Work starts in just over a week!

Met Alex, the builder yesterday. Sounds like work will start in just over a week on Monday 15^th August with an estimated end date of mid-October. The schedule is for 12 weeks, with 2 spare weeks thrown in there. I can’t remember the breakdown at the moment, but the first job is drainage, then footings and external walls. I’ll post the written schedule later on.

 

Gang looks to be:

Alex, (builder and PM) & Simon will be full time on the job too. Other trades will be involved as and when.

Alex or Chris (electrician). We’re probably swaying towards Alex at the moment, but that depends on the quote.

Andy (plumber, and Man Utd fan!)

 

Potential savings

We agreed with Alex last night that we would do the following, saving us £500:

Chip off plaster back to brick in the lounge

Cut kingspan insulation for the pitched roof off the kitchen

 

Additionally, Alex said that his quote includes supply and installation of 6x internal doors. If we supply these ourselves, we will save £80 per door (£480).

 

The gas supply and electricity meter might not have to be moved after all. We thing we can place them outside, just beyond where the new utility room will come. Anne is phoning to clarify what’s what I think.

 

Underfloor heating

The heating engineer came round the other night, with Andy the plumber. We decided that a liquid screed would be fine for the heating in the lounge, kitchen and snug/conservatory area. There was some misunderstanding between what Andy thought was required in terms of the screed depth. He thought that the measurement required for the fill was from the top of the eggshells, but the engineer assured us it was from the base of the eggshell.

 

Anyway, this means we don’t need to dig out the lounge area and Alex had included that work in his initial quote. He’d also quoted for the concrete screen, whereas this self-levelling liquid screed is going to be dealt with through Andy, the plumber and his contacts. Alex said he would speak to Andy about this and get us a finalised new quote.

 

Other jobs we’re doing this weekend and coming week.

Taking up half of the decking outside the lounge area.

Starting to strip the lounge wallpaper and dado rails, take carpet up and move everything out.

 

Anne’s been busy packing things into boxes and storing them in the garage over the last few days, with Ben’s help, of course.

 

So, it’s all about to kick off and we’ll be in the thick of it for the next couple of months.

 

Deep breath, we’re going in.