Moving on - minor glitches

The bathrooom is now fully plastered and we're painting the dry looking bits with special new plaster paint.

Meanwhile on Monday the Appliances arrived for the kitchen.  We went for free delivery (spent almost £1000, should have been free anyway).  which means Curry's give you a 4hr time slot if you phone after 9pm the night before.  Great.  So MG is at the house for 3.30pm ready for the 3.45 start and confident they'd be there before close of play at 5pm.  6.30, no sign, so we went over to paint a bit and take over. Dad didn't have the right guide for the router to do the worktop cutting yet either so that job stopped - so no Kitchen Sink yet.  At 7.30 MG and dad left for the Chip Shop.

Tuesday we did some Fitting in the kitchen and a bit more painting.

The oven would be in if the cable had been long enough, and the fridge would have been in if Dad hadn't had a moment of misjudgement and put the skirting board in making the space too narrow for it.  There was also an issue about needing to open the door wider than 90 degrees which meant we had to stop Colin from changing the hinge side.  

Wednesday MG took granma to B&Q to get her diamond card then we swapped a bigger wall cpd for a smaller one and got a smaller base cpd.  The old base will heve to go somewhere else...

Wednesday we got the new cupboards built and the fridge is in.  Yippee.

The kitchen ceiling still has sheets on it rather than a ceiling.  It makes going to the bathroom at night interesting because the light shines up through holes in the floor from the kitchen.  You have to switch the main light off so people outside can't watch you perform your ablutions through the landing window - still no door then.  anyway it is eerie and a bit unsettling.. There are still some stains round the footprint of the old loo.  The hosepipe is our advanced cistern filling device.  Civilisation can't be too far away can it?

Kitchen and Bathroom Progress

Another 2 weeks of work, planning and internet searching and we have made quite a lot of progress.  The bath's here, shower and toilet and washbasin too.  We collected the kitchen units from B&Q - including Weds over 60's discount through granma, then got laminate flooring fromWickes , spent a day putting it in. ..Meanwhile dad has been plastering the bathroom so we have old sheets tacked to the ceiling to protect the new kitchen as we build it from stuff falling through gaps in the bathroom floor.  Like an Arabian Nights Tent.

It's starting to look good.

Hygiene Issues - not for the faint hearted

You may have noticed there is no Kitchen ceiling.
Dad decided there's so many pipes and wires along there, they need identifying and rationalising.

There's also the Smell.  Right from the start there's been a bit of a piddly smell in the house.  We found wee stains on carpets and dog hairs etc, but taking the carpets out and washing floors with a lot of Strong Stuff hasn't resolved it.  Then there was some evidence of a leaking loo upstairs.  We made the cistern leak worse and had to take it out.  We did the flushing with buckets of water from the basin.  When we took the basin out, MG sorted out a hose pipe for flushing.  It was from the only remaining tap - outside on the wall.

The WC pan was leaking somewhere and every time it was used we had a problem.  MG bought a lootogo from Wickes, but dad wouldn't fit it.(waste of time).  That was when we girls started to go to IKEA for a wee rather than sit on a leaky pan in a room with no door facing the hall window with a view in from at least 6 surrounding houses. (we had been pretty tolerant).

All that leaking has made an ominous Dark Stain on the kitchen ceiling joists.  It also corroded the ceiling!
This cannot go on.  We cannot go on either.

More New Skills and security

The boiler is in.
Dad fitted it at the weekend when Mum was in York.  Colly's mate was too busy at his day job.  Luckily dad already had some basic boiler fitting skills (There's a family tale about the time when MG had to hold up a heavy cast iron boiler while he screwed it to the wall.  Equal division of labour?).  The complexities of the Combi Boiler were new to him though, but he had C's M as a consultant and good instructions - just as well - C's M will finish off and commision later.

Of course an expensive new boiler means we've had to step up security, so MG had to find the old towels to conceal the boiler.  we've already got a lot of old curtains up at the windows so people can't see in easily and potentially spot tools they fancy (or granma's cake, or the mini camping kitchen, or my boiler suit from Aldi - we got a lot of suitable clothing there).

New Skills

Dad has discovered his Inner Plasterer (internet and Michael). Good News – 2 Kitchen walls are now perfect. Bad News – he wants to do all the window reveals and more walls than we said before. It looks as if we’ll be moving in later than we thought.

I too am learning new skills: I can use the mortar mixer drill attachment to make up a batch of patch then I can clag it on. I can also do rough plastering including corner bead setting (so that’ll help the reveals then).  I built most of the New Wall and dad's plastered it, so the old kitchen door is no more - we have an opening for a door into the laundillary and you get into the kitchen from there.

Luckily Colly has mates with skills and contacts. The boiler cost a lot less than on the internet and the mate’s going to fix it. We’ve taken out all the gas pipes so there’s no fire any more, just 2 fan heaters. Colin’s mate’s mum can find us a good electric fire, hr says. He’s already sorting out radiators and bathrooms and maybe kitchens for us.

Dad’s schedule is in disarray. I hadn’t realised how much Wor Hoos is his project. Bringing in Expert help may mean he has to go Off Plan.

Meanwhile, Eddie and his team have put in the New uPVC windows, including patio doors at the back, front and back doors. Cost a bit more than expected but they’re great. It’s good being able to open windows when it’s dusty as well as getting the masks out. Shame about the neighbours’ washing.

4 more weeks' Progress

It's moving on. 

The list of stuff to do is massive and the place is still Messy Messy Messy. We've had the New Angle Grinder and the Old Little Angle Grinder involved. From here all that means is there's a thick layer of dust over everything (teapot, overalls, pipe insulation).  Granma and her Asthma are Barred.

Q: Why do boys think that putting down a bit of protective sheeting is a waste of time?
A: Because they also think Cleaning Up isn't their job.

In Real Life (My World), Cleaning is infinite once the Dust Curse descends.  It just gets moved around a bit.  Stripping Old paint is also very hard work and Time consuming which is why when it's Dad's turn - rather than being for others to do in preparation for his Master Skills- he moans and gets New Scrapers, or of course gets the Angle Grinder out and does a bit of gouging.

There is progress- honest. Mostly in the removing and chasing dept., but with some filling and tidying.  For a whole two more weeks it doesn't look great, I know.

The Priest Hole is open over the stairs.
The kitchen is nearly ready to Plaster - Shame Michael the Plasterer has retired due to a hand injury.  He's dumped his tools too, so one of us has to Learn New Skills.

Fortnight's Toil

Missing Necklace

Well we were so busy stripping and everything.  I seem to have misplaced my special Diamond Necklace from Collie for Christmas.  I was taking care of it and took it off to get ready for work - stripped for stripping.  I remember putting it in my bag.

It doesn't seem to remember that's where it's meant to be though and is now floating through a space-time warp, ie Lost.  MG has searched the floor for twinkly things, she's scoured the hoover dustings and sifted the rubbish in the bin.  Luckily it's insure, so we may just manage to get it replaced.  I have to report it to the police though, which is a bit Serious.  Where did you lose it? no idea officer.  Not great.

Why is everything so complicated




Progress

If I saw the house a fortnight in I would never have bought it. I didn't realise that it takes time to get a place stripped for action.










We're learning all along. that's the Family team of Dad. MG, Colin and Me

• 

• if you use evo stik the ceiling tiles will be permanent
• the toilet leaks somewhere. It smells everywhere.
• They didn't plaster the electrical conduit in properly, it falls off
• next door put their car in the back garden and got a broken window
• next door the other way have now added a blue mattress and a broken toilet to their garden furniture and broken fence
• it costs £600 for the Gas Board to check when you move the meter
• for electricity it's £750
• the boiler doesn't work - and it's not old enough to qualify for scrappage
• it's a very cold winter
• there are a lot of black knee-his and old bandages behind the kitchen radiator
• some people can't work tidily
• if you ask people who know, they always say any superfluous wall could be load bearing
• what the hey - knock the little one down anyway.

This is where they had a bedroom opening off another and a priest hole in the stairwell. Now it's open plan.




That means we're not going ahead with the full refurbishment plan maximising potential etc.