0
0
Saturday 27th October
Another major step forward in the kitchen today. Phil from SCMG was templating the kitchen for the work surfaces. I was overruled by Jon in getting black quartz for the worktops and instead we settled on Almond Quartz. A creamy colour with flecks in … but with green undertones.
In two weeks time, we should have proper work surfaces in the kitchen. Until then, we
Friday 26th October
Malcolm was back to do more plastering today. What he’s been briefed to do by the architects vs what actually needs to be done is very different and he ends up making several trips to complete when in reality, it could have all been done in fewer visits.
Today it was the bathroom and new utility ceilings that were plasterboarded then plastered over and the bathroom walls and patching up the walls in the new utility room.
We had also decided to replaced the toilet and sink in the downstairs loo as the grey one must have been installed when the house was originally built. Just a plain white toilet and a small sink, but one that could be moved into the corner.
The electricians were also back in as well to connect all the appliances – it finally seemed as though we had turned a corner. We had the choice of having isolator switches next to the appliances on the wall or have them hidden in a cupboard. As one cupboard was smaller due to housing the steel upright, we went for the later. All wires hidden out of sight.
Our carpenter, Steven, was also back in ensuring all the kitchen was fixed and ready for SCMG to come in tomorrow to get the work surfaces templated. The high-sink would need to be disconnected temporarily. The guys have been brilliant ensuring we had a sink and washing machine throughout the build project.
Wednesday 24th October
We have working sockets in the new extension – no lights, but at least we can plug things in. A huge step forward. Hopefully by the weekend, we will have lights too! Meanwhile, bedside table lamp relocated downstairs along with an old work surface and we have light in the extension of an evening. Little things but a giant step forward.
Slight hiccup – the baskets for the pull out larder didn’t fit (wrong type) and were returned to Howdens – correct versions will be sourced from another store and hopefully not too long to wait. But the fridge was now installed (just not yet connected up!)
Missing kitchen shelves arrived later that afternoon and it took Steven seconds to install. Glass wall shelves with lights behind. These were heavy so needed to be very well secured. Jon concerned about what would be stood on the shelves but assured him these were decorative, rather than functional.
Message in from the work surface people – hopefully we had the message from the architects (no, we hadn’t!), but they had arranged with a templater to call in on Saturday afternoon. We needed to drop Callum and friends at Gilwell early on Saturday morning so we should be back in plenty of time.
Andy and Bobby arrived in the morning to do the internal brickwork (presumably so plastering can go ahead), but no sign of anyone to finish off the external brickwork and the other brickwork issues that Jon pointed out to Jimmy.
Tuesday 23rd October
Jimmy kept focussing on getting the new downstairs bathroom sorted and pipework ready for the new radiators in the bathroom and utility. Pat and Aaron started the first fix on these rooms too. Disabling sockets and putting in sockets and wiring for both and adjusting the light switches for both too.
During the day, I dragged Jon out to the tile place and chose tiles for the utility room and new downstairs bathroom – with the option of getting shower boards (although the tile place was intimating that it was a more expensive solution than tiling contradicting the architects viewpoint). Question is for the showerboards – do we go more adventurous that just plain white!
Trip to Dulux Paint Centre on the way home and hopefully paint chosen for the extension and new study. Sample pot for the extension chosen.
Steven worked on getting the kitchen units in place and by the end of the day, the oven was in situ (although not switched in).
We had emailed our “project managers” aka the architects at 9am in the morning to find out what time SCGM were due in to template the kitchen … with Sarah out of the office until Wednesday, the others in the office realised at 7pm they hadn’t responded so we had a very short email to say they hadn’t responded to their emails.
We had also asked them to pinpoint Andy to sort out the issues with the “flat” roof and also that Jay would be onsite in the morning to sort out the brickwork under the new utility room window and other minor issues with the brickwork outside. Jimmy said he had been informed he would be with us “tomorrow”!.
At this point, I had a nagging doubt that they had even contacted the company to book a slot on Friday as promised so I contacted a friend whose hubby worked for the company. She did apologise and said the company moved office on Friday/weekend and had only had internet reconnected that day. She would look at the templaters diary in the morning and advise – although we should expect these will take 2 weeks as per their standard terms & conditions (although why the architects didn’t highlight this, we’ll never know).
Monday 22nd October
We are now running a week over the project deadline.
Jimmy spent the day focussing on the downstairs bathroom – digging out around the soil stack and sorting out the pipes from the shower. Slightly more complicated as Jimmy couldn’t dig down much further due to concrete base so the shower would need to be raised up a little and all the waste pipes boxed in.
Steven continued with the kitchen fitting. All the units around the edge were now in place and some doors and drawers were now fitted. It was really starting to take shape and it was looking good!
Ryan the electrician popped in in the afternoon and the team would be here in the morning. Hopefully we would have lights and a couple of sockets in the extension! Would be great to get some of the appliances in situ and hopefully in use! It would also mean in the next couple of days, we could start emptying some food stuff and crockery/pans out of the new study and putting them into cupboards.
Paul the Windowman arrived late afternoon to fit the new utility room window and back door. No time for bricking up underneath the window before the new window went in so some insulation blocks were put in place before – another job to add to the list for tomorrow.
