WEEK 22 - En-suite (Delay = 6 weeks)

After the work in the en-suite had been roundly condemned, the labourers moved in last week to strip out all the tiles and chrome trim. Everything went pretty smoothly, until they managed to pull a radiator pipe off the wall. Accidents happen, apparently, but why is it happening to these guys all the time, I wonder? Clearly, this was not the fault of the labourers, nor could the plumber be blamed. Must have been an Act of God...

The fact nobody thought of shutting down the heating system and, thereby, reducing the risk of flooding our only completed room - the kitchen - didn't feature very highly on their list of priorities. Only after observing a lot of hand-wringing and the general helplessness of a five year old, did I had to take control of this little adventure. And I'm learning quickly: no politeness or niceties – just straight talking in a language they understand.

Luckily, only the new wall insulation had been damaged, but we only found out after having stripped an entire wall of plywood and two layers of plasterboard... Well, we're becoming pretty good at this "one step forward, three steps back" motion by now, and the room has now been put back together again.

So we embarked on Week 22 with a spring in our steps. The shower tray, which had been scratched beyond recognition, despite us urging the guys for weeks to protect this in a suitable manner, had been ripped out and the four walls were free of the botched tiles.

Now we could only stand back and wait for the professional tiles/plasterer to turn up. He was due this morning but at the time of writing, he still hasn't turned up. He must have got stuck in traffic...

Tomorrow is another day. Whether it will take us any further forward is a different matter.