More flooring, less scaffolding

In the last week steady progress has been made with floor surfaces, we have had a date ten days away confirmed for the delivery of our kitchen, and more of the scaffolding has been taken away, progressively revealing what the house will eventually look like, even though not all of the cladding has been fitted. 

here's the view from the kitchen through to the utility room (the end of the conduit and the sponge won't be there eventually - and the island will

from the kitchen through to the dining area

from the kitchen across the hall to the sitting room

from the hall through to the front study

and from the study back to the hall

Upstairs Ian the joiner started mid-week to glue the engineered oak flooring in place. Like the cladding, it's not a quick job as everything has to be aligned, and the boards have to be clamped together and weighted down until the adhesive has gone off.

the job started with long lengths laid along the main landing (the board on the left is a reference straightedge)

from bedroom 2 .....

past Elizabeth's study .....

to bedroom 4

Incidentally, our sprinkler system (detailed in an earlier post) does not mean that we shall be without smoke alarms. Thankfully they will be mains-wired but they will occasionally need to have their back-up batteries changed.  Here's one for reference:

When we visited with Chris, Katie and their children on Saturday (all of whom managed the ladder very well in order to explore upstairs) we realised that some scaffolding had been removed and a clearer view was emerging of the front of the house.

here's a spooky image showing the photographer, taken from the new strip of our land which will be fenced off from the field

By Sunday the front of the house was clear:

we are looking forward very much to seeing the cladding go on the entrance porch

When we visited this afternoon the scaffolders were there again, stripping out more of the boards and poles.

for the first time, we have a scaffolding-free view from our bedroom, today a view of misty drizzle

and our regular shot across the field now gives a clearer view of the structure