E-Day + 72

We're suffering from extension fatigue today. At this stage, I'm just longing to have a finished house to ourselves and Willow, no dust, no builders, no cleaning everything every night, and no re-setting of my alarm clock every day. Actually, I'm telling a lie - there was no power cut today.
It's getting there - Stephen make excellent progress on the decking, and Alan the kitchen fitter was over putting the back panel and splashback, but unfortunately, not the hood, as he said it was too high and we would have to cut the top panel. After a fraught call with Ernest, it turns out that Alan can do a neat job for us after all, so we'll have to call him to get it sorted. There is an adjustment to be made to the granite, as the back panel shows that the largest granite slab is not 100% level with the smaller one. It's only a millimeter or two, but it shows. Mark should be over tomorrow and hopefully will be able to solve it.

Never a dull day (apart from the weather!)

E-Day + 71 - Today's Pictures

Kevin talking with the carpenters

Stephen the carpenter (with the little hat), Stan the Man, and Kevin

Kitchen, including the kitchen sink, granite and a working tap. What more can you ask for?

View of the kitchen with the hob

Backstage - Still a bit of work to do. We're awaiting a panel from Craftstone for the back of the kitchen

Cat getting to know his new decking

E-Day + 71

At some point, I counted 12 men in my house, and Brendan wasn't even home. The day started slowly, with Stephen the electrician in around 8:20 this morning. Stephen the carpenter arrived a bit later with 2 extra carpenters, to start work on the decking.

At that stage, there was still no sign of Ray the plumber, who was supposed to be here at 8 to clear the bathroom of the loo and sink to make way for the tiler. Ray's van had broken down (do I believe this? of course I do - what choice do I have?) and he didn't arrive until after lunch, with one or two junior plumbers. Despite the delay, there was a lot done in the plumbing department today: outside tap in the shed, radiators back up, downstairs loo back in operation, taking out loo and sink in my bathroom and, most importantly from my perspective, connecting the kitchen tap for our brand new kitchen sink!

Kevin (Kevin McGrath, our builder) also arrived around lunchtime, with Stan, and worked on a number of things - checking out the roof, bringing the AJs up so they can be accessed from the decking, and generally coordinating everybody's work.

Then, around 3 pm, Mark from Craftstone arrived to install the granite, with 2 juniors, and set up the granite, which is looking beautiful I have to say (pictures later when everybody is gone). So I was wrong about the delivery of the granite, but isn't it so much nicer to be pleasantly surprised. Mark will be back in a few days with splashbacks for the counter. And Alan the fitter will be in tomorrow to set up the grey splashback behind the cooker.

Then, later in the day, when Stephen the carpenter had finished laying out plywood on the bathroom floor, Kevin the tiler arrived, and tiled my bathroom That's a separate job from the original plan, but my bathroom floor looked quite miserable so we decided to retile both bathrooms, and to replace the yellowed plastic bath sides by plywood and mosaic tiles.

It was a hot day, and I was glad of the 12-packs of Sprite when it came to handing over drinks to everybody.

Brendan had to spend most of the day dealing with the various trades, while I kept things going in the PC Medic department, answering the phone and working on a few machines. We're both tired, but it's all worth it!

E-Day + 70 - The Return of the Leak

Well, we don't think it's the same leak actually, as it was thoroughly tested by a heavy shower last week, and there wasn't a spot of water. But Stan had to take up the bottom part of the roof last Saturday to put in a bird blocker, and we suspect something wasn't put back right A water stain appeared on the ceiling at the bottom of the left-most velux around 3 am this morning after a very heavy shower. It more or less disappeared as the morning went. Kevin had a look and found that there was a screw in a new spot and a hole where the old screw was, and fixed it, but unfortunately the water stain has come back this evening, after further heavy rain. So we'll need further investigation to sort this one out. I wish we hadn't touched that roof after it was sorted. I just hate the idea of it being pulled apart again, but that will have to happen to sort out this leak.

Apart from that, other things are moving along. We had Stephen, our new electrician, doing a very good job today, getting a number of items completed. Ciaran, his boss, had been over on Friday to assess the work, and we had a good feeling about him (he is a diving enthusiast, so there was plenty to talk about too). Stephen arrived at 8 AM today. My hair was still wet, and Brendan was still sound asleep. Once we went through everything with him and he established the priorities, he set to work and didn't stop all day. Ray, the plumber, didn't turn up, but promised Kevin he'll be over at 8 AM tomorrow. We're also hoping to have the granite installed tomorrow - though I have to say I'll believe it when I see it. Ernest is a real sales man: he'll promise the sun, the moon and the stars, but Mark, the granite man, said it would be the end of the week, so I'm betting on Thursday or Friday, and I'll be very pleasantly surprised if it happens tomorrow.

I just realised we missed Extend's architect's site visit today, as we had to go and see Brendan's Dad in hospital, and Kevin, who probably forgot about it, left around 4:30 (he rang us as he was leaving). Apologies from us all, Colman.

E-Day + 69 - supplemental

Forgot to say that Brendan cooked a chicken in our new oven yesterday, and we were very happy with the result. I didn't get a chance to bake my cookies (the recipe book is buried in a box somewhere), but I did get to use my new dishwasher - my first dishwasher! It's great!

E-Day + 69

No pictures today. Stephen was working on the floor, and Stan and Mikey completed some work in the garden in preparation for the decking. David and Kevin made a number of appearances. The soffit man was here too, to do some work on the pipe from the gutter. I'm not sure if he finished it, though. Mark, the granite man, was over again verifying a measurement. And Mark the painter was over too, assessing the work.

Our initial painter, Richard, after stringing us along for 3 weeks, rang us today to say he had done his back in and wouldn't be able to do the job. So we rang Mark Delaney, who painted our exterior walls a few years ago, and did a great job. We had wanted to use him in the first place, but couldn't get through to him at the time we were getting quotes in. He's extremely busy right now, but will squeeze us in, to do the rooms downstairs in the next few weeks. The outside, hall, stairs and upstairs will have to wait for a couple of months until he's free.

E-Day 67

Saturday, and Kevin, Michael and Stan are here, starting work on the foundation for the decking. So, I think we will escape to B&Q for a while!

Yesterday was another busy day. Stephen was here, finishing the flooring. Then we had Ciaran, our new electrician, appraising the job and sorting out our cooker and dishwasher. We now have a working dishwasher and cooker, which feels very civilized indeed. I think I will celebrate by baking some Aine McAteer chocolate chip cookies this afternoon! We had David, Kevin and Stan doing bits and pieces. And we had Mark from Craftstone measuring for the granite top for our kitchen.

At times, it felt like a warzone again, but by the end of the day, we had reclaimed our space, if only for a day or two. Even Willow has reclaimed the bedroom. (Padraig, don't look at this picture; you will be horrified!)

Mark, the granite man, said that it would be fitted at the end of next week - Ernest had implied (but not quite "said") that it might be fitted this Saturday, but Mark said that it definitely would not be done this Saturday. Mmm... I guess I'll have to get Brendan to talk to Ernest about that. By the way, it's great to have a man around the house when you have builders in (well, it's great to have Brendan around the house the whole time, actually). I find that I'm taking the role of the meek housewife, who is shielded from the horrors that can - and do - happen during buildingwork!

E-Day + 65

A quiet day today. There was only David in this morning, taking measurements for the last bits and pieces, mainly the decking. Stephen will be back tomorrow to finish the floor and do the decking. We tidied up our living room last night and it's looking well. Still needs a few details, like doors, skirting boards, radiator and painting, but it looks a lot more civilized than it did a week ago

Yesterday, we had the kitchen fitter in. There were 2 of them and they worked all day. There was quite a lot to do. Exactly what, I'm not sure, as I was out for most of the day. But it's looking good. It's a gorgeous dark burbundy colour, which I love. I think we're going to need extra lighting to bring the colour out fully, though. It still has its plastic cover, so we don't see the gloss fully. I'll only take the plastic off when all tradesmen are finished here, as it will only get scratches and marks if we leave it unprotected.

Although Ernest from Craftstone had told us we didn't need any electrician or plumber in attendance, we ended up having to ring Kevin to ask him to get both tradesmen over to sort out some of the connections. And we'll need both plumber and electrician again to connect the dishwasher and the oven, and the hob. Now, the hob won't go in until the granite is fitted, and we're not sure when that's going to happen. We were expecting the granite man and Ernest over this afternoon to measure up (they're also supposed to collect the items for recycling, currently in our front garden - all the packaging, the old fridge and the old microwave), but it's 5:30 pm and there's no sign of them. If I was to do it again, I would have asked Kevin to have a plumber and electrician onsite all day, and we would now have a working dishwasher and oven. I guess we'll have to put up with the oven sitting in the middle of the room for a few more days.

E-Day + 64

The floor is nearly all done now. Only the downstairs loo and a bit by the radiator to be done. It's looking gorgeous, and we have it covered the best we can so that nobody marks it - it's so easy to bring in rubble from outside on the sole of builders' boots.

The kitchen was delivered yesterday, and the kitchen fitter is in since 8:30, starting to unpack everything. You can see the boxes stacked up the left of this picture

E-Day + 62

Mostly floor laying today. It's getting there. I reckon Stephen has another good day's work to have it ready for the kitchen, then probably another day to do the fiddly bits in the hall, the downstairs loo, etc. The floor is looking good. Very happy with our choice. Apparently, Stephen said that it's a good material to work with - the planks fit perfectly into one another. Good quality Finnish product! And the Hardwood Floor Company man was over this morning to test the cement floor and it passed the test - the results are within tolerance, so we got the go-ahead to proceed with the flooring into the extension.

The kitchen is due for delivery between 9 and 9:30 tomorrow. I'm very excited about it, and apprehensive. It will be fitted on Wednesday, so tomorrow will be another day working around the obstacle course that is our house at the moment!

And Stan cleaned our beautiful sliding doors at the back. I should give him a contract to come and clean those windows every month, he's done such a great job!

E-Day + 61

Sunday - No builders today. It was lovely to have the house to ourselves today, with no builders around. I had a lie-in, badly needed after a couple of nights' broken sleep.

There was quite a bit of work done yesterday. But there is still a lot of work for Stephen the flooring guy to do before the kitchen is delivered on Tuesday, so I'll keep my fingers crossed (A lot done, a lot more to do, as Bertie would say!).

Stan, David and Mikey did a lot of tidying up - finishing the repaving of the neighbours' patio beside the party wall, putting the final touches to the making good of the windows upstairs, re-stretching the carpets in my front office and on the landing, tidying up the plasterwork around the sockets, and clearing the back of the garden from all rubbish and builders' materials and tools.

We escaped to Aya in Sandyford again for lunch yesterday. I had a gorgeous lemon beef udon. Really nice and comforting.

So, the place feels a lot more habitable today than on Friday. It's all relative, as we still have a loo in the middle of the dining room, but I've cleaned up both front and back offices, the 2 rooms I use the most in the house, and I certainly feel like things are bearable again. It was really only a couple of days of chaos, so I can't complain at all. Also, Kevin and David have a great way of making us feel good - they listen to our concerns, they answer our questions clearly, they are in control and they always have a solution to hand, no matter what the problem is.

E-Day + 60

Builders in again since 8 am this morning. They got to see me in my black silk kimono, and groggy-eyed, as we were still in bed when they got here. I'm feeling tired and headachy today, as Willow woke me up again in the middle of the night, crying to get out. I ignored him (or he'll get into the habit of going out at 3-4 am every day), but it took him a good hour to settle down.

Yesterday was a day from hell. Just when you think you're on the home straight, Paddy the electrician manages to cut the water pipe from the immersion to the main bathroom and flood the place! The ceiling in the kitchen is still damp this morning, there is a big stain on the ceiling in the sitting room, and the floor fitter could not start laying the floor until today, as the floorboards were too wet. Needless to say Paddy the electrician will not be on my Christmas list this year, or ever!

So the day yesterday was spent in disaster recovery rather than making progress.

And when we tried to turn on the microwave for our dinner last night, we found that the fuse had been removed from the plug! Talk about thoughtless. Whoever did this, I curse them to the day they die!

At least, I got my washing machine back up and running. I was only without it for a week, so we survived without too much trouble in that department. I spent most of my Friday night doing the laundry, cleaning and tidying. My favourite jobs!

We did sit down at the end of the day, and watched a bit of telly. We were sitting in the middle of what will be our kitchen. We were surrounded by a power saw, an industrial vacuum cleaner, stacked wood, and a loo. (Padraig, don't read on, you will be horrified!) So we didn't care that Willow decided to lie down on the table!

Plenty of activity today, floor laying and making good in various parts of the house, so we'll probably need to escape for lunch again. We went to Aya again yesterday. There was just too much chaos for my liking.

E-Day + 59

It's 7:10 am, and Paddy is already at work, fitting sockets and light switches. We'll also need to get him to move two of the downlighters, as they are not properly aligned. We didn't notice it the first night, as we were so excited to have lights, I guess. It's probably not a big job, though it will mean a touch-up on the lovely plastering work. By the way, one lesson learned is that you should mark on the wall the placement of all switches and sockets, or they won't be exactly where you wanted them. Kevin had advised us to do that, and we didn't, thinking that the plan we had given to Paddy would be enough. It's not a big deal, certainly not worth re-doing. Building an extension is a bit like a software project. You learn to compromise on the way, no matter how smoothly it's going.

The cement is now set enough that you can walk on it. It's got plenty more moisture to give out. There was 4 cubic meters of cement poured (6mx4mx20cm approx, that's 4,000 litres, all brought in by wheel barrow!) and, from what I'm told, it's got 40% moisture content at pouring time. I'm not sure of the water content when it's completely set. Is it 0% or more? If it's 0%, there is 1,600 litres of water that needs to get out of it (does it evaporate through the chemical process? I'm not sure of the chemistry of it all). Anyway, it's was warm and very humid in the house when we got back from Aya last night.

We had doors and windows open as much as we could, even in the middle of the night, as we were woken up in the early hours by Willow, who is quite fed up being confined to the front bedroom. I let him in half an hour ago, and found a dead bird in front of our door. It's about a year since he's caught anything, so it's nice to see that he's still a good hunter. A pity about the lovely little sparrow, though.

We still have a fridge and microwave, but our living room will be all ripped up, as the floor is being laid down today. So, our cooking facilities are quite minimal. But we're eating well all the same. On Wednesday night, we had delicious Donegal sausages at Padraig and Mary's, with yummy mash potatoes, peas and apple sauce. At lunchtime yesterday, I had a fry and Brendan had fish and chips near Carrickmackross on the way back from visiting Brendan's dad, who is in great spirit, as always. And last night, we sampled the new Aya in Sandyford Industrial Estate. It's upstairs from the Londis deli, just across from the Beacon Hospital. We had a lovely selection of sushi from the conveyor belt, with a comforting miso soup and a taste of their hot dishes too. It was very tasty, the salmon was fresh, and it felt like good value, at € 2.50 a plate (same price for all plates for July and August!). We had 9 plates in total between the 2 of us, and we felt quite full. I think it was much better value than the sushi place in Dundrum Town Centre. We'll definitely be going back to Aya, maybe at lunchtime today! I had this notion that we would be eating salads and soups during the build, and get nice and trim. As we haven't been to the gym all week, there is no chance of losing weight until the builders are finished!

This is a picture of the lovely plasterwork.

E-Day + 58

Today, the concrete floor was poured in the extension, after Kevin lay down the radon barrier, and insulation, and after the plumber lay down the pipes for the radiators.

Here are the pictures from the last few days:



Plaster boards



Stage ready for plasterers





Plastering done and downlighters in place


Radon barrier





Insulation





(I'm not allowed down there right now, so pictures of the setting concrete will have to wait)

E-Day + 57

Lots of plastering done yesterday, and plenty more to do today. The plasterers and Paddy the electrician were outside our door before 8 again today, and are working away already.

I didn't get a chance to take pictures yesterday, but it's looking nice and neat.

The Nordman roof man was over yesterday too. We must talk to Kevin today to find out what he thought.

And Chris, the Nordan windows project manager, was over and sorted out the sliding door at long last. It was off its rail. That's why it wasn't gliding! How that happened will remain a mystery. He's to come back in a few days to sort out the last few snags. He was very surprised to hear how unhappy we were - he said that they never have problems, and that Yuri the fitter is generally complimented for his tidy work. Well, Yuri must have been on an off-day with us!

And the floor in our hall has been ripped up, to make way for our new floor, which is to be delivered today I think.

A hive of activity! I must escape to the Shomera for a bit of peace and quiet. Willow is a bit distressed, as we have to keep him confined to the front bedroom, even in the evening, as the door to the kitchen has been taken away, and there are too many holes giving access under the floor. It would be far too tempting for a cat. The end result is that he was crying for attention at 4 am today, and I had to get up to let him out. He's back in his room now, but is not one bit happy about it. I'll let him out in the evening, when all the vans are gone. Last week, he had managed to get inside one of the vans, and it's just as well I was outside at the time and saw him, or he could have woken up in Athboy!

E-Day +56

The plasterers were here before 8 today. No chance of a lie-in with these guys, I'm glad to say.

Yesterday's work was mostly finishing the plasterboards, putting up the meshing between the plasterboards (to fill in the gaps between them, otherwise, you'd have gaps in the plaster surface) and putting in the neat edges (this is done with a metal bar, with a neat edge and a meshed surface on the sides). They also skimmed the neighbours' wall at long last. Now all that needs to be done on the neighbours' side is to reset the patio stones along the wall. I think the plastering needs to dry for a day before they can do that.

Also, Stan was sent on the roof to clean it up, so it's looking a lot better. There are a lot of bumps in the metal, due to repeated walking on it, but I don't think that can be helped. I'm sure that, over time, we won't notice it any more.

The Nordan sliding doors are still a problem. John, the general manager, doesn't seem to be answering his phone. Kevin can't get hold of him to get someone back on site to sort out the problem. Basically, one of the doors seems to be stuck in a semi-locked position, and won't open or close properly. Even Stan (our strong man!) can't get it to budge! It's really frustrating, as these doors were expensive. You'd expect better service for that kind of top-end product. Hopefully it will be sorted soon, as the wooden floor can't go in until that's sorted. We're not quite ready for the wooden floor yet, but if everything else goes according to plan, it won't be long. They are gorgeous-looking doors, but I'm not impressed with the fitting, nor with the after-sales service.

The house is busy again today, and will be for another week or so. And we will soon lose the last bit of privacy we had - the doors between the kitchen area and our living room will be taken down today. Upstairs is completely full, as we're expecting Paddy the electrician to strip the carpet in my front office to get access to the floorboards to put in the recessed lighting for the hall.

As we are both introverts, it's not easy for us to live in this environment, but we're surviving, and it won't be for long. And we are looking forward to our specialty Donegal sausages tomorrow night, courtesy of Padraig and Mary, who have invited us over. We enjoyed our dinner at their house on Sunday night! Thank you for having us!

E-Day + 55

Plasterers are in (they arrived before 8 am).

It wasn't Cathy who was enquiring about the pillar, it was Trish. Sorry, Trish! Good luck with your extension!

Indian Summer

Forgot to say we were out with Padraig and Mary last night. We went to Indian Summer, and had a great night out. Hopefully we didn't bore them too much with our tales about the extension! We do get carried away, at times!

E-Day + 53

Kevin and his team - David, Stan and Mikey (who seems to be Stan's helper) were here today at 8 am and worked all day, putting up plasterboard, boxing the foul pipes coming down from upstairs, and redirecting the downstairs loo's ventilation pipe.

They worked hard all day and are only just gone an hour now. Next week will be pretty intensive, with plasterers, plumbers, electrician, and by the end of the week our floors should be going in to be ready for the kitchen on the 22nd or 23rd. And there is still a radon barrier and fast-setting cement floor to be done, and extra plasterboards to be finished.

This is all dirty work, but they make a point of cleaning up before they leave, no matter how much we protest. The stairs were hoovered even, and the floor in the hall wiped. Better than I would do it! Though I spent a good bit of time cleaning up upstairs today (Long story).

And despite all of our efforts, there is still dust everywhere. I guess we were warned by Colman! I just couldn't imagine so much dust could be generated! At least we had no power cuts today. The electrician needs to cut off the power at various stages, naturally. And the power tools trip the switch on occasion. And if, like me, you have an electrical alarm clock, you end up having to reset it every evening before going to sleep. That's the only bit that's getting to me. I don't even mind having to bring the washing up upstairs. I have these lovely turquoise basins and I love using them. I do mind having to dry the dishes, though. I never liked that.

It's had its ups and downs, and we're here to see every bit of it (in some way, it's very exciting to be so involved in it, and in other ways, it would be easier to only see the progress once a week and leave it behind and go back go a clean house!), but it's all coming together nicely, and I'm very happy with Kevin and his team.

One final thing, before I put up the pictures: I believe Cathy was wondering why we had kept a pillar in the middle of the room. Although there are 6 heating pipes against that pillar, it wasn't the reason. These could have been redirected, no doubt (we actually moved these pipes, as they were stacked 3 and 3 and we needed to have them as tight against the wall as possible, as our kitchen units will be running in front of the pillar). And a single RSJ could have been put in place (though I'd imagine that would require some heavy lifting equipment). We just didn't want one huge cavernous room, but we wanted to create individual spaces within the room. It will all come together in the next 10 days or so, hopefully!



This is the insulation layers in our roof.

Plasterboards.

Boxing of pipes from upstairs. Very neat and tidy.

And a bit of wiring, if you're into that kind of thing.

E-Day + 52

Apparently, I'm not allowed down there at the moment. I was coming down the stairs, and Kevin said "oh, don't go in there now, Maria" (He generally calls me Maria, sometimes Elena, and on one occasion Maria-Elena).

There has been constant activity today, with work on the roof (which will be inspected by a Nordman fitter early next week), with the plumbing and the insulation.

I will sneak in later and take a few pictures, but in the meantime, I'm staying in my little office at the front of the house (which is quite cold now with all the doors open). Even my bathroom is off limits - with the foul pipe cut off for a week, I have been sharing the en-suite with Brendan. And today, the plumber needed access under my bathtub to redirect some piping, so I have stuff all over the place.

And it is true about the dust getting in everywhere. Last night, I found some dust in the CD player compartment of my alarm clock!

It's great to see all the work progressing so well. Kevin McGrath and his team are a lovely bunch. David and Stan are very dedicated and proud of their work, and Kevin always seems to be on top of things, planning the next step, bringing in the sub-contractors and ensuring that everything is ordered on time. I have to admit, though, that I can't wait to have our house to ourselves again!

E-Day + 51

Plenty of activity again today, but not much to show really (unless you're really interested in pictures of electrical wiring).
Paddy the electrician was busy all day, and there was some work on the roof and some work on the windows as well. Kevin was busy checking out Radon barrier requirements and insulation.

The next step I think is the plumber. Once he's done, the plastering can start. Hopefully this will all happen in the next couple of days now. I'm anxious for the plastering to be well dry and for the floor to be ready before the kitchen comes in.

Happy Birthday, Kelly

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday

E-Day + 49

Good progress again today. They knocked the last bit of wall, put battons up for the ceiling, put in more big nails to hold the roof joist - whatever they're called... Got the kitchen guy in from Craftstone to clarify where everything is going. And Paddy the electrician was in doing more wiring.









And for those of you who are interested in the details:

E-Day + 48 - Great Progress Being Made

You have to hand it to Kevin and his team - they're making great progress - the 2 RSJs are now in place, after a lot of lifting and shoving and banging. And the other snags are being addressed. So, feeling pretty good at the end of today.

The room is starting to emerge. Only one little bit more of knocking down the wall tomorrow, and we're into the final run to the finishing line.

Willow is being introduced to the room. (He spent most of the day today in my wardrobe - the only spot where he can escape from the noise and the sight of strange men walking around the house)

And for those of you who are interested in how these RSJs fit into the existing walls

Next Project

My next project will be this green hill in New Zealand, a picture I took from the campervan on our way from one place to the next (I can't remember exactly where this was)

The tough part for me will be to get the greens right. I find greens really hard to do. I did a few green aboriginal snails this afternoon, but the results are not to my liking, so I'll have to experiment some more.

E-Day + 47

The builders worked all day yesterday. They have the pillar tops poured, ready to fit the steel beams, and then knock the last of the walls.
And the windows are fully fitted and look beautiful. There are a few snags, but we'll get these resolved over the next few days, I hope.
We now feel like we're living on a building site - dust, builders, cramped spaces. Hopefully it won't be for too long -I reckon that we should be almost done within 2 weeks, if Kevin keeps the momentum, of course. I'll talk to him tomorrow to get a time estimate from him. From my perspective, it can't be more than 2 weeks, as our kitchen will be arriving on the 22nd of July (we postponed it by one week, when we realised that the windows would not be in on Tuesday).

E-Day + 46 Leaky Roof

We have found 3 more leaks in the roof, so we're getting very worried. No doubt everybody will tell us that's all easily fixable, but we can't help wondering where the next leak is going to appear. It seems to be quite a common problem in extensions - I know 3 people who had roof leaks in their newly-built extensions. At least we're lucky these leaks are appearing before the ceiling and floors have gone in.

It's now 10:30 am, and I've just talked to David, and he appears confident that they would be able to resolve these problems. I feel better after talking to him, I have to say.

We have a full crew on board today - Stan, David, Kevin, and the 2 Nordan fitters. The steel man delivered the 2nd beam an hour ago, so it's going to be full steam ahead here, with a lot of noise and dust. We have a few jobs this morning, so I think it's a good time to disappear.

E-Day + 45 - Windows

Windows arrived around 10 this morning. The fitters followed by a few hours. Well, it was after 2 when they got here, actually, so they didn't get to finish the work. They said they'll be in in the morning. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, here are today's pictures.

PS: Kevin knew about the leak - he thinks it's the flashing at the bottom left corner of the Velux that's too high. He's looked at it today, but I'm not sure he's got it fixed yet.

PS2: Sofa is ordered, with a delivery between 12 and 17 August. The room should be well ready for it by then.

E-Day + 44

Still no windows. They were promised by Nordan on Monday, then Tuesday, then Thursday. And now, the fitter has apparently told Kevin that they would be delivered tomorrow morning and fitters would be over later in the day. Very frustrating. We'll have lost a week because of this.

In the meantime, we have discovered what appears to be a leak - two of the rafters in the roof are wet. We're not sure if there is a leak with water going down or if water is going back up the rafters by capillarity, i.e. from the bottom up. My guess is that it's going up from the bottom, as we can't find any source for a leak. We'll talk to Kevin about it in the morning. In the meantime, there is nothing we can do about it. At least it's come to light now, before the ceiling is insulated and plastered. If it was a dry summer, this would not have come to light until a few months later, so we're lucky I guess. Thank god for a wet summer!

E-Day + 43

Before and After pictures of our kitchen/dining room.

Before was last night after we cleared all the furniture.
After is tonight, after Kevin's team got their hands on it!

And Belated Happy Birthday to Me!