Super busy day

Further great progress was made today with the plastering, the roof and the timbers.

The stud wall between the landing and Zanna’s bedroom has had the traditional laths added ready for the lime plaster.

Alan meticulously adding the lime plaster.

This bit of wall was originally (badly) constructed with chip board and pine and was very wobbly, but it is now a beautiful, solid wall.

Charlie, Alan and Mitch take regular breaks, as they should, this is a mid morning crisp break.

Cat’s job for the day is clearing out the cupboard in the eaves in her bedroom so the plumbers can access it on Thursday. Every single thing is covered in thick orange dust…

Our neighbours competing with our scaffolding, I wouldn’t want to be up there today, it’s a day of torrential downpours.

Pete, Roger and Bo return to continue with the roof. They are concentrating on tiling the dormers today so they can add the lead work this week.

Bo is our new orange dust monster!

These rolls of lead are extremely heavy. Each roll weighs about the same as a builder!

The lead, shaped and ready to be fitted around the dormer windows.

Josh is back for the day to finish sanding and oiling the timbers in the attic, then start on the ones in the dining room.

Oh what a lovely pair!

Roger has fitted the lead underneath one of the dormers. This should have ideally been fitted onto the frame before the window was fitted. We did not know this, so Roger has had to retro fit it into the oak frame.

As we are having leaded cheeks (sides) the two corner posts should also be wrapped in lead. Roger has had to come up with an alternative solution for this. He will chop out the oak where the pencil marks are so that he can add in some lead. We need to get this right as dormer windows are notoriously bad for leaks.

Roger chopping out the oak in the corner post so he can retro fit the lead.

Bo making a start on the second dormer.

Mitch gets all the glamorous jobs.

Josh sanding the beams and joists in the dining room.

The A-frame in the attic, sanded and oiled and just needing to be wrapped up in plastic before the plasterers start up here.

The moisture resistant plasterboard has arrived, ready to be fitted into the new bathroom.

Charlie working on the ceilings on the landing area.

Very glad our flagstone floor is well protected!

The downpours were pretty heavy. I got stuck halfway up the scaffolding as me and Cat were trying to cover Cat’s bedroom window with plastic to stop the rain pouring in.

The gutter above Cat’s bedroom window is failing as it has dropped, so water is pouring over the side.

Ugh.

The best we could do in the conditions! It’s not pretty but it is functional.

Josh has finished sanding and is now oiling the beams in the dining room. We are so grateful to him as this is a tough job, particularly for us as we both have bad arms, shoulders or necks…

Billy our plumber popped by to fit the waste for the bathroom sink and bath. The plasterers moved the bath in for us to check everything is in the right place. This is the first time we have seen this in situ and thankfully it doesn’t look as big as we thought it might. It is going to look fabulous 🙂

Sam’s plan for the electrics for the lighting in the bathroom ceiling drawn onto the wall.

Cat’s bedroom window sill has been rained on all day. It should hopefully remain dry now.

Cat’s expression for the day. She is not enjoying today.

What we thought was an old oak plank sitting on a shelf bracket in the cupboard turned out to be an old builder’s straight edge!

The metal straight edge inside the teak box is immaculate! Dated 1945, around the last time any significant work was done on the house. Some builder was probably wondering where he had left this! We shall keep it and use it.

The walls around the landing window and the door to Zanna’s bedroom looking stunning. You get a glimpse of what it will look like when it is finished.

The float coat on Zanna’s bedroom walls is finished and left to dry for a week before the top coat of plaster goes on.

The ceilings in the landing and bathroom are being insulated with rockwool, then boarded out with acoustic plasterboard, ready to be skimmed.

The plaster in the study is drying nicely.

The lintels above the study window did have big gaps between them but these have been filled with lime plaster to tidy them up.