New Doors are here.

Our new doors and windows were delivered last week. The windows will be fitted by Stuart over the next next month but the doors were fitted by the 'Origin' fitters Pablo & Andy. We are going to cover over the big bi-fold doors to protect them and go in and out of a window opening for the moment. It will be a worry when it is time to take down the scaffolding in case they get bashed!

So a consequence of the doors being fitted was I could now knock through from the extension into the rest of the house

View from kitchen into lounge

View from lounge to kitchen taken before I had completely knocked through.

Meanwhile Stuart has fitted the skylights in the studio - the roof is now ready for the roofers who hopefully will be here early next week.

Up on the roof

Stuart has been working away on the roof, with occasional help from Andy. It's taken longer to prepare the roof than he had first imagined, partly because the existing roof is all wonky! It's not been just a case of laying battens on the roof and screwing them down because each one had to be packed out and leveled. Also, at the base of the roof it curves out, and that proved to be made of solid tar which had to be cut away where each batten lay and that took ages. It hasn't helped that the rain arrived in the last couple of weeks. I bought some polythene to try and keep the boards dry but it's not that effective - tears easily. I didn't expect it to be so thin when I ordered it!

On one rainy day Stuart fitted a new lintel over the front door and took off the porch canopy in preparation for our new wider front door (which incidentally has been delayed as the factory in Germany are slightly changing the colour)

Meanwhile I have been getting cables from A-B, putting insulation under the floorboards in preparation for the underfloor heating, and today continued getting the office ready for the plasterers (which involved moving the kitchen sink into the middle of the room so I could put plasterboard up below the window

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How much???

That was our reaction when we learned how much soakaway crates were? What are they? Well you are not allowed to put rain water from the roof down the sewer. Previously it went into the ground to soak away just where our kitchen is going to be so we have had to create as new soakaway. Nowadays, instead of a hole in the ground full of rubble you use what amounts to a pile of beer crates to create a smaller hole (still a big hole), and then you bury them, so you have nothing to see for all that money it cost!!!

Meanwhile Stuart is up on the roof - taking a little longer than anticipated (isn't that always the way!) because the old roof had sagged. We are leaving the old roof in place, fixing battens to it, then boarding it out so the new roof can be fixed on top, but it takes more care to make sure the new boards are level. Originally I had planned to do this work but I am very glad Stuart is doing it!

We have had a flue fitted so we can get a log burning stove later

I have been getting the lounge ready so that the plasterers can make a start on Sunday