Plasterboard, what a fascinating thing. A fine powder held in place by paper. Instant walling. Tapered at the edge for easy joining, strictly speaking there's no need to plaster it at all. To cut it to size all you need to do is score through one side of paper with a knife then snap it, … Continue reading

The time has come, the wife said, to paint walls and ceilings. In the absence of completed plumbing and wiring we had been pressing ahead with the things which were in our control: surfaces. The kitchen was in pretty good nick overall, only really requiring a bit of filling here and there. With the plumbing … Continue reading

A rare day off work dedicated to the house, this at the behest of the plumbers to make sure they do what is desired. As a quick recap of the plumbing saga: The boiler was installed but without putting new pipework in. This was subsequently done but by replacing the steel pipe for smaller copper … Continue reading

A bit of a fallow weekend due to a little family gathering. To celebrate our 10 years together we encouraged friends and family to come and share our passions - running and cycling - all at one in the Chilly Duathlon a couple of miles up the road at Castle Combe race track. Beth had … Continue reading

To keep the downstairs shower room vaguely waterproof we intended to cover the walls in damp proof plasterboard. But why stop at the walls? As anyone who has lived with a small poorly ventilated bathroom knows, the ceiling is just as likely to get damp and flake paint. Therefore we set about stripping the ceiling … Continue reading

We were back outside at the weekend, tying off some loose ends. The largest remaining island rising from the void out behind the kitchen needed attention in preparation for a new enlarged waste pipe. This would involve reducing its height back down to its original level. Luckily this was just one course of bricks, easily … Continue reading

It's been something of a slow week following the hiatus the week before. Mainly it's due to the frustration with the tradespeople. It feels both futile and untimely to be trying to do things until the large pieces of work (plumbing and wiring) have been completed. These occupy a lot of space and tend to … Continue reading

We've been toying with what exactly to do to all the crumbling walls and ceilings. It's mainly lathe and plaster - a right pain in the backside to deal with. It crumbles, it doesn't hold up well to movement and the plaster is as nothing without its lathes. Modern plasterboard gets around this by being … Continue reading

As part of the remedial plumbing after boiler-gate, we had a couple of chaps pop by to see if they could make amends. Sadly they had not been briefed at all but at least it's free labour! We were due out that day to London for Beth's indoctrination admission into the Law Society so after … Continue reading

What to do in the shower room has been something of an conundrum. Initially we had thought to have a tiny slim one on the wall by the door, but it would just get in the way. After a little bit of sketching to get those less visually endowed up to speed, we agree to … Continue reading