Monday:
8.15am: The builders have arrived. It's Sun and Gym Bob...I wasn't expecting to see them! I guess that means Snr and Jnr have completed the woodwork after all...I didn't think they had. Ok...whatever...it's nice to see that things are moving ahead.
10.30am: The roof covering is being put on....
12.30pm: The base sheeting is all on and is being battened down...
1.30pm: Looks good...roof frame is all securely covered now. Sun reckons he'll be laying the roofing tiles tomorrow. The weather forecast looks fine all week...until Friday. Once the roof is sorted the weather won't matter so much anyway.
There's a snag with the roof tiles though. This house has Marley tiles on the roof...and these are red....or at least, they were red in 1984 when the house was built. They are now well weathered and appear as a mellow reddish brown. So...in contrast the new Marley tiles will glow red and make the house look like something out of Lego Toy Town. There's a brown Marley tile that could be fitted instead...which might look better at first, but that would weather to grey/black and would therefore never match in. So...the extension will have to have a red roof. It can't be helped.
3.30pm: Sun and Gym Bob have just left.
Tuesday:
8.30am: Sun and Gym Bob have arrived. There's a bit of a glitch to the build though. Basically it's a building controls requirement for cavity closures to be fitted. These should be put in place before the roofing beams are fitted. However, due to the fact that site control has not been properly effected (this is Top Cat's job) the roof beams were erected before the oversight was noticed (by my husband). This effectively means that Sun now has to fiddle to work around the beams in order to put the closures in place. It's not an easy job to do this and it is also time consuming. It's damned annoying. The roof is ready for the tiles to be put on...and now this has happened there's a necessary but annoying delay. My feeling, although I am not the boss, is that there needs to be a review of the site management process. The site manager needs to visit and check that each team of builders has completed their part of the build before the next team takes over. If Top Cat can't do it all then the firm needs to employ a second site manager. Maybe, as a relatively new firm of builders they are expanding faster than they'd expected.
12.15pm: The cavity closure thingies are now in place and the roof is ready for the tiles...which haven't arrived.
4.30pm: Went out and when I got back the main bulk of roof tiles were on! There's a lot of 'edge' work to be done tomorrow...but by tomorrow night Sun and Gym could have completed the job! Fab!
Wednesday:
8.15am: Sun and Gym Bob have arrived and work has begun. The roofing should be completed today. I don't know what comes next. Internally there's a floor to be laid. There's a wall to come down and a wall to be built. There are electrics, heating and plumbing to be done (with bathroom fittings to be delivered)...plus plasterboard and plastering...a bit of tiling...and of course the windows and doors. Externally there's guttering and a soak-away to be fitted...plus some block paving to be laid and the external driveway to be re-tidied. So there's plenty of work ahead. Looking at the timings...there was an expectation of an eight week build. There has been a weeks delay due to unforeseen building complications at the start. We are now in the sixth week. Or we could say we're in the fifth week I suppose, as we've lost one.
For Lodge followers, when the builders leave here Alan has some home-decorating to do. Mainly walls and woodwork to be painted...but there's a cupboard to be built, shelving to be put up, easy-lay flooring is needed in the extended hallway and new bathroom...as well as wood flooring in the lodge itself. After that...we party!!!
10.45am: It's looking good out there!
2.40pm: There's still quite a bit to do around the edges...the tiles all need cutting in and it's a bit tedious. Sun thinks he'll not quite finish it today, so will be back tomorrow to complete the job. When it's done the scaffolding will be taken away, which will be nice. It's funny how I was pleased to see it arriving, but will now be very glad to see it go.
4.10pm: Sun and Gym Bob have just left.
Thursday:
8.45am: Sun and Gym Bob are here and work has begun. I notice that Gym Bob is developing muscles to his upper arms and chest. Like many youngsters he's into body building at the gym...whereas he'd probably be a lot better off tucking into steak and chips followed by apple pie and custard!
12.15pm: Work continues. It's getting along nicely, but is certainly a bit of a challenge...very fiddly.
2pm: Top Cat just 'phoned to ask Sun to measure the windows that need to be ordered. I explained that the existing windows are Georgian style (with 'squares') and that one of the new ones needs to be made up with obscure glass to match another that's in the same room. In my view, Top Cat hasn't taken on board the fact that although size matters, the finer details matter just as much.
2.20pm: Silly me...apparently Top Cat asked for the window space measurements for a different reason entirely.
4.15pm: The builders have just left.
Friday:
8am: Early arrivals! Sun and Gym Bob have started work already. The roof is looking good. Sun is a perfectionist and the results speak for themselves.
1pm: Sun and Gym Bob have left the site with the roof completed. Frankly Sun has done an exceptionally good job.
Yeh! Sun's on a roll!
THE SEVENTH WEEK
Monday:10am: There are no builders here and no sign of
activity on site. This is the seventh week of an agreed eight week build. Even
accepting that a week was lost through no fault of their own at the start, I am
not happy that there's no-one working here today. I blame Top Cat...he's the
guy co-ordinating the build...and I have my own private thoughts about him right
now.
Tuesday:
8.50am: Sparky has arrived. He's working now and all is well.
12.15pm: Sparky has finished and is just clearing up before leaving. He says that the plumber will be here shortly.
3.30pm: The plumbers, Walter and Sue R have arrived, detailed the job. The work will commense tomorrow.
8.30am: Walter has arrived and has started work.
3.15pm: Guy arrived to measure for windows.
5.10pm: Walter completed his job and has just left.
Thursday:
9.30am: Top Cat's just been. He’s made a lot of ‘phone calls (with me listening). Skip is to be changed. Scaffolding removed. He has made a long list, and says he’ll be back on Monday with six blokes. They are going to board up the front door from the inside (my suggestion). They will then knock the hole into the loo and board it up from the inside. They will do the block building work…roof insulation and boarding…followed by wall boarding. Windows will arrive. Friday they will lay the floor. They may work over the weekend. They will bring in the woodwork team the following week, along with plumbers and electricians to complete. I guess that means the shower and stuff will be delivered next week. Externally…plumbing…guttering...soakaway etc will be done…plus a path laid, driveway sorted and the job will be completed by October 6th.
This all sounds very good...in fact it sounds perfect...but do I believe him?
Note: The scaffolding was removed on
Friday and a delivery of plasterboard and other relevant materials was delivered
on Saturday. It looks promising...
