Week Eighty-one

Week beginning 18th December 2023.

It’s going to be a disrupted week in the run-up to Christmas but there are a few things we want to get done before the festive break.

We are starting with finishing the trims on the double trusses above the east mezzanine. We now have our system for doing this work and so hasn’t taken long to get it finished.

A lorry has just arrived with a static caravan that they are installing on the field opposite our plot. It looks like it is going to be the end of our uninterupted view but luckily they are setting it down in a dip well below the level of our house. We are not going to let this turn of events upset us or spoil how we feel about our new house.

Molly has just come off the phone with the GP practice about the fact that she hasn’t been contacted about a covid vaccination. She has been given an appointment for both of us at a clinic in the Oban hospital this afternoon so we are going to have to fit that in.

Our next task is to apply another coat of wax polish on the Venitian plaster wall, it’ll take a good few coats before it is done. Molly is applying the wax and working it in and Pete is buffing it. The way the plaster responds varies, with some areas absorbing all the wax and staying dry while others are quickly saturated and begin to get a gloss from the buffing. It is a slow layered process which is quite hard work but as the surface takes form it is obvious that it will be worth all the effort.

We have discovered we are missing a light for the boot room so we’ll need to get one when we are in Oban for our vaccinations.

We are back form Oban and have collected our Christmas tree from the container so we are setting it up before dinner so we can have a bit of a Chrstmas feel in the house.

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It’s Tuesday morning and we are expecting Des to come and put down the shower trays. We are going round the house tidying up and creating space for Des to work.

The weather isn’t great but we have decided to do the cladding inbetween the showers so that we can get the west elevation finished. Again we need to do our best to match the boards above and some of the bent boards need persuaded into alignment. It hasn’t taken long to cover the 1.2m gap but we are having to make a custom board to fill the last gap because it is a few centimeters wider at the top.

That’s it done and we are very happy to have finished that job. Not many more boards needed for the house. There are the areas aound the doors that will need to wait until we can fit the thresholds and the area around the balcony door. We’ll get that done as soon as we can and then we’ll get onto cladding the mega-shed.

Des has arrived and discoverd that the holes Pete dug out for the shower tray water traps aren’t deep enough so is having to dig them out more.

While Des is doing that we are starting on the trims on the double trusses above the west mezzanine.

We’ve had to stop for the day because it’s too dark to finish the trims but we are happy with the progress. Pete hasd just had a message from Iain, the electrician, saying they are coming tomorrow so we have to make sure they have space to work, it’s another case of moving stuff around.

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Des has arrived bright and early with the bits he needs to fit the water traps and connect them to the soil pipes. He has checked everything is ready so he has gone back to his base to make up cement for bedding in the trays.

Pete and Des are bedding in the big shower tray in the en-suite. Des is meticulous in levelling the tray and all his copper pipe work has been very precise and neat. We are very lucky to have a quality tradesman like Des on our build. Des has finished bedding in the trays so he is off on another job.

We are finishing off the trims on the west mezzanine and it is making a huge difference to the look of the place.

Kevin has just turned up to tell us he is going to bring a truck load of Type One stones and a load of sand for Craig so he can start the paving in the new year. Kevin just needs to know where to dump it.

The electricians, Harley, Jack and Kenny, have arrived to start the second fix on the house. This is very exciting as we are now seeing real progress but they do have a lot to do.

We are staying out of the way but there isn’t too much we can do because the electricians have cut off the power so that they can do their work.

We are having a look at the balcony door threshold in order to work out what to do. The gap is, inconveniently, too wide to get away with fitting two decking boards so we need a plan. We think we could cut down a 200mm wide cladding board and use that but it is going to take a bit more thought.

It looks like we will have to go to Oban again tomorrow because we thought the electricians were supplying the outside lights, but they aren’t.

The electricians are done for the day and they have fitted a lot of the switches and powerpoints and some of the lights. It is amazing how having light switches, sockets and lights makes the space look so much more like a home!

We have been invited to Steve and Cate’s caravan for dinner tonight, we’ve become caravan soul mates and enjoy sharing amazing food and great company.

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It’s Thursday and the electricians have already arrived, even though it is barely light. They need to turn off the power again so after we fix the awning we are heading to Oban to get the outside lights.

We are back in time for a late lunch and the electricians are making great progress. More lights fitted and the hob and oven are wired in so we are delighted with their acheivements.

Craig, the hard landscaper, has just turned up to say that we are getting a delivery of edging for around the house and mega-shed and wants to make sure there is somewheere sensible to put it. He says he might start before the end of the year. Wow, things are moving fast!

We are staying out of the way for now and just messing about in the shed and catching up on a few things. Molly is contacting BT, again, to cancel a service we had to pay for to keep our email addresses in the period between leaving Porty and getting a broadband connection here. We don’t understand why these big companies seem to make us all jump through hoops to get simple changes made. While Molly is dealing with that Pete is making dowels for the balcony balustrade ready to fit when it’s dry.

That’s the electricians tidying up and getting ready to leave. They have fitted all bar one of the lights and almost all the switches and sockets.

They’ve gone. we are very happy and excited and are just going round the house swtiching lights on and off to see the effect. We are relieved that our choice of lighting has worked out how we imagined and fits the style we want for our house. Happy days!

We have left all the house lights on because we can.

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Our main plan for today is to get ready to head to Edinburgh to celebrate Christmas with our family. But for now Molly is visiting one of our neighbours to deliver a Christmas card and Pete is applying another coat of wax polish to the Venitian plaster wall.

We have packed the car and are about ready to go but first another walk round the house to take in all the progress that we have made.

A lot is happening just now and in the next month or so we should see the plumbing finished, the elctrics done and the hard landscaping done. We will still have a lot to do like finishing the cladding on both buildings and do a lot of other jobs like fitting handrails and skirting boards but it is getting very exciting now and we can look forward to a much more relaxed year ahead.

We wish you all a very happy festive season and a fun, exciting and peaceful 2024.