Week Sixty-five

Week beginning 28th August 2023.

We are up early because we are expecting our electrician and hopefully the guys to finish doing the high bits of plasterboarding. We’ve been working hard to get things ready – clearing space and tidying up – so that they can just get on with what they have to do.

It’s ten o’clock and if anyone was going to come they’d be here by now so it’s just us today.

We are cutting plasterboard to fit above the cooker area on the high wall up the mezzanine. Our first sheet is a full width which we can line up with the bottom and side edges and one fitted we can measure and fit the rest of that.

It’s a bit tricky fitting the first sheet because Pete is up a ladder with the sheet, it’s still fairly heavy even though it’s not a full sheet, balancing and trying to hold it in place ready for the first screws.

With that done we are now onto fitting a quarter sheet up to where the eaves begin so that the angled piece into the eaves is smallish and easy to cut and handle.

We are now fixing plasterboard to the narrow faces of the wall at the foot of the stairs which is the final bit on that section of the wall.

We are now fixing plasterboard to the north bulkhead above where our sink will be. We need to work out where the wire for the heating panels needs to be because we have no instructions from the electrician. Finally we need to fix some small narrow bits along the top of the bulkhead to finish it off.

We are very happy with how the kitchen area is looking and it is ready for the electrician to fit the led light housing above the sink and the cooker area.

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It’s Tuesday and Pete is at work today but he got a message early this morning to say that the electrician with two helpers is coming today.

Innes has arrived with the two other electricians and they are getting stuck into cutting out where all the power points and light switches are going to be. Innes is working on fixing the fittings for the lights on the return stair which will be plastered in.

Innes has just told Molly that there is a bit of a problem because there isn’t enough space for the fittings at the bottom of the return stair. We are having to make a decision about where the lights will go and we have decided not to worry about having no lights on the first few steps as the other lights will illuminate them fine.

Another issue, the light at the top of the stair can’t go far enough into the wall and so will protrude 6mm instead of 3mm. This is because of the joists that support the mezzanine floor and we can’t do anything about that. Hopefully Jef will be able to plaster them in anyway and if not we’ll have to come up with a plan B.

While the elctricians are getting on with their work, Molly is making the frames for the four drawers, from our old sideboard, that we are going to make as a feature in our bedroom wall. Molly is getting a lot of experience doing these frames and working out how to fit them into the walls, ready to be plastered in.

Innes and his team have done as much as they can for now and are heading off. As a parting gift they have told Molly that we need to put some dwangs in the hall ceiling before the plasterboard goes up. This has come as a bit of a surprise and we are going to have to get onto it straight away.

Before we do anything we need a plan. Luckily Pete has finished for the day and we can work on this together. We need to make sure we have enough timber of the right size for the job and enough screws. We also need to work out exactly how this is going to work because there isn’t much space and there are a lot of cables in the way.

We have measured and cut the timber that we need to execute our plan but we don’t have enough of the right kind of screws so we are going to get to Oban before Screwfix shuts at eight.

We’ll get up early tomorrow morning to fix it all so it’s ready for the plasterboarders who have already messaged to say they’re coming in the morning. They’re usually here by eight so it’s going to be a very early start for us.

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It was a bit of a late night by the time we had something to eat in Oban and got back home but we are up bright and early and already screwing in the supporting timbers ready for the dwangs.

It has taken a bit over an hour to get that sorted and it’s mostly finished just as Scott, Nathan and Adam arrive to do the plasterbaording.

We can have breakfast now and then Pete can get to work.

The men are getting up onto the scaffolding and are making short work of boarding what’s left of the vaulted ceiling.

Molly is fixing the dwangs to the supporting timbers that Pete fixed onto the joists. These dwangs are to support the housing for the LEDs that are going to be the hall lights.

We are expecting Ross and Kathleen, our friends and the other set of grandparents to Niven and Caitlin, who have helped us a lot and are amazing.

They have arrived just in time for lunch and they have brought the good weather with them. It’s so nice to see the sun again after a few weeks of quite a bit of rainy weather.

Now that lunch is over, Pete is back to work and Ross and Molly are starting to plan how the drawers are actually going to fit and how to box them in so that we don’t lose anything into the space behind the wall. Kathleen is painting the timbers between the two sheets of polycarbonate in the mega-shed.

With the first coat of painting done, Kathleen is now cutting cardboard to protect the stairs from the mess that Jef has told us to expect when he is doing the plastering.

Scott, Nathan and Adam are heading off. they have managed to finish sheeting the vaulted ceiling and fitted the 18mm plyboard and all the water-resistant plasterboard in both shower rooms as well as all the remaining ceilings.

We are really grateful to them for doing all this as we just didn’t feel up to doing the high plasterboarding, and we were daunted by cutting the 18mm ply with all the holes for pipes and cables coming through. Thanks guys we appreciate your hard work.

We will still have a bit of plasterboarding to do before the electrician gets back but we can manage that.

We’re off for a walk before dinner with Ross and Kathleen because it’s a lovely still evening.

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It’s Thursday morning and Pete left very early with his colleague Ali so that they can get to a training event in Edinburgh for ten o’clock.

Molly and Ross are doing some of the remaining plasterboarding together while Kathleen is fixing the cardboard she cut earlier snuggly onto the stairs.

After boarding up the hall Molly has to go to the village hall in Connell to get a vaccination so Ross and Kathleen are left to their own devices.

Molly is chumming them along to Orchy Bank House so that they can check-in. They are going to be able to enjoy the lovely surroundings and in the morning will have a wonderful breakfast. We stayed there a night once and it was really good.

Pete’s back so it’s time for dinner, a wee glass of wine and a catch-up on today’s events.

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It’s Friday morning and Ross and Kathleen are planning on leaving after lunch so we are going to make the most of their time with us and make a start on masking off the west mezzanine trusses and windows ready for Jef to do the plastering and all the mess that entails.

Our plan is to use rolls of blue paper, usually used to clean up mess or dry hands, folded in half with the creased edge 3mm from the truss and attach them with drawing pins. We have decided on drawing pins (aka thumb tacks) because they will be easier to remove when it’s done than staples and we are less likely to damage the trusses.

We have tried attaching a couple of strips but it’s quite tricky and takes time. Kathleen has come up with the idea of sticking masking tape onto the paper, right up to the creased edge to give it support. This is working much better and so we are making good progress. Kathleen with the help of one or other of us is making the paper strips and the rest of us are tacking them to the trusses.

It has been going really well and, unbelievably, we have masked off all the trusses on the west mezzanine and it’s only lunchtime.

Ross and Kathleen are heading off back to Edinburgh. We really appreciatre all the help they give us and we are looking forward to the time when they can come and visit and we don’t have to do any building work.

We are now going to do more prep on the west mezzanine. Pete is cutting and fixing plasterboard to the tops of the mezzanine walls and Molly is masking off the roof window and the big window on the west gable.

Pete is now wrapping the MVHR unit and the ducting in plastic to protect it.

There is still time to work so we are now fixing some of the 18mm ply where the heated towel ladders are to go, one in each shower room. We need to be sure that the towel ladders are well fixed and won’t come off the wall, which could happen if they are just fixed with wall plugs.

Our last job of the day is to fix a sheet of plasterboard in the boot room and one in the guest shower room.

It’s been a long day but we are happy with our preparation for Jef and all the work that Ross and Kathleen, the electricians, and the plasterboarders did. We know we had to wait a while for the contractors but when they do come they always do a good job and we are grateful for that.

We are onto the next stage starting on Monday when Jef comes to make his transformation of the inside of our house. We are very excited about it and are looking forward to seeing some early results.