18 July 2014

July to date

After finding that there was builders debris in the manholes at the beginning of the month (that prevented their full use if you know what I mean), today the drains have been expertly cleaned with some ingenious equipment and a short video feature film made.  A few stones and lots of silt, sand & mortar etc were extracted together with a 6" length of copper pipe with isolating valve attached!

A bit like a fairground lucky dip but MUCH better. Fits a 100mm drain perfectly, looks a bit Heath Robinson; there will be a long wait for the equivalent iPhone App.

Making movies

This camera will even tell if the Multikwik connector on the WC pan is fitted correctly - from the inside!

Ignore the car reflections, the shiny round thing is an isolation valve

A number of scratches and dents to the prefinished windows and doors were repaired and re-sprayed,
not 'like new' but an improvement.  Unfortunately some windows are still snagging so touch up spray is still required when repairs are complete and all are operating properly, this is a real shame because I am sure they were perfect when they left the factory.


















My new neighbours moved in very efficiently and have quickly turned 'a hoose into a hume', with treasured objects and furniture softening the new house look. I came over all emotional when I saw the kitchen looking so beautiful, the hand painted doors, precise detailing, lighting etc. all look really great and all but complete with 'only' the large feature sliding doors to add a final dramatic touch.

Orange for Drain, Black for Electric, Green for Virgin Not, Blue for Water

On the furniture move-in date we had a shock to find that Virgin cable had only been installed to one of the properties, so rather than turn the Virgin final connection engineers away I decide that since the Grand Depart of the Tour de France was happening even as we scratched our heads, that a  temporary route through the 70UPH intake - along the service riser - across the hall - down the stairs and drilled through the party wall to 68UPH Utility Room was a possibility.  The helpful engineers had the installation complete in no time - wonder how long it will take to dig up the pavement for the permanent connection?




The MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery) was rebalanced, replacing the  incorrectly installed inlet valves (that were actually extract valves).  They use a principle called the 'Coanda Effect', (after a Romanian aerodynamics pioneer) which allows moving  air to stay close to a surface, think ping pong ball on a jet of air, aircraft wings and F1 cars.  So the air is squirted out from outlets generally located centrally in rooms and acheives a good distribution across the ceilings throughout rooms without causing draughts.



The powder coated flashings to the front entrance windows and door are still not quite complete despite 4 goes, and the long trips from Stourbridge are beginning to tell, we will review outstanding work next week, but I have arranged to take delivery of the machined Cedar timbers for the horizontal cladding.  This has been awaiting delivery since January thanks to the timber supplier, although at last look some boards have warped while waiting.  Need to start thinking about access to the front elevation so some aluminium scaffolding may be required.

Galvanised gates were due to be installed today after a couple of errors were found in the original fabrication, but a pair of hinges was missing so a return visit from Monmouth next week perhaps? along with delivery of the planters that will add one of the finishing items to the 2nd floor.  A way off planting yet, hopefully in the autumn but I need to have a fully functioning irrigation system.