We were straight back to it after our trip to France, as we had another deadline looming at the end of August, in the shape of the Twinwood vintage music & dance festival. The pitches are off-grid, so we would need to be self sufficient in terms of gas and electricity, and we would need the water supply and waste pipes in place.
Lou continued with the curtains, adjusting the lengths and ensuring the hems were all the same size so they appear even from both inside and outside. She also unpicked the two inch header tape and replaced with 3 inch. Much of this involved sewing by hand, and frequent adjustments, so this took to the end of July to complete.
Meanwhile, I laid laminate flooring in the living/kitchen area, and some ply wood in the closet to raise the floor height so the lino that will go in there will be at the same level as the laminate.
Next to go on was a new gas supply pipe (more details on page 27), and then I set to work on the wooden kitchen unit. Our 3-way fridge is taller and wider than the original, so the whole unit had to be raised by 1.5cm. Fitting the oven necessitated lowering a shelf and the corresponding part of the frame. A much smaller storage area is left at the bottom, with access to the gas manifold, and housing flat-ish items such as baking sheets and frying pans. All the modifications were made using original wood so the unit has the appearance of the factory fit.
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| Mock up, remembering how it was |
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| Raising unit above fridge |
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| Mock-up with fridge & oven |
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Taking shape
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The kitchen unit was then removed and dismantled for Lou to varnish.
The freshly varnished kitchen unit was re-installed, along with the fridge. Lou cleaned the stainless steel sink, drainer & hob combi unit and this was fitted with a new Comet Novo tap and 90° waste outlet. The tap has a micro switch which was wired to the Whale water inlet socket, and water flows from inlet to tap through clear braided hose. When the tap is turned on, the switch activates the power supply to the submersible pump in an Aquaroll tank outside, and water is pumped through to the tap. The flow can be varied by opening the tap further, and we were both impressed by the flow rate provided by the pump (it's so good, I and half the interior got soaked on our initial test). The sink waste was fitted with a 3/4" convoluted pipe which passes through the adjacent wall into the closet where it will be hidden inside a cupboard below the basin. A hole was cut through the floor and the pipe was connected to an outlet socket to the exterior, which in turn drains into a Wastemaster tank.
With time running out (again), we elected to delay fitting the oven as I did not want to rush the aluminium heat shield that surrounds it. Similarly, I did not want to rush the cutting of the new worktop so the original was cleaned and put back on temporarily. By doing so, we had a successful five days at Twinwood, having sufficient power in the leisure battery for lights and re-charging phones, having water to the kitchen sink and waste out, having a fridge running on gas, and having two burners and a grill for cooking and heating water. An added bonus is that our fridge has a small freezer compartment so we were able to make ice cubes for drinks; very welcome as the weather was perfect all weekend.
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Lou continued with the curtains, adjusting the lengths and ensuring the hems were all the same size so they appear even from both inside and outside. She also unpicked the two inch header tape and replaced with 3 inch. Much of this involved sewing by hand, and frequent adjustments, so this took to the end of July to complete.
