28th May 2018

I had Friday off this week giving us a long weekend as it’s bank holiday yet again.

On Friday I had to agree a time with John as I was no longer able to get in. Reason? New front and back doors have now been installed. And they look absolutely fab. The back door makes a huge difference as we’ve gone for a half glazed one with clear glass. The kitchen is now flooded with light and once the garden is sorted it will be lovely to look out of. There is now a scaffold tower built around the back in readiness for the new guttering to be fitted and the vanity sink had been fitted to the wall in the downstairs loo. As Richard is now back from Florida, it was a good joint effort on Friday. Whilst John and Rich were out chasing around for supplies, I gave the kitchen a good tidy and rounded up all the tools. On Johns return, we made a start on installing the upstairs toilet. One of the first jobs was to get a 4” pipe through the wall. A piece of cake with the coring drill and bit but not without caution. Some careful measuring made us aware that we would only be about half an inch below the mains power cable running in to the house. As the scaffold was up, I popped up there, removed the clips and held the cables down just to be safe, I can’t lose him at this late stage 😂😂. When Richard returned attentions turned to getting the bath level and in situ, most definitely a two person job. We then left John in the bathroom and Richard and I went and did battle with the kitchen. I have to admit that was the bit I was looking forward to getting stuck in with as I knew it would dramatically change how it looked. We cut down the end cladding panels and fitted them, and made a start on installing the worktops. We’ve decided to try an invisible joint to join them rather than a bar. It’s a professionals job which you pay for but looks so much better. The idea is that you use a router and a jig to cut the worktop into two shapes, but the jig has numerous mountings and no instructions. Between the three of us, we worked it out and off we went. It’s turned out brilliant enemy though a little bit of fettling was required. John had got the sink attached in the bathroom and the waste pipes in position. It was a late finish but a great result.

Saturday morning was just Sharon and I as the boys were golfing for Tom’s stag party, I was just going for the beer in the evening so decided we would go and do a few bits. There was a mass of dust in the kitchen where we had been cutting worktops etc and the place looked like a bomb site. Sharon spent the whole day cleaning and tidying and the place just looked so much better. I cut the second base end panel and fixed it in to position to create the space for the washer. I also fixed all the door and drawer handles on and fitted the extractor fan before slap embarking on s massive clear up in the kitchen. Sharon’s Mum paid a visit and fetched me a chocolate cake to keep me going and Gemma, Adam, Bobby Jo and Joseph landed dropping the washer, dryer and outside front door canopy off. It was a lovely visit. Gemma returned later with Naomi and Izzy to measure up and again we had a lovely chat. They really seem to like it and we’re glad they are having it as we know it will get looked after.

Sunday was a day off as we had a visit from Bridget, Chris, Joseph and we got to meet the lovely Emeline, but we paid a visit as they wanted to see what we had achieved, they were suitably impressed.

Today, Sharon and I went this morning and were joined by John mid morning. Sharon made a start on tidying the living room whilst John and I got the waste pipes in place in the bathroom. We were a tiny bit of pipe short but that’s a nothing, that will easily be sorted tomorrow. We then went downstairs and connected up the vanity sink in the downstairs loo. Apart from waste that is working fine and we now have got and cold running water in there. Spok came for a look and likes the kitchen, we’ve advised we may need his services again as we may need another fire to burn some more rubbish. I reckon another couple of weekends will see the inside done and I don’t think the outside will too far afterwards.Read more