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Week 28 11th August to 17th August
13th August
Skimmed & painted wall + new door	'Before' shot
The tiles start to go down (about 40%)	Preparing for waste in shower room (buried in screed)
Work starts on installing the doors
Temporary engineering bricks are removed and bottom track is laid to be the exact height of the floor tiles	The bricks that have been providing a doorway for the past 3 months are stacked ready for removal

..and they're in!! They feel very warm, snug and secure although they don't open at this stage and we need a replacement hinge.


15th August
Plumbing in the utility "room" (cupboard!)	Choosing which wood protector to use. Teak Oil was the lightest and nearest so we chose that. Over the weekend I put two coats on myself, allowing 12 hours drying and a rub down with 180 between.


Week 29 18th August to 24th August
18th August
The replacement hinge arrived from the door company and we were able to see what they look like fully opened	Folded to the left, they are as unobtrusive as I expected so we can still have our intended 'bench' built into the surrounding wall.
Opened to the right, it isn't as designed (due to the dog-leg modification). It was supposed to open flat against the surrounding wall but instead is in the way. Isn't too bad though, we'll just have to figure out a way to secure it from blowing around in the wind

19th August
Internal doors on and plastering around complete and painted	Door installation complete, area above plastered and painted
Regarding the security of the doors: the glass is pretty much unbreakable the glass can't be popped out of their mounts the doors can't be levered up off the track the steel frames are near impossible to damage locking the doors has five 5 bolts securing various sections the lock is unpickable So you'd think that's pretty impressive and they've covered everything.... No, not at all. A intruder with a reasonable amount of knowledge would be in in under 10 seconds and minimal damage.	These expensive, high security doors have been fitted with a lock barrel with a major design flaw. I won't detail precisely why this is bad or how it takes an intruder so little time to bypass, but this is the offending item.
My builders also do work for the council where they often have jobs where they're required to gain entry to vacant council flats with minimal damage. They've used this method of entry many times and love these locks as it makes their job so easy.	To rectify, one merely exchanges this barrel for another one with the flaw modified and then the security is as high as you thought it was. I contacted the company, Folding Sliding Doors and explained the situation. Their response was that I had selected the standard handles which came with that lock. They do sell the modified barrel, but this only comes with their 'security handles' which are an additional £90. I pointed out that the handles weren't a problem, the lock barrel was but they told me "that's how they come". Bit of a disappointing response there, especially considering they're aware of how easy it is to get through the supplied barrel.

20th August
Foundations laid for garden patio wall
Making cupboard doors	Toilet and sink in & working

Ariel on the roof and TV working!

21st August
Garden walls bricked up. (Steps go in the middle)
Retaining against the garden. Damp course and backfill will go in there before earth on top.

22nd August
Cooker hood in	Shower enclosure in (has to come out as the aqua panels need to go on the wall first)
Cupboard doors finished and painted. I tried to get the same colour as on the kitchen units, but so far it doesn't look like much of a match! Perhaps it'll be better with more coats
Another problem with the doors that the manufacturers are unwilling to help with. The mechanism for the main (traffic) door's handle is the opposite to the way the door opens, so it jams:
The flat, flush handle is lifted... ...turned to the left to unlock... ...as the door opens to the right and jams the handle against the closed door
They do handle mechanisms opening left or right and this door is clearly fitted with the wrong one. As the other door that has a handle opens to the right (so we know they do such a mechanism) and was installed with the seals reversed (easily rectified during fitting) we strongly suspect that the person assembling the order confused which door opened to the right (this one) and which to the left (the folding one). Contacting the company they said the way to rectify it is to undo the two screws securing the handle, rotate the handle -90 degrees and reattach. This then means the flush door handle which is designed to be flush and unobtrusive no longer looks like that, but something really odd. We want them to come out and change the mechanism to the correct one, but they won't. So that's Folding Sliding Doors Ltd of Bradford- if you buy a door from them and they assemble it incorrectly, tough. 24th August The end of this week was the "just two more weeks" deadline that he set when he missed our return from honeymoon. Speaking to him, he apologised again and asked for "another two - promise will be all"

Week 30 25th August to 31st August
29th August
Frustrated with the lack of progress, I tiled the splashback myself	The main cupboard doors finished. Having another coat of paint brings out the colour that was intended and they're much nearer that of the units now.
Speakers now in. These two in dining area..	.. and these two in kitchen area. They don't sound as good as I was expecting (a little high) so I'll add a sub to try and balance it.
Window above bathroom

Week 31 1st September to 7th September
4th September
Bathroom complete (nearly)	The shower is 1.4m x .9, so is a decent size
Courtesy of ebay bargains, the cupboard contains amp, DVD/CD, digibox and distribution unit. Also in there I have a coax, a PC and a DVI feed to the TV. Works well - lots of mess, shut away!	The bigger TV can be swung to face outside. Unfortunately, as expected with a 15m SCART and a 15m DVI, the picture isn't perfect.
All the cupboards now finished. Far left is for coats/shoes, middle is a 4 door opener for utility area, next cupboard is electrical stuff plus spare freezer and then there's another cupboard (which looks like a wall) that houses the boiler and underfloor heating manifold.	Inside the utility cupboard. Washer / Dryer / Space. Large horizontal surface and sink/taps. It'll also have some additional cupboards in there. The dryer is a condenser type, but is modified to feed the water into the washing machine drain. When the doors are shut, this whole messy area disappears!
All the tiling has now been completed. The underfloor heating appears to work well with the whole area getting warm in a way that you can't quite find the source of. Won't really know how it is until the winter, but it should be really nice.	The tiles go all the way to the door sill at the same level without any step.
Outside has been prepared to have the drains and concrete laid

5th September Now we are 4 weeks past the last deadline and not only frustrated at the lack of progress, but the lack of effort. The builders pace had been slow and uninterested, but at least they were here. Now they're spending less and less hours on site (...and then being slow and uninterested when they were!). We attempted to set another deadline as we're away next week and asked what it would take to finish by the time we return. We were told more resource, but as the builder was experiencing cashflow problems this was difficult. Through negotiation I suggested to forward £1,500 from the outstanding amount (the amount due on completion, after snagging) on the condition it would only be used on resource and material and he would definitely finish. On my return, if it was all done, I would happily hand over the final payment. This was agreed and promises was were made.

Week 32 8th September to 14th September
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Week 33 15th September to 21st September
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