Stairs complete

Well we are back from another intensive week of work at the house again and things are definitely starting to come together now.

The two most obvious changes to what I had seen 3 weeks previously was the installation of the stair being complete. The glass balustrade was installed and the LED lights in the underside of the tread bull noses were working. The overall effect with the low iron content glass balustarde has definitely been to maintain the openness of the hall area.

Balcony & stair from Ewan's bedroom

Stair from balcony

View from hall to Fraser's bedroom

Stair from dining room

Balcony from Fraser's bedroom

The oak flooring was down in most the areas on the first floor and Heidi got busy hard wax oiling these floors to start with along with the stair. Although it is a clear finish the wax oil does give a darker finish to the wood but it all looks very good still. The downstairs rooms were finished while we were there so these got their two coats of wax oil as well.

Lounge

Master bedroom

Recreation room

Fraser's bedroom

Ewan's bedroom

Dining room - freshly oiled!

Heidi was also busy with the painting working away on the hall, recreation room and guest ensuite. She was assisted here by Evelyn when the children were delivered back up the road after a few days at nana and grandad's.

With internet now operational at the house the iPads were out in force keeping the boys entertained when they were on site

Entertainment central

While Heidi was busy with various brushes and rollers I was back on plumbing duty working away on the bathrooms grovelling under bath frames and chasing leaking towel rails around the house. The end result of this is that the master ensuite bath is now installed as is the family bathroom shower ensclosure (complete with large glass spalsh back panels) and the powder room is hooked up and functional. One problem we did have was with the deck mounted bath taps in the family bathroom that had a leaking diverter valve. this meant that the bath couldn't be installed and a lesson was learnt. You get what you pay for - these had been a cheaper tap set and you could tell the quality wasn't as good as the Vado set we had for the master ensuite but had cost twice as much. A new tap set from a more reputatble brand has now been sourced.

Powder room

Family bathroom toilet

Family bathroom shower

Guest en-suite

Plumbing works also included running water pipes out to the garage for the sink out there and the outside taps. This water is coming from the rain water harvesting system so that also meant commissioning that system. All this was sucessful and all toilets now have water to the cisterns.

After getting as far as possible with the plumbing attention turned to the garage wiring, insulation and getting a couple of sheets of plaster board up for the data company to get the last sockets up and speakers in. With help from dad I got the wiring pulled - our electricans are happy for us to do that as they will check things during second fix. Insulation works were progresed with the ground floor being finished and gable ends upstairs being filled in. Still some work to go here before its ready to board but getting close.

When some better weather appeared at the end of the week I took the oppertunity with mum and dad being around to get the foundations and corner posts for the log store set. Its much easier doing this type of work with two sets of hands to hold things vertical and square. While I had the cement and sand out I also set the slabs for the gas cyclinders to sit on.

Back of garage with start of log store hiding by the trees

Looking back on things it was a very varied week of work and a number of items were ticked off the to do list. You would think the house would be starting to empty of materials now but we still seem to be getting as much coming in. We are looking forward to the day very soom when we can remove all the protective covers from the floors, bathrooms and kitchen and really see everything in its full glory.

This week sees the start of the door framing and hanging work and it's going to be very exciting to see things at the weekend as I tie another work weekend in with a business trip to Aberdeen. All things going to plan this will be one of the last two such trips. The train is fast approaching sown the tunnels and its probably just as well as it get harder all the time to keep the motivation and energy levels going as we progress to completion. The journey hasn't been excessivesly long but its been tough managing it from afar and also doing so much of the work myself but I am looking forward to planning something other than the next work weekend!

The boys "fishing"!

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The football pitch!