Weekend 1st - 2nd September
It was an "interesting" weekend for all the wrong reasons.
Firstly, on Saturday I noticed cracks in the wall on the first floor landing, directly above the old dining room where a steel beam has been installed and the wall below removed. I'm hoping its just as a result of all the banging and thumping that's been going on recently rather than any serious structural issues. However, I will have to tell the man in charge when he's back from his long weekend away.
Secondly, when returning home after an afternoon out, the front door opened as I went to push the key into the mortice lock. I was sure I'd locked the door when I went out...On checking, I discovered that the door was locked as I thought, and the lock mechanism is working just fine. There must be another reason..
Recently the front door has been springing open when on the latch (not unusual when builders are coming and going all day), but I had no idea why. This problem dates back to when the front door had been taken off its hinges and removed completely to get the beam lift in and out of the house. It must have been put back without checking that it would close securely.
It's not a big issue when there are builders here. However, I feel somewhat vulnerable when home alone overnight, so I've placed a wedge under the door on the inside to make it difficult to open without making a big noise. The man in charge has been asked to make some adjustments, so it should be fixed soon.
The other "interesting" thing that happened over the weekend was a scaffold going up at the back of the house to access a small flat roof area over the loft dormer which needs to be replaced. The loft conversion was carried out almost 30 years ago and the small flat roofed area is now well past its sell by date. In spite of patch repairs in recent years, it's still leaking enough to stain the ceiling and needs to be sorted out quickly now that the summer drought is over.
Unfortunately, the only scaffold slot available at short notice was on Sunday. Leave it any longer and it would be too late; work would have progressed on the extension roof making it impossible to put up a scaffold at the rear of the house. I wasn't even sure it would be feasible at this stage in the process given the work on the extension roof carried out to date, but the man in charge said they would be able to do it - let it go ahead. There being no other option, I agreed.
All this happened very much at the last minute via text messages and emails as the man in charge is away on a short break and not supposed to be working. I didn't see the final confirmation that it was actually going to happen until waking up early on Sunday morning. Rather than disturb my neighbours with the news in person, I emailed them to apologise in advance, tell them what was going to happen later on, explain the reason why and apologise for disrupting their peace on Sunday when we all expect and welcome a break from ongoing building work.
Understandably, the news didn't go down well...One neighbour complained that she'd had to cancel something planned to take place in their garden that afternoon. But she could see how upset I was at being put in this unenviable position (there were tears) and realised that it was happening out of necessity rather than choice. We ended up having a conciliatory hug on the doorstep just as the scaffold lorry turned up.
Somehow the men managed to erect the scaffold through a relatively small gap in the extension roof which had been left open for one of the roof windows. I was impressed, but have (so far) resisted the temptation to climb the steep ladders and take in the views from the platform at the top!
The scaffold crew had arrived at 9.45 am and left just under three hours later, so thankfully we were all left to enjoy a sunny Sunday afternoon in peace and quiet. After the scaffolders had gone, I bought both immediate neighbours a bottle of wine as a small token to apologise again for the morning's disruption.
The neighbour who had complained earlier turned up at the front door a short while later with a bunch of flowers for me to say sorry that she'd caused tears. I was touched.
However on leaving the house later that afternoon, I found that the other bottle of wine and the card with my apology had been left on my doorstep by the neighbours on the other side (the ones who have been upset since the extension started coming out of the ground) with "No thanks" scrawled in large letters across the envelope containing the card. How sad is that?
Somehow I don't think good neighbour relations are going to be resumed with this couple any time soon, if at all...
However, my faith in human nature has been restored by neighbours further along the street who have allowed me to use their washing machine from time to time, reducing the need to visit the rather dreary local launderette. Another has offered me the use of his house and facilities as a bolt hole while he's away on holiday. This will be really helpful if/when the water is turned off and I can't use the loo! Other friends living a bit further away in Oxford have made similar offers of help and assistance, for which I am truly grateful.
So...at the end of an eventful weekend on the house project front, the generosity and kindness of good friends and neighbours have far outweighed the negative vibes emanating from my immediate neighbours on one side. I hope that one day civilised, if not friendly, relations will be resumed, but sadly I fear it it may take some time, if this experience is anything to go by.
It was an "interesting" weekend for all the wrong reasons.
Firstly, on Saturday I noticed cracks in the wall on the first floor landing, directly above the old dining room where a steel beam has been installed and the wall below removed. I'm hoping its just as a result of all the banging and thumping that's been going on recently rather than any serious structural issues. However, I will have to tell the man in charge when he's back from his long weekend away.
Secondly, when returning home after an afternoon out, the front door opened as I went to push the key into the mortice lock. I was sure I'd locked the door when I went out...On checking, I discovered that the door was locked as I thought, and the lock mechanism is working just fine. There must be another reason..
Recently the front door has been springing open when on the latch (not unusual when builders are coming and going all day), but I had no idea why. This problem dates back to when the front door had been taken off its hinges and removed completely to get the beam lift in and out of the house. It must have been put back without checking that it would close securely.
It's not a big issue when there are builders here. However, I feel somewhat vulnerable when home alone overnight, so I've placed a wedge under the door on the inside to make it difficult to open without making a big noise. The man in charge has been asked to make some adjustments, so it should be fixed soon.
The other "interesting" thing that happened over the weekend was a scaffold going up at the back of the house to access a small flat roof area over the loft dormer which needs to be replaced. The loft conversion was carried out almost 30 years ago and the small flat roofed area is now well past its sell by date. In spite of patch repairs in recent years, it's still leaking enough to stain the ceiling and needs to be sorted out quickly now that the summer drought is over.
Unfortunately, the only scaffold slot available at short notice was on Sunday. Leave it any longer and it would be too late; work would have progressed on the extension roof making it impossible to put up a scaffold at the rear of the house. I wasn't even sure it would be feasible at this stage in the process given the work on the extension roof carried out to date, but the man in charge said they would be able to do it - let it go ahead. There being no other option, I agreed.
All this happened very much at the last minute via text messages and emails as the man in charge is away on a short break and not supposed to be working. I didn't see the final confirmation that it was actually going to happen until waking up early on Sunday morning. Rather than disturb my neighbours with the news in person, I emailed them to apologise in advance, tell them what was going to happen later on, explain the reason why and apologise for disrupting their peace on Sunday when we all expect and welcome a break from ongoing building work.
Understandably, the news didn't go down well...One neighbour complained that she'd had to cancel something planned to take place in their garden that afternoon. But she could see how upset I was at being put in this unenviable position (there were tears) and realised that it was happening out of necessity rather than choice. We ended up having a conciliatory hug on the doorstep just as the scaffold lorry turned up.
Somehow the men managed to erect the scaffold through a relatively small gap in the extension roof which had been left open for one of the roof windows. I was impressed, but have (so far) resisted the temptation to climb the steep ladders and take in the views from the platform at the top!
The scaffold crew had arrived at 9.45 am and left just under three hours later, so thankfully we were all left to enjoy a sunny Sunday afternoon in peace and quiet. After the scaffolders had gone, I bought both immediate neighbours a bottle of wine as a small token to apologise again for the morning's disruption.
The neighbour who had complained earlier turned up at the front door a short while later with a bunch of flowers for me to say sorry that she'd caused tears. I was touched.
However on leaving the house later that afternoon, I found that the other bottle of wine and the card with my apology had been left on my doorstep by the neighbours on the other side (the ones who have been upset since the extension started coming out of the ground) with "No thanks" scrawled in large letters across the envelope containing the card. How sad is that?
Somehow I don't think good neighbour relations are going to be resumed with this couple any time soon, if at all...
However, my faith in human nature has been restored by neighbours further along the street who have allowed me to use their washing machine from time to time, reducing the need to visit the rather dreary local launderette. Another has offered me the use of his house and facilities as a bolt hole while he's away on holiday. This will be really helpful if/when the water is turned off and I can't use the loo! Other friends living a bit further away in Oxford have made similar offers of help and assistance, for which I am truly grateful.
So...at the end of an eventful weekend on the house project front, the generosity and kindness of good friends and neighbours have far outweighed the negative vibes emanating from my immediate neighbours on one side. I hope that one day civilised, if not friendly, relations will be resumed, but sadly I fear it it may take some time, if this experience is anything to go by.
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