Nearly Done

We are now, without a doubt, running in towards the finishing post. This is a short week. Sparks, the main builder is booked off on a boating trip up the River Shannon with a bunch of mates from Thursday and the extra hours and long days we have seen recently were all about trying to finish by then. Well, we didn't quite make it but we were close. We have in fact a few 'de-snagging' jobs to do and a couple of bigger ones, maybe half day tasks. Sparks will come back and spend another week with us after his boating and after he's done a week of 'real work' up in Dublin. Our left over bits include creating the 'hems' round the edges of the tar felt roofs on extension and utility room, doing the gutters, installing the outdoor lights and wiring and plumbing in the outbuildings (just a couple of double sockets each and a terminated pipe for the tígín just in case we need water there one day), reassembling the fire place and finishing some skirting boards and finishing a couple of doors. For Sparks it's a week to practice his carpentry skills as he gets involved in creating the banister for the stairs - lots of interesting angles and funny measurement of sloping hand rails etc. From there he's on saddle-boards (Irish expression for the threshold boards in a doorway) and then hanging internal doors. This proves an interesting job too in terms of angles and cutting. The bathroom door 'hole' is less tall than standard and the aperture, like most of the walls and surfaces in this house is neither straight nor plumb. We end up offering the door up to its frame then drawing a guide line. We have a bathroom door with a slight (couple of mill) belly in it's lock side but you'd never know. It looks beautiful in its light oak finish and makes the stairs look finished. Sparks has another couple of tasks too, to keep his hand in at the 'real job', electrics. He must wire in the 5 amp lighting sockets which, in Ireland, are generally done with small round-pin 3-pin plugs to make them not inter-change with normal mains plugs. He is also moving the broadband in from the caravan to it final position under the stairs. That's where Dad's now sitting. Finally there was plumbing in of the utility room so that we could have our washing machine back. With the showers and washing machine going we no longer have to foist ourselves on the poor hard-pressed Silverwoods every weekend, descending upon them with filthy dogs, humans and laundry, demanding showers and use of the washing machine like University-age kids at the end of term. We could finally move in properly and actually LIVE here. This was cause for celebration indeed, but more of that in a future post. Deefs