Day of rest

Morning.

Treated myself to a lie in this morning as I woke to an aching body - one which wasn't moving anywhere very quickly (not Hannah, me).

SO I've taken a steady morning rather than rushing out to prayer meeting.

I thought I'd take the opportunity to write up yesterdays happenings - briefly. I've decided little often is better.

I spent the whole day plumbing pretty much. The pipes for the radiator in the living room needed moving as they ran over the new lintel which we waned to keep exposed. SO the pipes got moved in to the vestibule brought down the floor level then brought into the living room. We don't have any skirting boards anymore so the first job was to put some in to attach the pipes to. The house is plumbed with 8mm microbore coming from the main loop which is in 15mm. It's a love hate thing with microbore. It's very hard to make it look neat as it just wiggles everywhere... but then it is handy as it wiggles everywhere so it's a little more forgiving when measurements aren't quite right!

Any hoo. I cute some wood for a skirting board, attached it to the wall and filled in behind with some coarse stuff (1:3 lime/sand). Due to our wibbly walls it wasn't possible to get the skirting flush, so didn't bother trying and went with the 'character' of it all.

Next up was fixing the new radiator to the wall in the living room - not straight forward as the plaster is still very soft. Lime plaster takes 6 - 12 months to properly go off. Until then it is pretty much wet sand so it has no strength at all. Drill into it and it all flakes away. Anyway, some anchor fixings and some bracket modifications and I got them attached to the wall - hopefully they'll stay there. Taking car to get them straight and vertical was worth it as putting the radiator on and off the brackets was a doddle. The bedroom brackets aren't quite in line making it awkward to get on!

Next up I ran the new microbore in. Something I've learnt is that you can't rush plumbing. SO steady away i went. Another lesson learnt is never to rush the cleaning of the pipes. Better to spend the time giving them a really good clean than the rush on, fill the system only to find it leaks.

Wise.

I finished off plumbing the radiator and moved on to putting the radiator in the vestibule. We weren't going to bother, but thought it might get a bit damp in there with out as that is where we'll keep coats etc. Anyway, i was anticipating having to redo the piping and replace the valves etc as I took no care to protect them during the plastering and building works... however upon inspection I noticed they were in pretty good condition considering - so took the risk of reusing all the pipes and just putting the radiator on the wall. Which was good as I had bought the wrong valves for it and the local DIY shop didn't have any - Hannah went out and looked for me, so credit to her.

So got that plumbed with a few new olives here and there. Next step was to terminate the pipes where the second radiator used to be in the living room. I've left them in a place where if we decided we needed a second radiator we can easily expand the system. We've removed that radiator as it would be on the stone wall and would spoil the effect.

I've done the calculations and the single radiator we have should be enough for the room. And we have the stove which is worth roughly another 3 radiators - so I think it should be just fine for heat!

ABout 9ish last night i filled the system, and despite not turning the bleed valve off in the bathroom last time i emptied the system which led to lots of water squirting everywhere it all went smoothly. No leaks - all good.

I've brought it all up to temperature and it still seems to be fine. So I'm dead please. It was a job i haven't been looking forward to for about 9 months now so it is nice to have it out of the way.

While this was happening hannah did some carpet research, found one for not the cheapest price but not the most expensive and is the perfect colour and pie we have been looking for. It's a bargain as well. was £25 per sqm, now £12. Great. Still adds up though with a big area and underlay and fitting. It was £130 more than another decent alternative, but it was far more luxurious and the colour is spot on - so we figured it was worth it.

That is the last big send now. Everything else is little bits and bobs - phew, the accounts are creaking with the strain!

With carpet chosen we made a final choice on paint - we have gone with the dark brown carpet light brown (ish) paint.

Looks like my speakers might have to wait a little longer now though...

Hannah also did a good job of filling my tummy yesterday - so, much respect.

I think that is all.

We might do a little work today - just easy stuff.

Right, going now.

Cheerio.