So long, scaffold

Taking down the scaffolding was such a big job that the crew started it last Saturday, but couldn't finish it that day (they were also hampered by terrible weather). So they came back today to complete the job.

So by this afternoon, finally - 252 days after it was put up!! - the scaffolding is gone.

It's hard to describe what a huge relief it is to have finally reached this point. The first practical point is that getting rid of the scaffolding will ease the financial strain on us considerably, since we have been spending hundreds of pounds a month for the scaffold's continued hire. Also, the flat will be more secure now.

But it's also a very big deal psychologically. Finishing the roof means that we've closed a vey critical chapter in this project. It's an enormous accomplishment, given the massive scope of work that was done. I still remember my initial panic when our labourer, M, walked out in a fit of pique five months ago, and how utterly gobsmacked I was when Andre decided that he could - and would - finish the roof single-handedly. That we have reached this point and can now move on to re-constructing the interior of the flat is really a testament to his determination and stamina.

And yet... in a very strange way, I actually felt a twinge of nostalgia as I saw the last of the scaffold dismantled and the truck drive off! Can it be possible that I actually sort of miss the scaffolding?! It was up for so long that I suppose it basically started to feel like part of the flat. And it was amazing being able to climb through windows, and, most of all, to spend time at roof level.

The Anniversary

Today is a momentous day for us: exactly one year ago, we got the long, long awaited phone call from our solicitor to say that our purchase of this flat had been completed. It's a natural moment to reflect, and to take stock of where things are.

A year ago, we thought that by now the renovation would be long finished and we would be enjoying our beautiful new home. We never imagined that a year later, we would still be living on a construction site! (If we had known - would we still have pushed ahead with the purchase?! Well, we can't re-write history, we can only speculate...)

So on the one hand, it would be easy to look at everything that has gone wrong, and lament some bad luck and the circumstances we find ourselves in owing to things we had no control over. But on the other hand, when I think about how far we have come, setbacks notwithstanding... it's hard to believe. Even having lived through it, it's hard to comprehend. Looking back at where we began last year, with demolition, or even at what we were doing six months ago, is sort of mind-boggling - much more so now, in retrospect, than at that time, because at the time we were just struggling and racing to get through it - no time for reflection then!

I'm disappointed that Andre is in New York right now, because The Anniversary feels like an occasion that we should mark with a drink! But as it happens, the occasion is being marked in another way.

Having survived the final incredibly intense days to finish the roof work, on Wednesday, the day after Andre left, I was finally able to make a long-anticipated call of my own: to the scaffolding company, to tell them to take the scaffold down!

As it happens, the crew arrived this very morning, of all days, to begin striking the scaffold down. It feels like a hugely satisfying way to mark one year - even if it's not the way we had imagined The Anniversary would be when we bought the place.

The Marathon: Finishing the Roof!

After six months of hard work - that sometimes felt would never end - this is the last day we'll be up on the roof. As mentioned in the previous post, this is bittersweet moment - but we're ready to move on.

This is also the last day what of we're calling the marathon - our mad dash to get the roof finished so we can take the scaffold down before I fly back to New York. With my flight rescheduled for the end of this afternoon, there's a hard deadline with much to do by then.

The day started with completing the dormer's lead flashing, so once that was done, one of the last tasks involved installing the exterior vents for our boiler, bathroom and kitchen. These needed to be done before the scaffolding came down because otherwise there would be no way to access the portion of the rear brick wall where the penetrations needed to occur. Fortunately these large 4" holes were already done - when the plumbers were doing their initial installation they had drilled the holes at that point. Installing these vents required clearing out the rough holes, removing and repairing any loose bricks, fitting the pipes & vents, and then packing mortar around the opening so they would be fixed in place.

One of the holes drilled through the bricks by our plumbers

Making sure it fits - Testing one of the pipes and vent plates in the hole

An overall view - had to remove the end planks to get to the work area.

Starting to fill around the pipe with mortar. You can see the completed boiler flue/vent in the background

The vents completed

The next task involved installing the railing for our new Juliet balcony. The support posts had been aligned and set when the concrete was poured, so this was relatively fast and easy - fortunately as there were only two hours remaining before heading to the airport! The railings were ordered and delivered as a kit-of-parts, so each railing piece was fastened into place with four steel brackets that bolted into the posts - relatively easy.

Before setting the railings

The first railing piece in place

The railing installed - can also see the completed dormer

With the railings completed, the final task for finishing the roof involved cleaning the scoffolding of all the debris, unused pieces of wood, and the stacks of old, original slates that we'll sell to the roofing company (apparently they can be re-used on historic preservation/conservation projects). With only an hour to clear all the debris, this was truly a mad dash, but was able to get it done. Before leaving the scaffold for the last time, I took a number of final pictures and soaked in the view for the last time...

The completed roof - view from the front

The completed roof - view from front corner

The completed roof - view from the rear

The Marathon: Final Flashing

So this is it...the last two days of our marathon to finish the roof and get the scaffolding down. It's been a huge push - working 10-12 hour days and even with that, extending my trip by several days to get everything done. While i have loved being up on the roof (except when we re-framed the joists in the dead of an English winter) and seeing London from this unusually serene perch, I'm ready to finish and move on...

There are a lot of small things to finish before we can take the scaffolding down, but the last "big" item is to finish all the flashing around the dormer and along the edge - again, a tricky detail to span both types of roofing: traditional slates and modern membranes.

So I started up on the flat portion of the dormer by installing lengths of heavy lead - known as "code 4 lead" - to cover the edge of the flat roofing membrane that wraps up to face of the brick wall.

Where the roofing membrane meets the brick wall

Before inserting the lead, one has to cut away at one row of mortar joints, so there's a gap for the lead to go into - fortunately I had done this messy job several weeks ago, so installing the flashing here went relatively quickly. that is (of course!) except for the tricky bits, which were at the various corners towards the edge of the dormer. That proved time consuming, but I had it done in time for a late lunch.

Late morning of July 4th - the rows of lead flashing installed

This area is the trickiest - several corners and an overhang from the coping stone

It's not too clear, but the corner flashing pieces are installed

I then spent several hours working on some of the other tasks (see next post) but by the early evening I was able to start on the final flashing task, which involved installing the lead along the edge of the dormer. This flashing detail was worked out about a month or two ago when I was finishing the slates on the dormer. This is the tricky flashing detail I've mentioned several times: it has to span two very different types of roofing.

My sketchbook where I worked out the flashing details - the one in the center of this page is the final version for the edge detail of the dormer - a wooden drip edge wrapped in lead that works over the slates and the membrane.

 Because we had previously treated and painted the wood structure, I was able to start attaching the lead right away. To further enhance the durability of the detail (and because we had a lot of extra pieces), I decided to add a row of "soakers", which are folded sheets of stainless steel used to prevent water penetration at any 90 degree intersection of slates. These "soakers" helped seal the top of the wood and were then wrapped in the code 4 lead. The lead is held in place by a series of straps that are nailed into the wood, but are cleverly covered by the flashing - a great traditional detail used for hundreds of years.

This work was only completed the following day. The last tasks involved cleaning the roof for the last time, applying a protective patina coating on all the lead, and inserting a special caulk into the open joints where the lead is inserted into the brick. This caulk prevents water from going into the brickwork, and under the lead, while allowing for the naturally-occurring movement between the brick and lead without cracking.

In the early evening able to start the edge flashing - fitting the first pieces

The stainless steel "soakers" with the lead clips awaiting the final piece of lead flashing

The completed assembly - looking up

The completed assembly - looking down. Here you can see the all-important drip-edge taking shape

Morning of July 5th (final day) - preparing to flash the edge along the flat roof

Ready to install the roughly formed lead

Here you can see the stainless steel "soakers" ready for the lead

A detail view of how the clips will be covered by the final piece of lead

Flashing finished - cleaning the roof for the last time!

View of the finished roof & flashing - her you can see the detail where two roofing types come together, with the recently completed edge flashing in the distance

Final view of the upper roof - flashing completed, lead has it's patina coating, caulking done.

The Marathon: more painting

The past week has felt like a marathon; the finish line is being able to make the call to the scaffolding company to say that we're ready for them to take the scaffold down.

We've been working full-tilt – André was in fact supposed to fly back to New York today, but we're not quite where we need to be so he's postponed his trip by a day. It's important that we get the scaffolding down now - mostly because it's very expensive to keep renting it, but also because psychologically, we are really ready to move forward. And I think that at this point we owe it to our neighbours to get it down, too!

Today we finally finished something on the long to-do list for getting the scaffolding down: the rest of the exterior painting. André and I had worked together last weekend to paint the first window, and yesterday I started working on the other windows. In order to get everything done as quickly as possible, I had to do it on my own because André was working upstairs, at roof level.

The front windows before scraping and painting

Like last weekend, the work was quite involved - I had to prep the windows by scraping off as much of the old, peeling paint as possible and fill in any rotten areas with putty before painting.

A detail of the window's condition

It all went a lot faster than last weekend because these ones are in better condition (and my technique got better as I went along). But all told, on average it still took about 3 hours per window!

Meanwhile, André had been spending ages over the previous few days prepping the exterior of the dormer for painting – he had to apply an exterior conditioning treatment and then putty over all the screws. Once the putty dried, it had to be sanded  so that the dormer would have a smooth, even finish once painted..

June 25th - Applying the wood conditioner - will make the wood ready for the exterior elements

June 27th - After waiting 2 days for the treatment to dry, patching all the holes & joints with an exterior grade filler putty

June 30th - All the screw holes and joints had to be filled with putty - turned out to be a huge job

Once the dormer was ready, I primed and painted it in between working on the windows. This was a carefully planned tag-team operation, because we were supposed to wait 16-24 hours for each coat to dry - and we found ourselves running out of time! So the primer went on the dormer early Saturday evening; the first coat of paint on Sunday morning; and the second on Sunday night.

July 2nd - Starting the primer...

André touching up the primer

July 3rd - Starting the first coat of exterior paint

André insisted on three coats of paint, so I had to wait til getting home from work today to put the final coat of paint on! In the evening I also painted the balcony posts and the clips that will attach the railing to the posts (André had painted the balcony railing during the day).

It's been an absolutely exhausting three days. We've made huge progress, and it's an amazing feeling to finally be able to step back and look at something that looks finished! But there are still so many things to be done before I can make that phone call…

July 4th - The painting completed!

Eaves and Gutters

As you may have noticed, it's often the case on this project that things don't go according to plan. Usually it's because something has gone wrong, but today it was the opposite - I was offered a few hours of help by Alan, the local handyman. He showed me how to do the gutters and eaves. I had actually been planning on pouring the balcony concrete today (having completed the balcony rebar yesterday) but with Alan's offer, I did not wish to miss out on the opportunity of an extra pair of hands and the wisdom of a veteran builder. So the concrete pour was put off for a day...

June 30th - the eaves and gutters awaiting installation

We started by putting up a series of plastic eave boards which are nailed onto the actual plywood eaves - these boards are waterproof and unlike wooden eaves do not need painting every year or two. Having an extra set of hands was great because these boards were over 12ft long and very awkward to handle - almost like trying to manoeuvre a 12ft piece of linguine...

The plastic, waterproof eave boards installed over the actual plywood eave

Once the boards were on, Alan showed me how to install the gutters. Most of the work is in determining the high point, and a slope (for the water to run) that looks correct and functions properly. We then used a string line to work everything out and then a chalk line to mark the boards. It turns out that the top of the building is not level - most likely the building had settled over the years, or they had purposely angled the top of the roof. Either way it was quite tricky to figure out the correct pitch for the gutters...that also did not look wonky. Once the line was set, it was quite simple to install the gutter supports, and then clip in the gutters themselves. By the time Alan had to leave, we had fixed the gutters along the front of the building, and I had a good understanding how to the complete the rest.

End of the day...

I only managed to get back to finishing the gutters on July 3rd, which was a Sunday, so I had to be very quiet, which made the work go a little slower. Fortunately it was completed before the end of the day and was able to move onto the many other tasks for this marathon weekend.

July 3rd - turning the first corner

Setting the brackets with a string line

Gutters clipped into place

Turning the second corner (you can see the chalk line on the eave board)

The end piece with a downspout for the leader (the vertical drain pipe)

The completed eaves and gutters

Camping vs "Glamping"

It's really ironic that someone who has never been camping in her entire life--and, more importantly has no desire to do so, ever--namely, me--is now camping at home. Actually, camping on a construction site! But I'm learning that everything is relative, and as our rather unconventional living situation enters its sixth month, at least I can say that it's vastly more comfortable now than it was in the beginning.

Some of that has to do with the fact that things are gradually becoming more "set up", as Andre likes to say. For example, he used some plywood to improvise a long table in the living room space, and we got a couple of chairs--so at least now, unlike in the first month, we have somewhere to sit other than on the air mattress!

But in truth, a lot of it has to do with the simple fact that it's summer now - the weather has made a huge difference. When we first moved in (in January), it was so cold inside that before we got our new fridge up and running, we would just leave milk outside of "the Box", and it would be fine! (Inside "the Box", we were fine, since our little fan heaters warmed up the enclosed space nicely.) Now that it's May, it's possible to spend time in the living room space even though we still don't have heat--nice not to be confined to the one "room" with the fan heaters anymore! And dealing with cold water is infinitely easier when it's 18 degrees (Celsius) rather than 8!

Anyway, the old aphorism is true: one gets used to anything. That said, things may be a lot less rough than they were in Jan/Feb, but they're definitely still not easy. I'm starting to miss having a kitchen, and living out of a suitcase--literally, because there are no closets/wardrobes/places to put anything--is getting a little tiresome. It definitely makes getting ready for work every morning more of a challenge!

But at least things are moving in the right direction... we may still be camping, five months into this project, but at least I feel like we have moved from camping to "glamping"...and for those of you who haven't come across the term and are confused by the title of this post: "Glamping" is another great British neologism, referring to "glamorous" camping!

"First fixing" finished - and a transformation!

Today the plumbers came back to finish their "first fixing" - and whereas earlier in the process I hadn't seen much physical change, today we got it in spades. The first thing they did was shut off the water supply and disconnect the few remaining old pipes.

Disconnecting the water supply

Once that was done, they completely transformed the flat by moving the kitchen sink from its original location to its final location as per Andre's design. This was possible because we have kept the mock-up of the kitchen in place. I was totally speechless when I saw this - they cut a sink-sized hole in the plywood that is serving as the kitchen "counter", separated the sink from the cabinet it was built in to, plopped the sink into the hole, and connected it to the new pipes they had installed.

Cutting the hole for the sink into the kitchen "counter"

So it's just sitting there, almost free-standing, and the pipes are still exposed. With that done, they were able to re-connect the flat to the water supply, and turn the water supply back on.

The relocated sink

As if that wasn't enough - having installed the new boiler earlier in the week, today they installed the flue. More thrillingly, with the water supply completely reconfigured, they were able to rip the ancient, grotty old boiler off the wall.

Disconnecting the old boiler

For the moment, it's still sitting in the middle of the living room, but somehow it already feels like there's more space.

The only downside to all of this excitement is that it's hard to even describe how much of a mess all this work made! The "living room" is filled with dust, sawdust and bits of pipe - not to mention, of course, the old boiler and the now-empty sink cabinet. It's overwhelming just thinking about the clean-up job ahead...

The old boiler sitting on the floor - you can see where it used to be (it's the yellow area) with the hole from the old flue