On the plus side, the downstairs bathroom is no more and we can start visualising what will eventually become our kitchen and how it becomes the dining room/living room.
On the negative side, they found out the first three metres of the extension was built directly onto soil, with no kind of slabs or stone underneath, and so the damp problem there is worse than expected. And the kitchen installation will be longer and more expensive than expected.
Also on the negative side, we found out that we won't be able to turn the staircase round after all, as there's a steel girder supporting the first floor which runs right across what would be the stairwell. This means a smaller bathroom upstairs, but that the bedroom stays the same size, so not a total disaster. And maybe quicker and cheaper as well, though we still need new stairs.
And we need a new ceiling in the bedroom, as the cracks we found under the ceiling wallpaper were the 100+ year-old plaster bowing and sagging and preparing to drop on our heads.
Still relatively optmistic though, there's nothing like an electric jackhammer to distract you from pessimism. We also met one of the neighbours, who invited us in and showed us his own ongoing renovations, said that all our work is no problem, and told us a bit about the area, which seems nice, and apparently the neighbours on the other side are good eggs as well.
Eventful day at our building site yesterday.
On the plus side, the downstairs bathroom is no more and we can start visualising what will eventually become our kitchen and how it becomes the dining room/living room.
On the negative side, they found out the first three metres of the extension was built directly onto soil, with no kind of slabs or stone underneath, and so the damp problem there is worse than expected. And the kitchen installation will be longer and more expensive than expected.
Also on the negative side, we found out that we won't be able to turn the staircase round after all, as there's a steel girder supporting the first floor which runs right across what would be the stairwell. This means a smaller bathroom upstairs, but that the bedroom stays the same size, so not a total disaster. And maybe quicker and cheaper as well, though we still need new stairs.
And we need a new ceiling in the bedroom, as the cracks we found under the ceiling wallpaper were the 100+ year-old plaster bowing and sagging and preparing to drop on our heads.
Still relatively optmistic though, there's nothing like an electric jackhammer to distract you from pessimism. We also met one of the neighbours, who invited us in and showed us his own ongoing renovations, said that all our work is no problem, and told us a bit about the area, which seems nice, and apparently the neighbours on the other side are good eggs as well.