Hot water and steps

Today is the final day before the men go to help the lady in our village with a leaky roof and so there were a few bits that needed to be done before they could leave.

Halil cleans up in the Glass Room

Chiselling out for the new water supply

Channelling for the new water pipe

Sally prepares the ground

Halil drilling for rebar for the step

Heat joining the new water pipes

Ready for wire

I had a really bad night, I was actually up until 3.30 working, but somehow I have managed to make it through the day. The men were in on time and the two major tasks, hinted at in the title, were started with Halil and Sally in the Glass Room working on concrete steps around the bottom of the windows and Bekir was upstairs finishing off all the work on the new over-sink hot water thing.

Drilling through for conduit

Cement mixing

Working fast to finish the job

Drilling through for internet into the gym

Steps done and going off

With the water heater fitted and all the old pipes removed Bekir went on to drilling through the wall so I can run network cables out of Room 13 and around the house. We are going to put conduit through the walls and floors so I can change my mind, run more cables, and generally have better control over what happens. I collected Rosie and when I got back I went straight back out for cement as they were running out. Bekir had finished the drilling, and also fitted the new timer for the boiler in the guest room, and so he got stuck into tidying up the end of the library ready for finishing when they come back. I also had him drill a hole through near the door into the gym as we may end up putting an internet TV in there. Sally and Halil were working overtime, literally, to get the step finishing and then they stayed even later to tidy up prior to their work elsewhere next week.

Now I've got the task of redoing the network in the house but I'm waiting for a few bits before I can do that; not having the men here next week will mean I can empty Room 13 to do this which means I can give it a deep clean. Sadly Angela and Rosie are also going away for a bit to Ireland so I'm going to be home alone for a while. Thanks for reading.

Glazing

 Today has been a busy and exciting day with loads happening however let's get back to the beginning.

The scraping begins again

Scaffold onto the stairs

Half supported

Safely on blocks

All the scraping going on

I finally had a good night sleep and, after dropping Rosie at school (she was a bit sad as I left her, but OK really) I got back to the busy work day. The men were in by the time I got back and Halil and Sally were cracking on with the scraping, such a horrible unpleasant job and I feel so guilty whenever they are doing it. It had got to the point where Sally was trying to do the stairs and the walls there are high; they used their ingenuity to construct a very solid base that allowed them to use the scaffold with a flat surface and no wobble at all. It did look very dodgy when I first saw it, however.

Ducting for the internet cable

The window people arrive

Fitting the porch windows

Enclosing the library

Rosie gets tilt and turn

Enclosed porch

Bekir meanwhile, after we looked at the boiler again and decided it was leaking too much to use (we can look at it another time at leisure) headed into the library and installed the ducting that will have the internet running through it. After lunch the excitement truly began as the window people turned up dead on time, to the second nearly, bringing with them the windows for the library, the porch and also to replace the ones in Rosie's room and play room with tilt and turn. They stayed for over two hours and in that time got everything done and also replaced the broken hinge on the back window which has been bust for a year now. We are all so very excited by this progress today; the library is now all but a little bit of plastering away from carpet fitting time, and the porch is glazed and ready to act as a little green house (once a bit of cement work has been done). The window boss had another look at the balcony as well and requested a little more steel work and he said that these will be fitted in November as well! Amazing!

Library light fittings go in

I'll wrap up with a picture of Bekir fitting the lights in the library; they are lovely and really give a warm glow to the room; I cannot wait to sit in there and read and relax with a cuppa.

What a great day; see you all again tomorrow.

Finishing before a short break

What a busy day, and a lot achieved. It's my mate's birthday and we're going to have a virtual pub this evening so I'm going to crack on as quickly as I can before I join in.

Bekir starts sanding down the wood

Sally masking off for painting

Taking the doors for cleaning

We have a coat hook rack thing

Doors getting a good clean

Still sanding down

We were outside enjoying the morning when the men arrived and got stuck in to the final day before their long weekend (though Bekir tells me it won't be a holiday for them as they have lots of work to do in their own village). Bekir's job which took nearly all day was to prepare the wood that will go on the tops of the banisters for the spiral staircase. Rosie is growing fast and is not far off banging her head on the really sharp metal end now so this is slightly more urgent than it was. Sally and Halil were in the porch doing the final finishing touches such as touching up the paint, taking the inner doors off to be cleaned and putting up the coat hook next to the door. Angela went to town with Rosie in the morning as well and got back for lunch after a lovely time; I'd spent the morning hobbying getting a few bits done. Angela has bought me an electric strimmer as the petrol ones, as awesome as they are, are noisy smelly and loud and getting the petrol mix right is something I'm not confident about. The new strimmer is great, though, and I had a quick play before it was time for Rosie's nap.

Hoovering up around the doors

Filling holes

Puppies sunbathing

Light fitting in place

Sally adding more sealant

And yet more sanding

Hand chisel work

After lunch the tidying continued and the doors were put back on. Bekir was still mainly working on the hand rails. It was a lovely day all day, getting quite hot at times but at others with a welcome breeze. The puppies really are loving it very much. The final touch for the men in the porch was to hang the light and then they were done inside. Sally was on the roof putting a little bit more waterproofing in. Bekir, while Rosie was sleeping, took the sander round onto the parking area to keep the noise down (bless that was very thoughtful). The wood he is using is old oak, probably about fifty years since it was cut, that used to be beams in the old roof at the school. He shaped it roughly a few years back but now finally is putting all this attention and effort into making them beautiful for us. This is so central to our feelings about how we are renovating this school. Repurposing and retaining features is important. These now will be varnished by me over the weekend ready to be fitted first thing Monday I think.

Final tidy and rake over

Boot scraper is put in

Digging out for foundations

The Old School looking marvellous!

Angela had a well deserved rest and while she was doing so I sorted out the coats and hats from scattered around the house and put them on the hat stands that I have; I also moved the telephone table in and pretty much got the room sorted. It is a lovely space as you can see from the video above.  The men were into the final little touches with Halil sweeping and raking over the drainage pipe and Sally finally getting the boot scraper cemented in; I'm absolutely convinced that they left that just to wind me up as I asked about it every day. When Angela woke she had to dash out again and while she was out she picked up a kite (which we've been promising Rosie for a while) and so we took it up onto the back bank and had a great time. We all held it, even Rosie, and it actually flew pretty well for a little toy kite. She seemed to love it and certainly both of us did as well. After that it was time for Angela to cook and I spent a lovely time on the lawn with Rosie and the puppies with her playing with them and swinging in her swing; she has been on very good form today indeed.

So there you have it. I don't know if I'll blog again before Monday so we shall see. Thanks for reading, as always.

Steel ordering day

Today I have been exhausted; entirely my fault as I stayed up too late last night painting miniatures and then was on early duty for Rosie so woken at 5.45. Still, I've been tired however it has been a very good day again.

Almost a wintry sky to greet me

Rosie greets the sheep

Cleared weeds around the spud towers

As I said I was up early with Rosie but she was very happily playing in her cot so I had time to make a cuppa and go out and check out the incredible sky before getting her up. There was a really cold wind blowing and the clouds around the sun looked like a huge storm had just passed, or was just dissipating. It took quite a while to warm up. I wrapped Rosie up and we went outside while waiting for Angela to have her well deserved lie in and when she did join us we stayed outside and I did some more weeding down by the path. The men arrived while we were out and were a little late today.

More trench digging

Bekir cleans up from the night before

Making sure they fit right

Finally laying the tiles

Pipework ongoing

The first jobs today were for Sally and Halil to work on the drainage from the toilet while Bekir cleaned up (having had a laugh at the puppy-prints) his work on the step from the night before and then cut and laid the tiles on the step. This took all morning, with other delays like the drill breaking which needed fixing, but by lunch we had a step that we had to avoid standing on as we went in and out.

About to finish the lawn mowing

Done what I can with the mower

Lovely bulbs

At lunch I dragged the lawnmower out and down to the drive and cut the grass next to the drive. I was suppose to get the strimmer out today as well and do the rest but I was just too tired and I'm glad I didn't; I've barely made it through today as it is. I also took a stroll up with Rosie to look at the lovely aliums that Angela planted next to the parking bay that are looking lovely right now.

Grouting in the porch

Filling in the trench

Drainage pipe cemented in place

As is the ventilation pipe

Bekir finishes off inside

After lunch I went into town with Bekir to go to the steel merchant to order the materials for the roof. It was a successful trip, though very hot as the temperature got up towards 30 degrees. All the steel we need will be delivered tomorrow and the price was pretty good so I'm happy. I've also picked up the materials to do the extension to the vine support so that may be done tomorrow, we'll see. After that steel visit we went to our normal supplier to get quotes for the other materials and then home to find that the grouting we had left Sally and Halil doing was still ongoing. It did not take long to complete and then the men finished up the drain pipe and covered it over, putting cement over the channel, and finally Sally and Halil cemented the rubber seal in place for the ventilation pipe. Bekir was doing some small finishing jobs in Rosie's room, such as grouting the new kitchen tiles and also he fitted the missing tiles around the doors, but I forgot to get a picture of that.

Searchlight sunset

I'll leave you with this bookend for the day; after the lovely, but cold, morning here is the sunset. Tomorrow is hopefully the day the porch is completed and the vine support is installed - the men are planning to take a few days off then and be back on Monday to start on the balcony.

I'm not sorry to have a short break as well. Thanks for reading.