More demolition and dust.......

......this has been a week of demolition, plumbing and electrics.  Just when we thought there couldn't be much more dust another round of demolition started and the dust storms happened again.  The nightly round of damp wiping and hoovering keeps our living space bearable and the two newly finished bedrooms have been sealed up with plastic sheeting to try and stop the dust getting in there!

The cause of all this dust has been twofold.  The merging of the upstairs toilet and existing bathroom (a solid wall to remove and all the old 'chicken' tiles) and the removal of the original skirting heating system in the lounge and dining room.  The pipework for this bathroom is also buried in a concrete floor slab and so excavations have to take place to find out where they are, re-route them or cap them off.

The photo on the left shows some of the original skirting heating in situ alongside our temporary kitchen which we don't need anymore - below it has been removed.  This was quite straightforward where the floors are timber but far more difficult (and dusty) in the lounge where the floor is solid concrete. 

The heating is now provided by smaller radiators (see earlier blog), a wood burning stove and the Aga.  The new layers of insulation and an attempt to keep the building as draft free as possible should keep us cosy and warm with minimal use of the oil boiler - Reduce!





Now for the bathroom  ...and chicken tiles!  Do you remember these?  They are called this because they have a pattern that looks a little like a pecking chick!  - they do honestly and there are online forums dedicated to them!

Anyway they have to go!  We had hoped to save and re-enamel the old cast iron bath but it had to be broken up and removed because we can't get taps for it. We will however upcycle the hardwood vanity unit in the new bathroom so watch this space for this in its new form.  The hardwood cornice treatment will also be retained in the new room and the shower is to be tiled in Attingham Seagrass tiles with a Marmoleum grey and turquise flecked floor tile.

The hardwood vanity unit in the old bathroom

Seagrass tiles for main bathroom

The demolition has been a major undertaking today but finally it is done and plastering and fitting out can begin next week. The electrician is now in and doing his first fix in here and the master bathroom is functioning now - which is lucky for us!  Throughout the house we are changing over to LED lighting - a little more expensive to buy initially but much lower energy consumtion and so cheaper to run in the long term - part of our reduce agenda!  LED lighting has improved enormously in the last year or so and you can get just about everything you need now including dimmable bulbs.

New fully functioning shower in the master en-suite - with sample of the marmoleum floor covering laid next to it

The decorators will be starting in the master bedroom and bathroom next week and we are very hopeful that we can move into this part of the house after the floor coverings go down the week after.  We are currently sleeping in the spare bedroom with piles of boxes and bedding and racks of clothes around us.  It is a relatively dust free sanctuary that we protect at all costs!!  However, there is work to do in this room too - skirting heating to remove, boxing in and plastering to do where the MVHR ducts came through - but they are not doing that until we get our new room!!

Outside the larch cladding continues and the gable end is looking great.  Lots of insulation is going under this and being stuffed into every hole, crack and crevice. Next week the framing goes on and the insulation is applied for the final element of the exterior finish - the Rockpanel.  Work on this starts on April 11th and will make a dramatic difference to the appearance of the house.  Comments from neighbours and friends have so far been extremely favourable with many people liking the new roof and windows but also liking the zinc extension, an element I felt could be more controversial.

Before!

Now! - no sunshine today!

So far we are running about a month behind schedule with this project, and pretty much on budget, so not bad really!  We haven't hit too many problems and living on site, whilst uncomfortable at times, has meant that we are able to monitor the work and make decisions as issues arise.  Sourcing things on the internet has meant some savings, experimenting with much cheaper kitchen carcasses and reusing hardwood features, whilst involving labour costs, has meant we are going to have some really nice features at reasonable cost.