60 Minute makeover.

Week 7 (Days 31 to 35) Easter Monday arrived and so did the builders, (plural being very important) it was quite a shock looking out the window; there were more cars than you find at your average carcraft show room! Unfortunately it wasn't the 60 minute makeover team from the tele but just a horde of workman. In total we had 4 chippies/roofers, 2 Plumbers, 2 labourers, 1 electrician, 1 plasterer and 1 brickie.

On Monday and Tuesday the roof started to swing into action with lots and lots of joists being set up, measured cut and nailed into place. We have a pretty big hip roof going up which spans the width of the house. A fair bit of timber is being used in the hip and after a week and about three van loads of timber they still have more to get. (remember you can click all images for bigger versions)

Lots of plastic was used to cover over the roof to try and make it waterproof as possible, once this was done the builders started to knock through the walls upstairs, from the two main bedrooms into the new extension. A steel box lintel was put in across the 3m+ span that was newly formed. The plumber worked downstairs and ran the waste pipe between the joists and got some hot and cold pipes in position.

Towards the end of the week some serious head scratching went on after the builder looked at the tiny pillar holding up not only the steel lintel but also the new hip roof and the old roof joists. After a discussion with the structural engineer, he went and ordered two new steel beams instead. It turns out the structural engineer didn't read the drawings correctly and thought the gap was smaller (Do we really pay these guys.. makes you wonder what else he has got wrong). Some plaster boards were put up in possibly the worst part of the house where all the rain water leaks through (and sure enough it did on Friday) and the chippies got to making the utility room stud wall on Friday as it was raining too much to get on the roof.

It has certainly been a busy week even though at times it seemed like not much was being done! We should be getting different chippies next week (Starbucks will likely go bust) and we hope the roof will get finished or at least felted so it is water tight and then it will open up a lot more jobs to do on the inside. While they are working on that I think our kitchen will be the next part of the house to get the smashing hammer! Below are some pictures of the roof as it is now, the green tarp on it will give you an idea of the end shape of it.