4 months later, another update from a world that is a world away from normal life. COVID-19 has struck; we have fortunately dodged it so far and have been left with an unexpected lot lot of time to do things to the house as Ash's school has been closed for 10 weeks. All this time at home has allowed us to bash a lot of things down, but thanks to lockdown we haven't been able to put much back together.
A while ago we bashed down the vaulted ceiling on the landing and the original lath and plaster above. We also knocked down the wall separating the landing and the small 5th bedroom/pointless room, and then that ceiling also had to come down to match in with the other bit. Now the landing is much bigger and brighter - it has no natural light at all before and now it has a nice big window. The eventual plan is to have a bit of a reading nook up there.
Ash has re-boarded the ceiling but we have had to wait for a plasterer, firstly because none of them were allowed to work but now because there is a national plaster shortage! He's booked in on 4th June but he can't come if there is no plaster so fingers crossed.
After taking down the landing ceiling which was a filthy and thankless job, Ash said never again. We never learn, so today we did our bedroom! We were hoping to avoid this. A few weeks ago we took down the lower fake ceiling and all the beams and were hoping to be able to over-board the original lath & plaster. Unfortunately a couple of the joists above are broken though and the ceiling was a bit saggy and holey so it wasn't really viable. Down it came.
I am writing this mid-job. It's all swept and hoovered now but the last bits still need to come down tomorrow and the floor will need mopping and scrubbing yet AGAIN before Ash can put new joists up and then we can get the plasterer in. We keep telling ourselves this really is the last of the horrible jobs and it will only get better from here..... We have a pipe dream of carpets by the end of July.
In other news we have also replaced the bannister on the landing with a new oak one and have the downstairs section to do this week. It looks very nice if I do say so myself but this has got very long so I will stop now and not talk about that.
A while ago we bashed down the vaulted ceiling on the landing and the original lath and plaster above. We also knocked down the wall separating the landing and the small 5th bedroom/pointless room, and then that ceiling also had to come down to match in with the other bit. Now the landing is much bigger and brighter - it has no natural light at all before and now it has a nice big window. The eventual plan is to have a bit of a reading nook up there.
Ash has re-boarded the ceiling but we have had to wait for a plasterer, firstly because none of them were allowed to work but now because there is a national plaster shortage! He's booked in on 4th June but he can't come if there is no plaster so fingers crossed.
After taking down the landing ceiling which was a filthy and thankless job, Ash said never again. We never learn, so today we did our bedroom! We were hoping to avoid this. A few weeks ago we took down the lower fake ceiling and all the beams and were hoping to be able to over-board the original lath & plaster. Unfortunately a couple of the joists above are broken though and the ceiling was a bit saggy and holey so it wasn't really viable. Down it came.
I am writing this mid-job. It's all swept and hoovered now but the last bits still need to come down tomorrow and the floor will need mopping and scrubbing yet AGAIN before Ash can put new joists up and then we can get the plasterer in. We keep telling ourselves this really is the last of the horrible jobs and it will only get better from here..... We have a pipe dream of carpets by the end of July.
In other news we have also replaced the bannister on the landing with a new oak one and have the downstairs section to do this week. It looks very nice if I do say so myself but this has got very long so I will stop now and not talk about that.
