Windows and doors, canopy and floors!

The roof was on, the stairs were in. Carl and Ash were laying the floor insulation and screed in the utility and shower room, so we scampered up the scaffolding, taking full advantage of having somewhere safe to stand for another day and got the guttering at roof height done. Needless to say it was not my favourite place to be, or rather the journey up there wasn't fantastic, but once up it's not too bad. I was very happy to get both feet on solid ground though.

With the guttering done up top, the scaffolding came down on Tuesday 18th June. It was just lovely to see the house free from its cage. Obviously it still had windows doors and the canopy to be fitted, but for the first time we could see properly...

...and it was ACES!

We had a few roof caps missing, which the roofer fitted a couple of days later, so no worries there, but we both noticed something wasn't quite right. The corners of the facia over the front bedroom window, didn't quite fall to fit the size of the window.

I called Carl straight away and explained that the scaffolding had obscured our view previously, so we couldn't see it earlier. I asked if there was anyway we could just remove the corners the fascia, as I felt it would look better if it at least met the corners of the window even if it would be at an angle. It is unusual and a gamble, if we were wrong there would be know going back (well, there probably is a way, but it would have cost us to fix- so no way!). Our builders sorted it all out, sighed with relief and we could not have been happier with the end result.

Work then began on the canopy...

Just as we avoided a drop in the roof line, and replaced all the tiles on the front so they matched; we hoped the canopy would tie the old building to the new and make it look seamless too.

Before the builders could completely finish the canopy, the new bow window needed to be in place, so the sofit would fit around it. I had called Eurocell the week before and arranged delivery of the windows, doors and bifold and when they arrived the lovely builders helped to unload them all. I'd asked them specifically to help with the bifold, which was huge! (Though they still helped with all the rest.) It couldn't fit through the house, so there in lied the problem. Carl asked if our neighbours still liked us and thankfully the answer was yes. Our adjoining neighbour doesn't have side access, but their neighbour on the other side does. Luckily once again, our neighbours were brilliant, the 'neighbour but one' said we could use the side access and take out a fence panel to access next doors garden. Then our next door neighbour, said they were happy for us to use theres as a thoroughfare to get it through and even advised, which fence panels would be the best to move for ease of access to both gardens- see they are brilliant aren't they?!? On the day the bifold took four men to move it in to the garden and once it was in, it was going nowhere. Here are all the windows and doors waiting in the utility for Craig to arrive...

Craig, affectionately known as "Ginge", is our window fitter. He was recommended by our fantastic builders and is an absolute star. They really do have a brilliant team around them.

Upon inspecting the windows and doors I found that the bifold doors were configured wrong. They were the right size, thankfully, but the opening was in the wrong place. I immediately called eurocell and explained that there was no way to get it back out, that we needed it fitted on schedule in order for the builders to carry on work and it had to be fitted before we knock the back wall down and screed that room. There was no way we could delay and they agreed that as it was their error, that we could fit the door to continue work and they'd arrange for an engineer to come out in the next few weeks to fix the problem on site.

Over the next two days, Ginge fitted the windows, doors and bifold's while the builders continued with the canopy.

Adam assisted Ginge in getting the bifold in place.

I was so relieved every time Ginge fitted a window. I must have measured and remeasured and asked the builder to measure the openings a dozen times or more. It can be so expensive and to get the measurements wrong would have been heart breaking particularly with the bifold. Huge sigh of relief and a....

huge difference!!

All we needed now to be completely water tight was a garage door, which I wanted the canopy in place for before ordering, then I'd be certain how much space there would be available for the roller.

I have been happy with the whole process, but seeing it come together after years of dreaming is just bloody brilliant!

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