Hoorah

Well - we have a sparky - he starts on saturday and he's called Chris.


Everything came back from storage today - The first thing I did was connect the router so I am writing this on the main PC upstairs over WiFi - for the first time snce November. 33 Windows Updates!!!


Downstairs looks pretty good now. The cupboard doors are going on and we should get light fittings when Chris starts on Saturday.


Things now look very different

April 3rd:



April 16th:

Yesterday it looked very different again as the stuff came out of storage so we have the piano, dining table, TV etc. in the room. Now the problem is deciding exactly where to put it and cabling it all up!

Floors and sofas

Well, we still have no electrician, and the heating is still off downstairs (although maintaining a good 15-17 degrees even so!), but we have half a floor in the big room and we unwrapped the sofas. The rest of the room should be laid today along with the front hall - another 48 hours then the heating can go back on. The snug should get primed today, screed today/tomorrow and start laying on Wednesday I hope, so that should be done by Friday - heating on for Sunday. Then the rear hall and utility next week, maybe earlier. Carpets are scheduled for w/c 28th.

Geoff collects the doors for the kitchen cupboards today/tomorrow so the big room should start to come together over the next week. Still no sparky though, so no light fittings (bare bulbs), no extractor and the fridge on an extension..... but moving out of the bedroom will be a massive change.

Oh Woe is me.....

Well,

today we had the flooring contractor set to start prepping the floors downstairs for the Amtico....

First they arrived nearer 12 than 10 because they found that they had been delivered the wrong stuff..... perhaps they should have checked.

Then we find out the heating should have been off for 48 hours before they start.... bit difficult wen you find out on the day!

Then, it turns out they were planning on prepping the whole ground floor - a bit difficult when we have stuff in most of the other rooms we were planning on moving into the big room when that was done.....

Anyway

We are now getting the main room, front hall and kids playroom primed today, skimmed on Wednesday (when the floor has cooled) and laid Thursday/Friday. Next monday they will start on the Snug, rear hall and loo, and the utility.

And on the 28th they'll lay the carpets upstairs!

So, fingers crossed, we'll move downstairs this weekend and have more than one room for the first time in... well it feels like years. Still loads to go at, and no sparky as yet so we'll see how much of a delay that causes..... but at least we may get to use the new sofas on Saturday! Hoorah.

Bugger

Well great. Our part-time sparky, Gary, was doing his work at weekends and splitting his time between the UK and Spain. This caused some problems as it could be a while between his visits, but he has really done it now. With no warning, we have now discovered he has emigrated permanently - so Geoff now has to find another sparky to take on a partially finished job. There appears to be no major stuff to do - just all the fiddly finishing up - light fittings, switches/sockets in some rooms, the alarm, the outside lights, but it is a long list....... and there are a lot of wires!

Bugger....

But at least the Amtico shoudl get fitted next week and we can finally move downstairs again!

Outside

Before and After:



The garden hasn't improved much..... but the house has certainly changed!


The front is pretty much there too - The guys spent the weekend putting the plastic trims around the doors and windows, fitting the leading to the front and painting. Most of the guttering is on - just the end and the downpipe needed now. Plus we have the arched trim above the bedroom window. They need to do the same at the back now.



The front door is almost done - a bit of tidying below the sill to do.

The bathroom tiles arrived on friday - I still haven't seen those for the surround, so that'll be a surprise! They're going on starting tomorrow. Geoff is working on the kitchen from tomorrow (maybe today?) and we painted the kids' playroom cupboard doors last night - one green and one metallic purple!