The Calm before the Storm

The Calm

Hong Kong this week has been on the edge of a typhoon (hurricane) although it seems to have passed by for now and didn't get any worse than a blustery March day in UK but with temperatures around 28degC rather than the biting winds we get at home.  Mind you, they say there's another one closing in, due this way on Tuesday, the night we go to the airport ...

On that note, it's all gone quiet on the barn front, too.  Hardly a peep from the Project Manager this week, just one call asking what type of light bulbs we want, and an email asking for the pre-construction SAP test results.

We could be worried about this, considering we've got the removals van booked for middle of next week to deliver all our furniture!  But we suspect it's because they're so busy finishing off loads of things that they don't have time for pleasantries, and just want to get on with it.

The water was due to be connected on Tuesday (just gone) - assuming they could find their main in the road this time.  Then the heat pump was due to be commissioned and the underfloor heating tested on Wednesday.  The carpets are due to be fitted tomorrow (Saturday).

The Storm

And we've just spoken to Neil on the phone to get an update; it's as we suspected - in his words, manic.

They're busting a gut to get finished by next Weds, and continue to be frustrated by the plumber and the water company.  He says they've "dug up half the village" looking for the water main and still haven't found it.  The temporary solution that the water authority have adopted is to tee off the neighbour's service pipe and run a surface pipe across their drive and the verge over to our place.  So we have water, but they're still looking for the main to make our permanent connection - and it's close to a year since we applied, and paid up front, for this 'service'.

Meanwhile Neil tells us that the week the plumber decided to go on holiday is the week when they've discovered 2 or 3 leaks in the plumbing system, and found a fault in the shower pipe (that had been installed and covered in wall tiles, which have had to be removed).

They also found that the shower screen was damaged when they took it out of the box, and the replacement part that was posted express was the wrong part, so that might not be fixed by next Weds.

The good news is that the warranty company were happy with everything, and just want some evidence that the existing trusses have been treated for woodworm, then they'll process the certification as quickly as possible so that we can get the 10 year warranty in place.

The primary Building Control inspection is booked for next Monday or Tuesday, and Neil hopes that we'll get the OK from them too and get Building Regs sign-off.  And the commissioning of the heating systems started yesterday and continues today - fingers crossed that those systems all work properly.

And the interesting news is that the planning officer made a site visit a few days ago and took some photos.  The planner made some encouraging noises about how impressed he was with the conversion.  Mind you, Neil refused to allow him into the kitchen - he's sticking to Misan's instruction not to let anyone see her pride and joy until she's seen it!

We're looking forward to seeing it ourselves next week.  In the meantime, here's a few reminders of how it looked when we first got it back in autumn 2009 ...

Divine Intervention

The contractors that the water authority sent out to make the connection to the water main dug their trench across the road, didn't find the pipe, backfilled the trench, resurfaced the road and went home!  Neil got back on to Anglian Water who explained that they didn't know where their main was, so they came up with a solution - and a few days ago out came a man with some divining rods and traipsed about until his sticks crossed and he declared that the pipe was below there.  The contractors are coming back next week with a bigger digger and they're gonna keep digging until they find the main.  It's not quite 12 months since we applied for the water connection, but it ain't far off!

Fortunately things are going a bit better inside the barn.  Most of the stone floor is laid now, the kitchen is almost finished and the wardrobes have been fitted.  Some of the internal doors have been hung, and the patio flagstones have been laid and look really good.  The hot water cylinder and heat pump are in, waiting to be connected up.

We've chosen the carpets for the bedrooms and stairs and they should be fitted at the end of next week, although there's a delay in delivery of the wood burning stove so that won't be fitted until a few days after we've moved our furniture in.

The electrical works are almost completed.  We chose the exterior light fittings today, using the internet to see what's available and letting Neil know our preferences.  Completion of the plumbing works might be a bit more problematic, as the plumber goes on holiday next week just at the time when the water connection should finally be completed and we'll be able to test and commission the heat pumps and underfloor heating.  That's another headache that Neil has to sort out; it's tough for him at this stage of the job, but he's used to it and he seems to be keeping on top of things.

So he could have done without hassle from the council about getting their approval to construct the tarmac driveway across the highway verge.  They want to know where all the utilities are, insisit on the paving works being done by someone on their approved list and threaten to prosecute if we don't do it all as they say.  Apparently they are one of the stricter councils on these kind of things.  Sound familiar?  Didn't we encounter one of the strictest water authorities when it came to complying with these new (and poorly implemented) water regulations?

And as I'm writing this we get a call from Neil.  The carpet we've chosen for the bedrooms is not available until mid-July (not good if we're having the furniture delivered at the end of June), despite them saying an hour earlier that it was in stock and could be delivered next week.  So we've just changed to our second choice, which is not wool but has a lower tog rating (important for underfloor heating performance) and is in stock - or so they are saying at the moment.