Ten days on

If this building project was a sailboat and we were on the ocean, one might fairly say that we are in the doldrums. Nothing else has happened inside the house and we still don't have a date from the ESB (the electricity supply organisation that provides grid services) for when the house will be connected. This is why, other than the slow drying out of the plaster, nothing has happened inside the house.

The main contractors' chaps are working away on the site on a wide range of tasks, including getting all the drains connected to the main sewer, tidying up the site, prepping for the paths and drive and the like.

So, as this snap shows. We have water to the house and drains to carry it and all the assorted waste away from the house. If only we could get some electricity to the house we could get going on the plumbing, the tiling, the kitchen and the like. It looks extremely unlikely that we will be in by Christmas.


Bah, humbug

At last the plastering is finished...

...and now we have to wait for it to dry out.

Still, the scaffolding has gone and we can now see just what sort of views we will have from the living room, or do I mean the salle de Sejour?

Main window overlooking Smerwick Harbour

Not yet plastered

After three days away from the site, we returned on Friday for a site meeting with builder and architect. It proved to be a somewhat disappointing meeting and day.
First of all the plastering is not finished and won't be until close of play next Tuesday - that is a full week later than planned.
But that pales by the news that our scheme to get the underfloor heating up and running has been scuppered by not being able to get the electricity supply reconnected. The worst-case scenario for that is it could be eleven weeks away. That is to say in the week of January 20th 2020. Work goes on to shorten that lead time but we have already had to put back the kitchen installation by two months to mid-Janaury.
The underfloor heating needs to run for at least a week before the tiling of the floors can be done.  The plaster needs to dry enough to paint before the floors go down as it is being done by spray painting. The second fix joinery, including the installation of the staircase, can't be done until the tiling is done. Nor can the installation of the kitchen.

The one positive note is that the scaffolding is down and we can now get a good sense of the geometry and volume of the build.