Lots! I can meet lots of people in one day. Making the most of the children’s last day at nursery (sob, sob), I managed to meet the builder (Steve), the electrician (Mark), the plumber (Elliot), the carpenters (Mike and Tang), the kitchen fitter (Richie), and also squeeze in a work meeting, a trip to the bathroom shop and a tile shop visit. I missed my slightly unrealistic target and didn’t make it to the flooring shop and I was very relieved when the flue man cancelled our meeting. Despite not squeezing in the last two appointments, I think this has to be some sort of personal record and all the more impressive for the fact that I had managed to discuss electrics, plumbing, room layout, timing, cabinet layout and more before 10am. (And no, this does not mean that I’m now a morning person. Never!)
A lot was established through meeting everyone. Very welcome advice from the electrician has changed the numbers of lights planned for a number of rooms. Equally welcome advice from the plumber has changed our plans for the boiler. Less welcome was the news that the build is not going to be completed by the target of 2nd October. The word “screed” was not a part of my vocabulary just a few short weeks ago, but I can now tell you that it takes time to dry before the flooring can be laid and the kitchen can’t be fitted until the flooring is laid. So, the kitchen fit is now booked in for the first week of November. We were hoping for the middle of October so this is only a couple of weeks behind but means that we’ll be getting closer to December by the time worktops have been fitted. We really don’t want to be renting for more than six months. I can’t imagine that this rental house will be my favourite place to be in another three months.
A big step forwards is with huge thanks to Sylvie and Steve. It turns out that if you’re told to choose flooring made by v4 or Karndean because there’s a good price to be had, it’s much easier to choose the flooring. So our heartfelt thanks for not only narrowing down our selection process but also for sharing your contacts with us. Thank you! This means that most of my poring over websites, brochures etc trying to imagine any floor I’ve ever seen is no longer required. Hooray!
As for progress at the house, the dining room wall is looking a bit different:
The top floor has a proper doorway into Spencer’s room. The ceiling height in Eloise’s room has been raised and the new walls have their studwork in place.
Whilst we’re away next week, the windows and doors are arriving, the first fix plumbing and electrics are taking place, the last RSJs are being delivered… There should be quite a lot to see on our return. I’ve also managed to get some calcs done to determine the size of beam required to support the chimney when removing the ground floor section of chimney breast. I am frankly terrified of the calculations and have a new found respect for structural engineers. They probably did find Maths A-level useful. I didn’t know that was even possible.
