This feels like a genuine milestone. After several months of a spider’s web of scaffolding all over the newly built and emerging ‘West Wing’ (cause it’s the bit of the house which points due west), tomorrow is the day it all finally comes down. There’s been so much to do this week, I can’t even tell you how frantic it’s been and all with Mr M not allowed to look up or work cause he’s trapped a nerve in his neck, the poor buggar. He’s been mostly passing me stuff, barking orders and quite grumpy/frustrated as he’s a doer not a watcher. I’m tired out but so excited for tomorrow when we see what the new bit of our home actually looks like without a hundred steel poles in front of it.
Even phone calls have been taken prone on a roof or perched on a ridge 🙂
These have been just some of the jobs to do at the end of an external build, so if you ever take on something like this you know what to expect:
- Filling screw holes and gaps with wood filler
- Sealing all around the cladding and timber windows to ensure all edges are watertight
- Final coats of paint to all the timber windows, fascias and soffits
- Repairing broken slates from where people have had to clamber on them to fit gutters and alter leadwork. With reclaimed slates it’s heartbreaking watched them crack under heavy feet when jobs need doing but is a little unavoidable, even if people are careful. And when people aren’t careful, you think murderous thoughts
- Taking down leaky guttering and removing all the sealant to re-seal and ensure no water escape. I’ve never done gutters before but have learned this is not rocket science, just takes, with powder coated aluminium systems, care and time to ensure it’s done properly. Can’t be rushed or botched.
- Measuring and notching the angled front soffits around the vertical seam cladding. Mind mash this one, all angles and precise measurements. Made my head hurt but we got all six of them spot one, very proud. Then filling and painting around notches.
- Cleaning and sealing all around the front box gutter and painting it. Again.
- Dropping pliers in the new hopper and watching them slide down the drainpipe to get stuck at the bottom. This is optional and if you do it, you may be in someone’s bad books. As I am 😉
One last picture taken with the scaffold up, roll on tomorrow!!!!
Leave a Reply