While the kitchen was being fitted by other contractors at our extension/refurbishment job in Alconbury, Dane and I headed to Sawtry this week to do a bathroom refurbishment for some clients we had previously done some work for.  Our first job was to strip out the existing bathroom suite, take all the old tiles off the wall and put isolating valves on all the water feeds so it made our life easier later in the week when we plumbed everything in.  On Tuesday I altered the pipe work for the new shower and got the sink and bath ready by fitting the wastes and the taps, while Dane erected a new stud wall and prepped the walls ready for tiling.  Unfortunately when I was putting the feet on the bath I made a costly school boy error.  Being used to fitting baths and being in a routine and without thinking I picked up the wrong size screws and fixed the centre support foot to the bath.  Unfortunately with the size of screw which I used (which was only 5mm longer than it should have been) I ended up breaking the enamel on the inside of the bath which were about the size of two 1 pence pieces.  I notified the client of my mistake and had to order a new bath for next day delivery.  The cost of my 10 second mistake, £250.  You win some, you loose some!  Although if Dane hadn’t put me off!!

We laid the majority of the wall tiles on Wednesday and then plumbed in the sink/vanity unit, the back to the wall pan and hidden cistern and the bath on Thursday.  Dane took Friday off to do some drawing work (or so he said!) which left me to run the tile cuts into the bath, grout all the tiles and fit the shower screen and bath panel, just leaving the towel rad to be fitted next week with the last finishing touches to be done.

It was a busy week for having the various trades on site this week.  We had Tony of TDA Decorating Services on site all week decorating the dining room, play room and hallway.  We had Dean the sparky in doing the second fix electrics and putting in a new fuse board to take the additional new circuits, and we also had Kevin Fisk of K Fisk Plumbing and Heating plumbing in the new radiators and fitting a new boiler for our client.

Dane and I spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday laying and grouting the floor tiles in the kitchen, utility and store room.  On Thursday we spent the day going through our snagging list of outstanding jobs prior to the kitchen being fitted by out side contractors next week.

The week didn’t get off to the best of starts as we found out that the kitchen floor tiles that the client had ordered were still on a slow boat from China, quite literally, and wouldn’t be in the country until the end of the month!  Not quite what we wanted when we are supposed to be laying the tiles next week prior to the kitchen being fitted the week after.  The tile merchant did his best to find some of the tiles but to no joy.  So in the end our client chose some similar looking tiles which could be ordered in for the end of the week.  It just goes to show that with even the best forward planning, you always get a spanner in the works.

The first part of the week we spent prepping the walls, ceilings, coving, skirting, architrave and door linings ready for painting. This involved caulking and filling the wood work and white washing the walls ready for the two coats of top coat paint.  We then spent Thursday and Friday putting the two top coats on and by the time we finished the week all the decorating we needed to do in the kitchen was done.  We then popped into Huntingdon on the Friday afternoon to pick up the tiles and adhesive ready for Monday.

John and J the plasterers were in on Tuesday and Thursday to finish the last of the plastering in the kitchen and hallway this week. While that was being done Dane and I put down some new laminate flooring in the dining room and then set about making a start on the second fix, putting up the architrave around the doors and fitting the skirting in the dining room and the new play room. We also ran in some new coving in the playroom. We finished the week by putting some self levelling compound down on the kitchen floor so the new and old floors were all level as one. Next week we can make a start on some decorating and also laying the kitchen and utility floor tiles.