Da daah! Screed is finished!!

Woo hoo!! We've finished all the screed.  That's all we seem to have done for the last few weeks, so we're quite pleased to have finished it all.  We got quite a rhythm going with Bob doing the mixing and me laying and levelling it and managed to keep time with each other quite well.  Each room took most of a day (the kitchen is bigger so we did that in two halves) so by the end of the day Bob's shoulders and back ached from shovelling and barrowing and I just ached . . . . everywhere!  I could hardly walk.  I reckon though if we did this for a living and were doing it all the time, we'd get used to it.  I didn't feel anywhere near as bad the last couple of times and recovered much quicker too. 

That also means that all the underfloor heating is now in - and we've tested all the cables and they still work which is quite a relief!  We now have to leave it alone for 6-8 weeks while the screed dries out and hardens thoroughly and naturally - apparently switching the underfloor heating on to dry it quickly doesn't do it much good (tempting though it may be).  The electrician is coming to do the first fix in about three weeks, so we couldn't actually switch it on yet even if we wanted to.

Also installed in the screed is the gas pipe for the hob.  As there is no gas in the village we will have to use bottled LPG, so we will have gas hob and electric oven.  We actually went and chose the cooker yesterday which I thought was really exciting - not sure Bob was quite so excited somehow.  Back to the pipe - I have been a bit paranoid about forgetting to put the pipe in, hence the sign on the cardboard box which has been getting in our way for the last few weeks.   Now you might think it'd be hard to forget something like that, but far worse has been known believe me!  When the builder was here digging the trenches for the extension, we bought a reel of blue pipe to connect the mains water under the foundations and planned to run the mains electric under the foundations to the meter box.  All week we were moving that roll of blue pipe out of the way, stepping over it and around it.  I expect you can guess what I'm about to say.  At the end of the week the builder finished laying the foundations (thick concrete under blocks and bricks) and we had had a tidy up and were standing surveying the week's progress Bob suddenly said, in a very calm voice, 'We haven't put the water or electric under the foundations' .  We just couldn't believe what we'd done, how could we all have forgotten such a major thing and how the hell were we going to put it right?!  Speechless is what we were.  Speechless is also what the builder was when we rang him.  The water pipe has to be well underground so it doesn't freeze, so we couldn't just take a couple of blocks out and run it through which is what we did with the electric. 

We did eventually get that water pipe in, but it was rather traumatic and at one point we were both sat on the edge of the hole just about ready to cry.   To cut a long story (yep it took us all day) short, Bob dug a hole in the floor, solid rock under that bit of foundation, we drilled with Dad's SDS drill as far as that would go, hired a huge drill with a 15" drill bit and a bit to extend that so we could get through the whole 30".  Leaning down into the bottom of the trench (so at arms length) drilled with the big bit as far as it would go, undo the bit (while it's still under the wall - awkward), attach the extension piece then re-attach the drill (very awkward) then drill further (no room to push easily, so me sat at one side of the trench pulling on the drill with my feet and Bob pushing from the other).  We got it to within 2" and it just would not go any further, so managed to pull it all out taking it apart as we went (very awkward) and whacked a great big metal rod through the hole and that broke through to the other side.  'Yeah!' we thought . . . . . metal rod completely stuck in the hole, so another half hour trying to free that.  Finally managed it, but thought we should just put the drill through to make the hole round and clean it up.  Drilled through re-assembling as we went (very awkward), but managed it.  'Yeah' we thought  . . . . now, the man in the hire shop said the couplings on these drills are designed to be awkward to undo (we had certainly found that out by now) on purpose . . . . so how did it undo itself in the middle of the hole as we pulled it out leaving the drill bit stuck under the foundation and not visible from either end?!!!!!  This is the point where we were ready to cry.  Anyway, we eventually managed to tap the bit through from one side enough to attach the drill using finger tips and get it out.  Sorry, that didn't really cut the long story short!  So, you can now understand my paranoia about not forgetting pipes!

Floor screed

Well, I'm afraid laying screed doesn't seem to get any quicker.  The good news is that I don't ache quite so much as I did after laying it - still can't really walk properly, but not quite so bad!  We did the floor in the oak bedroom and it took just as long as the first lot - it was smoother though so that's good.  We then did the second layer in the padded cell.  Did I explain that the end barn had to be tanked because it is built into the hillside, so the walls are covered in dimpled white plastic attached by red plastic 'buttons', so it does look like a padded cell.  I'm on the lookout for a straight jacket now!

Yesterday we did the screed in what will be the lounge . . . . it took absolutely ages and it was dark before we'd cleared away!  I have to admit that one of the main problems was that the concrete we'd laid was not very level which makes it awkward to level the screed.  Then the piece of wood I was using to level off had was bowed and followed the dip in the floor so the first strip of screed followed that dip and it took me ages to work out why I couldn't get the next strip to level with it, and then a while to sort it out.  Then just as we'd done that, Elvis came to have  a look!   I got up to shoo her out but she doubled back behind me and left her mark on my lovely smooth screed!   Aaarghh!  I was not best pleased, but really it was quite funny.

So, today we had 4 tonnes of sand delivered and another 28 bags of cement and all the time we were unloading it I kept thinking 'oh no, we are going to have to mix, shovel and lay all this!' .  We had to move some of the sand because it was completely blocking the bridleway so we got shovels and started but after about 5 shovelfuls each we just looked at each other and shook our heads.  We were just so tired after yesterday, it was really hard work.  We did clear enough space for a horse to get through though.  We have also had a bit of a tidy up and cleared the stone extension - that's our next floor to do.  Now that the floor is hard in the oak bedroom we have put everything in there (on pallets so the floor can continue to dry out).  I don't think we will be doing then next lot of screed until Monday, so hopefully we'll feel a bit more energetic by then!