To finish off the utility room, all we needed to do is add some tiles and some paint. Sounds easy, but it seems like it took a long time.
But the floor tiles came in, the paint went on, radiators were installed, and before we knew it, we had a useable utility room, and a mini bathroom too! And you have to admit that it’s slightly better than the toilet that used to be there!
Confession Time
Time to admit something! It was about this time that I leant my camera to a friend, so we weren’t taking as many photos. But even when it was returned, we had sort of become used to the utility room in it’s wonderful new form, and rather than take lots of nice photos, we just started using it!
And, because it’s a utility room, we got the washing machine, and dishwasher back in, started storing a few bits in there again, and so it wasn’t quite up to photoshoot standards again.
We would clear it out and get some more photos, but as I type this, we actually have the builders back in starting Phase II, so it’s pretty messy agian, and it going to need a good deep clean, and probably a re-paint when they are done. But we will get there and there will be more photos.
The most enjoyable part of the works was the removal of the old mouldy utilty room.
Who knew there was a brick wall under that mouldy wall in the back? I have no idea what all of the differnet colours mean. And seeing the concrete roof/ceiling allowed us to better understand why the water kept seeping in. Surprise-surprise, half-arsed jobs and patches that never resolved the root cause were to blame. At least there were no huge surprises underneath it all!
Build it up, tear it down
One big change is the removal of the big frech sliding doors on the side of the utility room, and the creation of a door at the back. I’m sure it was fun having to drill a hole every few centimeters around where the new door needed to be. It created a very open plan look.
This new layout meant there was a lot more light, so the old toilet looked a lot less dingy, although all of these holes were soon boarded over, and temporary doors were put in.
But there wasn’t much time to enjoy that, because before we knew it, the walls were being torn down and the old toilet was no more, leaving some interesting pipework.
Stomzy
We also had a few storms to deal with. I think it was Storm Arwen that ripped off parts of the flat roof. Although this was the old roof and so had to come off anyway.
But slowly the walls went up, and some more of the weird and wonderful oddities were uncovered.
But things began to come together, with interal walls and insulation going up.
And very helpfully, a wonderful new (and importantly water-tight) roof was added, complete with yet more cat paw prints. Whilst it isn’t a sexy part of your house, or even a part that you think about very often, it is an amazing feeling to not have to worry about leaks and more mould every time it rains.
The Roof, the Roof, the Roof is on Fire
Wet, Wet, Wet
Plumbing was fun, with lots of new pipes being installed. And some rather horrible discoveries under the kitchen cupboards, of stuff that the pervious owner (or at least one of them) left behind.
But the progress didn’t stop. More walls, more insulation, even new doors, and a quick inspection from the cat, and we were on our way. Some of the old brick work was exposed now, and whilst it looked pretty cool, it caused problems, breaking the builders tools, and making the plastering difficult.
We even got as far as getting plaster on the walls (inside and out). Although this was a unexpected challenge, becasue depite now having a utility room that was water tight, getting rid of the moisture in the plaster proved tricky. After a few weeks, even with an industrial dehumidifier, there were still a few patches that wouldn’t go, but we had to press on.
Then we had to take a bit of a pause.
Whilst we had found the tiles that we liked, we managed to pick the specific ones that weren’t availble for 6 weeks. And then got delayed for even longer. So for a long time, we couldn’t do anything.
It might be boring (and that’s why Paul is writing this blog entry), but we did have the flat roof over the utility room re-felted.
I hate flat roofs. They are so much trouble. I don’t know of a single flat roof that anyone has had that hasn’t caused some trouble at some time. I suspect the only reason anyone gets them is becaue it’s cheaper. Which like most cheap solutions, is only designed to last for the shortest amount of time. Anyone out there thinking that a flat roof might be the option, just don’t.
The utility room is on the side of the house, and that’s the only part of the house that has a flat roof. We’ve always known it was a bit dodgy as the utility room looks to have suffered from damp and leaks in the past.
The utility room on moving day
And in the winter of 16/17 we noticed it getting slightly worse in one particular area.
This prompted us to get the local building compnay to have a look at it.
Originally, it looked like we were going to have to have the whole roof felt replaced, which was going to be expensive, but we at least knew that we would have a properly sealed roof that wouldn’t leak. But after an expert had a full look, he thought that he would be able to patch up the area that was causing a problem, and there were quite a few of them.
Holes
That obviously made things considerably cheaper and easier. Although it will probably only last a few years, but hopefully by then, we will be in a position to look at the extension.
Plumbum
Whilst on the roof, they did replace all of the lead work, and we noticed that the pointing in the next door neighbours utility room was looking a bit dodgy too. But that can be a problem for tomorrow.
So far, the roof has held up pretty well. We did see a little bit of water ingress when we had the snow, but there was quite a lot of snow on the roof at that time, so I think that’s to be expected.
