Post Easter Update

Well, not enough has happened....

We have a plastered and skimmed upstairs hallway, and the big cupboard on the landing (which forms one side of the bath alcove) has been built and boarded ready for skimming; the washing machine is finally plumbed in - no more trips to the launderette.... - but that's it. No kitchen, still a room full of tools and still a huge list of little things to 'finish off' everywhere.

We have booked the flooring contractor for the 7th April to lay the Amtico downstairs. The only issue is really the cupboard in front of the UFH manifold, but we can allow for that if we have to. There are still a couple of holes in the floor where the old electric meter was and some little gaps near the walls in a couple of places but they won't take long.

What is annoying is the pace - we are so close now, but it is taking forever. The fridge got unpacked yesterday and the the gap was plasterboarded so once that is skimmed the fridge can go in - but the plug might not be live so we still may not be able to use it.

On the good news, the bathroom tiles should be in today or tomorrow so they should start tiling next week with a bit of luck.....

Heating controls

Been a mixed week. The bath surround has almost been completed - just waiting for the tiles to be delivered now. Some plastering in the snug - once that's been skimmed, it will be ready for decorating. The kids room is still the tool store so no chance to decorate yet. The rear hall now has skirting boards so a few bits of plastic trim around the windows and the radiator and that's done (plus another coat of paint!). The light is up and (I think) it just needs the circuit breaking closing to make it work. The utility needs the door panel fitting, the radiator and the tiling round the sink then it's time for the washing machine, drier and fridge and the units.

The big thing this weekend was the thermostats came on-line! We now have control of the heating downstairs, and even after one day it's better. With UFH you don't turn it on and off, you 'set it back' - ie. turn it down - overnight. So we are running the main room at 22 degrees from 6am to 10.30pm and 16 degrees overnight. The thermostats take care of warming up and cooling down so the room should be at the chosen temp at the chosen time. This morning it was 20 degrees at 6am so tomorrow it will switch on earlier!

The controls come from Heatmiser in Darwen, Lancs.... very swish they are too!


Parlo ripped the landing apart yesterday taking out the old bathroom doorway to keep the ceiling level throughout the landing. He started plasterboarding as well so that should be boarded and ready for skimming today (?). Hopefully they will get on with the raidators today but the plumber has gone AWOL at the moment. And, yet again, we are waiting for the sparky's next visit...... Still plenty to do, but nothing that should hold the build up now.... apart from the isolator switch bank for the appliances, which all have their own fused spur anyway, it's mainly fittings now - switches, lights, etc.....

Ah.... the ensuite. Although we had success with one lot of UFH, the en-suite Walkwarm system failed to start. We are waiting to find out what's wrong. Worst case is the ribbon of wire was damaged, in which case the tiles will have to come up..... so we're going to wait until the bathroom is ready before we even think about that.

Utility

The utility room is now plastered apart from the sink wall - Geoff had 'fun' connecting our new taps. The old taps were about 6 inches apart on the wall and the pipes ran vertically into them. The new ones are a bit different, as you can see from the picture:
These aren't the actual taps, but they're similar enough. The entry point for the controls is at the side, so lots of pipe bending was required, but it looks good, and will be very smart when it's tiled...... ah.... tiles...

We have been struggling to pick tiles for the bathroom. We want it smart, but bright, rather than too conservative.








Sarah found some nice glass border tiles - 50mm x 10mm vertical strips in different colours - but unfortunately, at £17 for a 100mm strip, I think that's about £600 just for the strip round the bath..... maybe not then!

But we have found a mirror

Better bathroom, roofs and closing borders

A slightly better piccy of the bathroom. We have just received the mirror for over the sink - it is circular with a built in light at the top...


A new window in our old bedroom - we liked the brown walls, but the paper is off now ready for redecorating for the kids.


And the flat roof on the rear porch is now finished. I'd have preferred the proper roof, but it was a few quid and we need to save some money somewhere....


Now next door's new gable wall is up we can see just how 'open and spacious' they have kept the two houses.... At least our plot opens up once you are past the front corner, will be interesting to see how it looks once we plant some greenery along the boundary.


No more pictures of the kitchen now though. The worktop is on (but not fixed) so I'm going to wait until it's finished before I post any more. Progress wise, the extractor is up and we have a working oven, hob and the garbage disposal. Plus the popup power (which doesn't 'popup' unless you pull it - a bit disappointing) in the island is live. The bare switches and sockets are in, but no face plates until its a bit safer. Ditto the flooring.

Panoramic Lounge

Until Jim fires up Photoshop and does this properly, here is a quick, freebie powered panorama....


Stepok's Raw Importer was used to .... import the RAW camera files and create the JPGs
Firmtools' Panorama Composer (free trial) was used to stitch it together.

I have a flash virtual tour to upload as well.....