Andre's design involved moving the kitchen from one side of the flat to the other, and also rotating/moving some elements in the bathroom. I actually didn't even know such fundamental changes were possible, but it turns out that they are - if you do massive amounts of work to reconfigure the entire plumbing system. As in, move ALL the gas and water pipes to accommodate the new locations of the boiler, sinks, and appliances.
There is so much to be done that after the plumbers' first couple of days of work, I didn't see too much difference - it just seemed that there were a few new copper pipes in a few different places. Today, however, I got home from work and found that our new boiler has been installed! There are also gauges sitting around running "pressure tests" to make sure the boiler will work safely.
The best moment tonight came when Andre was giving me the "tour" of the new plumbing work, and he said "I had them attach the boiler [to the wall] here, so the controls are at eye level for you." I sort of goggled, a bit speechless. He elaborated: "Because we can! We're customising things!!" It's kind of an amazing to think that the boiler has been configured with my specific height in mind!!
It's good to have such happy thoughts to fall back on, because today was the day I had been dreading in terms of the impact the work would have on our lives. The first few days they were here, the plumbers were only working in the living room space and the bathroom. But today they needed to pull up the floorboards in the bedroom space to lay pipes for the radiators, so we had to completely clear out "The Box". It made for a hectic morning, and now we are left with the task - which after a full day at work feels sort of monumental - of reconstructing the little sanctuary we have created amidst the chaos.
But first we have to clean it out - the plumbers also drilled massive holes that will eventually accommodate the boiler flue, and the dust and debris went everywhere. Best make start...
