We decided finally to bite the bullet and have all our home improvements done in one fell swoop. This meant our house was a complete bombsite for a lot of the year.
So, what did we have done? well here is the list:
- A Loft Conversion to give one extra bedroom and a separate bathroom. This work was undertaken by New Space Lofts.
- A new Heating System installed by Swale Heating.
- A new front door and shutters for the front windows by Bearsted Windows and Doors.
- New carpets throughout from Allied Carpets.
In addition we had new banisters to our current stairs, new internal doors, a new garden shed and furniture, a new TV aerial and points plus redecoration throughout (That was my bit!).
We also had the ceiling in the lounge redone as the work before was not done correctly and the paint had cracked along the joints, also we replaced the ceiling and wall lights, the original ones in the ceiling were so low everyone bashed their heads on them.
Our front fence was also repaired as BT managed to damage it with work they were doing outside our house.
We kept an up-to-date journal of how the project progressed and what we thought of the contractors and their work. You can read this below.
Conversion - Total Days Taken : 207
19th March 2008 : Not surprisingly Arron didn't ring me back yesterday so I don't know if Mick will be turning up today or not! I can't wait to get this paid off and then I won't have to be waiting on bloody Arron all the time.
Update 12:30 : I can't believe it, Arron rang today and turned up. He checked over the work then took the final cheque. We looked at the windows and it turns out we have easy clean windows which means, when they are open you push a clip to slide them to the center of the window space so you can clean each side. When the windows were installed the offending window had not been pushed back into its clip so there was a gap. By clipping this back in, the problem was solved.
So, that's it! all finished, certificates and cheque exchanged and door closed .... Done!
18th March 2008 : We spent some time last night wondering why Arron has had a sudden stoke of generosity when he was adamant before, that we paid £200 for the macerator. We think it is due to year-end being a couple of weeks away and we think he was worried that if he just gave us the bill we would argue about it and it would take payment into the next financial year.
Rang Arron this morning and explained that any day will do this week. He has suggested tomorrow, which I have agreed and he will get back to me today once he has confirmed Mick can make it. The guy who fitted the windows will be with Mick when he arrives to take a look at the bedroom window and fix the draught.
So, it looks like finally all will be complete and New Space will be out of our hair.
17th March 2008 : Well well well ..... just had a call from Arron checking if the roof has held with all the rain we have had. If it is ok then can someone come down with the final bill?
I told him the roof is fine but we need to know what the extras will cost before we make any payment. Arron then took me completely by surprise by offering to knock £500 off the bill if we do the jetwashing of our drive and pay him the cheque this week! I told him that sounded very reasonable and would give him a call tomorrow to let him know what day Mick could come down. I also mentioned about the draught coming through the bedroom window that needs sorting.
6th March 2008 : Still no sign of the final bill from New Space, no contact from them about the windows either ... I refuse to ring them this time.
Carpets are bedding in nicely, i have noticed some small areas of paintwork that need to be touched up on. Will do that this weekend.
26th February 2008 : Had a slight scattering of rain last night but not enough to check on the roof. Still haven't had the bill from Arron and it's been 12 days since Mick agreed it would be sent to us! I'm beginning to think they are going to stitch us up on costs, so they are leaving the bill until the last minute so they think we'll just want it out of the way .... well, they've got two hopes there, and one is BOB.
We still haven't heard from Mick about the draughty windows and who is going to sort them.
22nd February 2008 : Carpet fitters arrived at 10:30am and were completed by 2:00pm. The place looks fantastic! All done now!
I have now just finished hoovering up all the bits and replacing the furniture in the correct rooms.
21st February 2008 : The carpet fitters arrived this morning at 8:30am. There were three of them and they worked until 12:30.
So far they have done the master bedroom and bathroom, the new stairs, office and Tom's bedroom. They will come back tomorrow and complete the rest.
I have spent all evening moving stuff from Amelia's room into the office and Tom's room. Also the lounge is cleared (with all my records now residing in the office).
16th February 2008 : This morning i have ripped out all the carpets and underlay which I then dumped at the tip, this only took three trips! The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the mess where the underlay had perished. I don't think the carpets have been changed since the house was built 40 years ago!
This week coming will see the new carpets fitted throughout the house, which means we are just about at completion of ALL the planned work!.
14th February 2008 : Mick rang this evening and asked how the roof was holding up. I explained that we have not had any rain and so could not tell yet. I did add that we have a draught coming from both RHS and RHS of the back windows in the bedroom. Mick has said he will speak with the windows guy to see if either he or Mick can fix problem.
I asked Mick (again!) if the bill could be sent to us so we can arrange payment. He will come down after the half-term break and jetwash the drive as well as pick up the payment (and fix the windows if he is able to).
6th February 2008 : Jason turned up today as promised at 8:00am sharp. He believes he has fixed the leak this time. It was good to see him again and he is so much more professional than others i could mention. Anyway lets hope it holds this time, Jason has said if there are still problems then to give him a ring.
5th February 2008 : Hey !!! Arron rang me today to say that Jason will be with us tomorrow and 8:00am! That's the first time Arron has rung us in months.
We have just noticed that the back window in the new bedroom has a draft coming through, it doesn't seem to be sealing properly when closed. I think they will need to have a look at this as well.
3rd February 2008 : Today I have completed nearly all the doors. Three to go!
Banisters on both floors are completed and i have cut and fitted sills to the three windows in the conversion.
1st February 2008 : Had the day off today and set to work painting the doors and banisters. I have managed to get two undercoats on most them done and also a gloss coat on the office door.
31st January 2008 : Melinda spoke with Mick and he will find out exactly what Jason did and then get him back to fix it.
It rained again last night and you can definitely see the plaster has changed colour in places.
30th January 2008 : Gary's quote for work was very reasonable so we went ahead with it. He turned up today and completed the stairwells for us ... an excellent job, many thanks.
After the rain last night it looks like the leak is back again. Melinda will ring Mick tomorrow and let him know.
23rd January 2008 : I have spoken with Mick today and told him that the roof seems to be holding now with no leaks showing. I have requested (again) the bill for the 'extras', these being the doors, wood for banisters, 2x lights and 2x sockets. We have requested this a number of times over the last couple of months. Apparently Aaron will sort this and Mick will jetwash the drive when they come down.
Gary came round last night and will put together a quote for the work in the stairwells. If it is acceptable he could get this done next week.
22nd January 2008 : The rain turned out not to be that bad, but it looks like the roof is holding well anyway. Mick left a message yesterday asking how the ceiling was, I will get back to him today.
The staircases are nearly finished now as are the doors to the new bedroom and bathroom. I have contacted Gary (A guy from our church) who does decorating and he is coming round tonight to quote for finishing the tops to the stairwells.
18th January 2008 : Well, today it is pouring again and it is meant to be like this all weekend. So far the fixed roof leak has held fine, so this weather will be a great test for it.
The new stairwell has the magnolia done now, just a couple of edges to complete, tonight I hope to get most of the gloss work done also. Last night I started the other stairwell (which should be easier) and hope to complete both this weekend.
16th January 2008 : Jason has arrived this afternoon to finally fix the leak that we have been plagued with. Hopefully it will rain tomorrow and we can check his work has held ok.
The magnolia paint has been started tonight in the stairwell, this should be completed once I get a large ladder.
15th January 2008 : Today it is absolutely pouring with rain!! Jason rang this morning to say he wouldn't be there to fix the leak this morning but would try and do the afternoon. I told him that the rain was in for the day, so he may as well come back tomorrow when the weather is meant to be better, we will hopefully see him then.
I have now started on the top stairwell and have managed to finish the white undercoat except for some edging at the top, which I can't reach unless I get a large ladder.
14th January 2008 : No sign of anyone from New Space last week. To be fair, there has been a lot of bad weather recently but we did have a couple of good days.
On Friday we sent another email to them trying to find out when they will be coming to fix this leak. We are mainly worried that the plaster will blow with all the damp getting to it.
On Saturday the office furniture arrived and I made up the two desks so that the PC's are no longer on the floor and can be accessed easily. The rest will be made up once the carpets have been laid.
The curtain poles in the front room have been changed to more sturdy ones and Melinda has taken the curtains up so that they fit perfectly. A curtain pole has been put up in Tom's room and he finally has curtains.
Tonight i will finish the last couple of bits of gloss in the bathroom and then start on undercoating the new stairwell.
9th January 2008 : Jason rang yesterday and spoke with Melinda to find where the leak was inside, it was then agreed when he was to come down today and he would call me so I could pop home and let him in.
Unfortunately he did not ring today and did not turn up either. So, hopefully, he will tomorrow.
8th January 2008 : Received a reply from Arron today, he has told Jason to come down this week and strip off the tiles above the velux to check where the leak is coming from .. and I had just been sounding off that there had been no reply from New Space! how wrong can you be?
The office/Bedroom 4 is still underway ... i had hoped to be finished but it is taking longer than expected. It didn't help when i used probably the worst gloss paint in the world .. Dulux water based one coat gloss. It is absolute rubbish, it just dries, cracks and then flakes off. You then have to sand it all off and start over again. So stay clear and do not be fooled into buying it!!!!
5th January 2008 : Bad news! We had very heavy rain last night and the leak around the velux is back again. I have just sent off an email to Arron / Mick informing them of this.
On a better note, the bedroom furniture arrived and all has been built except the wardrobe. The carpets were measured and ordered today but will not arrive until all the decorating is finished ... so no pressure on me then!
The decoration of the office/bedroom 4 is now about half done, should be almost complete by the end of tomorrow, good job as the office furniture will arrive soon as well.
1st January 2008 : Well we've had our Christmas break, and now its back to the decorating.
Tom's old room is now completed and Amelia moved in there today. Poor little thing, she's had to endure her room being used as a dumping ground and had new stairs, new boiler etc fitted around her .... but she didn't complain once! Now she's got a fantastic new bedroom and she loves it.
The next room is the Office/Bedroom 4 and that will start on 2nd Jan.
Over Christmas we have had some rain and the roof seems to be holding this time, so when the drive is jetwashed and we get the final bill then we can pay and finally close the door on the conversion.
22nd December 2007 : The old master bedroom is finally finished, Tom has today moved all his stuff in and is very happy in his new room. After Christmas his old room will be decorated and Amelia will move in there.
21st December 2007 : Mick arrived today and sorted all the issues apart from the jetwash of the drive. Everything is now sorted and we are really happy. Still no rain so we cannot check that the leak is sorted, this will have to wait till after Christmas.
19th December 2007 : Well, it seems Melinda's letter had an effect. I had a call from Arron today saying that Mick would be here on Friday to sort the caps to the banisters !
Now, although he has received the letter he neglected to mention both the letter and the other items (listed below) that need sorting. I had to point out to him the other items, which he tried to argue on most of them. He has also asked for the rest of the money, which he has been told will not be passed over until we have made sure the leak is fixed. Arron tried to tell me that it has rained here, even though it hasn't! I am really concerned about where he gets his weather reports from, as you can see from throughout this log his claims are completely the opposite to reality!
18th December 2007 : The old master bedroom is now almost finished. Just some gloss and a second coat on part of the walls to do.
We have now lost all patience with New Space as there has still been no contact from them about the work still to be completed or even to check if the leak is ok.
In light of this we have now sent an official letter the them giving them until the 2nd January 2008 to complete the work or we will get other contractors in and deduct the cost from the bill. We additionally have requested that they provide a bill for the extras and provide receipts for the materials they wish us to pay for. We will see what effect this has on them, if any.
16th December 2007 :Tom and I spent most of this afternoon redecorating the old master bedroom. The feature wall still has its red to be done but the other walls now have their first coat on. It looks so mush better now the pink colour has been covered up.
We have not seen or heard from Mick (or Arron) for 11 days now, so the last outstanding fixes .... are still outstanding fixes!
New Space still need to do the following:
- Box in behind the cistern (Properly!), as currently it sticks out a long way from the wall.
- Empty next doors guttering of pieces of tile.
- Put the caps onto the banister posts.
- Re-fill the crack in the bedroom wall as it was not done properly before.
- Plaster above door frame outside the bedroom
- We are still waiting for some rain before we can check on whether the roof still leaks or not.
12th December 2007 : I have now finished all the filling of the walls in the old master bedroom and tomorrow it will be sanding down ready to start the painting. Hopefully this room will be done for Christmas.
11th December 2007 : At about 5:00pm Jason arrived and fixed the leak. We need to wait until we get some rain to know it is fixed properly. Jason has told us that he had no knowledge about having to fix this leak until last Friday, so all the times that Mick and Arron have said they were getting Jason to do the work were all LIES! Still no sign of Mick to finish off the bits he needs to do.
An interesting point has surfaced. It seems that Mick & Arron pay their guys at around 6pm on Friday so they do a full days work first. However Mick and Arron have both said to us on a number of occasions that they are unavailable on Friday mornings as they are paying the wages .... ooops! another lie there guys!
10th December 2007 : Again, no sign of anyone from New Space, this is starting to become a habit and it's not raining again today, although it has been over the weekend which means the leak has got worse and worse.
I managed to get the desk area and shelving removed yesterday from the old master bedroom and have been making good all the holes in the walls. Tonight i will finish off where the plaster work was removed, fill the remaining holes and take down the curtain poles.
7th December 2007 : Still no sign of anyone from New Space again today, Melinda rang Arron who claimed it was raining too heavily to do the work ... hmmm it's been sunny all day here! Arron, you may want to check the local weather forecast before attempting to lie to us in future !!
The more we deal with Arron the more we come to distrust him, apparently he told Melinda that Mick was in court today ... he told me Mick was in court on Tuesday !!!
Anyway, Arron has promised that Jason will be back on Monday to sort the roof leak, obviously weather permitting.
6th December 2007 : No sign of anyone from New Space today, i can only presume it's the weather keeping them away.
I have now started on our old bedroom and have been making good the walls along with removing some lovely (!!!!) decorative square plaster work, which for the life of me i cannot understand why it was there at all !
Tomorrow there will be no decorating as its the UK Subs gig so i'll be in London. The work will continue over the weekend.
5th December 2007 : Mick and his son turned up for a couple of hours today, as me and Amelia are still off ill, they had to work around us.
They have managed to put in the loo and macerator and also patched up the ceiling in bedroom 3. They still need to put the caps onto the stair posts, plaster the bit above the bedroom door, empty next doors guttering of pieces of tile and jetwash the drive.
Hopefully Jason will arrive tomorrow to fix the leak in the roof, each time there is a downpour this just gets worse and worse.
4th December 2007 : Both Amelia and myself were both off ill, Mick would just have to work around us !
In the end today no-one turned up. So, after a phone call to Arron it turns out Mick was in court so wouldn't have made it anyway.
Now, I wonder what he was up in court for ?.
3rd December 2007 : Rang Mick this morning and let him know about the leak, he will give Jason a call and get him back to fix it.
No-one turned up in the end today, so i presume it will be tomorrow now.
2nd December 2007 : What a day !!! I had to break down the bed, chest of drawers and a wardrobe, then with help from Thomas we moved them upstairs and re-erected them. Melinda and Amelia both pitched in as well, so we managed to get it all sorted by around 5pm.
So, we are now all into the new bedroom. We have removed the top part of our four poster bed as it was too high and tended to dominate the room, so it's now a four poster without the four posts.
Must ring Mick tomorrow before he sets off to let him know about the leak as we had shocking weather this morning and the leak seems to be getting worse.
1st December 2007 : It rained very heavily last night, which meant that we found that the leak had not been fixed properly, this was not Mick's fault as without any rain he was not to know how it would stand up.
Finished off all the painting today and added caulk around the edges of the walls, skirting, sockets and the windows. Tomorrow we will be moving our gear into the new bedroom.
Simon turned up yesterday at around 5pm and fixed the coving, so the lounge now looks perfect.
30th November 2007 : The gloss painting was started last night and should only take a couple of evenings to complete. If all goes to plan we will be moving into the new bedroom this weekend.
Simon (the guy who did our lounge ceiling) is coming back this evening as the coving has started to crack away from the ceiling, so he will fix this for us.
I gave Mick a ring today to let him know that the scaffolding has gone, the artex problem in Amelia's room and the fact that there are lots of broken tiles in next doors guttering that need to be removed, this way he will be prepared when he comes back again. He will give me a ring on Monday and will try to get down for Monday afternoon to finish off the final items and the toilet and macerator.
29th November 2007 : Mick has managed to complete just about all the snag list yesterday, he still has the toilet and macerator to finish next Monday or Tuesday. The scaffolding still needs to be removed and the drive has to be jetwashed once all is complete. This morning we have noticed that the ceiling stippling that Mick has done to match the existing artex has not worked in Amelia's room, its started dropping off the ceiling! This will need to be sorted when he comes back next week.
Prime Construction Consultants Ltd have been round today to do a final check on the build, they are happy and will be issuing the fire certificate to us very soon.
Finally after all these months, the scaffolding has finally gone!!! It all looks so much brighter now and we can finally open all our windows and french doors again!
Bearsted Surfacing Contractors have also been today and repaired the front fence, they have used a darker wood so it blends better with the other older posts.
I have now finally finished decorating all the walls in the new bedroom, its just the gloss paint on the woodwork left to do now.
Today it's been 3 months since the building work began!!
28th November 2007 : Arron left yesterday saying he would contact me, no call as yet, but maybe
he will today so i'm not too stressed over it and I don't think there is much more to say anyway, I would rather they just got on and completed the work.
Yesterday Mick got the guttering and the leak fixed. He arrived back today at 8:30am to carry on with the snag list. So far he has sorted the light in the loft space, the waste on the sink, boxed in pipes, boarded and filled areas that were splitting etc etc. The macerator has been ordered and Mick will pick it up and do the installation either Friday or Monday. He has also spoken to the scaffolders and they will be coming any day now to remove the scaffolding ... yippeeeeee !!!
Last night we noticed that the coving in the lounge is cracking away from the ceiling, so i have emailed Simon to let him know and see if anything can be done.
Yesterday I contacted McNicholas about repairing the fence to the front of our house as this was damaged by BT when they were working next to it. They were surprised that nothing had been done and had expected Bearsted Surfacing Contractors to have done it by now as they were due to do the fix well over a week ago. I have been promised it will be done by the end of the week.
Last night was spent decorating again, I finished the undercoat on the walls and ran some caulk around the skirting and doorframes ready to paint once i have finished painting the end wall with Melinda's colour choice.
27th November 2007 : Ah!! Mick's phone call .....to those of you who were betting he wouldn't ring ... go to the top of the class!!!
Yes, there was no phone call again yesterday, they are really taking the piss now. Once again I had to ring Mick at 8am and asked why he didn't call, there was an umm and and an err and then he said he was to speak with Arron today and see about coming down this afternoon, i'm now expected to believe that he will ring me just after lunch today..... yeah ok Mick.
In addition, during the phone call this morning, I mentioned to Mick that the macerator was not a good idea and we would rather just have a waste pipe. Mick then asked 'If you don't want the pipe under the stairs window, where does your surveyor friend suggest it go then?' ... sorry Mick, but this what we have been paying YOU a large sum of money to sort!!! its the old saying 'You don't buy a dog and bark yourself'. Perhaps if someone had been here from the beginning overseeing this project it would be sorted by now?
I have also told Mick that we want all the work finished in 7 working days, or we will not be paying the last installment and will use the money to get another firm to finish off.
When we first got New Space round for a quote, Arron slagged off 'Econoloft' (Another loft company we were looking at) by saying that they never finish jobs and take forever .... well Arron mate ... you need to keep a closer watch on what you say!
Update 12:20 - Arron has just rung! He will be coming down at 14:30 today so we can meet and discuss the options. Mick is already on his way down to carry on with the snag list. Could this be the turn-around we have been hoping for?
Update 14:30 - Arron and Mick both arrived today. Mick immediately got on with the guttering and the leak around the velux. Arron started looking to see if there was any other way around having a macerator. Unfortunately we are stuck with the macerator! Arron has argued and argued that we should be paying for it, but in the end he has agreed to buy one. This came after he was informed that we had paid to have a pipe moved when really he should have got one of his plumbers to do the job. He has now started picking up other bits that we should be paying for, such as the extra two sockets and extra two lights in the bedroom. I am waiting to see if he adds the radiator as well, as this was done as a favour by the plumber as he was there for the day anyway. So, we have compromised on the macerator but New Space are paying for it and i'm sure Arron will try to claw back the money in some way. This is all a bit of a shame as the work that has been done is really good.
One point from today, Arron has been quibbling over a £200 macerator, then in the next breath he tells me that he's just got back from a two week caribbean cruise .... nice!
26th November 2007 : Well ... No sign of Mick or Jason today (Surprise surprise!!). Again we have been lied to! I rang Mick (again) who said that as there was an issue with the macerator he would not be here today! So this means that if New Space do not get their own way on a £200 item they stop
ALL work! ... How very petty.
Mick did say that Jason would be too busy to return to fix the leak, so he will do it himself when he can next get down. Melinda has also rung Mick and requested a meeting with both him and Arron to discuss the macerator and also the length of time it has taken them to finish this loft. Mick has said that he will speak with Arron this afternoon and get back to us by close of play today..... we are taking bets now on whether this phone call will happen?
The upshot of this is that we have had enough now. Melinda has called in Sonia (Our friend who is a surveyor) and she popped round last night to give some advice. Sonia looked at the bathroom and agreed that the macerator is not a good idea and they should be coming up with a better way to site the waste pipe.
24th November 2007 : Simon turned up today at around 10am. He spent the day putting up the new coving and then decorated the walls! Once that was done he put up the new lights for us... The poor bugger didn't get finished until 10pm!!!!! not a word of complaint from him though!
Again Simon has been excellent and I cannot recommend him highly enough. What a difference between him and the Arron/Mick combination!
23rd November 2007 : Still no sign or contact from Mick. I bit the bullet and called him. He has said he will be back on Monday along with Jason in order to fix the leak and sort the snag list. Mick has also said that Arron still says that we have to pay for the macerator, i asked him to go speak to Arron again and get it sorted.
22nd November 2007 : Simon and James turned up early again today to finish off the ceiling. By the end of the day they had finished the ceiling and only had the coving to finish. Simon asked if he could pop back on Saturday morning to finish the coving. The two if them have been brilliant, so i was not worried about them doing the work on Saturday. These guys i would definitely recommend. Will wait for Simon and decorators on Saturday.
In contrast, i still have not heard from Mick, who promised to be back this week to finish more of the snag list, i presume he is waiting for me to call before spinning another story for him not being here.
For me today ... it's still more painting in the new bedroom.
21st November 2007 : Mick promised yesterday that he would ring to sort out when Jason would be back but, as usual, there was no phone call or any contact at all. Mick should also have been here again this week (as promised)to sort the snag list.
Two guys turned up today to do the lounge ceiling, when they ripped down the coving they found that the joints had been taped previously but the problem was that the last people had used too thin boarding for the gap between the joists. They have had to double board the ceiling which means an extra day of work and they will need to rearrange when the decorators will be arrive.
While the work in the lounge carried on, i was redecorating the new bedroom. It seems to be coming on very well now.
20th November 2007 : New plumber, Steve, arrived today. He is so much better than the last !!! Got straight on with the job, knew exactly how it all would fit. He has replaced the piping that the other plumber had put in because it was not right and has put in copper pipes. So we now have a bath, sink and heated towel rail installed. In addition we also have a radiator in the bedroom. It turns out this Steve is good mates with Jason who did the build of the loft in first place, which is a real comforting factor.
Mick has also turned up, and has started fixing a number of issues on the snag list. We need Jason back again to look at a couple of leaks that have appeared around the velux, this could just be the flashing but he will check.
One issue we now have is with the toilet waste. As Arron has not been here to supervise early on (or at all!), it seems we either have a pipe under the stairs window (Not very nice if you open the window) or we have a macerator. As we don't want the a pipe under the window, it looks like we'll have to go with the macerator, although I am not happy about this due to the noise and it being in close proximity to the bedroom. Mick has just spoken with Arron and they have decided that we will have to pay for this (Min £200) as it's part of the bathroom suite!!!! I DON'T THINK SO!
We have asked Mick to go back to Arron and tell him this as even he agrees with us.
14th November 2007 : Mick arrived today, as promised. Melinda went through the list with him and he will get all the items sorted. Apparently the plumber has broken his ribs so Mick will have to send another one instead ... great! we don't have to have the miserable bugger back!
Mick has removed the rubbish from the front and the doors from the garage, it looks better already. He will be back again on Monday, hopefully with a plumber in tow.
13th November 2007 : All work on both the sets of stairs is done now. All the carpenter needs now is the tops to the stair posts and then those parts will be finished. No sign of Mick at all so i have rung him. I need the old doors removed from the garage and all the rubbish removed from the front of the house. In addition i have a snag list to pass on to him. Mick has promised to be here tomorrow and get things sorted.
12th November 2007 : The carpenter arrived today and has started work on the banisters, they look fantastic, he should be done tomorrow morning and will finish the work he has on the new stairs then.
9th November 2007 : The guttering was done yesterday, but there is a bit of a gap halfway along (which was pouring after all the rain last night) and the downpipe empties onto the roof as it falls short of the existing gutter, I will bring this up with Mick.
The carpenter has turned up today with the wood for the stairs. He reckons he should be finished and out by Tuesday next week. That will just leave the plumber and all small items to fix.
8th November 2007 : Mick rang yesterday to say that he and the carpenter will not be back until Friday, but he will have the wood for both the banisters and for the carpenter to continue on with his work.
Jason and his team (the original builders) turned up this morning to do the guttering on the new conversion. Melinda had a long chat with him about the work that's been done and what still needs to be done.
The work on the lounge ceiling has now been booked for two days in a couple of weeks time. This will include re-taping the joints and skimming the ceiling, replacing the coving then redecoration. They will not be replacing the ceiling roses as we will have new lights ready for them to fit instead.
A few months back there was some work BT were doing on the pavement outside our house. When they were finished, the barriers they had put around the work were blown onto our small fence and destroyed it. We have put in a claim to get this fixed which seems to be going on and on, but having rung them yesterday i have been assured there will be some resolution within the next 14 days.
7th November 2007 : New Space Lofts use a company to deal direct with any council about inspections to their building work, in our case this company is Prime Construction Consultants Ltd. I gave them a ring today just to check what visits they have done and what they have checked. They told me that two visits had been done to check on the steels, joists and insulation and they were now awaiting a certificate from Arron concerning the electrician. They will then make a final visit once all is complete and they will then pass a certificate to the council and one to Arron (who will provide us with a copy).
We have decided that the lights in the lounge will go when the ceiling is redone. I have now ordered some very nice uplighters and high ceiling lights. When the ceiling is redone they will replace the two central lights for us, i will do the three uplighters myself.
6th November 2007 : No sign of the carpenter or Mick today, so I rang Mick to find what was happening. It turns out the carpenter has run out of wood and Mick can't get back to us with it until Thursday so we will see them both then. Mick is also looking into costs of spindles and a handrail to replace our current one. While he was on the phone I asked him about the lighting and why it was not on. Mick spoke to the electrician and its the fan in bathroom that needs replacing (wrong wattage) which is why it was all switched off, it can be put back on as there is no bathroom furniture yet which will allow me to continue decorating.
I have now managed to tile the bathroom apart from the couple of tiles that need cutting (Must get a tile cutter!).
Tomorrow it's 10 weeks since the building work began, it was said at the outset it would take them only 6-8 weeks!!
5th November 2007 : A while back we had our lounge ceiling replaced due to a leak, but unfortunately the plasterboard joints were not taped and so the ceiling has cracked. We have someone coming round today to check what work will be done to rectify this ready for them to start later this month.
The carpenter has now completed the doors upstairs and is nearly finished upstairs completely. That will leave the stairs, Bedroom 3 and the banisters. No sign of the electrician to finish off his bit though.
3rd-4th November 2007 : In the new bathroom we have decided to tile the wall behind the bath and the wall around the sink. I have just started the tiling and it is looks pretty nice, although there is still a lot to do. We are expecting the carpenter back tomorrow along with the electrician.
A while back we had our lounge ceiling replaced due to a leak, but unfortunately the plasterboard joints were not taped and so the ceiling has cracked. We have someone coming round today to check what work will be done to rectify this ready for them to start later this month.
2nd November 2007 : All doors are finished except a couple of minor points on the sliding door to the kitchen. The Carpenter has now put in the two doors to the new loft rooms. Today an electrician also arrived so we should soon have power to the new rooms.
31st October 2007 : We now have new doors to the Lounge, Bathroom, Airing Cupboard, Downstairs Toilet, Master Bedroom, Bedroom 2 and Bedroom 3. It looks so much nicer now to have white doors instead of the old brown panel doors that were there when they built the house. The Carpenter has however left large groove marks in our wood flooring and the mess was incredible. Melinda has asked him to do his sawing outside from now on, and he will have to sort out the flooring...... but still no sign of an electrician !!
30th October 2007 : Melinda had a word with the Carpenter today to try and find out what the quote for the extra doors will be. He has told her that he charges £110 per day .... and he only did 2 doors yesterday we have 9 to be done!! In addition we were looking to have our banisters done as well .. at these prices we will forget that and get our old Carpenter back as he is much cheaper. It would have been nice for the New Space guys to have actually had the decency to tell us the quote to begin with, instead of the "oh just buy the carpenter a drink" line that was fed initially.
Although the work has been very good, I think anyone reading this should pay attention to the fact that both Arron and Mick are very blase' in their attitude to 'extra' work, so they need to be watched carefully and nailed down on any quotes that are needed.
Melinda has just spoken again with the Carpenter, he has agreed to do the work in 4 days, he has also said 1.5 days for the banisters. This sounds a little better.
No sign of the electrician that Mick said would turn up today !!
29th October 2007 : The Carpenter and Mick turned up today to start on the doors and woodwork plus the smoke alarms and extractor. We still have not got an estimate for our extra doors from either Mick or Arron, they seem to be very cagey about it.
Got home to find only two doors done! I was expecting much more. However the smoke alarms and the extractor have been finished. I spoke with Mick and he has said that the electrician will be arriving tomorrow to wire all the lights etc in.
25th October 2007 : Well its been an interesting day today, Mick turned up to measure the frames and order the doors for all the house. This would have been fine for him if our friend, Sonia, who is a surveyor, had not been there having a chat with Melinda. She went into overdrive with him and provided a list of things that needed to be sorted, many of which we had no idea about (although none were too serious). The worst was the light switch to Amelia's room being off the wall and could have electrocuted her. Mick has agreed to get the points looked into and sorted.
I have just got home and they have sorted the switch and also all the lights and switches in the loft have been finished, although there is no power yet. The carpenter should be arriving tomorrow to start on the skirting, doors etc.
22nd October 2007 : The window glass was fitted today. This looks so much nicer and matches the windows in the rest of the house. No-one else has been at all so Melinda has rung and given them a piece of her mind. We should get some action soon!
19th October 2007 : The plumber arrived very early today and completed all his work. He was here until around 6pm so he could get it finished. In addition the plugs and sockets have also been put on. The windows will be fitted on Monday and Mick should be coming next week to do the electrics.
18th October 2007 : Well, there was no sign of the plasterer yesterday or today, or the guy to fit the glass in the windows or .... even Arron (who had told Melinda here would be there). Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that some days people cannot make the dates they say, but what I am not happy with is that nobody rings us tell us they can't make it! We just have to hope they will turn up. Anyway I still have a coat of paint to add to the bathroom as I went to football instead last night, so the plumber will have to wait to do his bit.
Update: I rang New Space Lofts, both the electrician and the plasterer will be here tomorrow. Arron had no idea why the finished glass had not been put into the windows yet though. He will look into this as apparently the other house which was done at the same time has been finished.
17th October 2007 : The bathroom now has its new colour ... Gentle Fawn (Where do they get these names from?). Just one more coat and it will be done ready for the Plumber to finish his work. The plasterer will be back today to finish off the last of the walls by the stairs and in Amelia's bedroom.
15th October 2007 : Now the bathroom has been plastered I have spent some time putting a white undercoat on all the walls, I can then add the new colour that Melinda has chosen and after that the Plumber can return to put in the bathroom furniture.
12th October 2007 : Kevin, our plasterer, turned up today and will plaster the bathroom and hall. Once the bathroom is done I have to paint it as the walls will need to be done before the plumber returns to install the bath, sink and toilet. Melinda has chosen the colour so I just need to do the work.
Last night we found a leak from the stop tap in the kitchen, the last person to use this was the idiot from Swale (see 2nd October entry), so they are coming back today to sort this.
Update: Baxi have replaced a bent pipe and stopped a leak, so our heating system should work much better now, however we are a bit concerned as they weren't there to do those things! They were meant to be replacing the dented front panel on the boiler!
Swale have also been and fixed the leaking mains tap and ............. YES! the Bloody Skip has GONE!
11th October 2007 : Its been a few days since I last posted anything, mainly due to the week from hell i've just had. On Monday the plumber arrived to start on the bathroom. I arrived home to be faced with a mass of issues concerning pipes and damaged items etc.
Both the plumber and I tried to contact Arron but just got his voice mail, so we were stuck! I got rather cross as Arron should be managing the whole project not me. In addition no-one has picked up our skip for 3 weeks so its twice the height it should be and bits are blowing around the close. Melinda took over at home and we finally raised Arron at about 15:30 and both gave him an earfull demanding he sort the issues with the plumber and to get to our house for 8:30 the following morning so we can talk with him. Of course he didn't, he arrived well after we were at work. but did get the issues with the plumber sorted. Still no luck with the skip though.
Plumber worked through Tuesday to do what he could, which was to put the inside piping in for all the units, soak Amelia's bedroom floor, leave a complete mess in the loft and front porch, leave dirty crockery in the loft and soaking towels in the bath .. all in all a very industrious day !
Still no sign of the skip going!!
On a much sadder note, our plasterer, Kevin, who was due on Wednesday, did not make it as his sister died in hospital. We are very sad for the guy as he is the nicest person (and a bloody great plasterer!). So our condolences go to him and his family.
4th October 2007 : The building guys from New Space Lofts were back this afternoon, they have moved and fixed the new stairs and then built the walls around them. They have also boxed in the boiler under the stairs ready for the plasterer to come back tomorrow and finish his work.
3rd October 2007 : Rang New Space Lofts today to let them know that the pipe has been moved. The builders will be back tomorrow to move the stairs and build the walls. The plasterer can then finish his job. On Friday the plumber will arrive to start on the bathroom, which should take a couple of days. Then its the turn of the electrician. So we are slowly getting there ... finally.
At this point he got a call from his office and he was told to go on to another job, they would get another plumber to finish off!!!! He promptly left and the new plumber arrived not even having been told what the job was that he was to do! The original guy should have stayed to do this. The new plumber managed to do a really good job in just 15 minutes!
As it turns out the original plumber was the one we had sent to us to do the powerflush on 13th July and messed that up as well!
I rang Swale Heating who were very unhelpful and the original girl who answered the phone was very rude, I definitely will think twice before using them again.
1st October 2007 : The Master Bedroom is now fully plastered and looking really good, in addition the upstairs hall walls and bathroom ceiling have been finished.
Tomorrow a plumber from Swale will arrive to move the offending pipe so that the stairs can be finally fixed in place and the walls around them built. After that the plasterer can finish the hall.
26th September 2007 : The plasterers arrived today and got straight on with the job. They had already plastered one whole wall by lunchtime, so it doesn't look like they will be long on this. Last night one of our cats decided to visit the new rooms upstairs and then managed to get outside on to the scaffolding. It was too high for him to jump back in and it took ages to coax him back in through the velux!
25th September 2007 : We can finally use the stairs, so I have taken a first real look at what the new master bedroom and the second bathroom will look like. The rooms are now plasterboarded and will be ready for the plasterer who will be arriving tomorrow and will probably take about a week. There is currently a problem with a pipe that runs down the wall side of the new stairs. This is for the shower and needs to be re-routed so we have to find plumber ... and quick! Once this is done the guys will be back to finish off the stairs. Hopefully today the bath also been lifted in to the upstairs area as it is rather large!.
24th September 2007 : Over the weekend our new aerial failed. We tried to get one of guys back to sort it which was a very drawn out process, but he finally arrived this evening at 8:30pm and has hopefully sorted the problem.
We now have a new staircase to the loft rooms !!! Looks really good ... but as it had just been glued I couldn't try it out and actually get upstairs to see the new rooms, however the cats have disappeared up there to have a nose around. Amelia's bedroom has walls missing and there seems to be very little dirt and dust since they cut through the ceiling, this is obviously to do with the New Space guys doing an excellent job in cleaning up after themselves.
21st September 2007 : The loft now has nearly all the plasterboarding done. Looks like the stairs will be done on Monday which means this team finishes on Tuesday. After that I believe we will having a succession of plasterer, electrician, carpenter and plumber to finish off the rest of the loft.
20th September 2007 : Today we had a new aerial fitted and points to all four bedrooms. We can now watch terrestrial telly without 'snow'. In addition this will give us the ability to use freeview in all rooms.
19th September 2007 : Things are really coming on now, the flooring has been laid (which means I can't get to take pictures myself now) and the last of the insulation has been fitted. There was a small oops today as one of the New Space guys stepped backwards and put a foot through Amelia's ceiling! Luckily it is about where the new staircase will go so hopefully there will be no damage left.
18th September 2007 : Today we had an electrician arrive and he cabled the floor and ceiling for lights and points. Also we now have a large velux window fitted to the front of the loft space. I took a look up there and the amount of light coming in is amazing. The flat roof of the dormer has its first layer of asphalt and so the blue tarpaulin can now be removed to reveal the dormer itself.
17th September 2007 : A new skip arrived on Saturday, they managed to leave mess all over the drive which we had to clear up, they have also left a hole in the pavement - I don't think that is their fault though. All insulation has now been completed in the loft and also the frame for the velux front window has been built. Next will be the electric layout under the floor and the flat roof of the dormer will be completed.
13th September 2007 : The majority of the new tiles have been hung now. It looks really nice although a little bright, however they have said that they will dull as they weather. All of the dormer and gable end should be tiled by the end of the week. We have also had the sheets of insulation arrive and have been stored on top of the garage roof.
10th September 2007 : On Saturday a skip finally arrived so the New Space guys will have some room on the scaffolding once all the junk as been thrown. The dormer shell seems to be completed now and battoning has been added ready for the tiles to be hung. Today the tiles arrived and are a red terracotta with an airbushed black stripe through them. They look really nice, i'm just hoping they will look even better once hung on the dormer and gable end. Just taken another quick peek inside the loft and it seems even bigger now. I think it will get smaller once the stairs and and bathroom have been added.
5th September 2007 : Work today has been making good the gable end and dormer walls. A number of new pictures have been taken showing the inside of the dormer and the views we will have from the back. Once a Velux is added to the front we should have superb views to the downs as well.
4th September 2007 : We now have a dormer at the back of our house! Its still very rough (and I believe there is now some flooring in there) but it shows the size that it will be. It does look very large but this will give us all the more room in the end, plus part of it will contain the bathroom with Melinda's huge bath. The guys will be back tomorrow to continue and I will try to get some pics from inside.
3rd September 2007 : Four guys from New Space arrived today and have done a massive amount of work. Both the floor girders have been laid and the partition to the front for storage space has been put together. The loft is now starting to take shape and tomorrow they will be building the dormer itself.
31st August 2007 : It's midday and finally the girders have arrived and been placed outside. New Space arrived earlier and left again as they were not been able to get on with anything until the girders were delivered.
Its now 13:30 and still no sign of the loft guys !
29th August 2007 : The guys from New Space Lofts arrived and started work on the roof. In addition the bathroom arrived and the loft guys stopped their work in order to help MFI put the bathroom items into the garage. The gable end has now been lifted and covered in a large blue tarpaulin. New Space left at around 2:00pm and will be back on Friday as that is when the steel girders will arrive and they cannot do any more work until then.
Checked the inside of the loft and it's starting to look very different even after just one day!
Very happy so far with New Space, the two guys are very polite and hard working.
28th August 2007 : Arron arrived today from New Space Lofts and has gone over the plans which look great. Initial scare though, they need to put a steel girder through the ceiling and to save the headroom it will have to go under the flooring! This will leave a boxed in girder running across the bedroom ceiling. Arron will change this as we not happy at all, although it will mean a couple of inches less headroom in the loft. We should be getting all the wood and materials arriving today and work will start tomorrow.
23rd August 2007 : Today I have heard from New Space Lofts, as the weather is so foul currently, they will be starting their work on the roof on Tuesday. This is great news, finally things are getting under way. Arron will be coming down so we can discuss the work that is to be done.
UPDATE 18:27: Have just got home and tried to put out the wheely bin .... the bloody scaffolders have managed to block not only our side path but also the french doors ... so the bin is trapped in the back garden!!!!!
22nd August 2007 : Well, no sign of the scaffolders yesterday, apparently it was too wet where they were! however, today they have pulled out all the stops, they arrived at 7:45am and have erected the scaffolding to the side and front of the house, and have just left at 11:30am.
Hopefully it won't be long now until the roof work starts.
20th August 3007 : The Loft conversion is about to start. The scaffolders from New Space Lofts arrive .. slightly late! We were told that they had left at 9:30am. They arrived at 1:30pm and promptly went for lunch until 2:30pm.
Scaffolding was erected at the back of the house but as the side of the house is narrow they were not sure what could be done. In the end they decided to come back the next day and would be able to fit it on the side path .. so they worked for a total of one hour! ... I want their job!
18th July 2007 : Ian Shippey from Bearsted Windows & Doors arrived with our new door and spent a few hours fitting this. In addition he fitted some new shutters we had bought to replace the rotten wooden ones already on the house. All in all we could not fault Ian's work, he was prompt and took away all the rubbish after.
We would be happy to recommend him to anyone.
16th July 2007 : Work has started on the new heating system. Swale have sent a plumber from Hotsons Heating to do the work. Immediately we have a problem! Apparently the guy who flushed the system the other day capped off pipes leaving an airlock, when the plumber cut through the pipe .... there was water running through the Lounge ceiling.
Once this was fixed the rest of the work seemed to run problem free and we would recommend this plumber as his work is excellent and he is very thorough, all his work was completed in three days.
13th July 2007 : A plumber from Swale arrived today to do a power flush of the existing system. This was done, but the plumber seemed in a bit of a rush as he had another job to go to. The upshot of this was that he left us with a large rust stain on the drive and nearly blocked up our toilet by trying to flush down paper towels covered in some black gunk. We did make a complaint to Swale who will rectify the stain, but we are not impressed and hope that things will get better next week.