Garage and Hose Room

The garage, when we bought the house, was filled with a heap of rubbish. There is a mezzanine floor and that had baby carriages and cots in it and there hadn't been even grandchildren as babies in this house for a good twenty years or more. It was all cleared out and we could then get two cars in there if we wanted to. It seems to have low profile wheels from my car in it at the moment and just one car but in time that may change.

It is handy as it has steps from the garage up to the porch by the front door so we can drive in and get out of the car into the house without getting wet if it is raining, always a good thing on the west coast of Scotland. 

The Hose Room is a shanty built structure filling in the space between the garage and the house. It is very useful as a covered workshop/storeroom area but leaks like a seive and the swallows just love it to nest in during the summer, as they do the garage as well. It's called the hose room as it still has a huge red hose attached to the wall that was used at one time by the local ferry we guess as one of the family worked there. This room we are hoping to renovate to make it into a utility room/boot room but the costs came back as very steep. The builder reckons he can do it for much less and we are waiting for him and the architect to come and have a bit of a discussion about it all. If it can be done then that's great, it needs a new roof whatever. If it is too expensive then Bedroom 5 will remain the utility room and Ensuite 4 will be the family bathroom used by Bedroom 4. 

Week beginning 25 Nov: Sandy altered his plans for before Christmas and has decided to now demolish the Hose Room that was between the house and the garage and construct our new Utility / Mudroom / Boot Room before Christmas. It will be watertight but the final roofing won't be on until the New Year. He made a start and then found one wall took much longer to demolish than he thought it would but the area is now clear ready for construction next week. The timber has been delivered, over the hedge and blocking the road, and it's all hands to the pump (!) to get it done. The electrician had to come and take electrics away and then put in a run through to the garage for us to keep the campervan on trickle-charge and the security light going. It's been exciting to see how much can be done in a few days for this part of the project.

Week beginning 2nd Dec: Sandy and Neil are happy, they are building walls and thoroughly enjoying themselves. First it was all the measurements, then cutting uprights to fit, ensuring all lined up. Then the noggins (the small pieces of wood between the uprights) were fitted. Top beams and rafters and then the boarding and black papering over the top. Apparently it doesn't matter if any of it gets wet, which I have to say was good to know with Storm Darragh coming through this past weekend. Sandy is also finishing a bathroom for someone at the other end of the village that he had promised to do a good while back but was delayed because of a lack of a chosen plumber by the client. So they only did 3 days this week but got thoroughly soaked on all of them and they'll be back on Tuesday 10th Dec. to continue when it is cold and sunny. 

Week beginning 9th Dec: Sandy and Neil back on the 10th as promised and the new Utility Room structure and roof is now much further advanced. They put the rafters in, ensuring that there is a slope from the front goalpost towards the back to drain off rainwater. Two layers of tiles had to be removed from the garage roof and Sandy had to put a heater on them to be able to do that because the frost was so hard. The rafters were then boarded over and a vapour barrier added to protect it from the weather over the weekend. Timber frame is being covered and protected.

The electrician found a complete mess behind a panel in the hallway where a fire had been before we bought the house. We did know about this but to see the soot-blackened hole and the junction boxes, which Robert the electrician was not happy about, was sobering. 

Week beginning 13th Jan: We came home from our Christmas/New Year break to find that Sandy had boarded the new utility room framework up to keep out the weather. He had also boarded up the porch and designed us a sliding chipboard door to be able to access the front door, very thoughtful.  Work progresses on the new utility room, the room that was the Hose Room. The roof had been deferred due to the bitterly cold weather. The roof materials could not be laid in minus temperatures. The lower layer of roof tiles were removed from the garage so that the roof of the utility room could be joined in and provide a watertight seal. The rest of the roof was fully prepared for when the weather improves this week, including making sure there is a slope for rainwater drainage. 

The roof was completed this week, except for the tiles being put back onto the garage. The rubber sheet was bonded and then the edgings completed. The underneath of the porch was then finished and all the guttering and downpipes that needed to be put back were put back. The front door and side panels are yet to be installed and the utility room boarded and plastered, painted and fitted. Still so much to do in this area and the kitchen extension has yet to come, plus ensuite shower rooms upstairs, the main bedroom and the study/bedroom and old wet room downstairs. The whole house is being renewed from the inside out, Sandy's other projects in his list are all backing up.

Week beginning 20th Jan: The new utility room had a wooden frame put into it this week, as well as 1st fix electrics. The front door had the tiled step removed and the flooring lifted to be the same height as the internal flooring. As the floor had to be raised it meant that the door into the garage had to be raised too and then a new staircase to be built in the garage to get down the extra height. Consequences of bringing the porch into the house. When the lintel for the garage door was rebuilt and the original lintel removed Sandy came across a huge bolt that was designed to hold the garage roof on in the event of severe windy weather. Just as well, as the end of the week brought Storm Éowyn to the west of Scotland. Sandy and Neil abided by guidance for the red zone and remained at home on the day of the storm, thank goodness as numerous trees came down. We were away from home for the weekend at a cricket dinner in Suffolk and seeing family and friends so Sandy popped across (15 miles) to check that the house was secure on the Saturday and then let us know everything was ok. So kind of him to do that without being asked.

Week beginning 27th Jan: