28 Feb 2008

The last two weeks have been rather monotonous. The only good thing about them seems to be the change in the weather. It felt as though winter suddenlt ended and spring came with a snap! In a matter of two days we went from working inside with winter clothes and the heaters running constantly to having lunch outside in the sun. This has made a real for the moral of the guys. Although the working environment is always happy, working in freezing conditions, in the snow, travelling in the fog and arriving and leaving work when its almost dark, takes its toll on anyone. Now its sunny (or at least for the moment, Babba March is a bad tempered old woman), i will have to think about getting the guys their winter uniform. Red t-Shirts and dark 3/4 length shorts i think. I keep threatening to have them all wear bikinis when it gets really hot.........

So, the work.

It felt like a never ending round of sanding, filling, sanding and varnishing. The entire ground floor is almost wood paneled. The previous builders took no care in their work when they did this. The simply erected the wood and varnished it. Then painted and plastered above it without covering it. This has left the wood covered in paint and muck, full of pencil marks, sticky tape residue, ingrained dirt etc etc. Cleaning this can only be done by sanding and having to sand through two layers of thickly applied yacht varnish is very time consuming and eats up sandpaper. I think we have used over 28meters of coarse and fine grade paper. The real time consuming part is that most of the problems (as caused by the law of sod) are in corners and fiddly places where i cant get any sanding machines into. This means most of the time it has to be done by hand. However, the weather was better and we could have the windows open to let fresh air in. It is most unpleasant to have to wear filter masks all day long. On the upside, i believe all the guys have smoother softer hands after holding sandpaper all day long and roding all their callouses. nice!

Other jobs that were completed during this time include the completion of the bathroom, tiling front and back weather strips for the doors, re trimming all the wood work, rehanging ALL the newly installed windows and doors, varnishing the external wooden kitchen extension and having a good old clean up. It took about 8 man hours just to clean all the varnish and silicon on the new window panes in the kitchen extension.

At long last i have fulfilled the clients brief. Try and make the place look presentable for very little money. I will have to come back at some stage and reroof it, renovate the second floor and redo the external insulation. That can wait because i am now off to pastures new! The little village of Bistrets, close to Sredets. The client (Mr T) has told me his tastes, given me a broad outline and told me to get on with it. Excellent! It is a joy to have someone trust you and respect you taste and judgment on a property. I have the opportunity to make an amazing house for Mr T and i know it will give him massive pleasure to own it and will be a real string in my bow.