After our mammoth DIY holiday at Christmas, going back to weekends feels very slow. Still little by little things are coming along.

The main reason our structural engineer recommended we kept the brick wall in the center of the two upstairs bedroom, was because she thought the end roof purlin might be resting on it. While it hadn’t moved since the wall has come down Chris spent an evening installing a support to be on the safe side. As the steel didn’t have holes to attach wood to he made brackets to attach a plank of wood to the side of the structure below. This will allow us to attach a stud wall later.

Having started on one side of the doorway from the kitchen/diner to the lounge, and waited for the mortar to harden, Chris now installed the second lintel on the other side. Once this lintel has set we will be ready to cut out the doorway below.

We continued covering the ceiling with the old boards, though the missing floorboards in the middle of the floor meant we couldn’t get all the way to the top as we couldn’t position ladders far enough back.

Finally, we spent most of a day tidying up. This included brushing up mortar and plaster from the floor, sorting wood, adding more waste to the skip, and finding and sorting all our tools. We also moved all items away from external walls. This is all in preparation of our grant provided insulation team, who are returning next week to continue insulating, boarding and plastering our external walls. Exciting times!

Now the structural work is nearly done we are getting into more detailed considerations about the lay out. At home Chris rearranged our kitchen to demonstrate how wide the gap between our island and our kitchen units will be. I’m still mulling it over, as a narrow kitchen is the worst feature to have in a house. Might need to spend some time pretend cooking in our new space to decide.