Is the Great Wall of China long enough...

The newly laid hearth

The room in the roof now finished

What a frustrating week.

~

Angela from the sprinkler company did not have the opportunity to find out if I was a crabby old git because she didn't turn up on Monday. Despite being told that she would be on site at 10.30, there was no sign of her by 11.45 so I telephoned her office where they displayed a remarkable lack of knowledge of Angela's actual, or even intended, movements. They promised to phone back and let me know what was what. By 14.30 I hadn't heard so called again. This time it was a different person, but the same lack of knowledge. I waited on hold for ages to be eventually told that Angela had experienced a family emergency and that was why she hadn't appeared, but no-one at the sprinkler company had been informed of this. No apology and no suggestion about rescheduling a visit. You won't be surprised to hear that I then engaged "extreme crabby old git" guise. Eventually, when I had run out of things to moan about I was told that the MD would phone me back. This doubtless would be on the same basis that I had been told he would "phone me back" at least 12 times in the last 4 weeks only to receive an email, usually three days later. Sure enough, no call but a rather more prompt email. My response to his email elicited another email from him with the line "don't take your frustrations out on me". Unbelievable!

~
In the ensuing email exchange some other facts emerged - two of which relate to our erstwhile building surveyor's lack of attention to detail. Firstly, the flow and pressure requirements of the sprinkler system were clearly identified to him but he chose to only regard the pressure as being important. Secondly, he ignored the fact that Fire and Rescue now insist that smoke alarms are linked to the sprinkler system so that they sound the alarm when the sprinkler system activates. You'll forgive me for being a little cynical here, but I think we'd know that the sprinkler system was activated without the need for an audible alarm because we'd be bloody soaked! Anyway, its a mandatory requirement that should have been factored into the design and wasn't. It will now cost us more money to replace the existing alarms with wireless ones as that's now the only way of linking to the sprinkler system. To add insult to injury, the MD of the sprinkler company told me that a site visit wasn't now necessary anyway because it would only confirm what he'd already told me - that the best solution was an upgraded pump. He now realised that a booster pump wouldn't work - something both I and my plumber had said as soon as it was suggested. There was still the question of the pipe diameter that fed the sprinkler system which the engineer had said was too small. The MD said that it wasn't ideal but would probably be OK. Now that really inspired me with confidence. His final shot was that I should contact the pump supplier who would send out a man to site. The telephone number he gave me was a fax, and when I did find the right number and contacted them they knew nothing about it and referred me to their area rep. Guess what - he's on holiday until the end of July according to his voice mail.

~

Apart from the foregoing, two other issues convinced me that I should look elsewhere for a company to provide the commissioning of the sprinkler system - the appalling lack of communication internally within the existing supplier's organisation, and their reluctance to respond to telephone messages which usually results in a three day turnaround to questions. Time to look elsewhere I thought. A quick Google and I found a national company that seemed very keen to help and promised an engineer at site the following day to check it all out. The engineer would call me on my mobile one hour before arriving at site. That sounds a bit more like it. But by 16.00 on the allotted day - no engineer. I phoned the head office to be eventually told that the engineer had over-run on a previous job and wouldn't get to me. It would be rescheduled. Brilliant - lots of gloss and no action. The trouble with this situation is that I cannot get the air pressure test done until the sprinkler system is commissioned as the main control elements are in the roof space which can only be accessed through the cupboard and then a rather difficult crawl in the limited gap left as the roof meets the walls. This opening needs to be sealed if the air pressure test is to get anywhere near the target.

~

Tile cutting man did his usual as well - got confused over instructions and didn't telephone me when he had cut the tiles for the hearth. I called on Monday afternoon to enquire about progress, to be informed that they were finished on Saturday and were waiting for me. Whatever happened to customer service?

~

We now have at least three more candidates for the Great Wall of China shooting gallery!

~

Talking of people to shoot, I spent an hour applying silicone sealer to the gaps beneath the skirting in the living room and have used up three tubes so far, but not finished. This is due to the uneven surface that our useless screeders have left us with. It seems that wherever there is a radiator, the screeders couldn't be bothered to level the screed off and it dips noticeably. In one place there is a gap of 15mm - not evident after the screed was finished, but highlighted by the straight edge of the underside of the skirting.

~

Despite the foregoing saga of sprinkler systems, I have managed to get the hearth tiles laid and grouted so that the stove can be installed. The main problem we're now running into is the holiday season as not only is Pump man away, but so too is Stove man (until next week). I guess we'll experience more holiday delays over the next two months.

~

I spent Friday cutting and fixing the architrave and skirting in the attic room (now to be called the study we've decided), and followed this with two coats of varnish so this room is finished apart from a couple of electrical fittings that Andy has to install.

~

Jan and I spent the weekend painting the bedroom - the ceiling is now finished at long last, and most of the walls have two coats of "Whisper of Dramatic". Where do these paint manufacturers get these pretentious names from? Its actually a rather pleasant and subtle pale grey, but I reckon the marketing person responsible for that name had been at the wacky baccy the day they came up with it.

~

We've finally managed to find time to think about flooring and after only a couple of days have surprised ourselves with decisions on the flooring for the all the rooms. The kitchen, bathroom and utility room will have Karndean tiles, sisal for the hall - all from a local supplier in Shefford. We've chosen John Lewis loop pile wool carpets for the living room, study and bedroom.

~

Ever the optimist I'm hoping that we will hear from one of the sprinkler people this week and get things moving. We should also hear when the stove is to be fitted too. Time for a beer I think....

~

Jan & Rog