Week Seventy-three

Week beginning 23rd October 2023.

Another week begins and Pete has changed his work days to support a colleague so he is away today. Molly is waiting for her sister, Ishbel, to arrive on the bus from Glasgow so that they can spend the day together. To make best use of the time Molly is carrying on with the task of cleaning the splashes of plaster from the trusses with a wire brush.

Jef is back on the job, this is his last full week, with just a few more areas to do.

Molly and Ishbel are taking a trip north so that Ishbel can show her the property she wants to buy. It’s just short of an hour from us so in rural Scotland terms she’ll be our ‘neighbour’.

Molly loves the location and thinks the property is really nice and reminds her of her childhood home in Stathyre.

Back from their wee trip north and having had some lunch, the sisters are washing the windows in the house where Jef has done the plastering.

Pete’s back from work and it’s time for dinner. Ish is staying the night so it’s a good chance for a bit of a catch-up over dinner and a glass of wine, or two.

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It’s Tuesday and Pete’s off to Oban for work.

Jef wants to plaster the hall ceiling but has discovered that some of the plasterboard is hanging loose so Molly and Ishbel need to fix it. It seems that in the process of fitting the chanel for the LED strip the electrician compromised the fixing of the plasterboard.

To solve the problem they are taking down the plasterboard and fixing two timbers as supports, then need to reattach the board. Success, with Jef’s help it hasn’t taken too long. Teamwork!

The next task is to continue cutting cladding for the north wall, Pete and Andrew had already cut a load of 150mm and 200mm wide boards to the correct length, so Ishbel and Molly are cutting 15 of the 75mm wide boards. Again this hasn’t taken long so it’s on to fixing some cladding to the south elevation at the east end in preparation for fitting the downpipe from the gutter.

Pete has just arrived back as the sisters are tidying up after a very busy and productive day. He is amazed and very pleased to see how much they have done. It’s particularly satisfying to see some cladding on the south elevation.

Ish is off to catch the bus back to Glasgow so we have decided to walk some of the way with her before we make dinner. It’s a lovely evening for a wee walk and it’s a good way to end the working day.

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Pete is glued to his computer today. Molly is getting on with cleaning the trusses and Jef is moving on to plastering the guest shower room.

Next week Jef will be creating the Venetian plaster finish on the back wall of the return staircase so Molly needs to prime it so it is ready for him to do his magic. It has taken two hours to apply the two coats of the special white quartz primer. We are very excited about having this wall finished with Venetian plaster because we are sure it will add something really special to the space.

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Pete is free to work on the house today because he has already done his three days for work this week.

We are having a go at fitting the down pipes but have already discovered that it is not going to be at all straight forward. The facias and soffits on the house are too wide for the bends we have so we can’t get the downpipe close enough to the wall. On the shed the facia is fine but the soffit is too wide so it’s a similar problem.

We have just spent about an hour searching the supplier’s website looking for the parts we think we will need but we can’t find anything that will do the trick so we are going to leave that for now and try and get some advice about what to do.

We have moved on to fitting the last remaining bit of guttering on the shed. When we originally fitted the guttering we didn’t quite have enough so there is a two and a half meter section still to do. Andrew brought us a suitable length of guttering when he was last here.

We are now cutting and fitting 75mm wide cladding at the edges of the windows. Each length needs a cut-out to fit round the window sills so it is taking a bit of time. Once we have completed this task we will be able to crack on with cladding the house. It really helps doing the cladding in this way because we can then work on it in sections, for example if we have a few hours we can do a section under and above a window. If we have more time we can do a section between a corner and a window and so on.

Jef is going to stay and do an extra half day tomorrow so that he can stay on schedule, he normally works Monday to Thursday.

Pete’s mum, Ursula, and our friend Wendy have arrived just in time to go to Oban for some shopping and to have dinner in Bar Rio, our favourite pizza haunt.

Ursula last came with Wendy almost exactly twelve months ago. that was before we had the roof on or any of the insulation, in fact we only really had the timber kit up and we were waiting for the scaffolding. Ursula has been wanting to come for ages but something somehow always got in the way so she is delighted to have finally made it.

We are back from Oban and have come to the caravan for a wee nightcap before we head to Orchy Bank House. It’s great to have them here and we are looking forward to getting them involved in our build tomorrow.

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We are making a bit of a slow start this Friday morning because it’s a bit wet and miserable but we are making a start on fixing the cladding below and above the small window on the north elevation. We have been at it for an hour or so and Ursula and Wendy have arrived just in time for coffee, we can put our plan for the day to them and see if they are happy to get involved.

We have split into two teams, Pete and Ursula are measuring and cutting the cladding and Wendy and Molly are fixing it to the wall.

Pete is teaching Ursula how to use the bench saw so that she can do the cutting while he sources larch of the right length and width. It is so much quicker doing this kind of work when you have extra hands and today we are also expecting Zadjil and Carolyn to help.

Zadjil and Carolyn have just messaged to say they will be delayed because their hire car has developed a fault and they are waiting for the vehicle support service to arrrive.

It’s just after three and Zadjil and Carolyn have finally arrived, they had originally hoped to be here for one. Zadjil is helping Wendy and Molly with the cladding below and above the long window on the north elevation. Carolyn is in the shed with Ursual and Pete and is cutting the 15° bottom edge of the cladding. This needs done so that when the rain water runs down the board it can drip off and not soak the bottom of the board that would quickly lead to the board rotting. Ursula is still operating the bench saw, it’s great to see her being able to be part of the team and working so hard, given that she’s just turned 84.

It’s started getting dark and we are fitting the last couple of boards at the long window. It’s been a really good day with us all working together so well and so we are ready for dinner.

Pete is cooking his version of sag aloo and Molly and Wendy are setting up a table in the house so we can eat there. Having family and friends for dinner is one of our favourite things and so it is extra nice for us to be able to invite people to eat in our, as yet unfinished, new home.

Zadjil and Carolyn have headed off to Oban to meet the rest of their diving buddies, they stopped by to help us enroute. They are such a great help and so enthusiastic, what a joy.

We arer all off to bed now tired but satisfied. Ursula and Wendy will be back tomorrow before they head home so we’ll see if they have the time or inclination to do more work in the morning.

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It’s Saturday morning and inspired by yesterday’s progress on the cladding we are carrying on with the cladding below and above the east window on the south elevation. We’ve almost finished cladding under the window and Ursula and Wendy have arrived, amazingly everyone is feeling fit and well and not too achy after yesterdays exertions.

We are splitting into teams again. Ursula and Pete are in the shed cutting the larch while Wendy and Molly are fixing it to the wall. Wendy is very keen to finish the cladding on both the windows on the south elevation before she leaves.

We’ve just had lunch and are swapping roles, Pete and Wendy are working on the west window but they have changed the way they are working. The weather is much nicer than expected so they have decided to do all the cutting and measuring outside using the circular saw. It saves quite a lot of going back and forth making progress much faster.

Molly has been doing some experimentaion with the pigment we bought for the coloured plaster we are asking Jef to do on the straight staircase. It won’t be the same as the Venetian plaster as it will be even and smooth while the Venetian will have patina and depth. So with Ursula’s help she is trying a mix of one part pigment plus five parts gypsum. Once it dries we can decide which we like best.

It’s time for Ursula and Wendy to go, we’ve made great progress together and we have all really enjoyed working as a team. Pete and Ursula are both delighted that she has been able to make such a good contribution to the build and to realise that it’s never too late to try something new. Thanks Ursula and Wendy, you are both stars!

We are just finishing off the east window of the south elevation, when that’s done we will need to tidy up and clean the shed then get ready for Cate and Steve, our neighbourds, who are coming for dinner. Tomorrow we are invited to Monica’s in Tarbert for lunch. Who would have thought that you could have such an active social life when you don’t even have a house to live in. Happy days!