After Stu’s week off in the sunshine of Cornwall, and me getting back on top of my paper work and doing a few bits and pieces in a casual week, we were back on the site of the New Build near Ramsey. The first job we had to do was put in the bathroom window that I forgot to put in when we originally did the two skins of block work. I remembered all the window and door openings to the front and rear elevations, but I was in my own little world when doing the side elevation block work and totally forget until it was too late! I jokingly like to blame Stu for everything that goes wrong, but I have to hold my hands up to this shocking mistake. We got the lintels in, cut out the block work to make the opening and fixed the window into position. Fortunately because we are rendering the block work the window will always look like it was meant to be there and the level of finish has not been compromised. If it had been brick work, it would have been a totally different story.
John and Jay the plasterers were on site on Tuesday fixing their render beads around the build in preparation for doing the scratch coat. There was nothing Stu and I could do so we took a day off and left John and J to it. On Wednesday Stu and I were labouring for John and J. Stu the Cement Technician was in charge of the mixer and I had the joy of making sure John and J had a constant supply of muck on their boards. Running up and down the scaffold, pulling up the buckets of muck on the pulley, who needs the gym!
By the end of Thursday we had scratch coated the whole build, bearing in mind it is a large four bedroom property and we were all pleased with our efforts. Good job. On Friday John and J made a start on doing the top coat. As they weren’t sure how the scratch coat would react to the top coat, they focused on some of the smaller areas of wall. While they got a feel for how things were going to work out with the top coat, Stu and I worked out a routine so we could keep the muck flowing as quickly as we could. Things can be more temperamental with the top coat, especially as this is the level of finish everyone will see, so it’s important we have the muck there when it is needed and allow John and J to do their job to the best of their ability. John and J take a real care in their work, and their attention to detail is spot on. At the end of the day things had worked out well. We had a few teething problems with the scratch coat drying out the top coat too quickly in areas, but generally it was a good day and the level of finish was really good. So we can now look forward to getting on with the two large gable end walls on Monday and Tuesday, break the back of things as it were. After the poor weather during August and the many lost days to rain, the weather has been great. No rain, very important when rendering, and lots of blue sky and sunshine. It looks like we are getting a few late days of summer in before autumn takes hold. I’m glad things have turned out as I planned!
Stu has just started on a two year plumbing course doing two evenings a week at College, doing practical work on site as the course progresses. Stu has invested his own money and time to do this course and it is a big commitment. Hopefully at the end of the two years he will be a certified plumber, and it is another trade that we can bring in house and not have to rely on sub contractors. I hope Stu enjoys the course; I will support him all the way and wish him every success with the course.
