After a day off from the builders to catch up on my day job on Monday, from Tuesday onwards, a procession of trades people of one sort or another came to the house to do their thing and leave, having ticked off various jobs (and created others...)
On Tuesday it was the turn of Pete the carpenter, back from his skiing holiday to remake the frame to the new kitchen diner door and fit the door itself. By the time he left, the frame had been rebuilt to the right size; the mash up of architrave, quadrant and strip wood surround on the hall side of the frame had been replaced by the same architrave all the way around; the door had been hung and the glazed panel above refitted.
The bodged job I'd been left with before Christmas had been sorted out and, in the process, there has been an opportunity to improve the door frame design details. Only one fly in the proverbial ointment; the position of the door handle. Before commenting, I'd asked whether there was a technical reason for the door handle height. The answer was no - it was the default position, 1m above floor level. He'd gone on autopilot and drilled the hole for the spindle without thinking about whether the default position was right for this door.
All the original 4 panelled doors in the house have the door handle centred on the middle "rail" between the top and bottom pairs of panels...
 |
| Original kitchen door, now stripped and repurposed to serve WC/utility room |
 |
| Original front room door (in need of some TLC!) |
...the handle on the new four panelled door (chosen to reflect the original design of the original doors) has been placed too high the central rail, almost on the narrow "style" on the right hand side of the door. It jars visually when I look at it, as well as feeling uncomfortably high to use.
To his credit, the carpenter realised he'd made a mistake as soon as he looked at the other doors nearby. It's not the sort of mistake you can rectify without leaving a hole where the door handle had been fitted. OK if the intention is to paint the door, but not on an oak door to be left unpainted as in this case.
While we were mulling over this issue, the brother-in-law of the man in charge (i.e. the new partner) arrived to discuss a timetable to finish the outstanding work. He's agreed that when the carpenter comes back to fit skirting boards - as as when the final floor finishes are down - the door will be replaced with the handle in the right position, if I decide that I can't live with it.
In terms of the programme to finish the works, I have agreed to liaise with the kitchen people and floor fitter about their availability to finish their work, and the final bits of building work (installing under cabinet lighting and fitting skirting boards) will take place when the glazed splash backs and floor finishes are all sorted out. In the meantime, the electricians will continue to come in as and when they can to test, replace where necessary and finish all the outstanding bits and pieces, while "dad builder" will continue to tick off the other more general building jobs.
"Dad builder" duly came in on Wednesday and Thursday, and did some more work on the extension gutter to fix a leak and adjust the lead flashing so that water doesn't splash over next door when it rains heavily. He has met my unhappy neighbours and had what he described as a "terse" conversation with them about the design of the gutter, but declined to get drawn in (sensible man) simply pointing out that they had complained about a problem and he was doing his best to fix it...
Inside, he has finished sanding the filled hole knocked through the front room wall when a steel beam was inserted in the room next door, and replaced a whole section of picture rail to match the original. Even without being decorated, it looks so much better...
Plus, he has fixed some wonky floorboards by the front door, which were taken up to connect new cables under the floor into the original fuse box in the front room, and cut some ply to fit in the space as a subfloor for a new bit of coir matting, which I'll cut to size and fit. Then I can install a brush bar and deal with the gap under the front door where north-easterly winds blow in a gale from time to time. Getting there slowly, but another step in the right direction...
On Thursday, "dad builder" was joined by the kitchen designer first thing who had come to fit a stainless steel splash back behind the hob.
Now that's installed, the next step is to template for the smokey grey mirror glass that will be used for the rest of the splash backs...and when that's fitted the under cabinet lighting can go in...baby steps, but all in the right direction.
By close of business on Thursday, I just had enough time to paint the "gallery" wall below the Velux windows in the dining area, ready to shift boxes of books to that side of the room over the weekend. Then I can paint and measure up and order components for the new shelving that will go in either side of the chimney beast...my "library wall"
I was in London all day on Friday so (with some trepidation) I left the electricians to carry on in my absence. There was one phone call while I was away with a query about the position of light switches in the loft, but otherwise all quiet on the house front. Too late to see what was what by the time I returned home on Friday night, so the big reveal was on Saturday.
There are now dimmer switches on the lights in the kitchen diner, so I can play around to my heart's content creating different moods by adjusting lights and light levels. Judging from the dust, they have taken out and checked all the recessed ceiling light fittings too. Furniture has been moved around in the front room too, so they have been working on the replacement for the original fuse box, but I don't know what they have done.
The biggest change is in the loft where there are holes, holes and more holes...
...inside the loft room, inside the shower and outside on the landing. Clearly still a work in progress. I text the electricians to thank them for the work they have done, and ask when they will be returning to finish...pointing out that I have a visitor who will be sleeping in the loft room in three weeks time, and that I will be away for part of the time between then and now. Still waiting for an answer to that question...
But at least there's one light now working in the loft room and the light fitting over the loft stairs is screwed back up in place....it's been dangling for months!
With help from son Jack who has been staying over the weekend, the cardboard boxes of books stored in the kitchen diner have been shifted from one side of the room to the other, or moved under the stairs, and the furniture has been rearranged (again) to make it easier for me to paint the alcove walls and measure up for shelving.
 |
| Three wide shelves to go into this alcove to the right of the chimney breast, at mantlepiece level and above |
 |
| Deep shelves to go in this alcove to the left of the fireplace |
 |
| Books currently in crates will go up on the new shelves and the clutter will be replaced by a new sideboard |
 |
| I can enjoy the room with a view from a new angle now boxes of books have been moved and furniture rearranged....time to reupholster that vintage Ercol armchair, I think? |
Other minor things have been ticked off this week....Some books have been transferred into plastic crates and the surplus cardboard boxes packed flat and given away via Freegle. Another Freegler has take left over bits of kitchen cabinet carcasses to do some repairs, so that's a lot less clutter to deal with...The firm that moved my stuff out of storage in December and, in the process, dropped and damaged a drawer from a chest of drawers have paid some compensation. But I'm still waiting for the firm that laid the tiles on the hall floor to fit the last bit of trim where the tiles meet the wooden floor in the front room....he keeps telling me he's coming then doesn't turn up for one reason or another. I can feel a less than positive review coming on...
The man in charge has sent a revised invoice which I'll have to look at in detail next week. For now, he's just had an acknowledgement and a query as to whether he's paid the bill for repairing the stained glass panel in the front door damaged by the builders last autumn, the invoice for which has been long outstanding...
I have a long list of house-related things to deal with today, but am feeling a bit lacklustre...coming down with a cold, I think...so I might just take it easy. Well, that's what Sundays are for, isn't it?
Comments
Post a Comment