If only we had a water supply....

The (wet) shower room

The bathroom (nearly finished)

The other half of the bathroom

Our "disabled" ramp and pea grit area

... we could get rid of that damn portable toilet! But Anglian Water are not shifting - they refuse to provide any significant water pressure - just the 1/2 litre an hour that trickles through. This means that our bathroom fitters can't test their pipework and so we end up with all the pipes boxed in and tiled, hoping there are no leaks. Monopolies - I hate them.

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Anyway, that apart, Vic and Dave our two bathroom fitters have transformed the bathroom and shower room as you can see from the pictures above. Dave (tiling) set about tiling those walls that Vic (plumber) needed to fit things to, so they swapped rooms so each could carry out their own bits of the work. Tuesday brought some bad news though - we had been sent the wrong toilet for the shower room. Instead of the "3/4 back" one ordered we had been sent a "back-to-the-wall" jobby. I raced back to the supplier in Bedford on Tuesday with the wrong toilet/cistern, hoping they would have the correct one in stock. But no, they didn't. Blast! Worse still, the correct one might not arrive until next week, well after Vic and Dave had expected to finish. Fortunately, as it turned out, one was found (somewhere) and duly delivered for Vic to fit on Saturday. We're really pleased with the appearance of both rooms, and with the benefit of white tiles on the walls, both look light and bright. Unfortunately, we were some tiles short for the bathroom, and due to the bank holiday, will have to wait until Wednesday next week for the delivery.

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We had confirmation on Wednesday that our stairs are en route from Poland and will be fitted on the bank holiday Monday. The meant that I had to varnish the woodwork in the lounge before the stairs were installed as I would have difficulty reaching some of the skirting with the stairs in situ. That was my Saturday mapped out then!

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Also this weekend (Sunday now), Tony, our plasterer, is going to render the fireplace. Jan thinks I've gone a bit over the top on this as I wanted the corners to be round and not square (I was only thinking of the ease of cleaning - really). This meant I had to make up formers to create the "roundness" and Tony will be building up layers of "stuff" over my formers. That has reminds me that I need to buy some more pamments as we intend to use the ones left over from the porch, but will need four more.

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Wednesday produced another upset - the kitchen supplier told us that they could not longer get the material for the doors we had chosen. This meant that the quadrant shape cupboards at the "breakfast bar" end of the kitchen would have to become square. That's a real shame, but Jan felt the substitute she had chosen was the best compromise. I guess it will give us slightly more cupboard space though. On the subject of kitchens, Nigel the kitchen planner visited on Tuesday to double check the measurements and make sure that his boss's figures were correct. Production of the kitchen and worktop starts next week with fitting still scheduled for week commencing 17th May.

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With the absence of rain we had become a little concerned about our hedgerow plants. Some seemed to be doing OK in their plastic spirals, but about 30% seemed less than happy with no sign of growth at all. We cut down the spirals of those that looked healthy to give them room to expand, and removed the spirals from those that looked dead. However, when Jan pruned back some of the "dead" ones, the wood was green, so perhaps there is life there and we're being impatient. The rain this weekend should help.

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One little tale that restores ones faith in the stupidity of some areas of the building trade - I ordered four bags of walling and bonding material for Tony on Monday, with instructions that the bags should be put in the garage where I had cleared a space. Where did the driver leave them? Why, in the middle of the flower bed that Jan and I had spent some time digging, fertilising and raking at the weekend. Beggars belief, doesn't it? Even ignoring the instruction to leave the material in the garage, he had the choice of a paved area, a gravelled area, the lawn, and an obviously recently-dug flower bed. All were equally easy to unload on, but he chose the flower bed - DOH!

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As we are cannibalising the units we plan to put in the utility room (to make them fit where our architect mucked up the room size) we opted for a range of units from IKEA. Having visited their Milton Keynes store last week to check out the different styles, we went back on Thursday evening for our second helping of meatballs (did you know that globally, IKEA sell 43 million Swedish meat balls a year? No? Well you can impress your friends with that gem!) and we ordered the units, worktop, and sink. Jon our very capable amateur kitchen fitting friend, will then set about modifying them for us.

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Jan & Rog

Another quiet week - so its "Door time"

The kitchen area (with new door)

The hall (with doors to utility and shower rooms)

The door to the en-suite bathroom

Our new back door (shame about the meter cupboard)

Very little movement on the house this week, although Andy the electrician did put in another half day on Tuesday and we now have lights as well as power to the sockets. The boiler continues to keep the chill off and we seem to have dried everything out pretty well now.
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We heard from our Polish stairmaker - the stairs are made; they're just waiting on the glass which is due with them next Monday (26th) so it is planned to fit the stairs sometime around the bank holiday weekend (30th April to 3rd May).

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I've been varnishing the new back door and sanding down the new internal wood prior to sealing as well as removing the framework around the opening to the mezzanine in preparation for the stairs to be fitted.

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I've also built the disabled access ramp (compulsory requirement now) at the front using riven flagstones - picture next week as we've now finished the area to the left of this where we plan to put lots of pot plants. We've cleared the ground, spread the remains of the ballast, covered it with weed inhibiting membrane and put pea grit on top. Trouble is without mains water, its a bit of a risk putting plants at Wee House as watering is a bit difficult.

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The other news is that we are now officially 6 Brookvale, Upper Stondon, Henlow, Bedfordshire, SG16 6LL - I had the letter confirming this from Central Bedfordshire Council on Friday. They have promised to inform Royal mail so I suppose in due course we will receive lots of important stuff - unsolicited mailers, bills (in particular, council tax), and so on. Better get a letter box in the not too far distant future I suppose. This has got to be the worst value for money in the build - £120 to confirm what Land Registry decided 12 months ago!

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With our bathroom fitters starting tomorrow we're hoping to report the completion of both bathroom and shower room next week, together with the stairs install. Watch this space!

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Jan & Rog

All coming together now

Two of the new doors in our hallway

Having had the four days after Easter as annual leave I managed to get a fair bit of painting done. I even encouraged Darren the plumber to come along and fit the boiler so that we could properly heat the house. But as ever the usual "who did that then" problem arose when Darren asked what had happened to the boiler flue that he had left hanging before the plasterboard for the ceiling had been fitted. The answer was that the people who fitted the ceiling couldn't be bothered to cut round the flue so it had been removed and dumped in the roof void. Then another screeding howler - they had completely covered up one of the waste outlets in the bathroom. Don't you just love this type of irresponsible work ethic? No - me neither. Anyway, after two attempts Darren managed to get a hole for the boiler flue where he needed it (which leaves me with a spare hole to fill in the ceiling), and a bit of chiselling of the screed uncovered the missing waste. Within days Darren was back - fitting the hot water cylinder, so that all remains for him to do is the connection of the rain water harvesting system to the loos, washing machine and sprinkler system.
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And then to the problem of filling the heating system with water - virtually no pressure from the mains so a call to Anglian Water elicited the fact that they refuse to connect a meter and full supply until every bit of the new house's plumbing is finished. They say its so that they can check the quality of the work, but I suspect its more to do with the fact that they charge a whopping £650 for a temporary supply and that's what they want you to take. Given this very unhelpful attitude, and the fact that we needed the house heated before much else could be done we filled the system up from 5 Brookvale's outside tap (with permission of course). The house has now been heated for two weeks and feels very cosy indeed, even with the radiators on their lowest setting.
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Over last weekend, Jan and I took the day off on Saturday, but spent a full day on Sunday - Jan tending the garden, whilst I sanded all the oak timber for the doorframes, architrave and skirting ready for Pete and Lee Brooks to start fitting out this week. I also started building the base for the "level" disabled access that we have to have, and for which we have purchased some paving slabs that will create a gentle slope from the driveway in front of the house up to the porch step.

We were given a Honda motor mower by Tony Holland at a very timely moment as the new lawn had reached the time for its first cut. After 25 minutes it was looking much better.
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On Monday last our chippies duly arrived and started work. Wow - what a transformation with all the internal doors fitted it really does look like a house now. Architrave and skirting is in place too,as well as the new back door. Unfortunately, Pete Brooks spent a few days in Barcelona in the middle of the week and was due to return on Friday. He's still in Barcelona now (Sunday) - in a rubbish hotel because of the Icelandic ash. He will not be a happy bunny. Due to this unfortunate eruption, we'll have to wait for Pete and Lee to return in a week or two to rehang the french doors, as all of them leave a little to be desired.
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Andy the electrician arrived on Tuesday and did another 1/2 day's work before disappearing again. He's trying to keep 4 or 5 jobs going and flits from one to another as people shout. Not sure I could work like that. Anyway, back he came on Saturday and we now have power to all the sockets in the house. He's promised to come back next Tuesday and complete the lighting circuit. That'll be good - I'll be able to decorate in the evenings now .........!
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The other good news is that Tony our plasterer has finished the screeding of the shower room floor and our tiles have been delivered so Vic and Dave - bathroom fitter and tiler - have scheduled the fitting out of the bathroom and shower room for week commencing 26th April. Hurrah - that means that damned portable toilet can go.
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This weekend we've been back - Jan in the garden again, although she did complete the first proper clean of the house with a vacuum cleaner. I've been concreting the ramp for the "level access" and applying varnish to the new back door. Much of this afternoon has been spent in discussing the arrangement of cupboards and work surfaces in the utility room with a friend - Jon Ward - who is dab hand at this sort of thing. He's very kindly offered to help design and fit it out for us. So - this coming week Jan and I will do something we've never done in this country before - visit IKEA! I've been to one in Malaga, but never in the UK. I'm told it will be an experience. (I hope a better one than the "experience" of my only visit to MacDonalds)

With the internal woodwork done and the electrics and basic plumbing nearly complete we seem to be making good progress. We're both feeling that Brookvale is really our home now as it all comes together.

Jan & Rog

Oh for a bit of co-ordination

The CAD drawing of our stairs

This has proved to be an interesting week, not least because unknown to us our Polish stairmaker has already started production of the stairs. Delivery in 2 to 3 weeks Chris (unpronounceable surname) advised. Wow - how good is that? We're really looking forward to the installation - it'll make such a difference to the living room. We've opted for the side stringers to be painted white, but with oak treads and handrails. There will be a glass infill between the handrails and the stringer, matched by an oak handrail and glass along the upper floor edge.

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With a gentle prod or two, Andy the electrician had sub-contracted the fitting of the downlighters to Dave Bacon - brother of Roy, our project manager. Dave is a sprightly 70 year old who scampers up and down ladders like a thirty year old. By Tuesday night, nearly all the downlighters were in place. Fortunately, the wall lights arrived this week too, and Andy returned yesterday to fit more sockets plus the wall lights (both internal and external). An unexpected arrival was Mick the alarm man who finished off the wiring and fitted movement sensors in the house and garage. He's just waiting for the power to be switched on before he can fit the control panel and test out the system.

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Our bathroom fitter and tiler visited Wednesday night to see how things were but advised that the house was still too damp to be able to consider tiling yet. They want to see some heating on for a couple of weeks before that start. As we'd had the same message from the kitchen fitter, it seemed like Darren the plumber would need to get his skates on.

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So, on Thursday morning I called Darren. "Can't do it for 3 weeks" said Darren. "*$^*&^%£" said I! Darren agreed to see if he could "fit it in". Knowing that this "fitting in" would be unlikely (based on past experience) I decided to buy two convector heaters and use them instead. That would also need Andy the electrician to make sure we had power to the ring main. However, on my return after buying the two heaters, Darren phoned back to say that he had changed his schedule and that he would fit the boiler on Wednesday next week. Brilliant - anyone want two convector heaters? BUT, Darren went on to ask if we had the gas meter installed as this could take 6 weeks. Well, I didn't know as I had only just discovered that the key to the gas meter cupboard had been left locked in the gas meter cupboard. A lunchtime trip confirmed my fears - no meter. Pooh, pooh and Barney McGrew - the gas had been installed for over 4 months. My project manager should have been more on the ball about this. I'll check out the British Gas web site - that'll tell me what to do. The usual freephone and a couple of menu options later and Clive was asking me for my MPRN (?) number or he couldn't help. Apparently, Murphy, who installed the gas service to the house should have provided this unique reference number. A quick trip home to check the documents, but nothing like an MPRN number could be found. Phoning Murphys produced the number and I called British Gas back. After a 5 minute question and answer session Gladys Pugh told me that the meter would be installed next Friday. Great - I shall be at Wee House next week as I'm on leave, and Darren's rescheduling will not be wasted.

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At 07.40 on Friday morning my mobile 'phone leapt into life - it was Adam - 20 minutes early - already at Brookvale and raring to go on the hedge planting. We rushed off to the house and set Adam off - only 150 items to plant. By 10.30, two cups of tea made, and an awful lot of chatter, we had all the shrubs planted and Jan could have written Adam's biography based on a rather one-sided conversation with him. Nevertheless, the shrubs look great with their canes and spirals. We just need some bark to cover up the border and keep the weeds down. We've bought a small supply from Homebase but Adam reckons we'll want 5 tons - sounds a lot but if we have to cover the border 3 inches deep with the stuff, we'll want an awful lot of 60 litre bags like the four we've bought.

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Jan got a bit carried away digging the area where we think we might plant vegetables. More rubble, weeds, and bramble roots have been unearthed and "skipped". Not content with the digging, Jan went on to finish the first coat of paint on the bedroom ceiling - bless her.

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I've been faffing about rather - taking down the temporary plywood covering on the mezzanine so that the Polish lads have an easier job fitting the stairs. However, I spent much of the day replacing rusted screws in the window fittings. Not quite sure how supposedly stainless screws rust, but I purchased some more from Ebay and went round checking the windows. I've also had to adjust many of the window stays and handles as some were ill-fitting. Does anyone do a good job?

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Tomorrow will see us put in a full day at Wee House - painting, gardening, filing holes in the screed (GRRRR) and so on. But with a week's leave I should be able to make some significant inroads into the painting, plus sanding and staining much of the skirting and architrave that Pete and Lee will use the following week.

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Jan & Rog