30th August - 5th September 2010

Our friends the concrete men returned on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to seal the concrete floors and this effectively put the house off limits for most of the week. This didn't mean Dave got a holiday but rather that he could change his focus from painting the walls to sorting out the large piles of architrave that had arrived. There was about 600m of the wood to be dealt to, with two coats of polyurethane to be applied before it was installed. It was quite a tricky logistical exercise as they were in quite long pieces and they needed space to dry. By the end of the week, he had completed two batches of just over 200m in total.

Once the floor was dry, we could continue with the internal painting in preparation for the plumbers and electrician who were booked in for next week. So we painted the laundry, the airing cupboard and part of the living room behind the fire. By the end of the week, we had completed 74% of the painting (up from 67% last week).

There were various things we needed Neil the builder to do as well,and so he came on Saturday morning to start on them. He installed the sink in the garage and put up some architrave which made our newly painted garage toilet look rather smart.

And we also sealed the grout in the two bathrooms. I really enjoyed doing this and set to it with great enthusiasm after I arrived home early from my last day of paid work. Unfortunately I forgot yet again that my back does not like me going down on my hands and knees and it seized up in protest. I was put on 'light duties' as a result, which meant that the next day poor Dave had to carry on painting while I went for a walk with a friend, but fortunately it eased off by Sunday.