We got off to a slow start to the week.  Dane was having car troubles over the weekend and was getting his car sorted Monday morning so didn’t arrive until lunch time.  But it didn’t matter much as I couldn’t do too much onsite as the kitchen fitters were back on site to finish off some of their bits and pieces, so I was trying to do what I could while at the same time keeping out of their way as they took over the site.  The last of our original jobs that needed doing were to grout the kitchen wall tiles and the newly hung doors and some skirting needed first and second coat painting.  By the end of Wednesday we were where we needed to be and it was just a case of creating a snagging list with the client and taking care of all their little issues.  We had created our own list which pretty much mirrored our clients which is always a good sign, so over Thursday and Friday we worked through the list.  All we have to do now is hang two internal glass doors when they finally arrive onto site and finish off the additional landscaping work.  Then fingers crossed, its job done.

We looked to make a start on the garden works this week as the plans had now been confirmed.  While we waited for the materials delivery to turn up on the Wednesday me and Dane started on the kitchen, utility and store room splash back tiling.  While Dane finished off the tiling on Tuesday, I set about hanging three new internal doors and putting on all the associated door furniture.  On Wednesday we had a new skip delivered and we made a start on the back garden by rotavating it and removing the earth where the patio area was going to go, which involved barrowing lots of earth round into the new skip.  Once that was done our next job was to hardcore the patio and paving areas.  This involved shoveling and barrowing eight tonnes of hardcore into the back garden, and we enjoyed immensley every tonne we moved!  On Friday we made a start on laying the 28 sq metres of 1100 x 560 paving slabs.  They were that large that it was a two man job to lay them and by the end of the day my back certainly knew it had done a hards days work.

We continued to work through the last of our jobs this week.  We took off the old hallway skirting and laid new laminate flooring in the hallway and down stairs cloak room, putting new skirting back when the floor was down.  Dane primed the hallway skirting while I first and second coated the kitchen and utility skirting.  We have also been asked to carry out the garden landscaping work that is required and spent the week working with the client as to what work they would like doing and what materials they would like to use.  Once everything was clarified we got the materials ordered ready for delivery the following week.

On Monday Dane was off trying to meet a dead line on some drawing work while I finished off the bathroom refurbishment in Sawtry by plumbing in the towel radiator.  Once that was all done we moved back to Alconbury for the rest of the week where the new kitchen had been fitted.  We started to finish off the last of our jobs and we also made a start on working through the snagging list.  As is always the way as a job draws to a close things don’t always fall into place.  We are waiting for the work tops to be fitted before we can do the splash back tiling and the doors I wanted are out of stock and won’t be delivered until next week.  So we are doing little bits and pieces as best we can to keep things moving.

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.

It was a simple week this week as we continued to concentrate on plasterboarding the extension, garage and kitchen area refurbishments.  Dane and I focused on boarding, while John and J the plasterers followed on behind, skimming the dining room, new play room, store room and utility.  By the end of the week Dane and I had finished all the boarding and it was just the kitchen left to skim for John and J.  Next week we can start to get some flooring down and also get some architrave and skirting fixed.

We hope to have a new Facebook site up and running soon for Blueberry Property Services which will include daily comments and photos of us on on site, so we hope you can take a look and follow our progress.

Our updated and revised web site launched last week, with our new architects design service also launching with the new web site going live. We now offer a full architects service with two fixed price options with prices starting from £599. There is a new client area where clients can view all their project details with a client specific sign in, so we can offer an architect and design service right through to build and completion on any size extension or new build. Take a look at the site for more information.

As for work on our current extension and property refurbishment we are now at the plaster boarding stage. On Monday and Tuesday I finished off the remaining stud work while Dane went about fire boarding all the steel and timber beams. For the rest of the week we were plaster boarding out the dining room, store room and utility. On Friday we had John and J the plasterers in to skim the dining room. Everything is ticking along nicely and hopefully by the end of next week all the rooms will have been boarded and skimmed.