And now we've a kitchen sink too

Ray the kitchen fitter finished on Thursday (although a couple of items are wrong/missing). He's done an excellent job and we're really pleased with the standard of work and the appearance. It looks a tad dull at the moment but we're researching brightly coloured upstands and splashbacks (I thought these we're only found in men's toilets!) to add a bit of colour. And we've yet to decide on what colour to paint the walls - or what's left of them.

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Darren our plumber paid another of his flying visits on Friday and has completed the plumbing in the utility room which means we can now get Anglian Water to give us full mains pressure rather than the pathetic dribble we're allowed at the moment. This momentous stage triggers two more things - firstly I can arrange for that dam portable toilet to be collected, and also get the sprinkler company in to do the final fix. They need full water pressure before they can test. Once that's done they provide a certificate that I have to send to the building inspector.
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Andy the electrician put in another of his weekly Saturday visits and has worked through most of the list I compiled of "things for the sparks to finish". Importantly we now have permanent power to the garage and thus the rainwater harvesting system no longer requires the annoying connection of an extension lead from the house to activate the pump. Andy expects to finish next week. Mind you, I have heard that before and its not happened yet. I expect we'll see him on Saturday again.

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I arranged for a site visit from our local woodburning stove emporium and Chris Smith duly appeared on Thursday. After a quick peek up the chimney he announced that it would be quite straightforward and immediately gave a quote for the supply and fit of a Danish stove. We'll be placing the order on Tuesday but it will take 6 weeks or so to be fitted. That should give me time to build the hearth and surround, particularly as I become a part-time worker as of 1st June -just two days a week. Roll on full retirement - I haven't time to go to work!

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Our good friend Jon Ward has been on duty again today, and we now have most of the utility room fitted out. Jon's returning tomorrow and hopes to finish. Considering he's had to butcher (in the nicest possible way) several units to fit in the awkward space available, including cutting door down in size and fixing vinyl edging, its amazing that he's done so much in just three days.

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Jan's been working in the garden - putting in various plants/shrubs from Clifton which have been "resettled" into the front garden at Brookvale. Inevitably, with all the rich soil we had delivered earlier in the year, dandelions, docks, bindweed, and other weeds have appeared as if by magic since the rain began a few days ago. Jan has managed to rid us of most of them but in so doing has found more debris, building rubble, and other detritus which is gradually filling our latest skip.

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Before Jon arrived today I managed to apply another coat of emulsion to the bathroom wall (red to match the tiles and cupboards). Although I had to buy a 2.5 litre tin, when I thought much less would do, I find that even after four coats I will need to apply another two at least. Good job I have a larger tin then!

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We had a further visit from JJ the tarmac man today as I had asked him for an official quotation for resurfacing the drive. Previously he had sent his price through Roy Bacon our erstwhile project manager. As I had been of the opinion that Roy had added a mark-up to JJ's price I decided to cut out Roy and go direct. I was rather surprised that his quote to me today was £2,500 higher than it was three months ago via Roy. Don't think JJ is going to get our business!

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And so to the bureaucracy that has always been present in this build. I have mentioned that we wanted Velux roof windows in the attic room. When I applied last year permission was refused even though once the house is built I can automatically fit them under the revised (and relaxed) permitted development rules. But no, you have no planning permission for this we were told, so you must make a new application (£400). At the time I was told that the house had to be substantially complete before permitted development came into being. It was implied that this meant the house had to be signed off. However, I enquired of the planners at the beginning of the week to tell me exactly what they meant by "substantially complete". The response was that the house had to have its basic elements - walls, roof, windows. Now that was rather different to what had previously been implied so I replied saying that as we could move into the house in 2 weeks if we wanted to, it was obviously substantially complete and as such we must able to carrying out any works covered by the rules relating to permitted development - i.e. fitting our Velux windows. I advised what we wanted to do and asked that the planners confirmed that in their opinion our house was substantially complete, and that I would be covered by permitted development rules if we fitted Velux windows. The reply was typical :

"From the information you have provided you are unlikely to require planning permission for the insertion of roof lights. The link below details the limits and conditions for alterations to the roof"

There followed a link to the government planning portal and a summary of what can be done under permitted developments. So ask a specific question and you are referred to a vague summary but the planners will not give a definitive response. If you get it wrong you're in deep do dos. If the government seriously wants to save money I know where they can start!

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I've already spoken to Pete Brooks our chippie, and will arrange for him to fit the Velux windows I bought cheaply on Ebay as soon as possible.

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Jan & Rog (who feel like they are getting there at last)