Okay, I’ll stop you right there. The silly white rainwater pipe is not the finished article. It was used to temporarily divert the rainwater from the flat roof while the harling was completed, twice. No point attaching the rainwater downpipe brackets before the walls are complete. Quite sensible really.
So, as you can see, we are nearly there. The first attempt at the harling or roughcast, whatever you prefer, was quite frankly, rubbish. It was only when I saw how good a job Bryant and Cairn’s own roughcaster did that I realised how poor it had been before. His scratch coat, that’s the layer of cement underneath the outer white base coat, before the chips, was streets ahead of that which had gone before which makes all the difference to the finished product. The cement render soffits and ingoes around the door and windows are also perfect. Hats off to the roughcaster and his young apprentice.
Just a few small items to finish off and I hope these will be all completed this week. No doubt Bryant and Cairns will be keen to sign off the contract and get the final payment. First is the mastic sealant around the perimeter of the external walls. Then there’s the rainwater downpipe to install and not forgetting that final clean up. There’s quite a few mortar or render splashes about the driveway to remove. But overall, not much left to do.
Throughout the project there were a few shortcomings that should have been addressed. One was that the open excavations for the foundations were initially going to be unprotected over the weekend. The builders didn’t have spare boards to cover the trenches. It was only when I asked them to contact Bryant and Cairns to arrange some protection that they suddenly became spare. Another issue was the builders using a masonry saw to cut bricks and blockwork right next to the house. Why couldn’t they do that out in the street? It was a right mess.
However, to be honest, the project all went remarkably well, other than a few days of rain and freezing condition, and not forgetting the Christmas break, all delaying the job. So, nearly, there and I’m more than keen to get it all out of the way and I can have my time back to myself for turfing, kick scooting, cycling, fat biking, bird watching, sand collecting, photography and a bunch of other interests I cannot recall at the moment. Another update soon.
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