Birthdays and bog brushes

We have finished skimming the oak room.  On Monday we did half the ceiling (too big to do all in one go).  Stupidly I had a shower when I got up and then did the plastering.    You can imagine what I looked like when I had finished - well and truly splattered!  So, I had to have another shower and wash my hair again before I could go to work.  This morning I was more sensible and left the shower until after the plastering.  Our skimming skills did come flooding back (thank goodness).  So, next job in there is to paint but we'd perhaps better let it dry for a day or two first.  The electrician is coming next week to liven up the sockets, light and underfloor heating.

It was my birthday at the weekend so we had a day off from building work.  I did still have to go to M&S for a 4 hour shift starting at 7am!  Still, once I had got over the injustice of having to be up so early on my birthday, it wasn't too bad and I was soon home again.  As Bob's Dad and stepmum (Arthur and Jan) were coming over in the afternoon, I made some scones.  Good job too because various neighbours called in and we spent the whole afternoon sat around the kitchen table with them and Jan and Arthur eating scones, drinking tea and eating chocolates (Ben had made me some homemade crunchies - yum, yum!) - what a lovely way to spend your birthday.  We then went out for a meal in the evening and I have to say that by the time I went to bed I felt just a little bit sick!

I haven't got round to making the blind for the utility room yet - not really a priority.  I did decorate a loo brush though!  Now, how many people do that of an evening?  Aren't loo brushes boring?!  We have one in the ensuite which we've had ages, it is ceramic with three ducks on it which is quite cute, but we couldn't find anything similar for the bathroom.  So we bought a plain white ceramic one and I got out my red nail varnish and black marker pen and it now has ladybirds climbing all over it.  Much better.

The plumber's coming again tomorrow - this is getting a tad monotonous isn't it?

Well, better get off to work now.

We have a new chicken!

We have a new chicken which we collected last week - a cockerel!  So far the girls haven't really taken much notice of him and he just sits around in the garden by himself while they go about their normal business.  He does remind me of the Iron Chicken in the Clangers . . . . . that's because he is an iron chicken (or cockerel) and not actually a real one!  He sits on his perch on a stick and nods backwards and forwards if the wind catches him or if you push him slightly (which I have to do every time I walk past him).

We went to see Ben for his birthday on Thursday/Friday which made a nice break.  On the way home we called in at Ikea in Birmingham - oh, we just love it there!  We went to look at settees - they are just so much cheaper than anywhere else.  We saw one we quite liked and it was sooo comfy (mind you, anything is after the caravan setees).  We couldn't find any leaflets about it though so we asked the operative who said 'It comes as a two seater, three seater or chair and that's the only colour it comes in' - so, I guess you don't really need a leaflet.  We thought we'd check on the internet when we got home for measurements, etc.  It isn't on their website at all!  So, I rang them to ask about it and the girl on the phone hadn't even heard of it.  The mystery sofa obviously!  Eventually she found it, confirmed the details we'd been told and also told me you can't order it online . . . . . or by phone.  You have to go into the store to order it and then they'll deliver it - aaaarrrrghhhh!  We'll have to go to Ikea AGAIN - that'll be three times in one year!  Not to worry, we spent £50 on other things we didn't go to get while we were there!

On Wednesday the plumber came to fix the latest leaks and - fingers crossed, touch wood, etc - we have been leak-free ever since.  While he was here he bent some copper pipe for us to fit the slope of the ceiling in the bathroom.  We are going to get it powder-coated (there's a firm in town that will do that for us) and use it for the shower curtain rail.  It should look quite good.  I got some curtain rings with little pegs on the bottom so I can cut a shower curtain to fit the slope and won't have to worry about how to attach the rings . . . .. they were from Ikea!  The plumber thought he might be able to make his fortune making bespoke shower rails - maybe we'll have to patent the idea.  He also had a go at tweaking the solar pump.  I know the weather hasn't been that brilliant for mid-summer, but we felt that the panels should be working better than they were.  They seemed to get the water in the tank up to about 47 degrees and then wouldn't get it any hotter.  He agreed they should do much better than that.  The pump switches on and off all the time as the temperature on the roof rises and falls.  The difference between the roof temperature and the tank temperature controls the switching on and off.  It was set to come on when the roof was 8 degrees hotter, as the heat is transferred to the tank the roof temerature falls and the pump switched off when the difference dropped to 5 degrees.  So he changed those settings to 10 and 3 degrees which means that the pump is working for longer.  We all stood in the lean-to for ages watching the display to see if it made a difference, but then the sun went in which wasn't very helpful.  Today has been a good sunny day and the tank got up to 57 degrees - much better, but we should be able to get a bit hotter.  He is coming back next week for another play.  You can also alter the flow rate which should make a difference, so fingers-crossed for a sunny day on Wednesday so he can sort it out properly.   57 degrees give plenty of hot for a nice long shower anyway.

Since we got back from Ben's we've been working on the drains which take the rainwater from half the house roof and the extension.  We've been waiting ages for some of the bits, but they were finally in yesterday, so no excuse not to get on with it.  We found an old clay drain which we thought we could use, but on closer inspection it didn't really go far enough and so the water would have been dumped too close to the house.  We then thought we could use part of it as a duct, put a plastic pipe though and then tee off it to join the other pipe that goes to a proper soakaway.  So, Bob has gradually dug all the trenches, located the old pipe and broken through it and we were all ready to go.  As we've been putting it together though we've gradually worked our way up the clay pipe, taking out a section, thinking we could use the rest, taking out another section and so on until we have no clay pipe left at all.  Well, it seemed a good idea at the time!  We had real trouble getting the right fall on the pipes so the water would flow the right way and the clay pipe was actually making things worse, so it had to go.  On the positive side though it did mean that that section was easier to dig as it had been dug before which was a real bonus.  Bob had to get through solid rock in some other bits - hard, hard work.



Our drain-spider!

 With so many pipes all connected, it took us ages to get all the levels right, but it is done now and we're jolly glad to see it covered over.  Just need a bit more gravel to finish covering it, but that's fairly staighforward to do another day.  Phew!  Back to nicer jobs tomorrow like grouting the kitchen tiles, painting, installing the shampoo/soap shelf in the shower (another Ikea buy - they are good for some things!), etc.

We now have a little spirit level to go on the new mantlepiece in the kitchen.  Bob's dad had his dad's (so Bob's grandad's) which is perfect, just needs a bit of a polish up.  Then the next day my mum and dad rang to say they'd hunted high and low in their workshop and found an old rosewood and brass spirit level which would be perfect.  Well now, spirit levels appear to be a bit like buses don't they?  Bob thinks its fantastic - in his book, you just can't have too many tools around and I'm sure there'll be another spot where we'll have to prove levelness on a regular basis.

Racing cars, food and floors

Well, the sun shone for us for the Food Festival - in fact, at one point it was a little too hot (never satisfied are we?).  The Smallholders' stall looked pretty good with home grown/made produce, a beehive, books, posters and leaflets and we had a lot of people to talk to who were interested in the group.  So, we'll see if they all turn up to the next meeting - goats is the next subject.

On Sunday we had a day out at Loton Park just a few miles away.  In its normal life it is a deer park and country estate I think, but for a few weekends a year they hold hill climbs.  This time it wasn't us climbing the hils though, it was cars and motorbikes.  They race (one at a time) up the course which is a little road that winds its way up the hill through trees and grassland for about a mile.  There were all sorts of vehicles there old and new.  Bob was particularly interested in the motorbikes (he has two himself).  There were quite a lot of Ferraris and they were rubbish - the little Peugeot 205 went as fast as did some of the little 3 wheel Morgans (maybe it's because the Ferraris cost so much that they were a bit shy of hammering them).  Anyway, it made a good day out with enough mishaps to keep the public happy without anyone actually getting hurt or really damaging their vehicle.  Bob also took me out for Sunday lunch - what a treat, a cheeseburger and chips from the van with a '99' for pudding (actually it was quite nice to eat rubbish for a change!).

Work-wise, Bob has dug some more holes for the drains from the extension gutters - pretty heavy going with some solid rock to get through (he did work up quite a sweat).  That's all ready for the pipes, we are just waiting for the builders merchant to get some of the bits we need.  We'll be glad when that's all filled in as there seem to have been holes all over the place for ages.  We have actually got a draw-bridge at the moment - Bob's always wanted one, but this should only be temporary so he'd better make the most of it.  I spent yesterday doing more Victorian housework, this time scrubbing the kitchen floor (with the chemical cleaner) then rinsing it and sealing it.  That done and dried, we spent this morning grouting it which is a long job I can tell you!  As you know, we have re-laid the original quarry tiles.  When new I think they would have been laid without gaps and that's the job done, but because they are worn and slightly different sizes we couldn't do that.  Some of the gaps are too small for ordinary grout though (and it wouldn't look right).  So, we have invented our own system (well, it may be used elsewhere, we don't know).  We mix some builders sand which is quite red (seived to get rid of the bigger grit) with some very fine kiln dried sand which is quite pale and some lime.  This makes a fine pinky-colour powder.

We then feed this into the gaps between the tiles making sure it fills them up as much as possible and at the same time making sure the rest of the tile isn't covered with lime by brushing it in with a paintbrush.  Some gaps just fill up really easily and others feel as though you're filling the cellar with sand and take ages!  Once all the gaps are filled we sprayed water along all the gaps so it can go off (that's builder's speak for going hard).  We should then be able to clean up the tiles and apply another coat of sealer.  Filling all the gaps in just makes such a difference to the look of the floor and I think we're quite pleased with it.

I'm off to Scotland on Thursday to visit Laura and the midges - looking forward to seeing Laura, but not the other little pests!  I think a trip to Tesco is planned for her to stock up on essentials and she did mention that some chip shop chips would be nice!  She has a Tibetan lesson on Thursday afternoon, so I may go along to that too and see what I can learn.  Tashi Delek is about all I know so far - that is a greeting.  Bob is staying behind to chicken-sit, but I think he may have a trip out on his motorbike to go to the Harley Davison shop for a part he needs and then to Axminster Tools to look at router tables (we'll need one of them for making window frames).

The plumber should be coming again tomorrow (although he hasn't rung to confirm, so watch this space) - another leaking joint on the solar pipes and to fit a flappy one-way valve so the solar panels don't carry on heating the radiator.  He is also going to bend some copper pipe for us to make a rail for the shower curtain downstairs.  It has to go up the sloping ceiling then straight for a bit and then round a corner, so this seems to be the simplest way to do it.  There is a company on the industrial estate that can powder-coat it for us fairly cheaply, so that should be that problem solved.

I've bought some curtain material

After all this time joking about making the curtains, I actually bought some material for the kitchen windows today.  Now, how exciting is that do you think?  I will make a sort of Roman blind for the window by the sink and curtains for the dining end.  The material is apple-green gingham with little white daisies on it - quite cute really and very fresh-looking.

The electrician has been here today . . . . and the plumber . . . . . and the water tank delivery van . . . . . and a neighbour.  A bit chaotic this morning!  As I mentioned before, the sparky was coming as he had a free day and a half.  So he has now done all the lights and extractor fans and just has the underfloor heating to sort out tomorrow.  The plumber called round unexpectedly yesterday and after much complimenting us on the house, the woodburner, the tiling and so on, looked very sheepish and told us he couldn't come on Monday . . . . . or for a fortnight after that!  He has to go into hospital, so there's not a lot we could say really.  So, the plan was that he'd get the hot water tank (or heat store to be more precise - I'll explain in a minute) delivered this morning and he'd come and position it and the solar tubes controller and pump so the sparky could do the wiring if he had time.  He turned up, a bit later the delivery van turned up and they unloaded the tank . . . . . wrong one!  So that had to go back.  So then the plumber said he'd connect the electric shower so the sparky could wire that up if he had time.  He unpacked the shower only to find that it had been used - it was covered in water marks, there was a nut on the back that isn't usually included and you could see by the fixing holes that it had obviously been attached to a wall.  So that had to go back and the plumber went home.  How frustrating and we'll not see him now until the end of the month!

So, a heat store - because we have solar panels and a back boiler producing hot water we can't have an ordinary hot water cylinder.  We have to have a heat store.  It works in the opposite way to a normal tank.  The fluid from the solar tubes will run through a copper coil in the bottom half of the tank and will warm the water in the tank.  In winter, the hot water from the back boiler goes straight into the tank - that is the same water that the solar coil will warm, but is not the actual water that comes out of the hot tap.  The mains cold water runs through a long coil inside the tank and as it goes through it is heated by the already hot water in the tank.  So the water that actually comes out of the tap is at mains pressure (good for showers) and is freshly heated as you use it.  There will also be a traditional immersion heater for topping-up or for in summer when we don't have the woodburner going and the sun isn't in evidence.  Now, that's all very clever isn't it.  I hope I've got that all right . . . . well, it sounds convincing doesn't it?

Remember I told you about the rabbit hole in the middle of the leek patch that we emptied of baby rabbits and filled back in?  Well, next morning the hole was back again!  So we filled it back in again and next morning there it was again, so we filled it back in again and next morning . . . you've guessed it.  Persisitent little blighters aren't they.  This morning though, no sign of a hole, so maybe they've got the message.  We have lots of feathered babies around - Bob can barely keep up with filling the feeders!  There have been two baby nuthatches around most of the day, the young woodpeckers (at least two) and parents have been in the trees across the lane for the last few days as well as on the peanuts and there have been about 64 baby great tits on the peanuts almost constantly.  I know most people have stopped filling the feeders by now, but for purely selfish reasons we carry on - I just love seeing all these babies!

Scary Monsters!

No, they're not the scary monsters, cheeky!  That's Mum and Dad, who've been here for a few days.  We put them to work cleaning the kitchen floor.  We had lovely weather, so it was a good time to do wet stuff.  We borrowed a pressure washer and got a production-line going with Mum on the washer and the rest of us laying tiles out on pallets, turning them over, loading them into wheelbarrows then barrowing them down and stacking them outside the kitchen door.  It was certainly easier than scrubbing them by hand and made easier by having help.  So, we're now ready to lay them.

We spent some time this afternoon in the kitchen trying to decide on where our centre lines should be.  Nothing lines up, there are no right angles and none of the walls are straight so it's a bit difficult to decide.  The oak post in the middle of the room won though, so that will be the centre of the cross.  We also got the kitchen sink out of its box and balanced in in place on some work benches to decide where it should go.  We're going to sit it on brick pillars with wooden doors between - we saw similar in the cafe at Laura's monastry which we liked and thought we'd copy, so we marked out where that'll go.  We have a problem of lots of deep recesses in the kitchen which will be awkward to get to . . . so, lots of storage space for things that don't get used very often, but nowhere for the everyday things.  One such place will be next to the sink down the side of the inglenook.  Too big to waste, but awkward to use!  The access to it (under the worktop) will be quite narrow.  So we think we will invent some free-standing shelves on little wheels - three sets which will wheel into the opening and then push sideways into the awkward space.  The last one (ie the one that's easiest to get to) will hold the bins.  So, to get to the others you pull the bin trolley right out, pull the next one sideways and then towards you out of the opening and so on.  It's not ideal, but is the best we've come up with so far - work in progress I think. 

This morning we trawled around electrical and plumbers merchants getting prices for sockets, light switches, etc, etc, looking at light fittings, extractor fans, showers and so on.  Now need to decide where to get what and get on with buying stuff.  The electician is coming on 25 May to start 2nd fix and the plumber is booked for 6 June.  He did come on Tuesday to fit the bath and shower tray - bit frustrating as he didn't have a waste for the bath and the one Bob dashed into town to get wasn't right.  While Bob was out he got on with the shower tray, fixed all the little legs onto it, put it in place and put his spirit level on it and realised that it was bowed in every direction.  In effect there was a slight hump in the middle of the tray, so we would have ended up with a swampy moat around the edge!  Must have been a manufacturing problem because a cast resin tray wouldn't bow from poor storage.  Anyway we rang the plumbers merchant and they said they'd get another one for the next day, so the plumber picked it up and came back and fitted it as well as the bath yesterday.  So, at last we have a bath and we enjoyed relaxing in it this afternoon, lovely and deep - what luxury . . . . . shame there was no water in it!  Oh, we also ordered the floorboards for upstairs (should arrive on Saturday) and booked the electricity company to come and fit an Economy 7 meter (Friday, 13th!!!  Is that really a good idea?).  We need E7 for the underfloor heating which acts like a storage heater.  So, a busy day, but not really much to show for it.

Now to the scary monsters!  Just look at this  . . .

. . . . it's one of those May Bugs I told you about.  Somehow it must have got one of its feet stuck in the seal around the window and so was buzzing there for ages while we looked on horrified and took photos.  It kept buzzing really loudly trying to free itself and then it just sat quietly waving its antennae.  I felt quite sorry for it and couldn't just leave it there so, very bravely I thought, I got a ruler and opened the top of the window and gently pushed it along to free it - I guess it could have lost a foot, but it would certainly have died if it had stayed trapped.  All the time I was hoping it wasn't going to fly in through the window as soon as it was free.  Phew, it didn't - instead it went to get its friends and they carried on bombarding the window!   Yeargghhh - horiffying, but quite fascinating (when there's a pane of glass between!).

The Building Inspector's happy!

They don't exactly give you any praise, a pat on the back or housepoints, but today the inspector said he's happy for us to carry on as we are without him checking anything else (well apart from drains) until completion.  I think we can take that as praise - he obviously  trusts us not to cut too many corners or bodge things.  Woo hoo, so we can do what we like now!  For once, he was actually quite chatty and didn't beatle off after two minutes.

Today we decided to tackle the window reaveals.  We want them to curve into the window rather than be square as they usually are with the insulation and plasterboard we have had to use.  We managed to track down some flexi-ply - not easy as nowhere seems to stock it.  We've then screwed this to the battens and bent it round into the window reveal and then attached it to another batten.  Trouble is, it's too flexi and moved when poked, so we had to take it off again, make curved ribs, attach more battens and re-attach it.  So, the first one took ages, but hopefully the rest will be quicker now we've devised our method.  This will all be skimmed, so hopefully you won't see the join between plasterboard and plywood.

The plumber's still due tomorrow - lunchtime rather than first thing, but fingers-crossed he will actually come this time!

Bob kept finding little chocolate hearts everywhere today . . . . . wonder where they came from?  Happy Valentine's!!

At last, we have some help on site . . . .

Here's our new helper - Peggy was quite interested in the pointing I was doing around the kitchen door.  Actually, she was more interested in eating the mortar I think!  She had previously been up nearly to the top of the scaffold tower to see what was going on up there.

The plumber didn't come on Thursday or Friday.  He's a nice bloke, but he's awful at organising his time, answering phone calls, etc.  I guess it's hard to know exactly how long a job will take and plumbers often have emergencies to attend to which must play havoc with schedules, but I don't think he quite realises what it's like at the other end of things trying to plan around him.  Anyway, he's promised he'll be here Tuesday morning.  So, we have been getting on with all sorts of little jobs that need doing before we can plasterboard.  Bob has put in two plywood window sills - we were going to have oak or something, but money's getting short!  Not really, it's not quite that bad yet - these sills are in the kitchen behind the sink and in the utility room, so they will be tiled.  It's surprising the difference a neat flat surface (even if it is only plywood) makes - just looks much more finished and tidy.  Bob cut right through the saw-horse doing one of those!  He did think it was taking a while to saw through the ply, but just didn't click!  So, we now have a slightly shorter saw-horse.  He has also done three pretend oak lintels.  As we have had to insulate the outside wall in the kitchen the wall is much further into the room than the original wall and so the original oak lintels will get lost in the wall, so we have put another (non-structural) piece of oak in front to keep the look.  The one above the door to the hall is to cover the metal joist-hangers and new concrete lintels.  That one was a bit tricky as it had to have cut-outs for the ends of the joists and he had almost finished shaping it when the end piece split off - aaarrghhh!  Again, this is just decorative and not structural so we just glued it back together.  The building inspector is coming on Monday to check the oak beams, etc - it'd be really funny if he thought that was a structural lintel that we'd glued together!  I helped Bob put it into place, but as we were trying to get it into place it felldown (think I'll have quite a bruise on my arm where I tried to catch it).  You've guessed it - the end piece flew off again as it crashed on the floor!  So now we've put it in place separately, glued and clamped it in place and will see tomorrow if it looks OK.  I have been doing a bit more studwork - all sorts of fiddly bits like the triangular pieces to the roof upstairs and round the window, pipes and cables in the utility room.  As you've seen, Peggy and I have also pointed around the kitchen and extension doorframes - they look much more part of the building once the join is covered up.  I mortarred in the ends of the latest oak beams in the kitchen and covered over the top of the bread oven (above it, not inside it).  The inside of the bread oven is a lovely brick dome, but on top of it is just filled in with rubble and dust.  So the layer of mortar tidies that up and we will be able to use the space between that and the ceiling as some sort of really awkward cupboard.  It is a good arms-length deep, but only about a foot high, so I think we'll have to come up with some cunning sliding thing for storing baking trays or similar.

We did give ourselves some time off this afternoon to watch England beat the pants of the Italians in the Six Nations - yeah!!  Last year we went to the pub in the village to watch the England/Wales match - although we are about three miles inside England, there was only us and one other chap shouting for England!  After watching this afternoon, we went for a walk around our 'estate'.  Spring is definitely in the air and all sorts of things are shooting up in the garden - I just wish I could remember what/where everything is.  At least then I'd have a chance of knowing whether the little green things are supposed to be there or are going to turn into some monster weed!  I made a ginger cake this afternoon (started at half time and finished after the rugby) so when we got back to the caravan, there was a lovely warm, gingery, cakey fug - that has to be one of the most homely smells I know, yum!