60-80 minutes drying the time the plaster said, 60-80 minutes. 48 hours after we had applied it a light sanding revealed it was still wet. Either a) they lie b) they meant Saturn minutes or c) we misused the product severely. I suspect c. Luckily things weren’t going wrong everywhere.

The war of hanging the radiator continued this morning. A careful process of constant remarking of holes and diligent drilling meant that the holes weren’t wrong to such severe degree today. They were still pretty wrong of course - up to half a centimetre - but after a tense bit of balancing the thing finally went on. We pushed the radiator on to the bracket and stood back proudly admiring our handiwork. Thursday accomplished.

Radiator

With the radiator removed and placed back in its box the main focus of the day began: Operation sanding. I velcroed a 120 grit sheet to my sander and started tackling every filled hole grinding them down until either smooth or wet plaster was revealed (grr).

Sanded

During sanding Donna went to work removing the cracked bits of sealant that littered the room. This continued the theme we started yesterday of making deeper holes that we lack the expertise to fill.

After lunch we started the special vicious circle that plagues perfectionist (or naïve novice) DIYers. Armed with polyfilla and sandpaper you sand down bumps and fill holes with poly, thus creating fresh bumps. Each time you return to sand the poly you find a new hole that you previously overlooked to fill and the cycle continues.

This vicious cycle was mercilessly ended by us having to stop early today so that we could enjoy an evening away from DIY. We headed to the O2 to try the new Five Guys (tasty) and watch the new Hunger Games (also tasty - Donna bought me a Baskin Robbins).

Cineworld

I rounded off the day by making the spectacularly bad decision to take the bus home from the O2 at the time an event finished. So I have wrote this while sat in a queue to get off the Greenwich peninsula.

Still - the big accomplishment of today is that neither of us went to B&Q. Maybe we can break that addiction one day at a time?

Plan for tomorrow is:

  • Attack every bit of wood preparing them for painting
  • Sand, caulk and paint the ceiling