It seems like everything has suddenly sped up this week at the house. With the contractors starting installation of the heat pump and solar panels on Monday, we had a list of jobs we needed finished before they appeared. Luckily, we got an extra pair of hands for the weekend, in the form of my older brother Tom.

Our first job was to continue building the new stud walls around the bedroom. It was surprisingly hard to match the edge to the wall, which still curves nicely.

Having clad the interior of the walls we then had to fill them with insulation. This is for soundproofing, rather than its heat trapping properties.

Downstairs, Chris prepared the utility room for the installation of the air source heat pump. He’d already removed the old cupboard and work surface, the last remenants of the old kitchen. Next he took apart the two old doorways that sat between the kitchen and utility. We’d always intended to remove one but we had to remove the second as it was damaged and needed replacing.

With all the rubbish out the way, Chris mixed the self-leveller and spread it on the floor. We’d hope to lay the tiles before the installation, but haven’t had time. This means the machinery will sit directly on the floor, but as it will probably sit within a cupboard it’s not the end of the world.

Next Chris started building the low wall in the old doorway. We need a wall here for a radiator to go on, as the rest of the room is taken up with windows, doors, a fireplace and stairs. We’ll leave the top portion open in order to install glass bricks to let light into the room.

While waiting for the mortar to dry on the first level, Chris started on connecting up the downstairs sink.

In order to add a separate tap for filling buckets, Chris started to build the stud wall for the downstairs toilet.

Finally, he rebuilt some of the stonework surrounding the doorway from the kitchen to the utility. Note the health and safety brick, carefully balanced on top of the hessian.

Meanwhile, myself and Tom tidied the house, ready for the contractors, and loaded the car with rubbish to take to the recycling center. Unusually, I came back from the recycling center with someone else’s ‘rubbish’. As we were leaving I saw a man about to chuck away a stack of gardening tools. As they seemed in good shape I asked if I could have them for the community garden. I find it hard to see anything not broken thrown away, and nearly took a set of badminton rackets off him as well, purely so I could rehome them, but I was worried it would start to look like a robbery.

Outside in the garden we even did some planting. It being mine and Chris’s 8 year anniversary I’d brought him a climbing rose to grow up one of our fruit trees, an idea he’d had since we first had the house. Hopefully it will like it’s new home.

With the weather improving we even managed to do some outdoor cooking… though it was just a microwave sat on the doorstep.

And of course, all fancy houses need a gargoyle or two, so Tom added his own face to one of the pieces of plasterboard, to scare away evil spirits… and possibly anyone else that comes to visit.

With that we’re ready for the contractors, and hopefully they won’t run into any unexpected problems. If all goes well, within a week we might actually have a fully working heating system.