August 2023

 

3rd August: After a week of interminable rain, the scaffolding at the front has gone and the courgettes have turned into marrows. The lower half of the building will be rendered in white.

3rd August: The other Dan (electrical Dan) came in today to fix power sockets, light switches and light pendants throughout the cottage. In the kitchen area there are neat spot lights.

3rd August: For several days, Lee has had to work in unseasonal rain to finish off details on the roofs at the southern end. 

3rd August: While I was cutting and shaping pieces of fabric for a dressmaking project on the other side of this brick wall (where my sewing room is), Lee was busy creating artwork for the flashing.

3rd August: Another detail showing how to tackle corners where two roofs meet. The technique is very similar to the notches used in dressmaking.

5th August: The ground floor now has a door to the living quarters.

5th August: The bathroom has arrived (minus bath and shower tray).

5th August: A handle is fitted to an upstairs cupboard door.

5th August: A rust-coloured undercoat seals the brickwork. The topcoat will be white.

7th August: Under construction! The kitchen units are being put together

7th August: Elsewhere downstairs, radiators and cylinders are waiting to be unwrapped.

8th August: The two cylinders are fitted in the plant room. The one on the left is an accumulator tank. The water supply to the property is erratic, with low pressure at best and no water at worst. This should help. In the main house we have to rely on pumps.

8th August: In the bathroom the shower tray rests against the wall while a boxed area for the pipework is created.

8th August: At the opposite end of the room is the bath.

8th August: In the master bedroom a radiator has been fitted beneath the window. The towel rails will go in the bathroom.

8th August: In the kitchen the washing machine is waiting to join its dishwasher cousin, which has already found its home beneath the window.

11th August: Over the past few days, the small porch roof between the cottage and the main house has been rebuilt and retiled with spares left over from the new roofs. This work had to be done because of rotten beams and woodworm-riddled rafters. All the scaffolding has now gone.

11th August: Gleaming copper pipes for the water supply to and from the tanks.

14th August: The kitchen now has a cooker, hob, extractor fan, fridge/freezer, washing machine, dishwasher and cupboards. Everything except the kitchen sink! Just waiting for the electrician to connect up the power supply before that can go in.

16th August: Two full days of messy excavation work around the cottage to lower the level of the ground and gain access to the drainage system.

16th August: The cottage's drain is uncovered. It joins up with the main drain that runs deep under the lawn across the garden down to the septic tank near the road. Several other similar pipes from the house also feed into the same drain. 

16th August: The drain from the cottage was blocked up with fine filaments of roots from the nearby tree. It needed a fair bit of rodding to clear it, but eventually water started to come out at the other end. A new section of plastic pipe will run from the cottage and be connected to this clay pipe.

16th August: Dan the electrician came in to connect up the kitchen appliances to the power supply.

16th August: The plant room room is now looking impressive with all those valves and levers.

16th August: Upstairs, what a pleasant surprise — someone has laid a floor in the master bedroom. This room is almost finished!

19th August: The kitchen has its sink.

19th August: The worktop is so lifelike one could be fooled into thinking it was real oak.

22nd August: Bedroom cupboards now have architraves.

24th August: I noticed that the digital clock on the oven was lit up, so I tried a light switch. We have power!

24th August: The French windows are in place, reflecting the rays of the afternoon sun onto the floor.

28th August: The downstairs WC is almost ready for use.

31st August: The ground is levelled and prepared outside the patio doors.

31st August: The boiler is set on a concrete slab.

31st August: This little porch, newly roofed and concreted, separates the main house from the Annexe. It has hitherto been damp and soggy patch of grass and weeds. It the obvious place to put the boiler.