I actually laid zero boards but perhaps I am finally getting my act together.

First off I had to lift the very last run because I had forgotten to punch out some old nails that would end up sitting over the steel joists.

Then I tested gluing in a few of the wooden plugs I had created during the week.

This gives a pretty good finish and really hides the 10 mm holes I have been forced to drill.

During the week I bought a countersink bit with straight 10 mm sides.

I tried it out on a test floorboard but what I found was that if I set it for a 6 mm cylinder (for later plugging) then what with the countersink and the ability of the screws to countersink themselves even further, the screw head ended up 10 mm in to the floorboard.

In desperation I rang Tony M and he told me to buy a dowelling bit - it has a small locating point, but no countersink and will create a nice clean cylindrical hole.

To pack up, go and buy one and get back to site would have lost me 3 hours so I rang the local hardware to confirm they carried the bit in their stock and then rang Linda and asked her to bring it out to me.

I continued on creating floorboard runs from the raw stock using the gauge piece while waiting for Linda to arrive.

In fact by the end of the day I had created 9 sets.

When Linda arrived she was very upset about the presence of some black mould on one wall due to the leaks I have been unable to prevent. She seemed pretty negative about my whole project and this left me feeling discouraged and unmotivated.

On a positive note, she was quite happy with the floorboards that I had laid - being second hand they have number of holes, notches, splits and other defects. I am hoping that when I have the floors sanded and oiled / waxed then this will hide many of the sins.

I also realised that it was rather unnecessary to spend my time on site, up on the roof, cutting and matching up floorboards. I could actually do this far more efficiently at home without exposing myself to the elements.

In fact, I could also perform all the countersinking at home and then just place, clamp and screw the boards much more quickly just on a short site visit.

To this end I was about to take all the raw floorboard stock home and close down for the day.

After a bit of thought I decided it was a bit silly to bring a whole lot of boards out with me and then two hours later take them home with me.

Instead I stayed out on site and processed as many boards as possible.

I also tested out the dowelling bit and I think this is the answer to my problems.

At around 4.30 pm there was a light shower that forced me to pack up quickly.

Also in the middle of the afternoon, my protective tarpaulin split down the middle, over the central supporting arm that I used to keep it from bashing me on the head. This meant that for all the rest of the afternoon, while working on the drop saw, I had to put up with being periodically belted by the tarpaulin.

Anyway, during the week I will bring every thing home and spend any spare time creating floorboard packs for installation out on site.