Attic renovations: tearing down

By the end of this week the first phase of our renovation works will be finished: all tearing down on the inside that can be done + moving the heating system one floor down.  The room formerly known as Kabouter's room and the room formerly known as the guest room have no more ceiling , no more door and the roof has no more insulation etc... The wall dividing the rooms stands a bit in solitude, waiting anxiously what will happen to him. I've promised he'll get back a door, even if it's at a different spot. And I told the stubborn toilet to leave as well. 


The room formerly  known as Kabouter's tiny room with the hidden mini bathroom




View on the attic from the rooms below.







The works happend, what else did you expect, with ever changing planning but I should not complain as all the preparations will have taken place this week as planned.  The contractors arrived on Monday morning 7u12 and the scaffolding was raised by 8u30.  From then on, we saw pieces of our old abandoned wardrobes, all insolation material, floors etc come down in front of our window.   Much to our surprise I got a late evening cancellation: there would be no works on Tuesday ... I cancelled and rescheduled quickly the architect's control visit. On Wednesday they'd complete the preparations much to my surprise.

So they did, but they had not told me that the other contractor would come and move the heating system on Thursday. Darn, a day without water and heating that I had not taken into account anymore. Clearly I had not left with the kids to the Ardennes, neither had I taken a day off at work. But if they'd do this within a day while the kids are at school... perfect!!

When those workers arrived this morning, there was 2,5 hours discussion among contractors if it could be done with 2 or 3 persons today or if they had to come back (to complete...or in worst case to start in one of the next days)... they left in anger, they were told by their boss to come back, I was on the phone with the main contractor... It was quite a frustrating joke with communication lines going in all directions and discussions in Dutch, French and Polish but by 10.30 AM I had 2 grumpy workers on the attic. There was clear progress, I was quickly cut off water and by the afternoon, I accompagnied an inspection visit by the main contractor and we could see the installation coming together at a lower floor.  Phew.

It'll only be completed tomorrow though, so I'll have to camp with the kids under a little blanket and go to bed early if it gets too chilly. Then we'll let the workers in tomorrow morning and get the hell out of here on the non-school day only to return in the weekend to a hopefully clean and warm house with running (warm) water again. Let's cross our fingers!

And then...the waiting game starts. When will there be a full week of dry weather predicted in the winter to allow us to tear down the roof and establish the complete rebuild??? in 2 weeks? in 3 weeks? before Christmas? After New Year??????
Can I put my shoe for Sinterklaas and order a week of dry weather?  Can I buy that somewhere online, please?


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