08.08.06 The Fascia and Guttering

The picture shows the cast iron guttering which has been painted and is as sturdy as the day it was put up. Note the decorative loops which are quite pretty. I doubt many people notice them as they walk past but, from the roof they look lovely and ornate.
On the other picture you can see the newly painted fascia board. You can also see the metal loop going down into the brick work and the other house shows the old wooden guttering that used to be identical to ours before Rob removed it. It was so rotten that it was of no use and the water just used to drip straight into the court yard below and make the whole area water logged and then the water used to leak through the door.

04.08.06 The Roof

A quick look through the roof into the front bedroom. Look at the muck!

04.08.06 The Roof

At last the rain stopped and the tiles came off the roof! Its taken one day to take the tiles off the roof at the front of the house, lay the felt and put the lats on. I dont know what they've been messing about at!!!!
The guttering and fascia have been repaired or changed and painted so far.
It must be a lovely view from up there, but the ladder is a bit too wobbly for my liking so I haven't made it any further than past the first wooden platform and half way up the ladder. Im such a girl!
The old slate will be used for the internal valley and the slate that cannot be used will be broken into pieces and used for the garden at the back of the house.

30.07.06 Fruit

Today I climbed the apple tree and picked some cooking apples. This week we shall have apple crumble!
We have a pear tree, but I also think that we have a damson or a plum tree too. Personally, I'd rather have a cherry tree and one day when the garden is a bit nearer complete I will ask a relative to buy me one for a birthday. Then Rob can't say that I can't have one!
Cherries always remind me of being younger and going to the Blue Bell pub with my Mum, Dad and Sister. We used to sit outside and I'd try to reach the cherries. I think they taste lovely.

30.07.06 The Staircase

Rob was trying out ideas for the staircase. Apparantly, this is a prototype and the real thing will be even better!
Men and their toys, eh!

30.07.06 The Outside Toilet

The before and after of the outside toilet. It makes it look a bit nicer. Unfortunately, many spiders lost their homes.

24.07.06 Scaffolding (Not Home Made!)

This is what the house looks like today!
We are ready for action!!

23.07.06 The House

This is what the house looked like when we bought it and left it today.
Tomorrow it will change!

23.07.06 The Garden

As the JCB will be coming next week. We needed to move the bricks from the top of the garden to the bottom of the garden near where the bin is on the top picture.
Rob's Dad and myself did this job in the heat. The second pic is when we'd done already moved 2/3rds of the bricks.
400 bricks later, 2 pints of orange juice and much brow wiping, a wall of bricks was made at the bottom. Rob's Dad threw them at me, but I was quick and they missed me! I stacked them against the wall.
They will be recycled to make a retaining wall at the bottom of the garden and to make a bit of a flower bed. They may be used to make the steps. I would like something lovely to look out on when I am pottering in the newly made kitchen. We weren't going to do anything with the garden but as our neighbours started, it made sense to do both gardens at once.
Rob has finished the insulating plasterboard in all the rooms apart from the small bits where the central heating pipes are going. Also, the man who was going to do the gas central heating didnt mention it at all this weekend even though we've seen him several times. I hate contractors!

23.07.06 Thunderstorm!

It absolutely chucked it down last night. Thunder and lightning too. We watched it come through the roof as usual, which was nice! It was welcome as it slightly cooled the air. At the moment its really too hot to work. But I dont suppose thats an excuse not to do any!
This is the view from the back of the house.

22.07.06 The Windows

I think Rob got a bit fed up with plaster boarding as he'd been doing nothing but plaster boarding for the past few weeks. I think the router must have been calling his name as he decided to put it to good use! The insulating plaster board sticks out 1" past where the edge of the windows would have been and Rob used MDF to make the windows look lovely again! He's doing this with all the windows in the house.

22.07.06 The Garden

Our neighbours have done a fantastic job of moving the hedge from the middle of the garden. We moved the green house that was at the side of the shed. The concrete coal store and some of the tree roots. We were helped along by a cool bottle of something frothy, but at 12pm, in the blistering heat and without any food, it wasnt such a great idea!
Next week Mickey and John are coming with their JCB to level both sides of the garden out. This should make it easier for the fencing to go in. The big apple tree is also coming out. We tasted the apples and they are cooking apples which are revolting anyway! We are keeping the pear tree as they are quite nice.

22.07.06 Scaffolding (Home Made!)

The boy is a genius! Here's the home made scaffolding to enable Rob to get to the top flight of the stairs. The first shot is from the second floor and the second shot is from the third floor.

19.07.06 Top Floor, Back Bedroom.

Most of the outside walls have been insulated and the internal walls between the two houses have been sound proofed with old carpet underlay! Standard sound proofing was going to be too thick so Rob had to improvise. I'm surprised that the noise travels between the two houses considering that the house is solidly built.
Apparantly, Rob informs me that he's not putting in underlay to sound proof, as the plaster is adequate. He's just filling in the gaps! (He's just come back from the pub and is now correcting my blog!!!!!)

Oh and the wedding planning is going well! The registrar has been paid, the meal and details for the hotel booked. The favours have been made and Ive written a final list for things to do. Just in case you were thinking that Ive not been doing anything!

19.07.06 The Back Bedroom

This is the top floor, back bedroom. The window has been taken out. Well, actually it was smashed because it wouldn't come out any other way! Rob filled the bedroom side with plasterboard in readiness for it being plastered. We still dont have any idea why it was put there!
The outside wall has also been covered with insulating plasterboard. We bought the light and wall fitting lights for this room this week. Argos and Asda are fab!
Hopefully, the scaffolding for the roof should come next week but with contractors involved you can never be too sure!
We also got a staircase ladder. Its quite big and part of the staircase may have to be removed. This isnt a huge problem as we wanted to change it anyway. The staircase is original ( I think) and has loads of paint and varnish and black paint on it so its not greatly attractive.

19.07.06 Slip Up!

Rob tried to take a short cut through the top floor to the second floor! Thankfully the lathe and plaster was strong enough and the ceiling will only need skimming. Oh, and Rob was ok too!

05.07.06 The Garden

We were hoping that the greenery between both houses would be removed. We have offered to help our next door neighbours but they've not asked us yet. It is their border. Removing this greenery means that Rob's perfect garden will happen now. He's really pleased! The sunshine has really dried the grass out as you can see.

05.07.06 Plasterboard

The plasterboard going up the stairs is insulated plasterboard. This is to keep us snuggly warm! Its made the stairs look quite thin now but Im sure that's because we can still see the stairs underneath it. The blue plasterboard has sound insulation behind it as the walls between the houses are quite thin. Its going to be the most cost effective home ever! Its just a shame the initial outlay is quite expensive.

05.07.06 Gas Central heating

Rob's made a start putting in the pipes for the gas central heating. The man who will fix it all together has gone abroad to get married. How dare he! We still need to order the boiler and we are having a condensing boiler with a mega flow unvented cylinder. It sounds impressive! Apparantly, its the latest hi tec bit of kit which should save us money in the long run. Its more expensive than a combi boiler but the savings that we make from gas should pay for it within the year.

25.06.06 Paint Stripping

Two hours it took me, 2 whole hours to do this much! We will be sending them to be professionally stripped. Thank goodness!
All the re-wiring has been completed. Rob has started on the gas central heating, laying the pipes. The scaffolding should be arriving in 2 weeks time.
Rob's been busy researching most things for the house. It has worked out that I deal with the wedding and Rob deals with the house. So far its worked out well.

The Ensuite

Rob has fixed the wood into position for the ensuite. How posh are we going to be! Its been measured to within an inch of its life taking into consideration where the wardrobes and other furniture will go. Its a long time before we see the finished product though.

June 06

There's general chaos at our new home. Rob has been busy re wiring the electric sockets, lighting and smoke alarms. The first picture is the top floor. Note my attempts at seeing whether removing the paint of the staircase would be a good idea. Rob decided it would be better to have a new one. Hoorah! The second picture is on the second floor.

20.06.06 The Courtyard

How white do the walls look! It looks fabulous now and all it needs is some pots and hanging baskets. We have the brackets but I dont think we will put the hanging baskets up until next year. Even the concrete looks better, but it has been covered in 2 ceilings worth of dust etc and then washed down. Im so pleased with my courtyard! I even got a free suntan to go with it!
Edited to add an additional photo to keep my Dad happy! Is this better Dad?!

19.06.06 The Courtyard

To be honest, the courtyard had also seen better days. It took me ages to scrape off all the old paint with a scraper and a blokes tool which made my fingers tingle! Thankfully it was a day when it rained so I got lots of breaks!

18.06.06 Hoorah!

We had our home assessed to see whether it was uninhabitable or not. The council say its not habitable. Hoorah! Its not often in ones life that you can get excited about your home not being habitable, but today is the day! We dont have to pay council tax until we move in. That can be up to a year. Sometimes it really doesnt seem like our home. There's still a huge amount to do and I dont feel as though I can properly call it home and believe that its ours until we do move in.
We've had quotes for scaffolding and they should come and put it up in 3 weeks time. The gas central heating man has been and is getting married in 2 weeks time so that will give us time to buy the radiators and boiler before he gets back off honeymoon. Once the scaffolding is up for a month we can paint the whole of the outside with protective paint and mend the wooden detailing where the old windows used to be on the side of the house. We can also sort out the roof and guttering.
It seems like we are finally moving again. Well, this time in 3-4 weeks we will be!

08.06.06 The Kitchen Appliances

Today we picked up a fridge freezer and gas upright oven. They are second hand but we didnt see any point in buying new appliances when hopefully, we will be purchasing brand new ones that will be in keeping with our idea of the perfect kitchen. We will make do with them for a while and at £40 for both, we couldnt grumble too much! I will be glad not to cook on the cooker that is in the house at present. I find that if I touch it I end up covered in grease. I dread to think what would happen if we tried to cook food in it!

02.06.06 The Garden and Re-wiring

I strimmed the lawn and tidied up the garden. ok, so its maybe not going to win the Chelsea Flower Show this year, but hey, it looks a whole lot better than before. In the garden we found a gas pipe which had been closed off and an air brick that was full of soil. So thats obviously why the living room wall is wet. We assume, maybe wrongly that the floor was probably wooden in 1815, hence the air bricks.
Rob has been cutting out the plaster for the re-wiring and lighting. From this picture you should be able to see the internal valley better. Its on the left hand side. We have a roofer too who is going to come back to us in a few days time with a quote. Lets hope he actually does!
The lady from the Council has also been to visit the property and has stated that she shall recommend to the panel that it is not habitable at present. So we dont have to pay 2 lots of council tax. Yipee!

30.05.06 In General

Rob's taken up all the carpet and underlay on the stairs. It looks so much better and it should be easier to sweep now. I've removed all the wallpaper in the last bedroom and the polysterene backing in the walk in wardrobe. I've also removed the last bits of wallpaper, including the wonderful seagull wallpaper in the bathroom. The best bit was removing all the tiles in the bathroom. But I found that the plaster behind some of the tiles was like sand and just crumbled straight into the bath. Rob now has to re-plaster the bathroom and stair part and there's more lathe underneath it.A gas central heating man came today and he gave us some advice. he's a friend of the family. He sealed off the radiators. Some technical bloke stuff. This means that Rob can now remove all the radiators. He's going to put us in touch with a man who may be able to do the work for us.The roofer is as illusive as ever. He should have visited us today.