6th August 2010: Week 2 Update

This week like last week has been productive.

The existing porch was demolished on Wednesday together with the breaking out of a 250mm wide strip of the concrete hardstanding to the rear and side elevations. The removal of the concrete being required to facilitate the installation of the external insulation below ground level. The arising debris was also removed from site on the day. We had been mindful of the noise and potential disturbance these works would cause and the plan to limit this to a single day was achieved.


The new WC pan and cistern was installed at the beginning of the week, as anticipated the existing pan broke when it was removed. The WC ceiling has been removed and the new insulation boarding installed. This has now been re-boarded and the drylining finish applied


The plumber continued with the installation of the pipe work for the Thermal Reflections system, the routing of the pipe work being chosen to minimise the disturbance to the resident as well providing easy access for future maintenance. The existing gravity hot water cylinder has been replaced with the new improved pressurized version. This was achieved within a working day ensuring that the resident’s hot water supply was not compromised.

The existing cylinder cupboard was adapted to accommodate the new larger unit. The resident has expressed some concern at the apparent loss of storage space; we have reassured her that when the plumbing works are fully completed we shall be installing slatted shelving.


Preparatory works have been undertaken to the under stairs cupboard ready to receive the ground floor heating manifold. The area has suffered from damp issues which we have attributed to moisture rising up through the wall finishings, to mitigate this a narrow band of plaster has been removed to break the pathway for this rising moisture. We anticipate that this, along with background heating from the manifold and installing ventilation grills, will greatly improve the situation.

The laminate flooring to the dining room has been lifted and set aside for reuse; an inspection will be made next week to ascertain the condition of the existing timber floor construction.

It is worth noting that as expected a fair amount of time is spent cleaning and tidying up. Whilst we cannot achieve a dust free result every effort is being made.