The Works Begin!

After many hours of thought and sweat, we have begun the process of connecting our 1st floor flat with the ground floor flat and courtyard with an internal stairway. Cleaning out the room we affectionately call the "fireplace" room was a big chore in and of itself. Loads of bricks and wood that served as a full wall bookcase had to be moved two floors down to the basement. I hope that counts a P90x workout for me, as the gym room is full of boxes and it is becoming more and more difficult to find the time and space to "push play" each day.

Before and after the "brick and wood" exercise:

The two workers from the construction firm we are using spent most of the first day setting up protections and breaking through for the passageway between the two floors. Not knowing what would be found between the two floors, we were expecting some surprises. The big surprise was not just the various levels of materials and construction, but the fact that  plumbing for the heating system ran across the area where the passageway was being cut. The surprise caused a break in one of the four pipes and required turning off the hot water which not only supplied the taps in flat but also the heating system. We will need to wait for day 2 to get this plumbing problem solved.

Our night without heating was not too rough and fortunately in the morning, we found enough hot water left in the reservoir to take some proper showers.