Day Three

January 31, 2013January 31, 2013 ~ Bungalow Blogger ~ 2 Comments

rain rain go away... — rain rain go away…

The wind and sleet have been battering the house all day and those poor men have spent a huge proportion of it getting rid of insulation. Here’s what John Snr found when he opened the door to the stairs earlier today.

what's behind the door? — what’s behind the door?

John, ready to go, smiling despite the weather.

John jnr helping get the insulation down the stairs — John Jnr helping get the insulation down the stairs

The floorboards have all been lifted and are to be sold, result. I thought about having them retained and replaced but I soon realised that would be very noisy and impractical particularily with it being upstairs.

The progress upstairs is steady, it’s looking good and is nearly completely stripped.

back corner (it is where all the insulation was oiled yesterday) — back corner (it is where all the insulation was yesterday)

the old nails with their box (arranged by John)

Other Stuff

H went to school today, she was not too happy, but I thought she’d be fine. Wrong, I got the call all parents dread from the school and soon she was home watching tv all cosied up on the sofa. She’s fine though. The funniest thing is that she’s starving hungry. Early to bed for her again.

Thought this was very sweet, they’ve never done this before.

A dog’s life indeed.

Day Two

January 30, 2013January 30, 2013 ~ Bungalow Blogger ~ 2 Comments

Well, I guess day one would be hard to trump for impact and dramatic change. Today there was more clearing of the attic. They were taking the insulation out, removing the rest of the ceiling and some of the floorboards are up now too. Here’s how it is looking today.

indulation still to go — insulation still to go

We spotted a couple of wasp bikes/nests in the eaves. The are incredible, how on earth can the wasps make such a perfect structure? They are so delicate and fragile. Not so keen on the inhabitants though, that’s for sure.

The most dramatic change today is the arrival of scaffolding at the front. It’s quite bizarre looking out of the first floor window and seeing someone standing there.

I have no idea where all this insulation has come from, especially since there is a massive amount still to come out. The worst thing was the wind blowing it all over the place. It did get covered up soon after I took this, horrible stuff.

The stripping should be finished tomorrow and some of the prep for the steel beams will be done. I’m looking forward to seeing how they’re going to get them where they need to be!

The boys are just loving the building action and F is planning what he could do with one big room and an xbox setup. L was interested to see where the wasps that often sat on his windowsill had come from. Wee H is not so well this evening, I think she is a bit overwhelmed by the whole scenario and, knowing her, she’s probably worrying about it all. She has the runny nose that a 5 year old is often plagued by at this time of year. Fingers crossed a good sleep will restore her sunny smile.

I joined Pinterest earlier to put ideas for the new look bungalow on. Now I need to work out how to get a wee button on the blog to take you there. I fear Pinterest may be a bit addictive. We’ll see.

Day One

January 29, 2013January 30, 2013 ~ Bungalow Blogger ~ 4 Comments

Well, the day did arrive and so did the builders, or should I say the demolishers? I had left for work before they arrived so when I got home to an open van full of debris in the drive I couldn’t wait to get in to see what they had been up to. I was not disappointed. What a day’s work.

Upstairs had, until today, the original rooms built in the 1930’s. There was no stud partition used but simply timber and plywood with rough and ready nails through to the other side occasionally. There was a large room to the front with an old dormer, a toilet (the throne itself had its own disgusting carpet platform) and a small room to the back which my Dad had as his hideaway study. There was also a wee boilerhoose that was full of stuff. Another story the boiler, all I’ll say for now is get a CO detector, nothing bad happened but our old one was leaking it and was immediately condemned.

Before

and After

Look at what I saw when I made it across the boardwalk and up the old stairs. I was totally stunned, it was nearly dark so it was hard to get a real impression of the new space. The boardwalk is plywood stuff that has been put down in the hall to save the carpet I am desperate to get rid of, very thoughtful. Simply a brilliant start and I am now so so excited about our new upstairs.