Roof vs. Plumbing

We have a big decision to make this week: should we finish the roof so we can take the scaffolding down - or continue with the plumbing work so we can have hot water and a working shower?

It's a tough choice - quality of life vs. saving money (we are renting the scaffolding by the week). Because of the cash flow situation right now, we can only do one at a time - not both at the same time. Here are the issues:

• It turns out the plumbing will actually cost almost 3x more than finishing the roof - after a long discussion, we think it makes more sense to finish what we can afford at the moment, rather than do only part of the plumbing - one point for the roof. 
• If we can finish the roof, then every week we'll have more money to apply towards the plumbing by saving on the scaffolding - another point to the roof. 
• The breathable membrane (that has been keeping the roof watertight without the slates) is rated for up to 4 months of exposure to the UV rays in the sun. It's almost exactly 3 months today, so we should really get them covered within the next month. Another point to the roof.
• If we finish the plumbing we can take a hot shower in the flat - one point to the plumbing. 

So with a score of 3 to 1...the roof wins!

Looks like when I return to London on Saturday, I'll be spending the next 2.5 weeks on the roof finishing it with the goal of getting the scaffolding down before I head back to New York...

Downwards and Deflated!

It's a conspiracy ! I swear, every time André goes back to New York, there's a minor drama here. Today, he actually caused the drama, sadly. The plumbers were supposed to install the toilet on Monday, but they didn't start the work until Tuesday--so there was a de facto deadline to finish at 3pm, which is when André had to leave for the airport to catch his flight.

The whole toilet installation was massively disruptive--we had to take EVERYTHING out of "The Box" so that the floorboards could be pulled up. This included our precious air mattress, which we hoisted up the ladder for safe keeping in the loft space.

However, by the time the plumbers had finished André was (surprise, surprise) running late and in a huge hurry... and in his haste to get the mattress back down, he accidentally snagged it on a protruding screw, and punctured it. :(

André gave me instructions about finding and using the air mattress repair kit, but I got home after a quick post-work drink to discover that the sole light in the living room had burned out as well ! There was no way I was going to climb the ladder to retrieve the repair kit in the dark, so what followed was one rather uncomfortable night sleeping on a deflated air mattress sitting atop our bedroom "floor" (plywood boards).

Onwards and Upwards

After getting past the dreaded corner, it was time to push onwards and upwards with the slates:

April 09th

April 09th

April 11th

April 11th

April 12th

This last image is how the roof will stay for the next two 2 weeks as it was shot just before a mad dash to the airport to head back to NYC.

Installing a Loo (a.k.a. toilet)

After several months of using the grotty old loo, we're finally replacing it! All the parts (pipes, valves, cistern, etc) were delivered over the last few days and the plumbers came today to install it.

The parts: the black "soil" pipes, elbows and connectors

The new loo - before installation

Our plumber soldering the water pipes

Placing the water cistern into the wall (it will be hidden eventually)

Setting up the cistern

Setting the exterior vent pipe

The finished loo (the walls and tiles will be added later)

It may not seem like a big deal, but getting to this point is a big step for us as starting the plumbing is the beginning of the last phase of construction...so we're very excited!

Slating a Corner

Before moving on with the upper half of this roof slope, I realized (unfortunately) it was time to tackle the dreaded corner which i was hoping to avoid...for at least a little while. I knew the corner would be tedious and would take a long time as each slate along the edge has to be cut...

The dreaded corner....

Measuring out the tile locations

The unfinished eave course at the corner (1st course)

The completed eave course

The completed 1st course (covering eave course)

The completed 1st course (covering eave course)

Several courses up

Time to call it a day...

Trial walls!

Today André took a break from roofing to begin framing out the walls that will eventually enclose the bathroom. It has to be done before the plumber can come and sort out the plumbing, but in effect it’s like having trial walls! André actually asked me whether I thought the bathroom felt large enough--if we thought we needed more space, we could “move the wall” ! I actually think it’s just fine as it is, but how amazing to get to try it on for size, so to speak.

Before - In the morning before the walls went up

After - the temporary walls

Morning Melodrama

When M.(our Romanian day labourer for the last few months) hadn't shown up by 9am, we started to worry. Our relief at hearing the door open at 9.05am, however, was vey short lived - M was upset, he had come to pick up his tools, return the keys, and leave, never to return. Isn't 9am too early for melodrama?! It was either a simple misunderstanding, or M. was taking the mickey and wanted more money—but we never figured out which it was, because by 9.10am, he was gone for good.

I absolutely could not believe it when I heard André say “It’s fine. I can finish the roof myself”. Fortunately, I didn’t have time to stand there getting stressed about the situation, since I had to go to work. But within a few hours, André had figured everything out!

As it turns out, laying roofing tiles is very precise, but relatively straightforward and light work, so it can feasibly be a one-person job (unlike some of the structural stuff we were doing earlier). It will go more slowly than if we had more than one pair of hands on it--but the money we will now save on labour will enable us to put more resources into the next big job, the plumbing. And André seems to be quite enjoying this work! He’s calling it methodical, but “meditative”. So it seems that in a way, M. walking off in a huff was, strangely enough, for the best.

After Six Weeks...

After six weeks (!) of not working, we’ve decided that the first order of business is to finish the roof—both for peace of mind and, on a more practical level, so we can take the scaffolding down sooner rather than later! There’s still a ways to go, though: we have to lay down the battens that will support the slate tiles, and then lay all the tiles. We also have to re-build the eaves, replace the gutters, do the flashing and lay down the membrane on the flat roof.

Today M. (our day laborer) and I started by taking out the temporary battens that were holding the waterproof membrane at the dormer where the final counter-battens (vertical orientation) had not been installed. Once they were gone, we marked the location of the rafters so we could position the permanent counter-battens, and then finally installed them.

The starting point after 6 weeks...

Installing the final counter-battens

Before we could start installing the horizontal battens, we needed to have a clear starting point. Because the new insulation and decking added so much height to the roof, I realized we needed to have the new eave in place (we had had to remove the original one) to give us the new edge of the roof and starting point for the battens.

The old eave...

Old eave is gone - end of rafters exposed

View from inside - showing the openings after the eave is removed

Installing the new eave

After we installed the first few pieces of the eave, M. carried on with that job while I reminded myself how to install the tiles... 

Checking my notebook on how to install the slates

After a few hours - the final assembly

Floor Leveling: Days 3 to 8

It's taken another 6 days to finish leveling the floor...

February 08, 2011

February 10, 2011

February 10, 2011

February 11th, 2011

Floor Leveling: the View from the Other Side

Looking at the pictures, you might think that the "Other Side" is from below - ie, looking up from below, through our floor! But in this case I merely mean the view through non-professional eyes.

Obviously, I trust Andre completely on this project. This is what he does for a living, and it goes without saying that he knows better than I about every aspect of design and especially construction. But this week has definitely been trying, and I've found myself asking more than once - "was this [floor leveling] REALLY necessary?!?

For the first day or two, it was actually quite cool. Moving around the flat literally meant shimmying along the floor joists, often with nothing to hold on to for support. (Good thing we both have good balance!) In the beginning, it felt like a grand part of the whole adventure - plus, there was the sheer novelty of just seeing the floor ripped up, and seeing the top of our neighbour's ceiling exposed. One day, Andre called me at work to tell me: "When you get home, be VERY careful where you step, because everything has changed and there is no floor" ! I had a good laugh, and - to begin with - enjoyed the drama.

That particular novelty wore off pretty quickly, though. And the whole process is taking far longer than I would have imagined... so this is how we've been living, for days!





I understand the logic, that one doesn't do such an extensive renovation and keep the existing, wonky floors. But it was literally a matter of mere centimetres!! From my perspective - especially given that I couldn't really see the wonkiness to begin with (Andre had to point it out to me) - it just feels like a disproportionately huge amount of time and effort to do this.