The Boys Are Back In Town

What's the collective noun for builders? A milkandtwosugars of builders?

Full set here today: Tam laying the patio; Gary cleaning the old granite cobbles for reuse on the garden wall; Shaun the joiner working his way around the list of niggles; Davie up on the roof slating; Stuart fixing up a few holes in the plaster; Aaron digging, carrying, helping on the roof and generally helping out wherever needed; John in and out ordering bits and bobs and organising the troops. At this rate we'll run out of coffee cups.

As usual, Adam wanted to help, so he's busy shoveling earth into the skip.



It's funny how different the kids are. Matthew is dimly aware that something might be going on in the house because sometimes he's had more obstacles to dribble the football around. Adam could tell you exactly what insulation went into the walls, how the floor was made, what size the bricks were and would happily spend all day 'helping' the builders.

Rox In The Box

The guys are outside doing the prep work for the patio at the back of the house. Current plan is for this to be done before the rest of the external work on the house. It'll give everyone a more stable platform to work on. So it's more digging, more moving hardcore and sand.



Meanwhile the kitchen is nearing completion. Like any project, there's a list of niggles to sort out, but most of these are really pretty minor (I hope!) In anticipation of those all being ironed out this week, we've started moving furniture in and using the room. Which is nice.

Breakfast time:

On The Floor

For most of the last 3 months the builder's radio has been an ever-present companion. Whilst the actual radio might change, and even the radio station (although it's mostly been Forth One) the one unwavering constant is that at some point in the day Jennifer Lopez will warble 'On The Floor'. Some days more than once. In fact, I've heard it so often now that I find myself whistling it on the way to get the kids from school. Somebody pass me a shotgun.

Anyway, today is radio-free 'cos the builders are all elsewhere. Instead we have Guy, the flooring man (and his pal John) installing our floor.

And so, in honour of 'Jenny from the block', here's the floor.

Kitchen:



Starting the wooden flooring:



And now, finished:

End Times

Can see the finishing line in sight. Kitchen nearly finished off - just a few little details to sort out. Steve's identical twin brother, Steve-the-Plumber is here putting the radiators in, plumbing in the sink, dishwasher etc. Davie and Aaron up on the roof again.



Stuart back too, plastering the pillar and fixing up a few little things. It's all coming together.

One Week

What a difference a week makes. This time last week, we'd left a house with a gas leak and no kitchen. Now we're leak-free and most of the kitchen is done.



Still got all the flooring to go down, and I've got a lot of painting to do, but otherwise we're nearly done. Meanwhile, the drainage channel outside was finished and tested/approved by the council, and work continues on the garage. Feels like the home stretch.

Going Underground

As the ceiling dries out, the guys are outside digging a drainage channel to carry all the rainwater into the main drain. If i was a tree-hugger, we'd be keeping it and reusing it somehow. Or perhaps flogging it to people in England ;)

Why Does It Always Rain on Me?

It's been an eventful few days. We had a wedding to go to (congratulations Natalie & Ian!) and as we left the house on Thursday we'd just discovered that we had a gas leak under the kitchen & bathroom floor. Later that day, I got a text from both Rod and Steve to let me know that it was all sorted. Phew. Had visions of coming back to a large crater.

Then, on Saturday our neighbour Linda rang us to tell us that we had water pouring in through the extension roof. We were over 400 miles away, so there wasn't a lot we could do about it. Linda mopped up and put buckets out to catch the worst of it. On Sunday Rod and John were here first thing to assess the damage and try to work out where the water is getting in. By the time we got back on sunday it was starting to dry out, but then the Scottish summer kicked in again, and the water started leaking through once more.







So now we have a half-finished kitchen and a leaky roof. So many song titles sprang to mind. Purple Rain, Riders On The Storm, Fixing a Hole, Who'll Stop The Rain, Waterfall, Fall Down (Like The Rain), Dry The Rain, Buckets Of Rain...
In the end, Why Does It Always Rain on Me seemed most appropriate.

Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box

[And before anyone objects to the spelling, that really is how the song title is written]

Kitchen arrived yesterday. And because the carcases are pre-built, they take up a lot of space. As do all the appliances. The net result is that they're packed like sardines...



In the meantime the utility room is part finished. Those with an Ikea catalog will recognise the units. Unfortunately, nearly half the stuff we got was damaged in some way or other. No problem returning/exchanging it, just fed up of going back and forth to Ikea. Now we're waiting on the remaining doors to be sent to us. Sigh.