Painting, Plumbing, and Green Manure

Liz has spent a lot of the weekend painting: priming, basecoat and topcoat in the master bathroom (two walls), and the guest bathroom (just behind the towel radiator), so that I could finish plumbing them in. Plumbing them in was the last part of getting ready to run a system cleanser round the central heating system for a while, before I then run a leak sealant (just in case), and top up the system ready for the winter. The cleanser is because of the two new radiators, and the new piping in the preservatory, and because it's been a while since it was last done.

While Liz was doing this, I finished connecting the preservatory radiator to the central heating circuit. I'd got the pipework from the radiator along the wall of the room, and up into the loft, but then had to take it around the loft space, through the wall into the porch loft (heavy going, even with the big SDS drill!), through that loft, and then t-junction the two pipes into the flow and return. I was rather trepidatious of that stage, as they're big, 28mm pipes, and I really didn't want to go wrong, as that would mess up the central heating for the house, not just the preservatory. Anyway, although it took ages to get there, I've jointed them in, and they seem to be watertight.

We've managed a few other bits, in and between: the lawn is mown, and we've pulled up the beetroot and onions. I've sown green manure in those two spaces, to overwinter (it's caliente mustard): the sowing I made where the potatoes went is starting to come up nicely.

Tomorrow evening we'll plant out the overwintering onions, which are going to go around the bean/pea supports in the herb garden.