Day 26 - More plasterboarding

Marcus and Sam spent today...............plasterboarding! What fun! More plasterboards were delivered and the skip was taken away and replaced with a smaller one. The plasterer, Jim, popped in during the afternoon to discuss his role in the conversion. He'll be coming on Wednesday next week with his workers and will be here for 3 days. Marcus and Simon should be cladding the dormer during that time.

Day 25 - More plasterboarding

Marcus and Sam again today. Nothing more interesting than plasterboarding. Oh, except Marcus's father came for a quick look. Extremely dusty job - the floor looks like it's been carpeted in white!

Day 24 - Building Inspector Visit 3

The building inspector came again today, this time to inspect the insulation (with a warning not to change it once he had gone!) and to inspect the staircase. He was very happy with it all so now Marcus could get on with putting up the plasterboard. Yet another very dusty job.

Day 23 - Insulation Finished

Marcus and Sam today (Simon on holiday this week). The rest of the insulation was put in/up which all takes time because of the shapes of the roof etc. (I did try speaking to a higher up building control man to see if there was any way to lessen the depth of the insulation being put in so that our headroom was not compromised, but again, no luck. Well at least we have tried and, in fact, although David cannot stand up straight in the study part of the loft, he'll be sitting at his desk if he is in there and it doesn't feel too bad at all. Very glad we put in the extra Velux though). The plasterboard arrived and it took lots of trips up and down the stairs to get it all into the loft. A good tidy up at the end of the day as well ready for the building inspector again tomorrow.

Day 22 - Insulation and Windows

Just Simon today. Marcus was out and about doing stuff and Simon got on with the insulation. (Tried talking the building inspector into letting us do something different with regards to insulation as the headroom in the front part of the loft is so low, but he was having none of it. "U Values" is the problem. The government have set out the rules and that's that. The fact that safety will be compromised with us banging our heads all the time is not as important as ensuring that our loft is warm enough and not letting heat out into the world. Why oh why can't be it be up to us to decide whether we want to be warm or cool. Simon has said that he has never put in so much insulation in a conversion before and reckons we won't even need the radiators that are being put in. Yet again, stupid rules made by people who haven't got a clue what goes on in the real world.) Then Marcus turned up late afternoon with the windows for the bathroom and bedroom, put them in and went again! It's getting there and now we're impatient for it to be finished. Will try a higher positioned building inspector on Monday and flash my eyelashes - you never know!

Day 21 - Staircase and Insulation

Sam was here today so more of the insulation was completed. Marcus and Simon concentrated on the widening the staircase hole and working out exactly where the bedroom wall between bedroom and staircase hole could go. We have ended up with a slightly larger landing and also a little sort of cubby hole which will be useful. By the end of the day they had had a good tidy up and moved the rest of the insulation from outside into the loft. It was fab to be able to walk up and down the stairs with the coffees and now it is so much easier to see what they're up to.

Day 20 - Staircase

Hurray! There've fitted the staircase. A time consuming job (and particularly dusty and dirty), especially as a hole had to be cut into the ceiling of the largest bedroom and its concrete wall. It has taken out just a little corner of that room so doesn't affect it at all - except of course it will need redecorating. However, we are going to be redecorating everywhere anyway! The staircase hole isn't completely finished as they need to take the ceiling back some more due to building regulations about headroom. At the end of today we were able to nip up, ducking down where necessary, and even the boys got to go up and have their first look at the loft rooms. Sam wasn't here today after all (not very well) so no more insulation was put in.

Day 19 - Insulation

Today was going to be the installation of the stairs, but Marcus assures us that this will just create a chimney up to the loft for all our heat to go up and escape, so it would be better for him to concentrate on insulating the loft and putting the stairs in tomorrow. So, a very dusty day for the boys, cutting and fitting the insulation. Not completely finished yet but Sam is back tomorrow and he will carry on with the insulation while Marcus and Simon put in the stairs.

Day 18 - Floorboards

A delivery of insulation, wood and floorboards arrived this morning followed by the delivery of the new stairs which are now cluttering up the hall until they are installed.

The main job for today was floorboards. These are now down everywhere (including in the eaves cupboards) but not secured down in the bathroom so that the plumbers can do the second fix later in the job. Not much else to say really!

Day 17 - Building Inspector Visit 2

A lot of progress today.  It started with the fourth and final Velux window being installed.  The roofers also completed the roof, it being a mild day with no frost forecast tonight.  (Cladding and gutters etc. still to be done by the builders.)  The building inspector also attended to inspect the floor joists and main structure.  He was very pleased with what had been done (his exact words to us "Where did you find him?  You did very well there.  He's very good.") and gave Marcus the specs for the insulation.  This is a bit of a blow, since he wants the insulation to be continuous below the roof joists, rather than up between them.  This brings the ceiling down anther 40 mm, which means we'll be just below 2 m.  Apparently they can be more flexible on stairs height than they can on insulation, so the whole room will suffer.  I asked him if there were any options, but apparantly that is all that East Herts allow.

With the building inspector and the roofers out of the way, Marcus and Simon got on with the electrical first fix, which includes dropping wires through the ceiling onto the landing.  I had a chat with Marcus about when he's planning to finish.  He says two more weeks, then the plasterer, then a few more days for the final fix and he'll be out by Friday 13th February.

Day 16 - Structure Complete

The day started with a hasty meeting about the bathroom.  Having spent most of the night considering our options we delivered our verdict to the plumbers, who straight away got down to moving the pipes they had already laid for the basin and shower.  They were also able to complete the macerator discharge pipe now, which luckily didn't have to change (because they hadn't done that end of it yet).  Then they came inside and connected up all the pipes in the airing cupboard.

Meanwhile, Marcus and Simon carried on with the remainder of the structural work.  They completed the dwarf wall on top of the steel beam which will become the wall of the stairwell.  They removed the purlin from above the stairs, where it will be in the way, and trimmed the joists for the last Velux window.  They also installed a big chunk of timber to support the end of the front ridge beam.

By 15:30 they were taking bags of rubbish to the skip, so we got a quick progress update.  The structure is now all complete, so the building inspector will be coming to inspect it tomorrow.

The next phase is electrical first fix before the chicken-wire goes down with insulation on top.  The evening was spent finalising where the sockets and lights are going to go.

We Have a Problem

Steve the plumber mentioned it first. As he measured up for where the pipes had to go, he said we were a bit tight between the wash basin and the shower. There wouldn't be room to stand in front of the basin, let alone bend over to wash your face.
We checked our plans and realised that we had drawn the wash basin smaller than it really is. So it was our planning error. And something has to be done about it - the bathroom will be unusable if we build it as planned. We have a few options:

• Re-arrange the whole bathroom and put the shower on the opposite wall. This would require a different window (the original has already been ordered).
• Get a smaller shower (we've already bought the big one).
• Get a smaller basin - such as a counter-top one.
• Move the walls to make the bathroom bigger - clearly not a cheap option at this stage.

After a sleepless night and a lot of thinking, we decided to go with a combination of a smaller shower and a minor re-arrangement of the furniture. This will lead to a bit of re-work by the plumbers, and we'll have to sell that big shower enclosure on ebay (what would we do without ebay?) At least now we will have a bathroom that works, even if our shower won't be quite the monster we had been expecting.

Day 15 - Roofers and Plumbers

At 07:55 this morning we had a couple of roofers sitting in their van waiting for Marcus. At 09:00 two plumbers turned up. The plumber had a delay on another of his jobs, so he was shortly joined by a third plumber. So it's been busy up on the scaffolding today! The roofers have finished the dormer cheeks with very neat looking tiles. (The front will be uPVC cladding, so not their problem.) They stopped quite early, but they will be coming back soon to finish off. They couldn't finish today because they needed to use some mortar, which needs a temperature of at least 4 degrees to cure it - which was not available today. The plumbers ran flexible pipes up to the bathroom and spent a lot of time worrying about how they were going to do our macerators. We are using two macerators, one for the shower and one for the toilet. They need separate pipes all the way to the soil stack and use different diameter pipes. The upshot is that the two discharge pipes take completely different routes across the loft and individually required their own set of head-scratching and technical advice from the manufacturers. I'd agree with all advice I've had - if you can possibly avoid a macerator, do.

Meanwhile, Marcus and Simon quietly got on with the rest of the supporting walls in the study and under the East-facing slope of the main roof. This included the stud wall to separate the bedroom and study areas. This is almost complete, and they move on to the wall round the stairs tomorrow.

Day 14 - Two More Windows

Today should have been the roofer again, but he was delayed on another job - he's coming tomorrow. Marcus and Simon spent most of the day putting two Velux windows in the North-facing slope of the study. There being two windows, they spent a lot of time cutting the tiles to fit the space between. A sharp shower in the afternoon tested the waterproofing. They also completed more work on the purlin wall on that side of the study. We can now see much better how the internal walls are going to be arranged, and the reason they're doing some things the way they are. Not all as we would have designed it had we started with a clean sheet - but of course we didn't - we started with a roof that we had to be supported safely.

Day 13 - Simon Alone

Monday 12th January, only Simon was here. Marcus had to go out and order the windows and do other things that builders do when they're not on site. Simon worked away on the details. He erected the stud-work for the bathroom and the supports for the purlin walls across the centre of the house. He also did some other details, such as putting wooden chocks in the ridge steel beam to take the plasterboard, and noggins all over the place.

Day 12 - A Very Busy Day

Just before 8am the skip man arrived with the skip. Unforunately we are at the end of a dead-end road which he didn't realise and he therefore had to reverse all the way out back on to the main road and then reverse down our road. Skip is now at the bottom of the garage ramp. Simon appreared just before the skip man left and then Marcus turned up with Sam the labourer, swiftly followed by the large lorry delivering the tiles for the sides of the dormer. (There was nothing else on the lorry and it looked rather ridiculous with just our few tiles!). Then the roofers appeared. So by the end of the day the dormer roof was completed and watertight but the cheeks will have to wait until they are back on Tuesday. Sam kept busy (and warm, it was freezing) filling the skip and carrying tiles up to the top of the scaffold while Marcus and Simon concentrated on removing the old roof joists. David and I had decided to go up and take a look over the weekend but then David rang to tell me he had done his back in (as of today, he can still hardly walk) so if I wanted to have a look I'd have to do it while M&S were there. So, braving the cold and the ladder, I climbed up to the top of the scaffolding. However, now that they have covered the framework, the only way into the loft is up another ladder and through the window hole. Not a very elegant way to enter my bedroom for the first time. Anyway, once inside I was very impressed. No floor yet (can't have one till all the plumbing and electrics are done) so it was a question of being very careful walking along the floor joists. There was a little bit of our old boarding around and of course as the head height is not much I was able to put my arms above my head and hold on to the new roof joists as well. I even made my way over to the Velux window and had a look outside.

Next week should be busy. The Building Inspector is due back, the roofers are coming on Tuesday to finish their work, more Velux windows should be put in (another 3 to go), the plumber is coming to do his first fix, Marcus may well do his first fix of the electrics (he's a qualified electrician) and with any luck the staircase could be in by the weekend. Fingers crossed.

Day 11 - More Dormer Work

Today was spent putting the sides and front onto the dormer frame (and presumably other bits I don't know about). Not much else to say really, except got Marcus to take a photo of the inside as well.

Day 10 - We have a Dormer!

Marcus was greeted this morning with Nicole informing him that we have changed our minds about the size of the bathroom window following a redesign of the layout. Now it's going to be 1500 and as they are building the dormer today, leaving the holes for the windows to the bathroom and bedroom, there is no going back. Well, we could change it again, but that would mean paying more money to have the work redone, so we had better be happy with what we have decided! And then they were off. Marcus was up onto the ridge and started taking the ridge tiles off. Unfortunately, they are old and were extremely well cemented on. He has to resort to the angle grinder to remove them. Then off with the tiles and felt - and we had a big hole where our roof should be. Then up with the new wood for the frame and then the beginnings of the new flat roof, the plywood. Unfortunately they lost time this morning with the ridge tile problem and so they couldn't quite get to where they would have liked to have finished for the day, despite working their ***** off. So they weatherproofed it all, cleared up and called it a day, especially since it was now dark. It looks fab. Can't wait to go into the loft and see how it really feels.

The other event of note today was that the plumber, Steve, turned up for a site meeting. Having spoken to Marcus and both of us, all is agreed and seems to be fine - and he wasn't even too shocked that we were going to have not one, but two macerators in the bathroom. Reason for this is that we can use one for the basin and toilet and another for the shower. This means that the one for the shower can be located beneath the floor, thereby keeping the shower tray on the floor and leaving plenty of headroom once we are in the shower. If the shower tray had to be raised it would be a tight squeeze, though not impossible. He will be back towards the end of next week for the first fix.

Day 9 - More of the Same and a Window!

The rest of the floor joists were laid down today and then a nice surprise, there was time to do one of the Velux windows in the study. It really feels like it's taking shape now. Decisions were reached on the new bannisters and spindles. Also finalised the finishes of the dormer - white plastic cladding along the back (to match what's on the lower level) and tiles to the sides.

Day 8 - Off We Go Again!

Well here we are in 2009 and the work starts again. Today another crane came and delivered more wood, windows and also the plywood for the dormer. M&S carried these through to the rear of the house and got very cold hands since it was snowing. They then worked on the floor joists for the dormer section. They will carry on with this tomorrow and, weather permitting, start to build the dormer on Wednesday. Marcus queried the size of the window we wanted in the bathroom, but we said this was dependent on where the stairs went - giving us what depth the bathroom could be - and from that measurement we could then decide on the layout of the bathroom and hence the size of the window. Fortunately the stairman (sorry I can't remember his name) was in the neighbourhood and he came and measured up and worked out what would work. Not completely straightforward as headrooms have to be allowed for and our new staircase was going up under a valley in the roof and then a 90 degree turn towards the back of the house and the ridge steel had to be taken into account. Anyway, he got there and now we have the depth of the bathroom and the design sorted and therefore the size of the window! (800mm in case you were wondering!) Will let Marcus know tomorrow.