Oh you thought we were done?

I should really have posted this update ages ago, rather than at the last minute. But things did move on quite quickly after February.

We did finally get those TV cables sorted out, following a visit from a very nice man from the cable company.


The overhead wire at the back was redirected too, so now it's only the garden that lets the side down from the outside. We did contact a landscaper over the summer, and he promised to get back to us in September, but nothing's happened. There's no recession in the garden industry it would seem. Still, with the evenings drawing in we soon won't have to look at the outside much any more.

I'd totally forgotten about the dampness in the en suite mentioned in my last post. That was sorted out when the builder dug out the specs for the fan which our clownish electricians installed and noticed that it had been hooked up all wrong -- through the roof instead of the eaves. That was put right, though we now have two vestigial fan ducts in our roof. Idiots.

What prompts this very late post is the last major(ish) bit of work, and the reason we haven't paid the builders in full yet: the front hall. It got replastered after the last lot sloughed off, leaving just the radiator to be attached:


Except, smooth and all that that looks, it's still making hollow sounds in places and is laced with fine cracks. To be expected? Or a further problem? The builders are coming along for a proper look later this week. Personally, I could do with being given the all clear and getting that radiator reattached. It's getting cold in the hall.

Stripping, dampness and cable TV

No, this isn't a restart of the blog, you'll be glad to hear. There just happen to be a few things going on at the moment, mostly around the final items on the builders' snag list.

We've had a longstanding problem with the plastering in the hall, and today the builders came in to strip the whole thing for replastering, leaving us with a lovely rustic look:

Turns out that the whole lot had debonded so they'll likely have to put a metal mesh underneath the new layer of plaster.

The other major snagging issue concerns the en suite, which has got very damp. The fan doesn't appear to be shifting the water and twice now we've found water collected in the outlet hose and dripping back into the vent, soaking the surrounding ceiling.


Last week we met the builder, the project manager and our favourite electrician to discuss what was wrong with the fan or its installation. "Nothing" is the electrician's predictable answer. He offered to install a bigger fan, but no-one wants that until the problem can be identified. The builder will be going to the fan's manufacturer to get them to check the installation. Then we'll see what action can be taken before we plaster and paint this ceiling for the third time.

Today the cable company called out to arrange the long-overdue tidying of the TV cables strung across the house:


A bigger problem is the TV cable which runs out of the house at the back:


And over the garden to another house:


The cable guy reckoned it could be affixed to the side garden wall instead and has gone off to make arrangements with the other house to rearrange things at their end. We should have this all squared away with a few weeks.