The Builders have arrived..

So the builders have been here for a week now, turning a perfectly habitable house into a dust-covered building site. What have we done?

 

This is John and he works his socks off from 8:30 till 4:30 with barely a break.He is knocking the new doorways through and putting in the new soil pipes for the 2 new bathrooms too, and will be putting up partitions and installing the Suites as and when

 

This is one of my favourites, a channel to carry waste pipe from new front bedroom into cellar. Good thing we are going to re-decorate the hallway. Have you fallen asleep yet?

 

They have had to move the tank out from under the stairs temporarily to enable the new access from the 'yellow room' to make it en-suite.

 

 

This is Ed who works with John. Hes a big bloke and lives in the remotest house in Yorkshire with Wife and 2 small Daughters. Won 'Villages strongest man' 2 years on the trot. He is the only man in Cosh though.

 

Nice pic of Judith knocking a hole in a wall. Please note lack of hi-viz, hat and boots.. Health and safety be damned.

 

Its not all been stress though. It was bank holiday weekend so we thought we'd go for a short walk to Long Preston as the signpost said it would be 2.3 miles so about 5 miles return trip. More like 10 miles. My legs have been aching since we woke up on Monday morning and its now Tuesday evening. We did get to see one of these though. Wheeling up into the mid afternoon sky on the thermals created by the slope of the dales. Also Skylarks and small brown bird i have yet to id.

Judith very excited at wild bilberry which grows all over. The bluebells and wild garlic are also out in force,

 

 

Buzzard (not my pic, thanks Google)

 

Since then we have had a meeting with George our project manager who apologised profusely for cocking up the dimensions of the tank to go in the basement (too wide) meaning the rest of the house has to be dug up to get the new drain in. Oh well, at least we are about to order the new bathrooms, it is a bit of sanit(r)y(ware) in a sea of madness. We are having to scale back a bit on fixtures etc as our budget is now being stretched a bit too thin for comfort .Les the plumber came round today to case the joint before ordering in the new boilers , Yes, plural. Boilers.

Below is a pic (most unflattering, sorry Judith) of the stud work going up in the rear 'green' bedroom. Its going to have the smallest bathroom but will be very modern and hi-tec. Also the least expensive room.

 

This is Ed digging up the rear courtyard for yet more drains. Its taken through the lovely tall domed window that mirrors the ceiling contours. The previous owner had it covered with some huge drapes so that you couldn't see it, not any more. We have removed them. Cant wait to see it all finished, though this seems like a very long way off at present.

 

But the house is looking lovely from the outside, the garden has sprung into life, Raz caught her first vole yesterday and all is calm in happy valley, Until the builders start again tomorrow, that is.

 

 

Off to see the people at Merritts in Skipton tomorrow , am going to ask very bluntly for 20% discount. Wish me luck!