13th May 2018

Another great week whilst I’ve been away at work, John and Rich are flying. The big change this week is the fitting of the interior doors and handles. It makes a huge difference to the feel and sound of the place. There has also been lots of little woodwork jobs done, too many to list but all adding to the overall finish of the house. The large radiator has been hung in the dining room and the garden has been sprayed with poison to kill it off. On Thursday night we ordered the kitchen, after lots of ringing round, emailing, ebay comms, we finally got the whole lot for nearly half the quotes we were receiving from B&Q in Doncaster. That will be delivered a week on Friday. This Friday saw the electrics signed off which I’m am quite chuffed about as I did them from scratch pretty much unaided. A couple of lessons along the way which is definitely how you learn but on the whole no real issues, and only the one electric shock which was my own fault as I switched the wrong circuit off when installing the outside lights !! We have also rented it out to two of my cousins. It’s lovely to see them excited and they want to rent it for 5 years. I know they will look after it and that was a big worry, after all of the hard work we would have been gutted if it got wrecked, I know that it will be in safe hands.

Saturday was a day off as I had to get my eyes tested and loads of other things and we were out Saturday evening. But Sunday saw us back there (although a little fragile). Sharon concentrated on a massive tidy up. We loaded the car up with all the electrical stuff as hopefully they won’t be needed any more. We threw the second layer of insulation up in to the loft ready for fitting sometime this week and generally had a good sweep and tidy. We followed the same practice downstairs in the living room.

As Monday was a bank holiday, Sharon continued the tidy up and I turned my attention to filling and caulking all the woodwork which was all three bedrooms, landing, living room and hall. After they had dried I sanded them all down so they are ready for painting. I also started cutting in in the kitchen and painted behind the radiators in the kitchen and downstairs toilet. Gemma has been round and already painted the front bedroom, we have told her she can decorate it as she likes, after all it will be their home.

We have both been off all week so instead of getting up for the day job on Tuesday, we got up for the weekend job. Rich is on holiday for the next couple of weeks so at least John has someone to talk to. The weather has been glorious and we are progressing nicely. Sharon has continued with the under coating throughout the bedrooms as well as keeping John and I supplied in tea and biscuits. John and I have been concentrating on getting the remaining pipe work connected up for the central heating, as well as finishing some door shuts upstairs. We have got the boiler mounted on the wall in the bathroom and undercoated the living room. On Tuesday Night Gemma, Adam, Aunty Linda, Bobby Jo and Joseph all came round for a look. They are excited and we now need to crack on and get it done so they can get in. Adam and Joseph came on Wednesday and did some painting, under instruction from Sharon - blind leading the blind !!

Thursday saw Sharon and Adam push on with the gloss work and the upstairs doors. It’s such a fiddly job and very time consuming but they are doing a fab job. I started the day off by installing an outside tap, may as well at this stage, I’m sure it will come in useful. When JB arrived we set about temporarily piping the cold feed into the central heating system without the boiler connected and ensuring any exposed ends in the water side were capped off. We then turned on the mains water pressure and looked for leaks. “Mistakes, we made a few” but fortunately we didn’t face the final curtain. In fairness the mistakes were minor but enough to dampen a floor or two 😂, the upstairs radiators bleed screws were all loose so when the first rad pissed water all over the place, it was closely followed by all the others. There was also a plastic tee that hadn’t been tightened. To be honest if that’s the worse we’ll take it. The number of connections and tricky bends is quite high so one fail is not bad at all. After that we got the floor down in the downstairs loo, toilet reconnected and the floor put to the edge in the kitchen. We then drained the water system down and set to piping the boiler up. We took our time with it and tried to be quite methodical. We got a couple of the pipes in but had to stop as there were a couple of valves missing and we’ve had to order them. Whilst John went to order them I had a tidy up, sanded and undercoated the living room window sill. I also cleaned up the outside back windows. I sent Sharon home around 6 to get herself bathed and changed and then come back for me as I still had a bit of life in me. Whilst she was gone I cut in the kitchen, hall and downstairs toilet, put the first coat of paint on the kitchen ceiling and then finished cutting in the kitchen. A long old day but very productive.

On Friday, the first job of the day for me was to put a 2nd coat of paint on the kitchen ceiling, Sharon moved the remaining bits to the back of the living room in readiness for the kitchen units being delivered. We were doing well until I realised I was out of paint, I thought there was more upstairs but nope - so a trip to B&Q to get another tub. I finished the ceiling when I got back and not so long after that, the kitchen units turned up. All flat packed and in need of assembly. My dad offered some help so I took him up on it snd he came across for a couple of hours. We managed to get all the units built in just a couple of hours which was great. Adam came and painted some more of the upstairs doors and had the window blind man around to measure up for some blinds. We decided to call it a day about 3.30 as we were going to Eddie & Lynne’s for tea, something we were both looking forward too. Lynnes food is delicious, and it’s always a pleasant evening.

On Saturday it was just Sharon and I. First job of the day was to get the water pipes connected up behind where the cabinets are going in the kitchen to supply the sink and washing machine. Not a particularly difficult task but a good job done, we made sure they were clipped to the wall and were neat and tidy in-keeping with the jobs JB has been doing. We then progressed to fitting the kitchen units in place. We started with the corner base unit and took it from there trying our best to get everything nice and level and plumb. We didn’t do a bad old job to be fair and after the the corner and sink were in and levelled, the rest came along fairly quickly on the bottoms. I wish we could say the same for the wall cabinets, they were a pig, we took our time and marked everything up but unfortunately forgot to leave an 18mm gap from the wall to got an end panel on, so we needed to move the wall brackets by 18mm. The issue we ran in to was that there wasn’t a dab behind the bit of wall we had to drill, and it just caused us a massive headache, the top and bottom of it was the plugs weren’t really long enough and we made a right old mess of the wall. In the end we cut out a section about 4inches square, plugged a piece of wood in and started again. We finally got a nice tight secure set of brackets and the first wall cupboard was on nice and tight. The next couple were a bit mischievous but with a bit of patience (something I really lack) we got them up. I started to fit the doors and the first one was damaged and we were missing a drawer front. So Sharon went off to B&Q to get them changed and I put the the rest of the doors on, built the two drawers, installed the heat deflectors for the oven and sat the oven in place. Unfortunately i found another chip in one of the doors and I used an ever so slightly too long screw in the decorative panel under the oven. Whilst it’s not come through its ever so slightly raised. Not sure if it’s worth changing or not, I’ll take a view tomorrow. When Sharon returned we had a nice little sandwich, cup of tea and a biscuit an admired our efforts of the day. We put the replacement door and drawer front on and then called it a day.

And now it’s Sunday morning. I left sleeping beauty to it this morning and left about 6.30. As it was so early, I was on quiet jobs. I finished cutting in the kitchen and put a coat of magnolia on the walls. Even if the colours get changed, it doesn’t matter, it’s just a base coat really. Spok text at 7.30 to see if er wanted to go out for breakfast so at 9 we went to Snackattack and fuelled up. We did go back and I just ambled along with the magnolia in the hall, cutting in the downstairs loo and bits and bobs really. Sharon put some gloss on the landing and when that’s finished, other than the bathroom upstairs will nearly be done. We left at 11.00 as I have to get the grass cut, car cleaned out and pack as I am away all this week for work. Gas and Electric meters are being fitted tomorrow and hopefully the electrician will connect in to them.

A very busy week with quite a few very long days but it’s well on its way inside now.Baca selengkapnya