We Have Scaffolding!

Just three days after Findon builders Alan and Pat have started on our project, they have achieved more than Sean and his ground works crew managed in a whole month! 

We now have scaffolding, ready for the roof to come off;

the parquet flooring is up and stored ready to be reused;

the kitchen cupboards are all out, and moved to the Rectory garage to be reused in the new utility room; a new dining room window has been knocked out; the kitchen pantry has been demolished, to make way for the hallway staircase; two new doorways have been knocked through from the old kitchen/new hallway to the new kitchen/old lounge and dining room; the fireplace has been knocked out ready to be rebuilt as a recessed cooker; holes have been made in the outer wall for repositioned gas and electricity meters; two window openings have been enlarged on the inside, ready for bigger windows.  The list goes on .... !

Hannah started telling me today about something in our old house.  "Not our old house, but this one before we knocked it down"!  This is her first day at school last week, leaving the garden room.

 

In case you're wondering, No, Sean has not quite finished his tasks.  All the trenches, drains and soakaways are done but the main thing incomplete is cleaning out the unexpectedly HUGE concrete mystery tank under our front garden.  It is our intention to use it as rainwater harvesting storage, but it turns out to be at least 10 feet deep and 3m cubed (sorry to mix my measuring units!), and needs to be thoroughly cleaned and lined.  One poor man has spent hours at the bottom of this pit shovelling sludge into a bucket (their pump is apparently broken) while another poor guy at the top of the ladder pulls up bucket after bucket tipped into a huge black pile. It reminds me of the Magic Porridge Pot story, but hopefully the end is in sight. "Just a few more hours should do it.  We'll be back Monday."  Now, why don't I believe them???

 

And on that happy note, I'll sign off for today.  Maybe by the next time I write I might even have put away all the kitchen items which are currently cluttering up the caravan awning?