No Apologies but lots of Progress!

Now it is a disappointing fact that these blog posts have begun to take a form. A form which generally starts with a half apology for the ever increasing gap between the current and the previous post. This is a form which I had hoped to break but while I wince at the discovery that the last post was written almost two months ago and wait for the 51 photos to upload, I realize that it will only be broken by omitting this apology. It's here now though, and boy is there a lot to see. A good portion of it I have forgotten so writing it up should be a good memory jogger for me too.

Now when I last posted I had just ripped out the old bathroom with some help from Charlie and almost finished the new one. Following that I took delivery of a large mirror from John Lewis which really helped make the room feel that much more finished and looks great.

It also looks really good looking through from the bedroom and although very much still a building site in there I thought I would drop in a photo of what it looks like when sitting in bed.

The next real job was to start boxing in the old bathroom area to make the new walk in wardrobe/dressing room area. The main reason for this stud work was to hide all of the pipe work on the ceiling from the flat above and on the wall coming in from the new bathroom. This job probably took a little longer than it should have but it was at a particularly crowded stage of the build. Never the less I had some enthusiastic help from "Bermuda" (Tom) and got the job done in a weekend.

With that done and the room plasterboarded, a stage that I think I must have forgotten to photograph. It came the time to tear down the last non structural wall that existed in the flat when I purchased the place. This was a little piece of trivia that I reckon the wall must have known because it put up quite the final stand. Although it was probably the smallest area of wall that I had tried to remove, it was a wolf in sheep's clothing. With one side being the old shower cubicle and one the current kitchen it was made up of:

 - A top layer of tiles

 - An old layer of tiles under that

 - A layer of waterproof plasterboard

 - A layer of normal plasterboard

 - Then the stud work that must have been reinforced at some point

 - Then for some ungodly reason 2 more layers of pasterboard on the other side

 - Followed by a layer of tiles

 - Followed by the Kitchen cabinets and worktop

It was like an 8 course meal of hateful, plastery, sharp, uncompromising, misery, and as if to warn me of the woes that were to follow, after removing the second tile and placing it on my rubbish pile I turned around to find that the only piece of of the wall that was eager to come away, the third tile, had done so to meet the side of my head in an almost choreographed act that left me stumbling around living room in a less than graceful ballet, cursing the bastard piece of ceramic. Anyhow, after that little encounter, and a pause to assess how bad the bleeding was and whether a hospital trip was in order. It wasn't. I continued to battle with the wall, and did so for most of the day. I won.

While carrying down the loads of rubbish down to the car James from the basement flat saw me lugging the it all back and forward and offered to give me a hand. This was much appreciated after it all and I think he was happy as it was the first opportunity that he had had to see the source of unending racket and rubble.

Next I had Charlie back up for a few days helping me remove the rest of the island in the kitchen and it was the real beginning of what I though of as "Phase 3"; the living room end of the flat. Not that this part of the flat had been dust free for all of this time by any means, but it was still a little bit of a haven from the destruction at the other end.

Anyhow, aside from leaving me without a fridge or freezer, something that most who have visited during the build would probably argue made little difference to anything, given how poorly stocked I had kept them when they were in place, the removal of the island unit really opened up some space.

It was around this point that I had managed to get Darren to come back an do the plastering in the wardrobe/corridor/dressing room. It is such a boost when a room gets plastered and it was not long before that was dry and Will was kindly helping me out  and painting the ceiling.

Quite the Michelangelo...

During this painting Bermuda was also back up helping out by removing the last of the wood-chip wallpaper from the living room end ready for the plasterer. An unrewarding job so also greatly appreciated.

Following that came some really hero work. Rather than strip wood-chip wallpaper off the existing, already cracking, ceiling. I was advised by Darren that it would be best to use some 9.5mm plasterboard on top of it and skim that. Chasing channels for lighting and finding all of the joists to screw into is a dirty, unenviable task that Will dedicated a full day to. We worked with such efficiency, aside from the odd tape measure duel that broke out from time to time while mounted the opportune distance apart on our stallion stool and step ladder, that the job was completed within the day. I was surprised and relieved that it was done so quickly, especially given it was a task which made up a mental milestone or rather obstacle for the progression of the build. It was the last dusty destructive work.

Lighting plan.

A job well done, with Bermuda finishing off the last of the wood-chip.

Finally, on the Friday night before the Saturday that the plasterer was due, Will came over again to help finish of some of the little jobs that needed to be completed before the plasterer came. Cables for the TV chased into walls etc. This was one of those evenings where you probably push the limits of your neighbors patients. Chiseling a brick wall at 10pm is probably not cool.

Next thing next, Darren was back and plastering. So quick in fact the photosynth was unable to capture his leg (or is he levitating to plaster that ceiling?). This was really interesting to see as I had not been in for any of the previous plastering jobs and really did not know the first thing about how one would go about it. I'm sure I was very annoying asking question after question.

With that job done and the lights in, things were starting to look good in this end of the flat. So much more space was opened up and to top it all off I had a week of holiday starting which was to be solely dedicated to progressing the flat. This was made even better as Charlie had offered to help for the week as well. To put that time scale into perspective, we are now 1 week ago.

So the beginning of the week started with a big list, drawn in true builders fashion on the wall. Unfortunately, the list was written up in no particular order and it was only upon assigning the logical steps to each point that we realized that point 2 was to paint the wall. I have yet to check how far through the list we got.

Painting the ceiling was high up on it however and almost immediately Charlie managed to headbutt the fresh pain leading to some localized premature graying. A look that he decided was too much of a hassle to rectify prior to an evening meal at TGI's. A meal that marked the date of and was celebration of Will's belated transfer with our work project to South East Asia. Great news for him but a sorry loss on site (that is when he is not standing around posing for a time lapse)

The next jobs included (point 2) painting the walls, removing the remaining portion of kitchen, and routing the internet cable under the floorboards. A job done with the aid of an improvised hooky tool made from a coat hanger and a length of wood.

At this point we also fiber boarded the rest of the floor readying it for the wooden flooring. An exciting step on the way to some dust free living. It was an expensive few days, as the floor went in closely followed by the new Ikea kitchen. This is probably hands down the largest Ikea flat I have set about building at 63 boxes or 4 car loads I am still assembling the last bits and pieces now.

The unit on the left above the oven required a little bit of modification in order to house an extractor fan designed for a different Ikea unit. I was pretty happy with the modifications to the cabinet which Charlie took to calling "The Beast" after its slightly over engineered support structure.

We are creeping ever closer to the end of this mammoth blog post at this point and the kitchen is coming along swimmingly. In fact, below are the most recent photos that I have of it in its almost complete state. I may tag a few more onto the end of this post when I get a chance. Failing that you will just have to wait until next time.

Temporary worktop prior to getting the full thing.

All that was left to do at this point was finish off the floor. A job that Bermuda popped over on Sunday to help out with but left at about 90% completion to watch the football. I just don't know how he tore himself away from it. Never the less the last portion was finished at around 7 on Sunday night and marked the end of what was a tiring but very productive week/month/month and a half.

As always, huge thanks to Charlie, Will and Bermuda for their help. And although he is unaware of this blog, big thanks to Darren for all of his work on the flat. I think this room marked the end of the plaster work that needed doing but he has been really great with the work that he has done on the place and I thoroughly recommend him.

Another room bites the dust!

Yes! Its true another room has gone and that means that all but one of the non-structural walls that were in the flat when I bought it remain. Its quaking in its little footings I'm sure, and with good reason as it too has numbered days. That will follow however, and the latest destruction is not even going to be covered right away because first up there more constructive matters to share.

In the last post a huge amount was covered, we left the project with a second bathroom tantalizingly close to completion, and a bedroom empty and ready for some plaster to hit the walls. This meant a rather uncomfortable week on the sofa but the result of Darren's work was once again a great milestone in the progression of the project.

As with the bathroom I spent the following weekend sealing with PVA and painting. I had assistance from Will on the sealing and given its a task I really do not enjoy its always good to have a helping hand and some company to go with it.

With the painting I was left to my own devices but it was OK and I tootled along at a steady pace, this time far happier with the choice of colour, and by the end of the weekend the room was a far cry from the messy state it had been in a week earlier.

As well as helping to seal the bedroom plaster Will had helped out assembling the shower door on the Saturday. It was a real shame that he was not there on the Sunday too as I managed to chip the glass when fitting it (it was heavy). Its not hugely noticeable but it is sure to annoy me for some time to come. This, along with the fact that I struggled to find a suitable porcelain drill bit for the tiles made the whole shower door fitting process something that I have erased from memory. I was however pretty happy with the end result. Another big step forward!

The following week I had AJ up and staying on the sofa as he was doing a work placement in Bristol. Charlie also came up for the day on the Saturday and was a great help. Main jobs were installation of the cornice in the bedroom and removal of the now redundant old bathroom.

The cornice I had ordered custom arrived on Friday before I returned from work and luckily AJ was in to receive it. Unfortunately it turned out to be different in profile to what I had originally specified. This was frustrating not least because of the umming and arrring that followed. It was not what I had expected and I was therefore reluctant to put it up until I reflected, contemplated and procrastinated for far longer than necessary. This was a little pathetic really and lead to a bunch of holding in place by Charlie in different orientations to get a feel for what it would look like.

They were heavy, and making him continue to hold while I took a photosynth was perhaps taking liberties but at least it is entirely clear to see what holding up a piece of cornice looks like.

I did not end up making a decision on the cornice that weekend; not whether to keep it nor what the orientation should be if I did. So while that difficult decision was placed on the back burner we turned our attention to the old bathroom. What followed was much of the same destruction that is now commonplace on this blog, so I will leave it to the pictures to paint the words.

From the bedroom side:

From the living room side:

And one view from the center prior to starting - but I did not take a second of these it was more of a picture to document the old - that, and a chance for Charlie to get into the photosynth as many times as he could...

The old shower tiling was odd. Layers upon layers of replacement tile placed on top of plasterboard even under it all looked like was suffering from a fairly ready supply of water. Its probably a good thing I took it all out when I did.

That brings me close to being up to date. Over the following week I decided to go ahead with cornice that had been delivered. It had had time to grow on me and with AJ still in residence I had someone able to provide the extra pair of hands that were necessary in order to hold the fragile and cumbersome lengths in place while being fixed. However, at what cost I don't know. I have a sneaking suspicion that I am going to be reminded of the fact that "AJ helped build the flat" for some time to come. Perhaps that is unfair and premature, and after all, beggar's cant be choosers. They can be grateful though, but not wanting to break from form I will leave documenting that to the end of the post.

This weekend just gone I had planned to make huge headway, but it was not to be so as I was once again thwarted by a practically incapacitating hangover from an unexpected night out. I did have the sense to power through and get supplies of wood from Travis Perkins on Saturday morning however and this left the weekend as only a partial failure. Sunday was spent erecting the new stud walls for the wardrobe area and taking an inordinate amount of rubbish to the tip.

I'm crossing fingers that I can keep some momentum and get the main room layout finished in the next couple of weeks and then it is simply a case of "Finishing". We shall see how it goes, perhaps Christmas is a realistic finishing deadline.

As usual big thanks to Will, Charlie and AJ (in order of appearance). There is a real imminent danger that with Charlie now working and Will and Dan soon to be heading to South East Asia with a work project, I will be going it alone for some weeks to come. So we will see how that all goes. Thanks and well done for having the perseverance to get through the whole post and I will hopefully update again soon.