Week 24:  12th October

Progress is still being made on the roof.  We had an unannounced visit from the NHBC men last week, who saw John in action and are nominating him for an NHBC award for his leadwork!

Little progress has been made so far on clearing up the windows; soapy water had little effect but if we use low-tack tape, spread it on and then peel it off it does remove the residue, but this will be incredibly time-consuming if we have to do it over every square cm of the frames.  Our batch of paint has been tested and they cannot find anything chemically wrong with the product.  However, we are awaiting a visit from the MD of Peel Gard on Wednesday, so we will see what happens then.

It doesn't look much but David has spent a great deal of time this week grouting the gap between the sole plate and the Damp Proof Course (DPC).  Even less glamorous, Vicki has spent quite a lot of time making the floor everywhere as smooth as a baby's bottom, initially using a wallpaper scraper until spotted by John who kindly informed her that you can buy long handled scrapers - much easier on the back and the knees!

Today Matt Powne from MJP Bathrooms (a plumber recommended by the shop we have bought the bathroom furniture from) joined our merry band of workers; he will be joined by two more of his colleagues tomorrow.  Matt has started to lay the first fix of pipework. Everything has been lifted off the floor, ready to lay the insulation panels later in the week.

David standing beside his temporary shelves - even the sealant guns have a hanging nail on the wall.
In the background at the right you can also see evidence of the first fix of electricity cables and sockets.

We have two circuits for the sockets; one circuit will be for things like the fridge which will need to be left on at all times.  The other circuit is for things we don't want to remain on when we leave the house, primarily so that when Vicki gets into the car she doesn't have to go back inside to check that she turned off the curling tongs - there will just be one master switch by the door.

The blue rolls of tubing are for the mechanical ventilation heat recovery system.

Even the stairs have to be raised off the floor.

The first bits of pipework are beginning to appear;
these engineered joists make work like this so much easier