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Windows coming out today so they can make good the sides with brick. The new ones will be thin aluminium frames so the bit that housed all the sash gubbins gets bricked up and plastered over. Then we have three or four weeks of OSB windows in the meantime.

That's the business, yeah. I could have Googled that before coming to LFGSS but wanted to keep you lot on your toes.

Does anyone make a fire door that looks like a Victorian pine, four-panel door? My builder is sceptical but I imagine someone must, right?

RIP.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/cyclist-bike-lorry-crash-london-clerkenwell-farringdon-road-met-police-b1146600.html

But as Cheney said, there are known unknowns, and unknown unknowns.

Sorry to echo those above, but costs will rise. We uncovered nasty surprise after nasty surprise doing our work. It's reassuring to know they're sorted but continually threw up extra expenses.

Hip iron is like a Langster circa 2007?

"Earth pigments" sounds like an expensive way of saying "mud and dust"

Zipline to the shed has been suggested by family.

I'd have thought that too, but they're set in there very neatly. And they went in about two weeks after the wall went up.

Anyone know what these brackets are? They appeared on our newly built wall yesterday. Never seen anything like it before, but I assume they're to hold capstones on in case they slip free?

We also had a cast iron fireplace broken when removed, which I wanted to put in another room. And I found they'd screwed a safety rail into my stair post that I'd spent weeks stripping of paint - assume they thought it would be filled and painted. That's my only criticism so far; they're careless with period features, even when you stress that they're important to you.

I'm definitely guilty of this, but I'm not wasting anyone's time but my own. I spent probably 40 hours stripping and repairing one bedroom door and there are two more to go. They look a state in some places, and the patches aren't to everyone's taste - but it's what I want to do. But original floorboards are something I really want to keep, and the specialist guy said it wouldn't be a problem. So he's got the work and the builders are just leaving that bit.

I just don't think he sees the appeal of original floorboards. He keeps telling me that modern laminate can look convincing but that's just nonsense in my opinion. A lot of our boards aren't salvageable - quite a lot. But we're getting reclaimed boards from elsewhere to fill gaps. His last suggestion was because "the boards are in bad shape and can't be used". I've told him at literally every single stage of this long process that this is non-negotiable and he raises it every time. Really frustrates me. I decided very early on that him and the builder aren't equipped to do the floor so I instructed a specialist floorboard guy and have been trying to make sure they don't screw up too many boards, and that they leave the right surface for him to work. I still come home to find they've screwed temporary boards down on top of original floorboards and put big holes in them, or cut them in two to get underneath.

The builders did. I have two vents at the front, which ended up a bit too high because the floor dropped there when levelled against the back. But they've hollowed out a channel so that a breeze will get through behind the skirting from there. And at the back, under the new extension, there's an air brick connected to a plastic pipe that runs through the concrete into the old floor cavity. All seemed sensible to me, but I'm no expert.

Yep. The builders put wooden battens across underneath the joists, popped about 10cm of insulated panels in there, and sealed up joints with expanding foam. The old floorboards - much to the horror of my architect who has tried to talk me out of it, no kidding, about ten times - will go down in a few weeks, get sanded and sealed. The new bit of building has a concrete floor and battens will go on there so that reclaimed floorboards can seamlessly (hopefully) run throughout. So much of the old floor was rotten and joists and all sorts of supports are being replaced. Makes you wonder how many Victorian houses in London are in need of the same treatment.

And walls going up around decking area outside.

Plaster going up inside.

So I should find what height I want the shelves at, get them to whack a plug socket in just above it, and run the wire through from the top of the shelf, then stick it to the bottom of the shelf or route it into a channel? How do you turn them on and off easily though? Plug will be a pain to get to, no?

I thought about this because we've got an Anglepoise wall lamp going in elsewhere. But I wasn't sure how they'd fit under shelves, and have the shelves still at a usable height. LED strips seem like another option but they all seemed to have a power pack and plug socket, and that seems messy.

We've just realised that the worktops in our kitchen are going to be too dark. We're not having cupboards up top, just shelves. What should we look at as a solution? We could still get stuff hardwired in as plastering hasn't quite finished. But we'd have to be quick.

Just CGI at the moment, so we'll see... Kitchen island idea has been ditched for a nice solid table. Hi-Fi sideboard wants to go on the right where the radiator is in that image.

Looking for some recomendations from the forum hive-mind:

• Dining table and one bench. Something like 850mm wide and 2300mm long. Something really strong and that will wear in, not wear out, because it's going to be the centre of the room and used for dining/working/working on guitars/cat sleeping zone/everything. This with black legs caught my eye, but is there anywhere else I should be looking? https://www.thetableguy.co.uk/product-page/rustic-refectory-dining-table

• Sideboard for very heavy HiFi, and place to store various junk. No turntable so it doesn't have to be that deep.

All destined for this room, once it exists:

What's the smart move for subscription packages for watching pro cycling now? Sounds like Discovery Plus or Eurosports? Does either have an app for Apple TV? I used to beam GCN from phone to telly, which worked well 90% of the time and totally fell over 10%.

Yep. It's basically just two flat planes of SIP panels: one roof, one front wall (as well as building a new party wall in brick on the side, to match the one that was already there on other side). Interior wall between old house and extension came down on Saturday and the builders should finish installing the steel beam today. Props should be down mid-week.