This week's star prize goes to the Screeders!

Another relatively quiet week with just the shower waste fitted by Darren the plumber which enabled me to lay out and fix the floor grid. The waste sits in a plastic matrix which has the fall

pre-set so once the outer part is set level, and the same height as the adjacent floor, there is a drop of a few millimetres to the waste. The screed is then poured over the grid, using the grid as a guide for the level, and tiles laid over the screed - simples!

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Because we didn't have the shower waste when the screeders were on site I had to shutter off the floor area under the shower until it could be done. So now we can get this screeded along with the "making good" of the areas the screeders couldn't be bothered to finish off properly. Talking of screeders, they really do take the biscuit for sheer bloody-mindedness. When I arrived at Wee House this morning, Andy the electrician was there. Due to his workload it was the only time he could find to get some of our work done. Quite casually Andy asked if I knew what had happened to the heavy duty cable that, 3 weeks ago, arrived from the garage through the utility room floor and the end of which was attached the the consumer unit. "No idea" says I. "In that case" said Andy "it must be under the floor and has been covered over with the screed." There was nothing for it but to get the cold chisel and lump hammer and knock seven bells out of our nice utility room floor. The resulting hole is the star of our picture above. Eventually I had created a 12 inch by 4inch hole right through the screed, insulation, and polythene liner. Nestling nicely in the screed was not only our heavy duty power black cable, but also one of the pipes that supplies water from our harvesting tank. Our "couldn't give a dam" screeders had just dumped mortar on both cable and pipe and completely covered them. It must be wonderful to be so conscientious! One thing is for sure - they will not be coming back to do the remedial work - I'll either do it myself or get someone else and then deduct a suitable sum from the as yet unpresented screeder's bill. So - I award the GOLDEN RASPBERRY to our screeders.

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We had all the oak timber - skirting and architrave and internal doors delivered on Friday, but only after the usual delivery farce. I had given clear instructions to the timber company - call me 30 minutes before the delivery is to be made and I'll jump in the car and unlock the garage. Just for good measure I called early Friday morning to check that all was in hand. "He left 30 minutes ago" I was told. "But I said to call me......" then thought there was little point - it was only raising MY blood pressure. Having politely said that I would be at site after a 30 minute session with my local osteopath at 09.40, I found 3 missed calls on my mobile 'phone at 09.35. By now I had reached Wee House so called the number shown - it was the timber company driver. "I'm outside your house now mate" he said. "Really" says I, looking outside and only seeing our neighbour's two cockerels. Wondering whether I should ask him whether he is the black cockerel or the golden one, I instead enquired "Which house are you outside?". "6 Hillside Road mate" he said. Explanations about having the wrong address and the need for him to turn round were met with puzzlement because he had "SatNav" and that "tells me I'm in the right place!" Eventually I convinced him that both I and the correct delivery address were 400 yards from his present position so he reluctantly turned his truck round and made his way the Wee House. It turned out that he was looking for a house named Brookdale that was supposedly at the further end of Hillside Road. He even had the correct post code for that address and not ours. Amazing when you consider that we must have had about 20 deliveries of timber from the same company over the last year.

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I ordered and collected the downlighters for the majority of the rooms on Thursday. We've opted for low energy compact fluorescent (CFL) as they give a good general warm light and meet the requirements of Part L of the building regulations which states that at least 25% on the lights in a new build must be low energy. I've also ordered walls lights and the outside lights so electrically, we're about there now.

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We've reached a decision on tiles too and just need our tiler to confirm the amount we need so we can order them and tick another item on the (long) list. We've also bought all the paint we need at a very reasonable price as Homebase had a "two for the price of less then two or something", but also offered a 15% discount this weekend.

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Jan spent today digging up household rubbish from the garden - it looks like the area we designated for vegetables was the dumping ground for the last 100 years. Another wheelbarrow of bricks, bones, and general detritus has seen its way into the skip.

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I've got a crick in my neck after painting 2/3 of the bedroom ceiling, but I also managed to create the formers for the corners of the fireplace so that Tony, our plasterer can make the corners rounded and not square. On the subject of fireplaces, we've decided to use the remaining pamments to form the hearth. Just need to check the ever-present regulations to see how big the hearth needs to be.

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Jan & Rog

The boys come calling

The "boys" inspect our new porch floor


Jan hard at work

Not a great degree of activity this week, but we now have a floor for the porch. As you can see, Gill's "boys" have inspected it and seem to like it as I found them sunbathing in the porch earlier in the week. These cockerels really are entertaining. They have been tracking us today as we dug the borders in preparation for the hedgerow plants. As we dug so they pecked away. Not sure what they were looking for, let alone finding, but juicy worms were instantly devoured by the darker of the two, but were regarded with some suspicion by the golden one who, whilst apparently fascinated, did not want to go so far as eating one. As for the porch, everyone seems to like it, including Keith the builder working on number 3 Brookvale, who thinks it looks very Mediterranean.

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As we've been digging over the borders today we've found all manner of rubbish - from mattress springs to unidentifiable bits of cast iron, masses of pieces of old clay sewer pipes and more weed roots than we had imagined. After filling the wheelbarrow four times we're ready for Adam to come along and plant the hedgerow.

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I've now ordered all the wood for the internal fitting out - that should be with us in the middle of next week, along with the internal doors. I've also now got all the electrical sockets and light switches and will be ordering the downlights on Monday as Andy, our electrician, has promised to start fitting these next week. We're getting closer to deciding on wall lights too - amazing.

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After some fun and games with the bathroom and shower room fittings, we finally took delivery at lunchtime today. (driver had wrong delivery address - tried to call me at work - despite having given my mobile number - so couldn't contact me. I called them as it was getting late and just managed to turn the driver round as he headed back to Bedford.)

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Chris from The Polish Stair company visited on Thursday, took measurements, and emailed me a very acceptable quote, and CAD drawings of their proposals, by Friday afternoon. Very efficient. Just before Chris arrived, Clive from the screeders came to see why I wasn't too happy with the finish of the floor. He agreed that the guy hadn't trowelled into the corners as he should and promised to get someone along in the next few days to sort it out.

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I've got a meeting with Roy and Darren the plumber on Monday to agree final details and get the remaining plumbing (boiler, tank, etc.) underway.

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We're still undecided about tiles but have to make a decision very soon now that we have the bathroom stuff. Jan's drawn up one of her infamous lists with everything we need to decide in the next few weeks. Think I'd better have a week off work........

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Jan & Rog

Walking Tall

Beware the black hand gang

At the right level now

At long last we have a floor. The screeders were in on Wednesday, together with 6.5 cubic yards of screed, delivered as readymix, and they proceeded to barrow it in and level it off. We had to wait several days before we could walk on it, but by Saturday it seemed sufficiently hard, with no areas of sogginess. Whilst the bulk of the floor is fine, there are a number of problems in the finishing detail - behind radiator pipes (lumps of mortar, and holes), by door frames (holes where the plastic liner wasn't trimmed back), and most annoyingly, cementy hands had been placed all over our nice oak window sills. Due to the acidic nature of the mortar, the area had turned black where the hands came into contact with the wood. Having already spent a long time sanding down the sills, I wasn't greatly pleased to have to do it again today. I've sent pictures of the problems to the firm that did the job and wait their response.

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Yesterday we went off to Buckingham Nurseries and bought our 125 mixed native hedgerow bushes, together with protective spirals and supporting canes. These we've placed in a short trench at Brookvale until Adam can get over and plant them - scheduled now for April 2nd. It was quite funny - no sooner had we heeled in the bushes, than the Boys (the two cockerels) were straight in there, digging for all they were worth. After a couple of the bushes had been upended we decided that we would have to cover them in some way, otherwise they would never see spring (the bushes not the cockerels). Our bushes are now protected by some of that orange fencing builders love.

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We've spent today in the garden, trying to get the hedgerow into some form of order. Despite both of us being there for 6 hours, it looks little different to be honest. However, the skip is now full which shows we must have been doing something.

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During the week I met Pete and Lee our chippies, (we keep calling them Peters and Lee - not sure they would be much use fixing woodwork) who did such a good job on the roof. They had agreed to do the second fix - internal doors, skirting and architrave, and wanted to see what was involved. I heard from Pete on Friday and they will be able to do our work the first week in April. I just need to work out what we need in the way of doors and wood and get it ordered now.

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Roy's boys have finished the base for the porch step which is now to have the pamments laid on Tuesday next week. This is another movable feast as were now on the fourth promised start date. Let's hope it happens this time.

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Following a call from Andy the electrician, We've been musing over light fittings. Building regulations come into play here as we have to have at least 25% low energy light fittings. These must have a special connection that only allows low energy bulbs. Trouble is the lighting scene is a nightmare - Tungsten, Halogen, LED, blue light, orange light, low energy fluorescent bulbs that take 40 seconds to reach maximum light levels, other that take 5 minutes. Think we'll have oil lamps (bet there's a building regulation that says we can't!) Anyway, we think we've worked it out to have halogen lights where we need instant brightish light, and low energy fluorescent, where it is really background light only. This should satisfy the building inspector.

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So in summary, decisions are required on : Light fittings, tiles (still undecided), flooring, paint colours (walls), and probably a host of other things that as yet we are blissfully unaware of. We have got all the light switches and sockets though.

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Oh, and I can now get Pawel, our Polish stair maker, to come out and quote for the stairs now that we have a finished floor level.

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Jan & Rog

Will O the Wisp appears!

Radiators installed

The lounge - now whiter than white!

Had I bet on Darren appearing on Wednesday as promised, I would have lost my bet. He appeared instead one day early, on Tuesday at 08.00, complete with father Don, and apprentice Dave. We'll call them the 3Ds from now on. In a very short time the 3Ds had fitted the radiators and towel rails, connected them up to copper pipe, and lagged the piping. By 14.00 they'd gone although they had to return to run the hot and cold pipes and waste pipe for the shower. Promising to return on Friday Darren disappeared again. True to his word, on Friday he returned to carry out the remaining work. Unfortunately, the radiator for the shower room had originally been the wrong size and the replacement not yet delivered, so the pipework for it has been laid in anyway. Hopefully, the radiator and the pipework will line up....... Just as a precaution, I've covered the rads with their packaging as men with wheelbarrows, shovels, et al who will be laying the screed floor, may not be the most careful.
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Roy's boys - Matt and Ian - were back at site on Thursday and Friday - this time to lay the kerb edging by our garden and the lay the foundations for the porch floor. By Friday night the kerb was complete, and quite a large area of the drive adjacent to the new kerb had been concreted to fill in the holes in the widened part of the drive. Matt also laid the plastic sheeting that forms the membrane over the block floor, onto which the insulation and screed is laid. Clive from AFT Flooring has confirmed that his team will be on site on Tuesday next week to carry out this work. So, by the end of the week we will be walking on the new floor.
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Andy the electrician turned up on Friday to answer a few questions, and he is to provide a schedule of fittings required (for me to order) so that we can get the electrics installed. He's also borrowed an LED light fitting for us to try out as the method of calibrating lights with low energy, halogen or LED bulbs, bears no relationship to the rating of incandescent bulbs so its difficult to judge just how much light will be given by each. Switching the LED fitting on in the dark should show us what to expect. Whilst LED bulbs are much more expensive (£25 each I'm told) they last for 20,000 hours.
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I had booked a week's leave to get on with decorating and arranged for Jewsons to deliver a scaffold tower to enable me to reach the lounge ceiling. This was waiting for me on Monday morning as I arrived at 08.15 and following my Ramses II toilet walking project, I proceeded to to do an Isambard Kingdom England on the scaffold tower. Despite being made of aluminium, some bits were rather heavy. Still, by various means I managed to erect this edifice complete with stabilisers, and by Wednesday had finished the ceiling in brilliant white. Dismantling the tower was almost as difficult as erecting it, but eventually I was able to call Jewsons to collect it. I'm not sure when we'll be decorating the lounge ceiling again, but I can guarantee that it won't be me that does it!
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Roy had arranged to remove (buy!) most of the "stuff" that Jan and I had placed near the garage - 450 engineering bricks, 4 panels of Hares safety fence plus various boards. That made way for yet another skip which we asked to be placed in front of the utility room. Some of you may remember the TV program "The Rise and Fall of Reggie Perrin". Reggie Perrin would tell his boss, CJ, that he was available for a meeting on a specific morning or afternoon. CJ would always respond with a date/time that was not one of those offered. I suspect that the skip driver is a latter day CJ as the skip was left by the garage and right in the way of normal parking or access to the back door of the house. With help from Matt and Ian we managed to push it nearer the garage, as getting to the location we originally wanted was impossible. The arrival of the skip meant a tour of the garage, house and garden to collect various odds and ends. By the end of the day the skip was half full again.
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At the end of the week I had managed to finish the ceilings in the lounge, kitchen, and hall, as well as the remaining walls in the lounge, but as suspected, I required a session with the osteopath to try to unknot various muscles that had objected to intense activity after years of nothing more than keyboard exercises. (I've got very strong fingers though).

During the week we heard from David Kirkpatrick at Loline Interiors. He had managed to reduce the kitchen quote to below the budget we set so we went back to him today to confirm the details and placed the order. Just got to decide on the worktop material/colour now. The start date for fitting the kitchen is now 4th May.
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With the general progress that has been made we needed to start making plans for the internal doors, skirting, and architrave to be fitted. I telephoned Pete Brooks (who had done such an excellent job on the roof timbers) to ask if he would like to quote. I was surprised to hear that he had taken a full time job as a foreman on a site in Watford and so wasn't available for the work. Pete said he would let us know of another chippy who he would recommend. Both Jan and I were very disappointed at this news, but could quite understand the shrinking of the building trade and the effect it must have had on many tradesmen. So Pete taking a permanent job was his only option when work dried up. However, the next day, Pete 'phoned back to say that he and his son Lee had so much enjoyed working on Wee House that he felt the pair of them could help during some time off that they would have in April. That will suit us ideally as it will give time to order the oak skirting and architrave, as well as the Pisces and Virgo internal doors.
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With the end of the hedge planting season approaching (end of March) we decided that it was time we sorted out the hedging; the planners having been quite strict in terms of their requirements. So off we went to Buckingham Nurseries today (the best in the area for hedges) to see what they offered. Within 30 minutes, we had agreed to buy 125 mixed native hedges (Quickthorn, Alder Buckthorn, Blackthorn, Field Maple and Spindle, Dog Rose, Dogwood, Guelder Rose, Hazel, and Sweet Briar Rose). This is to be planted along the boundary with our neighbour's contentious cart track, and to the front of the property up to the porch. We also asked if Buckingham Nurseries could plant the hedges too, but it seemed that they couldn't do so as we were a little far away. However, a sudden change of heart and two options appeared. An older member of staff did planting in his spare time but couldn't do anything for over 6 weeks - leaving it well outside the planting time. Enter stage right - Adam. Adam works for a landscaping company as his day job and for Buckingham Nurseries at the weekend. He also does private work too. Suffice it to say that Adam is built for manual work insofar that his neck is twice the diameter of his head, and his shoulders are sufficiently broad to carry at least one telegraph pole on his own! He has promised that he will plant our hedge - all 125 plants - in 3 hours. This I have got to see, but watching him at work today, I have little doubt that he will do it.
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Jan and I will be at Wee House tomorrow, this time to do gardening as the drier weather has started some shrinkage of the turfs, so our local nursery - Savins - should come to the rescue for some suitable infill material as they're only a couple of doors down the road from Wee House. I'll be doing some sample digging to see what the ground is like where Adam is to perform. Can't have him breaking into a sweat, can we?
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Jan & Rog