Skip to main content

Renovation Day 3

We're only on Day 3 out of what will probably be at least 200, and already it feels like the new normal.  I don't think I'm exceptional in this regard, I think this just illustrates how adaptable people in general are.  I know I will soon get fed up with clutter and the lack of space, but one day at a time.

Anyway, yesterday saw the total demolition of the porch, all that remains is the concrete footing, and strangely a substantial pile of rubble on the drive next to the skip.  It's not clear why rubble isn't going in the skip, and is therefore starting to restrict parking space on the drive.  Perhaps the plan is to fill in the holes that will soon be dug with the hardcore, but there's definitely a volume issue here - it can't all go back in!

Also the downstairs loo has been removed, so now if you're in the South wing (the location of our mini-kitchen) and need the facilities the options are either to walk outside the house, step inside via the conservatory or back of the lounge and go upstairs.  Or to use the bright blue Portaloo on the front drive.  I've not really been at home and awake long enough for this be an issue for me, but I suspect it won't be long before Keir is regularly aiming a stream all over the front the lawn.

Ominously, or perhaps in positive development news, a jackhammer appeared in the kitchen.  I can't see that it's been used yet, but I can foresee a noisy few days ahead as they break up the kitchen slab for excavation and underpinning.  A few acroprops and hoardings have turned up too, littering the front lawn, so the next phase is sort of becoming clear.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The great (wood) wall of Walnut Tree House - Renovation Day 15

More faces on site (I've been told, I wasn't at home).  Wayne stood down, but new grounds people on site.  And more pertinently a pair of carpenters. The carpenters spent their day erecting a large wall that runs through the lounge, hall and playroom.  They removed the entirety of the playroom door and surround, and walled off a whole set of shelves.  From the inside it's an impressively monolithic construction. And they took care to route light switches so that we can control the lounge and playroom lights, albeit at about 6 feet off the floor so that Keir has no agency at all. All so that they can keep digging lumps out of the kitchen, and knock down walls and so on without too much impact on the rest of the house.   And with the wall in place the demolition continues.  Three full grabber lorries of dirt have gone from the driveway, and there's at least two more still to go.  The pantry is mostly gone, although the floor remains.  And they'...

Renovation round-up week 4

Work's been going on the best part of a month.  I think it feels like it might have been longer, and that every morning has been grey and damp and cold and muddy.  But maybe that's just the winter blues talking. Week 4 saw the corner properly turned, and whilst demolition continues, stuff is also being created.  The underpinning of the kitchen walls proceeds in sections, and now about 5 large concrete blocks have been cast at various points around the wall.   The team also managed to excavate the footings for the newly enlarged porch, digging a trench probably a metre deep in a short space of time.  They managed to pierce the water supply heading into the house, leading to some rather panicked rushing around trying to find the stopcock.  I largely ignored the panic, figuring I'd only need to start worrying when half the garden slumped down the hill.  Fortunately it was resolved long before that point, but I did get to witness the trench mostly fil...
With an ever-increasing pile of hedge trimmings, pruned roses and lopped branches, I thought it time to take a match and lay waste to the waste. Success.  I singed my hair, got the neighbour’s fence smoking (but not actually burning) and reduced all the clippings to a circle of pleasing white ash.  And I managed to disappear the two bookcases we dragged out of the media room some months ago.