Builder's blog

Well, this has certainly been a week of up's and down's. Claire has taken the kids to stay with her Mum and Dad for a few days and I am feeling very lonely.

For the first day or two it was brilliant. I stocked up on beers and junk food (yes, I know about the whole losing weight thing!) and played on the X-Box all night. It really released some of the tension which this current job has been storing up. I was able to work until silly o'clock at night without fear of getting the silent treatment and I didn't have to worry about being stinky and covered in dust when I finally got home.

Still working hard, as ever. I am so used to jobs which take two or three weeks at the most, that this one feels like it is dragging on already. And we have hardly got started.

The builders are still on site and have moved to the upstairs. Turns out it will be slightly more complicated to put the stairs into the loft than we thought. Chris decided on a spiral staircase to make the most of the downstairs space and it fits all the building regulations and so on. But it is going to be a pain in the rear to fit. It has to go in one corner of the room downstairs, but that means that you pop up in an awkward place in the loft. Clearly the architect didn't think about the fact that the loft was to be used as a bedroom. It is now going to be a very limited space and you will have to bend over to avoid knocking your head every time you go up the stairs.

Another interesting week. Strangely enough I am actually really enjoying our latest job. If you remember we are turning a large Victorian house into three flats. So far, everything is going to plan, but knowing my luck that is a situation which might not last.

We have ripped out the downstairs and nearly completed clearing the upstairs. While you might think the upstairs would be easier and quicker, I think it is actually going to be quite tricky. We have an old water heating system and unfortunately the loft will need complete stripping of all the insulation. Not a fun job at all.

Katy and I have started on the Victorian house this week and I think that it is going to be an interesting, if lengthy job. Houses may have been built to last 100 years ago, but they didn't care too much about straight-lines and right angles. Everything is wonky and curvy and falling apart.

It looks as though we will have to completely gut most of it and re-plaster all of the walls. Add to that the electrics, which need redoing and the plumbing which needs extending from the one small bathroom on the ground floor to two more bathrooms on the upper floors. It is a big job.