Dot'n'dab

Yesterday we did a spot of dot and dabbing!  Most of the walls have had to have studwork to attach the plasterboard to because of pipes or insulation, but this wall in the bathroom is one of the few that didn't need it.  This is another of those mystery arts but is actually quite easy.  You literally dob the cementy stuff all over the wall and then press the plasterboard against it and dah, dah - that's it!  You do need to get the plasterboard all cut to fit first of course and, if there's more than one piece, you have to be careful to get them level with each other.  Much quicker than putting up studwork though.



Mixing plaster in my new bucket - what
do you think of it?!  £1 from Travis Perkins
in aid of Breast Cancer Research
 . . . Bob's not too keen on the colour!



After doing that, we got started on the long wall in the hall.  This is a good, long run of straightforward, square plasterboard, so dead easy compared to most of it.  We got the bottom half done before lunch and were really pleased with progress.  While I was getting lunch sorted I heard a loud 'Oh, damn it!' (or words to that effect) from the toilet.  What on earth there was in the toilet to remind Bob that the wall was supposed to have insulation in, I don't know, but yep, we'd forgotten to put the insulation in.  It was all going so well too!  So, after lunch we had to take all the plasterboard off and put the insulation in and then re-attach the plasterboard.  It didn't actually take too long and we soon had the whole wall done.  The insulation is just for sound rather than thermal.  Anyway, that is all the plasterboarding in this phase of the project done - yeah!





This is the dot and dabbed wall in the bathroom
having its first coat of plaster. Soon be painting!




We had another skimming lesson on Monday morning - just to consolidate what we'd learnt - but have been skimming solo since then.  We tend to do a skimming session first thing and then move onto something else.  It's gone OK - not quite as smooth and polished as when Phil is supervising, but still very acceptable.  We weren't sure we'd be able to do this and thought we'd have to pay someone to come and do it, so it's a real bonus! 

Here's a chicken having a bit of an explore.  This is a bit like a cat-flap for chickens between the utility room and the bathroom.  We put it in so that when we all move in we can shut them in the utility at night and they will have free access to the bathroom , but won't be able to wander all over the house.  We wouldn't want that would we?

Ha, ha, only joking!  They're not really moving in with us!  They may actually be in for a bit of a shock when they're not allowed to just wander wherever they want! 
This hole is there for a more cunning purpose.  This is under the sink in the utility room and goes through to behind the bath in the bathroom.  As the bath has the taps in the middle of the long side, you won't be able to get to the gubbins underneath once everything's installed and tiled in, so the plumber suggested leaving a hole (blanked off with a piece of ply from the utility side) in case we ever need to get to the taps - good idea and really easy to do.  He had a customer once who did have a problem and had to rip the tiles and everything off and tried to claim for that from the tap manufacturers only to be told that she should have put the taps on the accessible side of the bath!!!  Where you have to climb over them to get in - great idea!