Thursday began with a conundrum. Since the new plumbing for the Window Wall was done, when water flowed to fill our cold storage tank, we’d been hearing some very strange noises. Some of it was what we regarded as fairly normal pipe rumble but overlying it sometimes was a buzzing that defied explanation – how could a water supply buzz? Eventually Fitter Men, normally with a radio on, heard what we were talking about and decided that they couldn’t live with it either.
Plumber Man turned up to lend a hand. The buzzing seemed associated with the water flow slowing down. A special ballcock was mentioned that either flowed or not, rather than trickled to a stop. Untried technology. The non-return valve on the mains inlet was also suspected. After a fair amount of head-scratching, the team decided to increase the size of the service hole at the back of our under-sink cupboard to enable the replacement of the valve. The buzzing noise went away. Bliss! Clearly we’d had a faulty non-return valve.
Normal work could resume.
Thursday and Friday made our building site look even more like a kitchen, both with the addition of doors and with another appliance.
The Cooking Wall has gained it’s extractor hood and the “vanity” panel (I think it’s more correctly referred to as a “fly shelf”) above it. In my view, the fly shelf ties it in very neatly and is well worth the extra. We’ve taken the protective plastic off the two ovens, too.
The only sub-optimal [I’ve been reading management manuals again] feature on this wall is that modern free-standing fridges are a little deeper than our old existing fridge and the “magic corner” shelf units in the cupboard beside the fridge won’t open fully without fouling the fridge. We’ll be able to reach in, though and they’re better than a smaller integrated fridge, in our opinion.
The Window Wall has progressed nicely, too. We have a working tap and dishwasher which Francine is threatening to use this evening. Washing up in the garden wears thin. The dishwasher now has its matching door panel so is better balanced and won’t fly back up.
Lurking in the centre of all that is the island unit in Oxford blue. We have a double socket lurking around the back as it is definitely going to be the main preparation area. The socket will be hidden under the worktop overhang.
Speaking of worktops, a nice man from Stewkley Stone turned up on Thursday evening to measure and made plastic templates from which to cut. We’re going for the quartz option. They will take about 2 weeks to make.
Meanwhile we have some more conventional worktops on loan to make things more usable for the duration. What considerate people.
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