Preparing for the next schedule of work

The master bedroom

The kitchen

Sunset at Brookvale - Sunday 23rd January 2010

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There have been no trades at Brookvale this week - Roy's men were due to continue from the middle of the week, but that turned into Monday the 25th, and rapidly became Wednesday 27th! They still have to widen the drive near the road, dig the service trench for BT's telephone cable, lay the porch pamments, and reinforce the road where the sewer pipe crosses.

The photos show the excellent work that Steve Baldock did on the dot and dab, and just for Julie (my niece) - a sunset!

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Jan and I have ordered our bathroom and shower room fixtures and fittings from a supplier in Bedford. We've opted for a Burgundy coloured cabinet to house the (en-suite) moulded basin, and hidden cistern, with large mirror and overhead lighting. The shower room will be a wet room, which makes life a lot easier. We've been given the names of two fitters used regularly by the supplier and are waiting for them to make contact. Delivery on the fittings is in the region of 4 weeks, so we should have plenty of time to arrange everything that needs to be in place before then.

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As Tony, our plasterer (and very good friend) is starting next Friday, Jan and I have been doing our usual Mr & Mrs Mop routine and clearing up so that Tony doesn't have to spend all his time moving "stuff". Tony appeared today too, and put up the reinforcing angle beads that protect the outside corners of the walls. As ever, our time at Brookvale rather extended as we tried to make the whole site look a tad tidier. By the time we left tonight the rubbish on the skip was 1/2 as high again as the skip, all the rubble had been moved into a single pile, and the place looked generally better for it. Needless to say, Jan and I are knackered!

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With Tony starting on Friday, Jan and I will need to spend a couple of evenings protecting the wooden windows from the inevitable splashes of plaster. This involves the use of masking tape and polythene sheet - a combination known to reduce many a do-it-yourselfer to a sobbing wreck as the two materials should work together, but frequently don't. This is particularly so when the polythene sheeting we purchased from the local builders merchant on Saturday, is covered in wood dust. Wood dust and adhesive tape do not go well together.

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One other little problem to wrestle with is the issue of "level access for wheelchairs" which all new builds are obliged to provide now. In essence we must provide an easy means for someone in a wheelchair to gain access to the house and use a toilet. We've had to fit a wider front door than normal to achieve the minimum width laid down, as well as a wide shower room door, but the actual meaning of "level access" is not clear at all. That'll be a call for Central Beds building control tomorrow.

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The other job Roy's men will be doing is levelling the site and clearing the spoil. Once this is done we intend to find a firm to improve the subsoil, bring in topsoil, and turf most of the back garden prior to decisions on beds, ponds, bird feeding areas, et al.

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Two old gits from Clifton feeling their age!