Its 19th February...Concrete has set!!!

You can now walk around the house without getting knee deep in mud, so the last week has seen a major change. I counted up the slate tiles I had bought before Xmas only to find I was around 400 short. I have a feeling someone may have been quietly sneaking off with them but never mind I took myself off to 'Rock Unique' near Sevenoaks and they can supply me with replacements that match quite well.

There are 1047 tiles to lay and thankfully I won't be laying them. Then its the re-grading of the garden and then its some plants. I'm sure that the soil will have baked hard by then in the long hot summer that is to come and I'll need that digger back to make the holes, but hey, this is the excitement of doing your own house.

The Magnet Kitchen people came back to me (see last entry) and had reconsidered their approach. They had originally said that the faulty doors and drawer fronts had to be dismantled by me and I had to fit the replacements.....but they came back today to say they would arrange it all.....Send the lads in to put everything right. That's a relief as it will be bad enough removing everything my dear wife has put in them...just about a shipping container full of kitchen equipment in every one of those drawers!.

Volker , the Huf Basement expert came from Germany today to inspect the retaining wall as well. I hadn't seen him since those November days in 06 when the site was just a great big hole in the ground. There had been some moisture coming through the retaining wall, through the lifting lugs of the wall units that was causing the paint to lift on the front face.

Volker only does basements and concrete. He's the Huf basement manager...he knows about basements and concrte.......He inspected......long and hard.....'Yes' he muttered, 'Oh Yes' and then took a screwdriver to the lugs and prised out a plastic plug. 'Its not me, but the painters' he says with a big grin.....'Not my team!'. He explained that these lugs should have been removed and replaced with a compound before painting. He was going back to Germany that evening and would get it sorted.............'But he emphasised...Its NOT my team's work.!!! Again, if there's anything that needs fixing, its done without a quibble.That's Huf for you!!

He mentioned in passing that Huf are doing some houses in Bejing.....the Moscow one had been finished recently . Imagine the logistics of lugging one of these houses all the way to China ! We said our goodbyes and he was going off to another couple of sites before returning to Hartenfels ( an hour south of Cologne) that evening.

The previous day, Nick the Huf plumber had driven from Germany to do some maintenance. He said that he had left at 1am and had already visited another site before coming to me at 11.30am. I guess most English plumbers would be just turning out of bed at that time!!!!

I had been trying to source some Huf black paint for the multitude of timbers that are going in the garden. Huf had quoted me 530 Euros for 20 litres....yes 530. I spent a few minutes on the web and found a UK supplier of the same German paint for over 75% less......so that being a good day's work, I opened a bottle of Beaujolais Villages and everything seems good!!