The last significant job for Pete and his team was installation of the wood burning stove and flue. This had been a contentious issue from the start of the project. Peak Park Planning had reluctantly agreed to a flue in the barn roof but we had conflicting advice from various letting agencies as to the merits/demerits of having a wood burning stove. On the one hand it was pointed out that no-one would rent the barn in winter without a real fire, the smell of logs, flickering flames, etc. and on the other, that people from the smokeless zones of the cities would fill the stove with wood, add petrol and then burn the barn down! In the end we decided to go for a real wood stove because if we were going to rent a country house in the winter, we would want a real fire after a day's walking.
After a bit of a struggle assembling the flue Pete and Rob managed to erect it on the roof and following several extremely windy nights the flue seems to be as solid as a rock. Incidentally, the cost of these twin-walled stainless steel flues is astronomical with ours costing the best part of £1400!
The first two weeks of January were very quiet with John diligently plastering alone. It is no wonder he is so sought after. To plaster the complete barn, alone, in less than two weeks and to a standard commented upon by all who see it, is a mighty achievement. We cannot stress enough just how good a job John did - thank you very much!
The downside of having the barn plastered was that we now had to start painting it! We had planned to finish all the wall painting before the floors were fitted to minimise masking and covering - we just about succeeded but with second fix electrics and plumbing to come we did have to redo a fair amount later on.
Towards the end of the month the slate for the ground floor arrived and had to be cleaned, dried and treated with stain stop before laying. Rob had the unenviable job of laying the slate in a random pattern. He did an incredible job. With the skirting in slate too, the ground floor looked exactly the way we had envisaged and once grouted, was treated with stain stop once again.