A short day finishing up

Today has been the final day for the workmen for who knows how long. We only had Halil here as there was so little left to do and it only took him a short time this morning to get everything done.

Still only a small amount of snow, but pretty

Rosie attacking me with snow

Before that, the snow stayed over night, and a very small amount more fell as well. The hill was very very slippery and icy which made the drive down to Rosie's school a little interesting however when we reached school she had lots of fun throwing snow at me as we walked in to the school land.

Getting started on the tiling

Halil showing off his mop skills

Door rehung and done

Rose found a new hiding place

The task remaining for Halil was to complete the very last of the grouting in the cupboard under the stairs, then clean over multiple times to leave it ready for use. It really didn't take long; the fact of running out of grout did add some time as he had to go down to the shop to grab more. With the grouting done he then washed the floor multiple times before heading off to his summer break. When Rosie got home she was excited to have a new hiding place for hide and seek (at least until the cupboard is filled up!)

Rosie with her Den-den

I'll leave you with a picture of Rosie with her Den-den that she built after school with my help. She is taking it down now before bed.

So there it is. I have no idea when the next update will be so thank you for reading so far and back at some point in the future.

Tiling and grouting

Nearly done with the men as they've made good progress today. Let's get to it.

Slight snow fall over night

Halil gets started on the car storage

Lots of space to display the cars

Tight space to work in

Wall tiles and already grouted

A few more wall tiles being done

Tiles clean, time for grouting

Fast grouting work

There was a small skiffle of snow last night, very much not enough to be exciting but just enough to make the hill a little slippery on the way to drop Rosie. The men were in and Halil split off to do the small task to hang up the hotwheels display unit. Bekir, meanwhile, was wedged in tiling at the bottom end of the cupboard under the stairs. With both these tasks done they went to the tiling of the walls which went fast and then it was grouting time. They did all the wall grouting then managed to get very close to complete on the floor grouting. If we cannot think of another task for them tomorrow then Halil will come on his own tomorrow just to wrap it all up tomorrow.

Dancing girls

After school I had lots of fun with Rosie as she made a den-den then did lots of dancing. It was great fun!

So there it is. Tomorrow will be the last update for a while I reckon. Thanks for reading.

A bits and pieces day

After the epic progress of yesterday, today has been pretty cool as well. Let's get into it.

Sorting out inside Dutch's House

Halil works on the grout for these tiles

Bekir puts some more tiles in

Fixing the damage to our roof

Evidence of an owl roost

Light fittings going in

The first thing the men did today was look at the chicken and treat her (however I missed seeing this) and then they finished up their tasks in Dutch's new home by clearing out some of the old pipes and then putting a pallet in for his bed. I'll need to get in there to do the next steps but that'll be tomorrow. After this they headed inside to do some finishing up tasks upstairs. First of all Halil did the grouting of the slope by the stairs while Bekir put some small tiles by the roof terrace doorway. The next task involved two trips to the shop as initially they got the wrong size of roof tile for the ridge however now I'm very happy that all of this is fixed and repaired as we have weather forecast incoming. While he was up there Bekir pointed out an owl is living under some of the tiles and he took a picture to show me. The final task of the day occurred after I legged it to town to try and buy some lights for the stairs up there. I found some and they began fitting them and then we found I'd picked up the wrong size bulbs! I've now ordered the correct size online and they've already shipped so hopefully they'll be here soon!

Rosie's playroom is back!

She's very excited to be back in her bedroom

Angela had a super busy day today getting the playroom and bedroom completed cleaned and made ready for things going back in, and then put everything back in. It looks great! After school I spent time with Rosie (and when I got distracted ordering the previously mentioned light bulbs Angela took over) going through the toys we had packed up a couple of weeks ago and sorted them into each of the red boxes. She's got plenty of space for more stuff, and it all is kept nicely tidy now.

So there it is; a good day indeed. Tomorrow hopefully we can start (and maybe finish) putting up the pictures on the stairs, and then we'll be done! Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Yet another day of tiling

We still haven't finished the roof terrace, though now we are only left about half the area to grout. Still it's taken so much longer than I planned (as everything does, it seems).

A lovely dawn approaches

Rosie playing with her digger

Bekir gets stuck into tiling

Halil doing the grout (and it's looking great)

Reaching the end of the day

It was a lovely start to the day after a really howling wind all night that kept me awake quite a lot. Rosie was up and about early wanting to play with her new digger so out we went before school and she played with it digging up sand. She seems to like it, and is getting the hang of it quite quickly. It really does take some coordination however. The men were in and up to the roof terrace to finish the odds of tiling (the odd left over edge and around the chimney) and that pretty much took Bekir all day with all the cutting. Halil was helping Bekir and when free was putting the grout into the tiles. By the end of the day the tiling was finally complete (and it looks great) and the grout was half done.

Thelma is in the sun

Goodbye sun

The sun stayed out all day and it was warm inside behind glass (but very cold outside, and we're forecast frost tonight) but Thelma found sun throughout the day, including on the telephone table in the porch. A beautiful sunset and a lovely dinner and the day is done.

Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day as I'm heading off to view a JCB with a view to purchasing to support work both here and up at the Mountain House. See you tomorrow and thanks for reading.

Painting, cleaning and grouting

 Today Angela has been feeling much better but after a good start I have felt steadily worse; I've got a bit of a hobby chat with a mate this evening but after that an early night I hope.

The difference between one coat and two

Bekir grouting in the balcony

Halil painting

Window cleaning

I don't have all that many pictures from today so it'll be another quick one. Basically what we expected to take place, took place, though as far as I'm aware Bekir didn't get to the steel on the outside of the balcony but he may have done? I didn't see if he did. Halil was putting a second coat on over the landing and it is really looking lovely and light out there now. Bekir was mainly grouting and cleaning up the tiles on the balcony. Halil also did some cleaning and even took doors and windows off to give them a really good clean to remove all the dust that 6 years of being installed without the walls being sealed had caused.

And that's it; I don't know if Bekir did the silicon to seal the step into the closed area of the balcony, but we talked about it so he may have done. I'll try and be more aware tomorrow of what is occurring.

Another Wednesday

 Another day and a shorter update today.

Halil painting the landing again

Making some trims for around the door

Fitting the trim in place

Downpipe in place

Rosie giving Louise a cuddle

Grouting the tiles

Dropping a weight down

Pulling loads of soot out

It was grey and damp all day today, the promised sun never showed. I even lit the fire. It was another lay in for all of us today so I was almost straight to my desk after waking. Halil was on with painting the landing again, finishing the first coat and then starting the second. It should be complete tomorrow I hope. Bekir made some little slivers of wood to put around the double doors to the games room to tidy that edge off and then he was outside moving the downpipe to a better location - Halil helped him with that. Angela was feeling very under the weather again today but managed to keep Rosie entertained which was impressive - Rosie is really getting good with the puppies and them with her. Halil and Bekir went to the shops in Thomas and picked up some supplies including some steel to put on the outside of the windows to finally finish that off and then Bekir got on with grouting the tiles on the wall. The last thing for him was to clean the chimneys and he went onto the roof and got so much soot out of the chimney for the lounge it was incredible. He also cleaned the one for Room 13 but could not find the cleaning access panel anyway, which is really strange.

And there is the day; off to continue the Hobbit viewing now.