This is a rotten joist. Actually, it's a pair of wellies and a rotten joist. Pretty rotten, eh? We're very glad BOB spotted them otherwise we'd just have got finished, moved in and they would have started giving way... 

New joists were put in this week and now floor boarding can start in the bedrooms. Which will be a relief as this week the builders have been balancing on single joists to do work. It's been scary...

Work is galloping on on the roof - the chimneys have been newly pointed, and the back roof of the house is felted and battened.

At the other end of the house there are oak bits on the side. These are either soffits, fascias or barge boards. I used to know which was which, now I'm just confused. Pick the word you like best. And admire that fabulous blue sky!

Mike the Tile has been cracking on with the tiling, after he single-handedly felted and battened the whole roof. The front is very nearly done, the back should be done by the end of the week. We hope it will be done, because on Wednesday the scaffolding will start to come down, ready for the oak extensions. Eek!!

Inside has been galloping on too - we now have membranes and battens ready for the insulation and plasterboard. At the moment we don't have window seats, or even gaps for them. We do keep reminding BOB and he keeps saying 'oh yes, no problem'. We will keep an eye on the walls...

The stair walls are really taking shape - they're solid both sides which is giving us more wall space than we expected - we will be able to hang pictures - YAY!

We thought about building bookshelves into the highest part of the stairwell. It would look fantastic. Then Guy pointed out that we wouldn't be able to get books off the shelves without the aid of crampons and ropes. I suggested an automated 'pick a book' system (like a jukebox only with books) or one of those very long litter picking sticks. It's currently 'in discussion'...

We went to our new favourite place, Gallops in Crickhowell - a salvage yard. We picked two long slabs for the walls of the front porch, they cut them to size (mostly because then they would fit in the car) and now they're on the porch walls. The walls are looking very tall because the floor level is currently below the 'finished' floor level by about 9 inches. So the walls really aren't that tall.

We also pressure-hosed the fireplace arch in the bathroom. Which obviously flooded the bathroom. 

We  bailed it out with a bucket and a sponge... Let's hope that's the first and last time the bathroom floods...

Today the weather was utterly glorious, so we sat on the patio and enjoyed the sunshine. 'Patio' is a loose term, obvs.

Purchases of the week:

A loo, basin and shower for the en-suite. YES! After much measuring, brainstorming, visiting showrooms and trying to figure it out, we just went ahead and did it. We have a bespoke (it's shorter than the usual, apparently that's what bespoke means in bathrooms) shower cubicle and it should all fit.

Two slabs of stone for the front porch. They're beautiful, and now we need another 6 or so for the back steps - dammit we'll just HAVE to go back to the salvage yard.

Nearly a utility room. On Wednesday we drove to Taunton to see an online kitchen place who said they had a showroom. They wouldn't see us without an appointment so we drove back. Then we realised we were near Bristol so we went to see Wren Kitchens. Two hours and aching brains later, we had a £5,000 plan for a utility room. How Much??? Quite. They did give us a free bottle of Prosecco though, so it wasn't entirely time wasted... Today we went to IKEA and did a much better deal for £1300 - that'll do nicely.

Replacements of the week:

The broken light people have cheerfully agreed to replace the broken light. Sorted.

Plumbs have sent new cushions for the back of the sofa. Not very comfortable. Not Yet Sorted.

Not Yet Arrived of the week:

Beehives. Hmmm. We bought these online, nil communication from the company, suddenly the money went out of Guy's PayPal account, still no communication. Guy queried this through PayPal and got a slightly shirty response from the seller - 'They're made to order, it's 28 days, it says so on the website'. Er, no it doesn't. What it says is 'in stock' which, to my mind, means IN STOCK. It's a bit like an online kitchen saying 'visit our showroom' when what they really mean is 'only visit if you've already made an appointment'. Rubbish websites - my new bugbear.

But it's ok, Prosecco is helping...