28th January 2018

So, on my list yesterday was remove the living room floor and carry on with the rewire. We arrived yesterday morning and was pleasantly surprised as John, Rich and Matt were there. I didn’t know they were going this weekend but it was great to see them. We had a cracking and productive day. My wiring job was to wait as I was able to be of use with the jobs they were doing. The window was removed from the upstairs bedroom and loads of sheets of plasterboard were lifted up through it. That was to be the main job of the day. Sharon set about cleaning up the kitchen and I loaded all the old joists and boards on to the back of Johns trailer. I then progressed to helping cut, hold and screw the plasterboard in place upstairs. It was an all day job but we did manage to get all the ceilings upstairs done and the walls in the two smaller bedrooms in. New loft hatch cut out, breeze block wall knocked out on the stairs and a repair to the roof. We also managed to cement a new waste pipe in to the main drain for the downstairs loo which John will put in as a temporary measure next week. I took a shine to the gadget used to screw the plaster boards to the joists without pushing the screws through the board.

After they left, Sharon and I stayed and had a tidy and a sweep in the 2 newly created bedrooms. Unfortunately when we returned home Sharon had a bit of a mishap. Uncle Spok managed to get us some collapsible ladders I was looking for and I put them up when we got back to see how high they were. They are spot on, however they didn’t collapse as I would expect so Sharon pushed one of them down for me. They came down, and trapped and crushed one of her fingers, we spent 3 hours in A&E and she has fractured a finger. Made worse by her false nails apparently as the nail underneath the false on can’t flex so it’s broken it.

It didn’t get much better today, I left Sharon in bed and went up early as there’s a lot to do so I don’t hold John up. I started off by extending the lighting ring in the loft to accommodate a fan in the bathroom and a shaver point. I also dropped all the lighting switch cables in so the upstairs ring circuit is complete. Stupidly I was rushing around and managed to put my foot through the new bedroom ceiling. I was gutted, really hurt my knee but managed not to fall out (just) but took the shine off things. Anyway, that doesn’t get the job done so I went back up and tidied and clipped all the cables down without any further mis haps. Sharon came up to provide tea and a bit of fetch and carry but she was on light duties. I managed to get the downstairs lighting circuit in and half of the switch cables dropped in. The final casualty of the day was a bit more severe, RIP to my trusty claw hammer 🔨 . May you be happy in your new home which is in the cavity under the kitchen window !! You will be missed.

I got a call from John tonight and I had to break the news, he knew before I’d even told him that I’d come through the ceiling - he laughed so much. I’ve got my defence loaded when Rich finds out, it’s a lot cheaper for a new piece of plasterboard than it is for a piece of glass that he bust when putting the windows in!!

So a lot achieved this weekend although it didn’t feel like it by the end of today. The place really is moving along. John and his team are doing a fab job.Read more