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The scary week!
Saturday 11th August
Callum headed off to scout camp very early this morning … and Jon and I needed to get the kitchen sorted this weekend so it could be ordered in.
Our first visit of the day was down to SCGM in Whitchurch to look at quartz for the work surfaces. I had really wanted a Black Work Surface but Jon and the architect had talked me out of it as it would be too dark for the room.
Armed with the two colours of the kitchen units we were planning on ordering, our first stop was in Whitchurch itself for some breakfast. It’s a really lovely town with lots of independent shops!
We then went to SCGM to look at the options available to us.
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After Whitchurch, we headed to Currys in Reading to have a look at the appliances we had chosen. We had chosen these and wanted to see what they looked like … we were very nearly swayed by a Samsung oven … could be used as a single oven, or the top section could be opened independently. However, once you figured in another oven/microwave combi, the cost couldn’t be justified.
Back home and with the space now opened up, we could mark out the units in the kitchen area and work out what would work for us. Plans tweeked and returned to the architects who would no doubt tweek further! Hopefully back into Howdens for the final quote!
Getting plenty of exercise with the number of runs to the other side of the kitchen to retrieve this that and the other!
Friday 10th August
The end of a long and potentially scary week. We have been in very good hands with these guys and they have taken every care to ensure the work was done carefully (brick-by-brick at times) and that the house was fully supported. End count at the end of the today was 34 posts/poles being used to prop Callum’s room up!
At the end of the day, the outside walls and the wall dividing the kitchen and dining room were down and we could now see the space in the new room.
Edwin also knocked up the stud wall, blocking up access to the living room.
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The evening was entertaining to say the least. The cooker and sink were in one half the kitchen … the fridge and supplies were in the other half and accessible either via the back door or the garage. I had pushed the garage door down but hadn’t shut it completely … Jon sent Callum out to fetch something but he had inadvertently pushed the garage door shut completely. Whilst we didn’t have a garage key, we had a back door key so no problem … until we discovered the back door lock had ceased!
In the meantime, Callum spotted the neighbours rabbit had escaped and was hopping around the neighbours drive. We ushered it back into the garden (it knew it shouldn’t be out!) whilst Jon tried to break into the garage. He failed on that scored … but armed with WD40 he did manage to get the back door lock working again so all was good and Jon’s good mood returned :-).
Disaster averted and Callum could have breakfast before leaving for Scout Camp in the morning!
Thursday 9th August
Farewell to our Guinness-themed kitchen and the bold red and yellow paint work! Today we were loosing our kitchen, but a huge step forward into completing the new extension. Our dishwasher had been rehomed and our fridge moved into the other half of the kitchen.
First things first, the kitchen window was removed along with several of the units (they did find a large jug I thought I’d lost though!!).
Edwin built the stud wall (minus a door!) to keep the dust out of the other half of the kitchen which worked a treat (along with the tape on the door from the kitchen to the hall). More on this later …
More poles and posts … if there any any available in local area, they can be found propping up our house!
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Wednesday 8th August
The wall demolition continues … and they guys hit a problem today. The Structural Architects (the ones we paid a lot of money to do the calculations to ensure our house doesn’t fall down), had missed a steel beam out of their calculations. They had ASSUMED the joists ran one way, when in fact they ran the opposite and another steel was needed to support the joists. Allegedly, these same structural engineers had made the same incorrect assumptions on Andy’s other client. Extra posts/poles were needed and in the meantime, the structural engineers were recalculating the steelwork structure. Annoyed is an understatement! They insisted that test pits were dug (at our expense) but failed to lift up a floorboard to check this fairly fundamental thing out.
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We showed Callum the work that was going on underneath his bedroom … and that it was now propped up by stilts!
Tuesday 7th August
More propping up, more poles/posts secured from anywhere the guys could find them! Today, the outside, red brick skin of the wall started to come down. The guys did a great job dismantling and doing the best they could to keep dust down – a seemingly impossible task.
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Monday 6th August
We were meant to have the old dining room clear for this morning … but we failed at the first hurdle! We couldn’t dismantle the wall unit!! We knew it split into 3 pieces, but we couldn’t break it apart. It didn’t take long for the builders to spot a couple of screws – we’d both searched and checked several times! Mission accomplished and the units now safely in place in the lounge … for now!
No sooner than the wall units were in the lounge, the patio doors were off. The dividing doors were taped up to try and keep the lounge relatively dust-free (great tip – it worked!).
Holes were being drilled into the walls and posts inserted to support the outside wall … to stop Callum’s bedroom from falling down! Hopefully, this will stop his fairy-elephant stomping when in his bedroom from now on!!
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