorrow:
Thursday 13 December
The floor man arrived on time, around 9 o'clock. He left materials on the front path and went off to fetch his workers ready for the off.
I had a quick session with them when they arrived to point out the extent of the areas to be tiled, then left them to it, cutting and laying the plywood sub-floor.
I've been camping out in the front bedroom with the fan heater, kettle, cup, coffee, milk in a cool bag, some biscuits, bananas and a sandwich for lunch. Ever the optimist, I'm hoping to be back downstairs for the evening meal!
Part of the day has been spent trying to sort out arrangements for the old fridge and freezer to be collected by a "Freegler" as soon as the new fridge freezer is up and running and I can move the perishable food across into its new home.
It's a bit of a logistical nightmare...can't move the food until the power circuit for the new kitchen diner is completed and the appliances can be switched on, which will happen some time tomorrow morning, I hope. However, the space currently occupied by the old fridge and freezer in the temporary kitchen in the front room is where the sofa will go when it comes out of storage tomorrow afternoon, so they really ought to be collected before then.
There was lots of interest when I put these things on Freegle, but trying to find someone who can pick them up in a narrow time slot in the middle of the day is proving to be difficult. It looks like either the food may have to sit in cool bags for a while, or the sofa be stored temporarily in the dining area along with other stuff until the old fridge and freezer have been collected...but then I would have to find help to move it into the front room when the space has been freed up. Cool bags it will have to be I think, if push comes to shove...
For a large part of the day, I've been up in the loft, reorganising the builder's stuff, clearing and cleaning a space big enough to accommodate some of the things which will come out of storage tomorrow - mainly paperback books in boxes and a rolled up carpet.
Before...
During....
After...
The "after" photos don't actually convey the hard work involved in shifting bags of plaster, industrial tile clutter and boxes of ironmongery, then getting rid of the plaster dust, scraping gunk off the floor and washing down ready to put down an old bedspread and blanket to demarcate an area where stuff can go when it comes out of storage. I've cleaned down the stairs too...The vacuum cleaner gave up before me...I'll need to clean the filters, they are totally bunged up...My back is playing up too, not surprisingly.
But seeing the progress downstairs has been encouraging! Even the man delivering the external lights commented how good the tiles looked - a modern twist on traditional Victorian tiling, just right for a house of this age which is being refurbished.
By 7.15 pm, all the tiles had been cut and laid, but it was too late by then to do the grouting. That will have to wait until after the builders have left on Saturday when no one will be coming and going for an hour or so while the grouting is done and then has a chance to dry out overnight. At the tiler's request, I've covered all the tiles to stop dust and dirt getting into the joints before they are grouted so no "After" photos for now, just one showing an assortment of table cloths, blankets and black plastic protecting the floor for the time being...
The partner of the man in charge has been in touch to see how I am, and how the tiling is going. I think he was worried about leaving me in a house with no heating on a very cold night/day. Final gas inspection booked for Saturday (I may have been a bit premature assuming that all OK with the height of the cupboard door above the hob. We shall see....)
...The builders will be back on site at 7.30am tomorrow morning. Another early start. All I want for Christmas is a lie in...and a clean, relatively dust-free house...and a working kitchen, laundry, boiler, heating, hot water....
Friday 14 December
Awake before 5am. Try as I might, I couldn't get back to sleep so made a cup of coffee, got up and dressed and was downstairs by 6.30am for breakfast. When the partner of the man in charge arrived not long after 7 o'clock, I was busy pulling out spacers from the floor tiles now the adhesive has set, and gathering up bits of cardboard used to identify the tiles laid last so I didn't walk on them last night.
During the morning more stuff has been shifted out of the house to clear space for this afternoon when my things are coming out of storage. They have started putting the extractor unit in the loft shower...
...the fitting inside the shower (which is a combined light and extract unit) has yet to be put in place, but the rest seems to have been installed.
The electrician is working hard on the second fix electrics. By close of business, the new fridge freezer was up and running (albeit connected temporarily to a light switch!) so tomorrow I can transfer food from the old fridge and freezer and contact the Freegle people who want to take them away. Then I'll have some space in the front room for the sofa. I can now use the recessed ceiling lights in the downstairs WC, lobby, kitchen and dining areas. No more work lamps! There are still light fittings to be installed and sockets to be connected, but it's a good start.
At lunchtime, I checked around to make sure that there was still cleared clean space ready for things to be stacked when they come out of storage. To my dismay, the area I had cleared, cleaned and protected with an old bedspread in the loft had been populated by the builders stuff.
What bit if "please keep this area clear" didn't they understand, I wonder?
The afternoon was spent at the storage facility with two men and a van, taking everything out of my lock up unit, transferring to the van, driving home and transferring everything to either the new kitchen diner, or upstairs to the loft. The whole process took 3 hours from start to finish.
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| Going... |
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| Going.... |
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| Going... |
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| Gone! |
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| It's come home... |
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| 7 months in storage...and it's home at last! |
Just one obvious casualty - a drawer damaged when it fell out of a chest of drawers as it was being carried up to the loft. Everything else seems to be OK, looking at the boxes now piled up in the kitchen/diner, waiting to be unpacked and put away. My plan to have shelves up ready for the books didn't come to fruition due to the continuing building work, so where to put stuff requires a bit of thought....tomorrow, I think.
Saturday 15 December
Before he left last night, the electrician said he'd be back today, around 10 o'clock. But he didn't show up. For once, I didn't hassle. It's good to have there house to myself once in a while. Having thought about what go do with all the books (in the absence of any bookshelves being fitted yet), I've decided to take the paperbacks up to the loft, stored and stacked in plastic boxes, leaving the (mainly large) hardback books downstairs stacked in boxes in the alcoves either side of the fireplace in the kitchen diner.
In the process, I'll empty the cardboard boxes, some of which will be returned to a neighbour who lent them to me back in May, the rest will go on Freegle for people moving home or with big presents to pack and wrap.
During the day there were more deliveries... a large jute rug to put down in the dining area so there's something nice underfoot for Christmas before the final floor finish is laid mid-January; some spice racks for one of the shallow kitchen drawers, and an indoor/outdoor mat for muddy boots which I'll leave by the front door until the coir matting is down at the entrance. Also delivered was the microwave/grill combi-oven, which should make cooking the Christmas meal a little easier as an adjunct to the main oven.
And the gas man came, inspected the boiler and the hob and has signed them off. Yay!
By close of business, I'd made progress on lots of boxes and shifted all the food out of the old fridge and freezer in the temporary front room kitchen and into the new integrated fridge freezer into the new kitchen. By 7pm the old appliances had been collected by a Freegler who was delighted. At 8pm, the man came to grout the tiles laid on Thursday in the hall, lobby and downstairs loo. By 9.30pm, he'd finished. Just enough time for me to take a few "after" photos before falling into bed exhausted.
Sunday 16 December
I'm trying hard not to panic about being ready to host the family at Christmas; the adrenalin is spurring me on. I spent most of the day transferring paperbacks up to the loft in my backpack (so as not to damage my spine) and storing/stacking in plastic crates under the eaves....
...with other odds and ends at the opposite end of the room. This should leave enough space for the builders to finish what they have to do up there, and for the bed to be made up in the middle of the room. The room won't be decorated in time for Christmas, but it will be clean, warm, comfortable underfoot (when the rug goes down after the builders have gone) and with a comfy bed (new mattress ordered today, to be delivered on Thursday in time for the arrival of my daughter and her partner who will be sleeping in the loft next weekend and over Christmas) a working shower, loo and wash hand basin, and somewhere to store clothes and personal stuff.
Downstairs, there's been good progress but there's still some way to go. I need help stacking and shifting the really heavy stuff (hardback books and framed prints weigh a ton!). However, it's all set up now to move the big sofa into the front room into the space vacated yesterday by the collection of the old fridge and freezer, and move the table and chairs out of the front room into the kitchen diner, ready for our first proper meal in there next weekend. Not long now and I'll be able to put up the Christmas tree, still sitting in its bucket in the garden and dress the house for the festive season, now the Christmas decorations are out of storage!
I managed to get out an hour or so before the shops shut to do my first bit of Christmas shopping, but no time to get cards. I think it will have to be electronic greetings for a lot of friends this year...
One of my neighbours called by today to pick up the cardboard storage boxes she loaned me back in May. It's been a while since she last visited and a lot has changed since then. She loved the floor tiles and was impressed by the spacious feel downstairs, in the hall, loo/utility room and kitchen area (a relief to me too, as I'd been worried that I might be trying to squeeze too much in, making it all feel a bit cramped).
She also though the loft looked bigger, even though the shower takes up a bit of the useable floorspace...It's because the old under-eaves cupboards have been removed, so you can see right to the end of the room, even though the ceiling height is too low to walk around in this area.
Her positive reaction gave me the reassurance I need that all the thinking, planning and design decisions have been worth while...notwithstanding 7 months of upheaval, noise, dust, disruption, and inconvenience ...Even now, it continues...the kitchen is now spread over three rooms: washing up in the bathroom until the kitchen sink is plumbed in; food, crockery, cooking and baking stuff in the new kitchen; table top oven and kettle still in the front room as no working cooker hood or electrical sockets in the kitchen proper. People talk about the workspace triangle - no more than two metres between sink, oven and fridge. Mine are separated from each other over two floors and three rooms at the moment. But not for much longer, I hope.
Another big push next week then, all being well, we will be able to prepare food, cook, eat and wash up in comfort in one large "zoned broken plan" space. Bring it on!
I will barricade the front door and won't let the builders out until they make it possible....
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