Moving forward, and a poignant parting.

Its been yet again a time of real and exiting change. Firstly we've had all the ground floors insulated with 80mm of Celotex, and then Christian and Cain have piped all the underfloor heating pipes, (with their new helper Mark who spent a day pretending to be an underfloor heating engineer).


Dave has hung the rest of the French Doors, plus the stable door to the office/study, and then we had the downstairs screed laid. For the first time we have a real perspective of the final feel of the building.

Christian and Cain putting the waste pipes in.

The major change has been seeing the plastering, especially to the lightwell, plus the vaulted ceilings, the lightwell is a triumph I feel for all concerned.

Its now time to move on to the non-building works, plastering downstairs, the stairs, second fix lighting, floor finishes, bathrooms and kitchen, decorating and heating.

Sadly though we are just one week, (and for us at South Barn, one last day) away from Dave, Mick and Adam finishing and moving on. It will be a very strange site without them, the place is unrecognisable from the heap of rubble they started with. I don't think we have had a cross word with each other since they started, its been an absolute pleasure working with Dave, he's always been completely on message with what I've wanted to see created here, always understood the little details which make the whole thing work and he'll be sorely missed.

Madcap Plans

We've decided that the hall and landing need a staircase to suit, so once my detailed plans have been approved we should end up with a helical set of stairs. Here's a simple animation.

A time of transformation.

Since the last post Dave, Mick and Adam have returned from their summer holidays and have started the big push to finish their work.

Mick and Ad have been grinding out for re-pointing, and Dave has been framing and putting up the external doors. Don't be fooled by the pictures above, Dave had done all the work here, its 7.30 on a Friday evening and I've only come out to interfere.

We've had a fixed price for the plastering, and whilst they have covered a lot of ground its a real shock to have employed people on site as opposed to self employed people. 4 to 6 hour days, and everything seems to be grumbled about. Compare that to Patrick the sparky who apologises for being late if he turns up at 8.30, and then leaves at 7pm because he just had to do that extra few cables. Dave invariably works until 6pm most nights and Christian and Kain the heating engineers think nothing of leaving site at 9pm if they know we need pipework to be finished for the morning. Oh well, irrespective of this the boarded upstairs looks great, the lightwell is a minor triumph we feel, and the reflected light we are now enjoying is fantastic.

Main guest room fully boarded.
Our room about to be boarded.
Kate has sound insulated all the walls.

Both sets of doors need to be painted yet.

Boarded lightwell.