As the days get longer we’re spending less time working in the dark and cold. For the first time this weekend I regretted putting on my full thermal set, always a milestone of the changing weather. The colour of the light also seems to have changed, becoming warmer, and less sharp.

Last weekend we rented the cut-saw in order to cut the stone to make a new doorway. As it was pretty much the same price to rent it for a weekend or a week, Chris opted for the longer option. This meant, once the door was done, he decided to trial cutting the concrete floor to see if it would speed up the process of removal. Having found the saw did the job remarkably well, he spend two evenings cutting out and removing the concrete, before the saw had to go back.

After Chris’s hard evening work we arrived on Saturday with a small amount of concrete left to remove and the then arduous task of digging the whole floor down around 20cm, ready for the insulation and concrete layer. First we had to take everything out of the room, squashing the bits and pieces in wherever we could. Rather than move them out and then back in again Chris and I finished putting up the batons Anna and I had started.

Once the room was clear we began to dig. Started on a tiny area in one corner I began to have serious doubts we’d get very far by hand. The ground was a mixture of grit and large stones, making it difficult to dig. There was another surprise in-store however, below the grit we found another concrete floor. This one was at least very thin and easily broken up with a pickaxe. Below that we hit clay, an even tougher material to scoop up.

Both days, spent breaking up the ground with a pickaxe, shovelling the lumpy, stoney mess into a wheelbarrow, and transporting it outside, were exhausting. We both spent a few moments at the end of each down, laid out flat on the bare clay floor, too tired to keep going. But after two days, the floor is nearly done. With the exception of a few doorways, and lots of refining to get the levels right, we’re there. With this nearly done we can soon get rid of the massive stack of insulation that is taking up half our lounge. Slowly the kitchen/ diner is transforming into a finished room.

On a side note our, much appreciated, insulation team, who previously seemed to survive solely on Red bull, seem to have changed over to Tango and Fanta, with cans scattered everywhere around the house. Perhaps their doctors told them they needed more fruit in their diet? It is the time of year for a health kick afterall? Still whatever is powering them on it’s great to see more and more plaster board up on the walls – hiding all our messy mistakes out of sight.