Last night the York stone for our steps was delivered in the dark by Mark from Warwick Reclamation, so this morning I was able to see it. They need a good scrub but they are perfect. This is where the steps will go up from the old front door to the garden.
The York stone for the two garden steps with the bull nose edge.
The stone for the two front door steps.
The wall has been covered overnight to stop the pointing from drying out too quickly. The pointing is done with lime but unlike the pointing for the house this mix has some cement in it. It is 3 parts sand to one part lime and one part cement. This adds strength and it isn’t as important for this wall to breath, it is holding back the garden so it will always be damp.
George is holding the fort for a couple of days as Tom is away. He has plenty to do, brushing back all the pointing on this wall and on the back wall of the house, cutting and preparing more stone from our pile and shifting a load of top soil from the back garden to the front garden.
We have employed a new plumber, Andrew (a plumber who I use for the house I manage in London), who is bravely finishing off the job that our old plumber didn’t. Long story but let’s just say this bathroom should have been finished weeks ago… Because of this we definitely won’t be in by Christmas which was the plan until the old plumber delayed and delayed and delayed and messed it up for us.
Andrew has discovered that our previous plumber didn’t fit the shower controls straight! WTF! To say I’m angry is a massive understatement. I am f***ing furious. We have spent a fortune on this bathroom, not to mention how much we have spent on putting steel in the floor to get a bathroom upstairs to start with. Thousands of pounds have been invested in this and our old plumber puts the f***ing shower controls on wonky! Surely a spirit level is THE tool that a plumber should not be without when fitting a bathroom, no? This is not the only thing that he messed up. Almost EVERYTHING he has done we have had to get someone else to sort out and fix at OUR expense.
Sunrise on Thursday morning and I have calmed down a little. I’m still full of rage and also have a really bad back which is not helping my mood and vice versa.
George is knocking back the pointing on the bottom of the walls at the back of the house.
It is still quite wet (it rained all afternoon and evening yesterday), but dry enough to knock back.
Andrew has fitted the sink and taps in the bathroom, and despite coming up against more issues with the pipework not being in the right position, he has managed to get it all fitted. This makes me happy and is the first time we have seen the sink on the granite with the tap and it looks bloody brilliant.
One of the glass screens is on and the shower is taking shape. Drilling the fixings into the tiles must be bloody nerve wracking…
The toilet is fitted!
George has spent the afternoon cutting up stone so he (and everything else around him) is orange. He looks like he has a badly applied fake tan.
Friday morning and our parasol, face down in the mud, represents exactly how my day is going. The weather is awful so Tom and George arrived but then left as it is too wet to finish the wall. I had my back fixed last night by my osteopath so am pretty sore today, I also had a hospital appointment for minor surgery this morning but went to the wrong bloody hospital and missed it. Arse.
So after a very testing week THIS has made my day. I received a parcel from an old friend who now lives in Holland. Dark chocolate with ginger, a favourite of mine, and a lovely little bottle of gin! Thank you Sue, perfectly timed and made me smile 🙂