Progress June - October 2004

Dateline April 10th 2005
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Gosh I've been silent for almost a year! Some of you following my monthly progress reports must have wondered if the sudden end of them meant I had come to a standstill. Far from it!

While I was still in the trauma of my catastrophe it seemed as if the whole world was party to it. In fact we humans simply get on with our lives and our own circumstances - the woes of the rest of the world are a secondary concern. So as the debris of the fire gradually disappeared and I became fully absorbed with the rebuilding, it felt less urgent to maintain the reports.

However, it is now time to pick up the thread of the story because:
ON APRIL 2OTH ON BBC 1. T.V. AT 8.00 PM I AM THE SUBJECT OF THE MAKE-OVER PROGRAMME "DIY-SOS".
I haven't a clue how they will tell the story but it was another of the many positive consequences of the fire.

A friend suggested I write to DIY-SOS with a proposal back in February 2004. Bob and Deb (from the programme) came up to look at the site before we had even started dismantling the roof. They said they were unable in a three-day makeover to deal with fire damage but as the ground floor was relatively unaffected by the fire they would be interested in doing a makeover there. It would depend on two things: a new roof and getting the ground floor to a suitable state of readiness.

So throughout the summer while work continued on the roof I tackled the ground floor. A couple of months before the fire I had taken up the 4" concrete slab of the ground floor in order to put in under-floor heating. The heating still hadn't been tackled. The plan had always been to make the ground floor a self contained living unit.

It would have its own bathroom under the porch.

If I could get it ready in time for the TV people to do their stuff I'd be able to move back to Garth. What a prospect - suddenly it seemed possible.

Mark and Alan, the two tilers who took over building the roof, appeared to be up to the job. In no time they had the plywood cladding on.

A local joiner had made the dormers. New roof-lights were fitted

Slating went on for months. It is not an easy roof anyway. And I was constantly chasing cheap sources for another few hundred slates. Plus the builders disappeared for odd weeks chasing other work. In fact they left without finishing the tricky area around the chimney and soil pipe. At least the roof was largely waterproof. Eventually I finished it with a friend.

Meanwhile I worked away at the ground floor: putting down a new damp-proof membrane.

and working on the bathroom. . .

Pipes for the underfloor heating were laid and I built a former in which to pour the concrete for the new concrete slab.

Tamlyn had finished his Btec and A Level at Hereford and was getting ready to start a three year film course at the Farnham campus of Surrey University. He did all the grafting for the slab - barrowing several tons of aggregate to The Hexagon, shovelling it into the cement mixer and depositing it on the floor.

The bathroom proceeded bit by awkward bit. . . particularly under the stairs.

Yvonne and Raoul came from Holland to help. They planned their holiday around it: firstly a week walking the Glyndwr Way. Then they hired bicycles and stayed in B&Bs nearby and cycled to The Hexagon each day for three or four days. We achieved so much so quickly that we were able to spend a day walking the Duhonw River from its source to the Wye at Builth.

Unfortunately after taking this picture the camera broke! So no pictures of the days they spent getting covered in soot scraping the redeemable timbers of the middle floor. And no pictures of the days they spent getting covered in rockwool dust as we stuffed insulation between the beams of the ground floor ceiling.

It was now September and I had already missed two deadlines for DIY-SOS in June and August. If I was to get into the next series, the final opportunity was in October.
I only needed to lay in the electrics, plasterboard the ceiling and several remaining sections of wall.

And prepare the floor for the tiles which the Beeb kindly offered to lay before the film crew came - as otherwise I simply wouldn't be ready. Neil and Luke lent a hand.

Sometime over the summer I added this:

ON OCTOBER 5TH THEY CAME AND I HAD TO DISAPPEAR. THE "REVEAL" WAS ON THE 10TH .

PHOTOS OF THE FINISHED DOWNSTAIRS WILL HAVE TO WAIT TILL AFTER THE SCREENING. SO PLEASE WATCH THIS SPACE.

It took another month to get the heating sorted and the bathroom useable. But at last I was ready to move into my new home and leave the flat in Llandrindod.

I moved in on November 14th - ONE YEAR TO THE DAY SINCE THE FIRE!