Bank holiday weekend

This weekend was spent with Ian in London and it seemed to fly by in a haze of DIY shops, gardening and jobs. I feel at the moment that I work harder at the weekend and on holiday than I do when I am at work, which is a chance for a rest!

On Saturday we did some chores at Ian's mother's house; consisting mostly of mowing the lawn. Sunday started with a trip to B&Q and Wickes to buy some laminate flooring for Ian's flat. Not something we would choose to do for ourselves but as we are planning to rent or sell it, solid flooring seems the best choice. Over the next two days we successfully completed the floor in Ian's bedroom. Of course, the part of the job that takes the longest is emptying the room, finding somewhere to store all the contents, taking off the doors of the built-in-wardrobe and working around the mess. Despite the claims that laminate flooring is a task that any DIYer should be able to manage, it still turned out to require a fair degree of skill from Ian and a good bit of 'easing to fit'.

The other thing we did was buy all the insulation for the house in France..a full van load of fibreglass rolls. We had hoped to use paper insulation but at three times the cost we decided on the more traditional material. I think that I will have to assist with the installation on our next trip to France.

So, now I am tired after all this activity and off to bed!

It's all Chinese to me!

I mentioned the four toilets in the previous post. They are wall hung toilets and were purchased as a job lot from an e-bay seller for £80 each, which seemed quite reasonable (see picture).

The exact make and origin of the toilets are unclear but they look quite nice. However, Ian will need to go on a plumbing course to learn how to install them as the instructions are vague to say the least!

1. Install the toilet according to the height.
2. Make the position of the hole according to the dimension of the hole at the back side of the toilet.
3. Install the pipe of drainage and the pipe of water-in for the water tank.
4. Drill holes according to the position made before.
5. Install the pull-burst screws.
6. Install the toilet, fix the plastic stuff, and make it be level with the level ruler.
7. Install the screw nut to make the pull-burst screw firmly.
8. Cover the screw cover.
9. Install the toilet cover.

I suppose this is the inevitable consequence of programmes such as Google translate and Babel fish!

Pictures at last!

As you can see, the pictures have arrived and the house is finally taking its finished shape. The 'tower' in the middle is based on the pigeonniers that are typical in the area and were where the pidgeons were kept (for fertilizer for the vines). We will use it for something more mundane, as an office.

The final picture is of our builder, hard at work! He is really quite slim and is wearing lots of clothes because it was below freezing. It was so cold that their gas fired nail gun had stopped working!

Lovelys' adventure 2

Work on the grand design has had to be temporarily suspended and the site is currently sealed and secured. Someone cut through a pipe and found asbestos so now they must await an inspection from specialist asbestos removers! C'est la vie!

The bathroom 2

As promised here are some pictures of the bath that my brother has literally unearthed while stripping out the old recording studio. We know the recording studio was there since the 1950s and the bath has probably been covered since just after the second world war. The bath takes up the whole room and originally had a fire at one end with taps all around the far wall. It wasn't particularly deep but I can just about imagine it, with the light coming through the giant glass ceiling lantern, steaming hot water, tropical plants everywhere...

They are going to try and see if they can incorporate it into the design and the renoovation but it requires a great deal of imagination and in places it is quite damaged. The worst that will happen is that it will be covered over again.

The bathroom

Ian is going over to my brother's place tomorrow to see if we can use any of the wood that they have stripped out from their building. In the process of stripping out one of the rooms they have uncovered the original hydropathic bath. What is currently the recording studio was a squash court and the anti-room with its big glass lantern in the ceiling was a big bath house. Given the history of the building (artists studios) I like to think of it as the prototype of the San Francisco bath houses! I will try and post a picture of it when we go over there next.

The Lovelys' adventure

My brother and sister-in-law are embarking on a major renovation and building project. They bought the lower flat in a large Gothic looking building in West London. The building had been a recording studio for years but was originally artists' studios in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was, by all accounts, a rather spectacular place; with sunken baths and its own squash court. It is now a shadow of its former glory. For the last year my two teenage nephews have been partying in the basement and my brother and sister-in-law have been camping out in the former reception while they completed the design and attempted to get planning permission to turn it back into the place it was meant to be. This was finally granted at Easter and we went over at the weekend to remove a few fittings and fixtures that my be of use to us in France (a temporary shower, freezer, dishwasher etc!). There really is quite a mystery to uncover at each stage! Behind the walls of the old sound booth are the original porcelain slip tiles; the original drainage system is still there, the markings on the wall from the squash court.. It will be an adventure!

More details of the works and the progress can be found on their website.