Can you tell the difference between today's photos and the previous post? The wallpaper is now gone! Our fabulous builder stayed until nearly 8pm to get the last bit finished, but all the old wallpaper is now off, and the walls are ready to be plastered and made beautiful again. The old picture rail was also taken down but will get put back in the new room, don't worry! We want to save as many of the original features as we can.
Just a quick post today! Wiring under the floor has been laid and insulation has gone down too, so it's full speed ahead for the next stages! Got to be careful walking in the room again, as I don't want to put my foot through those insulation panels, even if they are very well stuck down with expanding foam of some sort.
Today's discovery is more of a problem. When the floorboards were lifted, we got a good look at the joists under the room. Many of them are cracked horizontally, and I'm reliably informed by my expert builders that this is a Bad Thing TM. It looks as if some of this had been spotted by the previous owners and some attempts made to fix it, but the work has been done in, shall we say, a non-standard fashion? Our home was previously owned by the Church of Scotland, and it's a running joke that they spent more money on [...]
Two more discoveries to share today! The first is really cool! As I mentioned before, we're removing the current fireplace. It's not an original, and probably dates to the 40's or 50's. When the guys lifted the hearthstone, they found some writing underneath. The "61 Ralston" is fairly self-explanatory, and indicates our house. The name "Hutcheson" tho is the really interesting bit. The chap in the photo is one of our lovely builders called Alex. His family name is Hutcheson, and they have been fireplace fitters going back to his grandfather's time. So, there's every possibility this hearthstone was [...]