Need more mortar

Need more mortar

So, the old contractors (God bless em) left £100’s worth of mortar out in the rain.  When I went to the manufacturer to get some more, I was told that they had run out and were not making it anymore.  The search for a new mortar which was the same colour then began.  The problem is, you can’t tell what colour it is until 4-6 days later when it has dried.  Hence, I had to make up rather a large number of samples.  The final recipe was 45gms of black and brown dye to 25kgs of 3xno.21 type lime mortar.  

Electrics

Electrics

Turns out I can’t just feed wires over the top of doorways – they need to fit within ‘zones’.  Removed wires and placed them in the zone.  Bit of a faff as it meant I needed to take up the floor and remove some plasterboard.  Live and learn!

Attic room

Attic room

Our first finished room – Tim’s room in the attic.

Friends round for dinner

Friends round for dinner

Still nowhere near finished, but that doesn’t stop us from having friends round for dinner (including using the UB’s as a bench).
We have an office

We have an office

Karen and I laid a floor in the office (plasterboard for fire protection, 50mm polystyrene for sound insulations, and floorboards) then moved everything in.  It’s not quite finished yet (door needs hanging, undecided about wall and floor finishes yet, etc.), but at least we have a space to work in.  Next move is to clean the old office and move the boys in (temporarily) so work can be done t their bedroom.
Scaffolding down and Griffins are cracking on with the work

Scaffolding down and Griffins are cracking on with the work

Since our builders have gone, we’ve really enjoyed getting our hands dirty.  The whole family has joined in lugging, fixing, sweeping, joining, smashing and cleaning – it’s team Griffin from here on.