Under pressure

It has been an eventful couple of weeks. The extension is now painted and it looks stunning and we love the colour. Although it’s not quite what either of us had expected with a slight green tinge, possibly reflecting the garden outside, it complements the floor and lights beautifully. We also have electricity, the first of our utilities to be connected and fully functional.

More dramatic were efforts to connect the water. Very sensibly our plumber wanted to pressure test all the pipework before fitting any of the sanitary wear. First we’d knocked the end of the pipe fitting for the shower resulting in water spraying out across the ensuite. Although the water supply was turned off in less than a minute it still managed to cover half the room and leave damp patches on the ceiling of the dining room below. More serious, as you can see in the film clip below, was the discovery that the floor polishers had managed to slice through the main water pipe feeding the kitchen and ensuite. A genuine mistake as it was hidden behind the stud wall, they must have nudged the polisher under the wall nicking the pipe in the process.

I wasn’t there at the time which was probably a good thing as the only way to fix it was to dig up my cherished floor to seal the pipe. Thankfully the damage is in the pantry off the kitchen and it will be hidden by a cabinet.

Continuing with the utilities theme we had our third visit from a Cadent Gas surveyor. This was to confirm the work needed to install the new meter in our preferred location next to the extension. Unfortunately the main gas supply is the other side of the road from us so they will either need to tunnel a hole under, or dig up, the road. Our preferred option is the tunnelling mole, however, they won’t know if it will work until they are on site and trying it out. If it doesn’t they’ll have to go for a road closure adding another 12 weeks delay.

We’ve decided to go for both options, apply for the road closure now and, if the mole works, cancel it. Either way the work will take about a week and the earliest they can start is mid-May. At least it will be getting warmer and switching off the gas to the old part of the house, in order to re-route it to the extension, and consequently losing our gas central heating shouldn’t be too much of a hardship.

Our electrician has installed the infrared mirror in the bathroom and in the first few days it is warming up the room better than the heated towel rail running off the gas central heating. So it looks like electric infrared heating will be a good solution for the old house when we lose the gas supply.

A couple of long running issues continue. The concrete floor company has decided there’s nothing more they can do to improve the polish on the floor. The variation in finish is particularly visible alongside the sliding doors so I’m now exploring other solutions including giving it a go ourselves.

Something we can’t do ourselves is replace the glass which has blown in the two sliding doors and repair a scratch on the frame. The company have committed to coming back to fix them, and I haven’t paid the final bill, but getting a date out of them is proving challenging. Neither of these issues is serious or holding us up from getting other things done, it’s just irritating that we can’t yet tick these off the ‘to do’ list.

On a more positive note we’ve ordered the tiles and underfloor heating for the ensuite and the tiler and plumber should be on site to complete this room next week. We’re also planning to sign off the final kitchen design next Tuesday with a date from them to fit it the following week. Having the kitchen, even without gas until May, will be a massive leap forward.

In the meantime I’ve ordered the skirting and architrave. I’ve gone for MDF as it’s going to be painted and it’s easier to fit as it keeps its shape better than real wood. There are a good range of online suppliers and I’ve gone with SkirtingBoards.com as they had a very useful website, excellent Trustpilot score and supply them primed and ready to paint. It’s good now we’ve got to the stage where I can start doing more of the work myself although I’ve also had to focus on the garden spending time cutting back overgrown shrubs and hedging before the birds start nesting. Reclaiming and restoring our garden is going to be more of a priority over the coming months, particularly as much more of it is visible now through the wall of glass along one side of the new kitchen.