Day 30 - Outside Done!

Today's major milestone was the completion of the external part of the build. We now have the full set of ridge tiles and dormer guttering, finishing off a very impressive looking roof. The window surrounds are now in place as well, and just finish things off nicely.

All the doors except the original bathroom now have replacement doors - very nice looking oak veneer fire doors from Distinctive Doors. The bathroom still needs a little bit of work before the frame for the door will be ready to be fitted. 

It's looking like we've got a couple more days of work needed now, so hopefully all complete by Tuesday night. We've started painting already though. The base coat in the office was done a while ago, and the bathroom is now undergoing the same treatment. That just leaves the main bedroom, but as it is still the workshop for a few more days, it's going to be a few days before we can get any paint on the walls in there. We're hoping to get the base coat done in the bathroom tomorrow (Saturday) evening, and then maybe get the first "proper" coat of paint on the ceiling over the next few days. 

Day 29 - Getting closer!

Today saw quite a bit of activity, with more doors going on, and the shower being fitted:

The fascia's are also on the dormer roof, although the corners and guttering are due tomorrow:

I've also managed to get the second coat of gloss on the front guttering. I'm hoping to get onto the rear guttering (on the original roof) tomorrow.

We're really close to the end of the build now. Decorating will be starting very soon!

Day 28 - More doors

We now have doors on the kitchen, the dining room and the cellar as well as the living room. We're expecting the first floor doors to be hung tomorrow, and the door furniture on the ground and second floors.

Hopefully the outside will be finished tomorrow or on Friday, and they're still aiming to be pretty much done inside by Friday as well. No word on the toilet situation yet - apparently we're getting 3 plumbers on site tomorrow to finish off the radiators and the shower room though.

They're hoping to book in the buildings inspector on Monday.

Day 27 - Let there be light!

Today, the electrics were turned on. We now have light and power in each of the rooms in the loft (the reveals around the velux windows aren't really blue, and the shower room isn't really orange!).

The tiling is all done in the shower room as well, Well, apart from the tiles behind the sink, which will be done once the sink is in:

We've even got a door on the living room, although apparently it needs a little bit of fettling. The door frames on the ground floor are all routed out for the intumescent seals.

The toilet has also arrived, but unfortunately it's not the one we ordered, so it'll need to be changed. Hopefully it should be sorted out tomorrow.

Day 26 - The home straight...

The fire doors arrived this morning. There's now 8 oak veneer panelled doors leaning up in our hallway now - 3 are fitted already. There's a standard door left to get, which makes the full set of 12.

The pipework has been added to link the radiators and shower room on the new floor into the main part of the system. The pipes will be boxed in over the course of the next few days.

The electrician has fitted the lights - recessed downlighters - in all 3 new rooms. The switches and sockets are all fitted on the new floor as well.

The end gable is complete, and the fascia fitted. Just the fascia, soffits and guttering to fit to the dormer, and the outside's about done. I've even put the first coat of black gloss on the front guttering and fascia we've retained - one more coat needed on the front, and then 2 coats on the back.

The tiling in the bathroom has also started, and should be finished tomorrow. Then the rest of the shower room can be fitted and we can start to get the decorating done.

The builders think they should be pretty much done by the end of this week. Then we get to start our hard work decorating and getting moved upstairs so we can decorate and move the girls into their new bedrooms, and then decorate the rest of the house...

Day 25 - The beginning of the end?

Today saw the bannisters completed, the stairs completed, and loads more skirting board fitted.

The shower tray is now fitted, along with the bathroom radiator:

And the radiator in our bedroom:

We also did a family painting session in the office - a very watered down mist coat of emulsion to help the final colour adhere to the walls properly:

Day 24 - Bannisters!

The plasterer finished off the last couple of walls today. There's a couple of things he'll be coming back for, but he can't do these until we've moved out of one of the bedrooms, which won't be happening just yet.

The big tidy up got well underway - most of the rubbish from the scaffolding is now in the skip, and the first clean of most of the plaster mess from the floors upstairs has happened. Plenty more stuff to clean up, but there's definitely light at the end of the tunnel.

Two of the access panels for the loft space have now been finished, and a bit more of the skirting board is done in the office.

Looks like our bedroom is done apart from the windowsill and the electrics now. It'll be good to have a "finished" room - at least, one ready for painting!

There's even skirting board in the cupboard...

We've chosen the flooring now, and it's come in slightly under budget which is handy - we might be able to afford to eat next month now!

The bannisters on the stairs up to the top floor have now been started. We have a fairly unique design of bannister - at least, it's not something the builders have ever seen before. The first section is in:

The plumber should be putting in the shower tray tomorrow, and we should get the bannisters finished as well. Tiling early next week, and then the rest of the bathroom can be fitted.