The roof tiles are finally going on

This week they started moving the roof tiles from the old roof to the new roof. I was so excited. Finally we won't have to worry when it rains. Of course this is not the case though because we have run out of tiles already. With all the breakages that have happened when they removed the tiles from the old roof there are no where near enough tiles to cover the new roof.

So now we have to wait for the contactor to find some matching tiles at a demolition yard. Excitement deflated.......

So now they are cutting out the old roof again. At least the inside is starting to look like a real space now. You can even start to get a sense that it might actaully be livable at some point in the very distant future.

Yay the tiles are finally being moved to the new roof.

Out with the old broken tiles. Of course the dump site is right in front of out front door.

Starting to look like a real space now.

Next stop floor beams and noggins (litgtle pieces which create stability in the floor).

The last two weeks - an overview

On Wednesday 15 February our 20 mnths old son fell in the garden and broke his leg. If you're interested in more details please take a look The Peas Pod, Our toddler has a broken leg post. So we've been out of commission for 2 weeks between the hospital stay and getting some for of routine going back at home. So in the interests of keeping this blog moving I've decided to just give a quick overview of what I've not had time to write about.

1. They said they had finished the frame and so started on the outer cladding. Now our house looks like a big white box.
2. It buckets down with rain and they have not put up the tarp properly and the water pours through our kitchen and bathroom ceilings. The kitchen ceiling is completely ruined. Stephen goes tow to toe with the contractor to replace the ceiling and wins.
3. They invoice us for the framework but during his night time water proofing exercises Stephen discovers large gaps in the roof framework. So another round with the contractor and no payment for them until they finish.
4. They suddenly begin work on the roof structure again.
5. They start cutting the rafter out where the old roof was.
6. The pile of rubble in our garden grows.

During this time we have also been in negotiations with the electrician over what work needs to be done and the fact that he is trying to over charge us.

The cladding begins.

Our nice white box.

The damage done to our kitchen ceiling.

Buckets collecting 60 years of dirt and water in our bathroom

The old roof structure.

Just look how much dust that ThinkPink has collected over the years.

The new, incomplete roof structure.

The old roof inside the new structure.

The day they started throwing rubble out of the roof.

Day 15, 16 and 17 - work grinds to a halt

The builders have not able to do any work at all because they were waiting for materials. We waited most of Friday and then I called their boss to find out what was happening. It seems that their truck had an accident on its way to deliver the Nutec boards (for the outside walls). Some of their guys even landed up in hospital. I have to admit that the cynic in me (who has been burnt by many a builders excuses) thought that that sounded convenient. However on Tuesday when the foreman arrived to deliver some more material I saw his neck brace and bandages on his head. Apparently the trucks wheel broke off while they were driving to site. Shame on me for throwing every builder in with the bad ones.


So nothing at all has happened the last three days. I have to say that I have enjoyed the silence and the extra long sleeps that Curious George has had. Also my husband arrived home on Sunday evening, from his two weeks overseas, as sick as a dog. He enjoyed the silence as well.

He did however climb up into the roof to see what progress was being made (that's manly curiosity for you) and took some photos.

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Day 13 and 14

They have continued to work on the floor beams and bolstering the rafters but you can't really see anything new.

Day 12

Nothing to report today. I didn't even take photos because you can't see anything. They say they are still working on the floor beams but were right at the back inside the roof the whole day. I hardly even saw them.

Can't wait for my husband to get home to he can climb in there and tell be what is going on and take some photos of what it looks like.

Day 11 - feeling insecure

Last night or rather this morning around 5am I was convinced I heard someone (I suppose in hindsight it could have been something) on our roof. I managed to freak myself out so much that I had to call ADT (our security company) to come and check the house. It was during this time of worry that I realized that with all the holes they've made in our roof structure there is very little between us and the scary outside world but ceiling boards. Never mind that we have locked gates a 6ft wall and an electric fence around or property - I was (still am) freaked out by our vulnerability.

It was around this time that I also realized that there is a trap door access panel to our roof which is now completely exposed. It's in our passage which is in a part of the house where the alarm is not on during the night because pregnant women need to use the bathroom a lot at night. Suffice it to say that with my husband away I no longer feel safe in my house.

To make matters worse today they started taking out huge chunks of tiles and cutting out rafters in order to put in the floor beams. So now there is little to none of the existing roof left.

At first I just felt like crying about it. However seeing as there's no one here to save me and that actually I really am a capable woman who usually doesn't flinch about staying alone when my husband is away I made a plan.

The plan was:
1. Get the builders to nail the trap door shut with planks.
2. Have a new lock fitted to our side gate which ADT has a skeleton key to so they can check the property if I call them.
3. And this one I only gave into after it got dark.......  call my brother and get him to stay in the guest room for the night.

Here are the huge holes in the roof. I did have to climb the ladder to get this shot but I was very careful (for those of you worrying about a pregant lady climbing ladders).

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Day 10

Not much to report. Work continues on the roof structure.

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We've sprung a leak - update

OK so when I went to bed last night I discovered that unfortunately the leak had not missed the bed. My side of the bed was soaked. So I stripped the bed down and made up my husband's side which was still dry. So I was still able to sleep on the bed. This is probably the only good thing about my husband being overseas, at least I had somewhere to sleep :).

We've sprung a leak

Today the weather finally got the better of our large tarp. I came into my bedroom after putting CG to bed to discover that the chest at the end of our bed was wet, along with everything on it and there was the remnants of a puddle on the floor. Oh no. So bad news or good news first.

Bad news - The water came through the light and the light seems it have shorted. The wood of the chest has water marks and my husband's laptop bag (empty cause he's away) got wet wet wet.

Good news - that's the only place in the whole house the water came in. It missed my bed. Some how it missed my laptop which was on the end of the chest (only by some small miracle cause everything else was wet).


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Day 9

Today was also very hot. I am struggling to get CG to sleep because of the hammering and sawing on the roof but the guys agreed to take their lunch hour when he sleeps so this was very helpful. At least he sleeps for and hour. However this unfortunately meant that I missed all the A frames and rafterswhile they were exposed (would have made an amazing shot). When I went outside after the sleep they had already covered the whole frame with a huge (mega huge) tarp, so the photos are not great (sorry). Thank goodness they did this though because we had an almighty storm last night and I don't think the other plastic sheeting would have withstood the deluge.

Day 8

Roof A frames are hauled up onto the roof. Today I had to throw my toys a little because they  were dragging the A frames up the side of the house and buckling the gutters. Old house, old gutters and I don't think we could just replace a little piece so I really don't want them broken beyond repair. You would think that they would have another way of lifting these extremly heavy frames up onto the roof seeing as they are specialist timber frame company, but they don't so I had to shout ( a tiny bit or at least jsut speak convincingly). However these guys work extremly hard and its been very very hot so I couldn't be too hard on them. We'll just have to hope the gutters hold out and then repaint them later.

My mom showing CG where his room will be.

Opening a can of worms - renovating an old house

We knew when we started this project that there were going to be hidden expenses because our house was built in 1945. Whenever you start to renovate an old house you discover all sorts of issues that need to be fixed. I know because I grew up in a house built in 1914. For example my parents decided to move our front door so when the builders began cutting the hole in the wall we discovered that the house was mostly being held together by a very thick layer of plaster. The mortar between the bricks had basically turned to dust and you could now simply remove the bricks by hand, no sledge hammer required.

Well we are starting to find the 'worms' in our house.
1. The outdoor toilet, being used by the builders, cannot take the extra capacity. So it's well and truly blocked and the only fix is probably to dig out a our big bush and replumb the toilet, properly, into the sewer line. Sort term fix is that we've hired a porter pottie.

2. As expected the wiring in the roof is still the fabric covered stuff used in 1945. Lots of exposed wires and odd connections mean that we will have to re-wire the whole house in order for the house to be electrically compliant for a second storey because they have to seal the downstairs wiring into the new upstairs floor.

3. The water supply to the house is all 15mm pipe which is probably full of deposits and so is very narrow. So our pressure upstairs will probably not be great unless we redo this with 20mm pipe from the main line.

Ah the joys of an old house. However I wouldn't swap my old house for any new house. I love it's character, its big rooms, beautiful parquet floors, spacious garden and old world charm. Anyway new homes in SA are not built very well and where my house now needs re-wiring and replumbing after 65+ years new homes start falling apart and leakining after 10 years. So in the end being a home owner is a lot of work no matter how old your house is.





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