I went away this weekend (more on that later) so Craig and my dad, Dave, were left to their own devices in the house.
I got back on Sunday afternoon and headed straight round there to inspect what they had been up to (obviously).
They had made a start on cutting out the brickwork for all of the new plug sockets (the whole house needs rewiring due to previous owners just trailing wires down the walls and round the skirting boards). There was a serious lack of sockets in the house before- Craig is a techno geek so we need A LOT of sockets for all of his gadgets! Dave’s motto is “you can never have enough sockets”…I think we have enough with 10-12 sockets in each room!
(NOTE: Planning Permission is not usually required for installing or replacing electrical circuits but you MUST comply with Building Regulations. When you come to sell the house this is something the solicitors will ask to see proof of. You can either use an electrician registered with a “competent person” scheme (this means they can self certify that their work is Building Regs compliant), or you can have the works inspected by Building Control or an electrician registered with a “third party certification scheme”. As Dave is an electrician by trade he is doing the work himself and we are having it inspected and certified at the end. If you do not know an electrician we recommend using one who is registered with a “competent person scheme”.)
Craig and my Mum, Debbi, also made a start on stripping the layers of old paint from the skirting boards and door frames upstairs. I will post a tutorial on how to do this in our Hints & Tips section. Warning: It’s messy! Really really messy!
Finally, we made a start on knocking out the cupboards to make room for the new ensuite bathroom in the guest room. We just removed the old cupboard doors and some of the plaster to expose the wall that we need to take down. We’re going to get some advice from a structural surveyor before we take it down (we don’t want the roof caving in on us!).
This week we’ll be cracking on with the rewiring and arguing about where the shower and toilet are going to go in the ensuite!
Casey