First-time house renovation

latecomer

suisidevw wrote: »

Latecomer, any news from the new builders?!?!

Yup. I was seriously pee'd off last night after not receiving any payment or work schedule and was going to get on the phone this morning. Checked email first and had one from him, send about 6:30am, appologising for the delay in starting and also promising to get the schedules to me by this evening and suggesting we would chat so I'm presuming he's going to call to go over them.

He's also said that they will want to get the scaffolding up a week on monday to do the roof work and rendering on the extension. He's allowing 2 weeks for that work and then the shed and fence will be reinstated.

Forgot to say that the new main connection is going t obe done in approx 12 weeks minimum - apparently they have a huge backlog. OH has phoned up to ask whether pregnant people get any kind of priority due to the evidence that suggests lead is bad for a baby's evelopment. We're waiting for a call back

planning on lots of work over the next few weeks - need the builders to get some materials first and asnwer a few questions about how the plasterboard should be fitted in the loft.

That reminds me - I was going to make sure the builder arranges for a porta-loo for the duration.

latecomer

jimbugalee wrote: »

love the ducks!! we had one fly into our garden the other week. Really odd as no water or anything near us. I fed him custard creams .. yum for a duck!

I love ducks - had some for tea last night

stolt

latecomer wrote: »

I love ducks - had some for tea last night

must admit i did look at them wobbling along thinking they could be quite tasty!!! I think i tipped the kids over the edge when I said those are the things i was rolling in pancakes at the chinese the other day!!!

stolt

I now know why the ducks were in the garden and not leaving.... they have made a nest in the bark chipping!!.. there are two eggs but the ducks have not been there all day. I think with the bad weather this week and my girls havent been in the garden the ducks didnt realise how busy it was when they are in the garden. Shame though and i was debating whether to try to hatch them for myself (theres a lake nearby so we can release them on there when fixed) . Will leave the nest for a couple of days just to make sure they have abandoned the nest.

either that or its scrambled eggs for breakfast!

Also noticed a great tit (thats a bird!) taking something into a nest box and there are is either a baby or the mum in the next box already but worried now that my girls will disturb them. Really excited as i feel we have been chosen for them to have their babies in the garden (sound stupid i know) but i wanted to attract wildlife but just assumed it would be insects etc....

andrew-b

Egg-cellent!

aliasojo

Aw I hope duck Mum and Dad come back. (Don't you dare eat them! )

We have a seagull nesting on the roof opposite us and I think Dad is injured as he's disappeared suddenly and an injured seagull is wandering about a field close by. I'm sat here wondering how I can get food up to nesting Mum without climbing on the roof. :rotfl:

As if I don't have enough to worry about.

John_Pierpoint

Ducks are notorious for being stupid parents.

A pair tried to nest in the bushes next to my modest pond - needless to say the fox got the eggs if not the parent birds.

stolt

hi everyone, had a bit of dad time today with my girls, took them for a walk in the local park/woods in the afternoon managed to get some really good photos with my new camera of the local pond and some wildlife etc, girls enjoyed themselves and realised I must not get too wrapped in the house but need to give them some time aswell. Having said that I still managed to finished off putting the sand in the artificial grass and put two lights up in the lounge that the wife wanted me to do. Was going to wait for the electrician and saved myself £40. ( can spend that on plants now!)

Update on the duck front, she wasnt there again this morning and havent seen them all day, strangely enough theres another Egg!!!! how did that happen!!! she must be coming down early morning and laying, so glad i didnt remove them last night. Spent yesterday evening looking for a incubator on the net and how to raise ducklings. I suspect that the mum lays her clutch then lays on them when shes laid the full clutch that way they should all hatch within hours of each other rather than days as i guess they can pretty much walk as soon as they hatch, and she wont want babies running around while shes still trying to hatch eggs.

The Great Tits has been hard at work today, dad has been back and forth with little caterpillar grubs in his beak, athough i suspect its for his wife rather than the babies as i cant hear any noise yet. Wish i bought one of those nestboxes with the camera now, would have been great to show the girls.

thought i'd post up a few to see what people think, hope you dont mind trawling through them when trying to catch up on other peoples progress.

latecomer

Whats the new camera? I'm thinking about getting a good one for when the little one arrives although that could be dependent on what funds are left after the building work is finished.

Talking of building work - we finally got an email with a rough schedule in it....at 7pm last night. There was also a payment schedule of sorts. the first weeks work included boarding the hall and the loft - neither of which are ready to be boarded. Wasns't overly happy about this but was determined that it wouldn't be an issue at least for us.

Anyway guys turned up about 7:45am this morning and started looking round and planning. I spoke to the boss about the schedule and he said not to worry abuot the panelling in the hall as they would remove that after removing all the door frames (which they had included in the price.

I'm going to finish brandering the beams in the loft and get the insulation back in before next week to allow them to reboard the loft - he said that the work we'd done so far was great

So we'll need to see how things go but it looks promising. They are planning on working from the inside in terms of finishing to try and keep the dust etc outside so it looks like they have thought things through. they are going to ge the garage door fixed and working and then they'll use that as their access route so they dont have to come in the house. All things going well we should have the outside rendered within the next 3 weeks........weather permitting of course

stolt

Hi latecomer, its a samsung wd or wb something, my boss got one and said how good it was and i was only use to buying the point and shoot cannons etc. good thing about this is that it has a 24x optical zoom so can really zoom in on subjects from a distance. Something i was hoping to do the the birds in the nest box.

Some good news, went down to check the duck nest this morning, only to see if she had laid more eggs and shes sitting on the nest now, she blends in so well with the bark, i didnt spot she was there until i was about 6ft away. I hope the kids on the trampoline dont put her off.