Kitchen worktops in Hainault

Yes. A post-war London County Council out-county estate, so the housing is laid out in repeating blocks of terraces and semis with small original kitchens designed as a working scullery rather than a living space. The usual job is taking out the dividing wall to the dining room, running a 3m L and adding a peninsula where the wall stood; because the layouts repeat street to street, the same kitchen shape comes up again and again. Gravel and block paving both look like hard standing and neither takes a loaded trolley, so the run from tail lift to door gets boarded. We stage the strip-out so the old tops leave in one trip rather than trickling out across the afternoon. Old tops out and new stone in, both through the same gap.

late-1940s to 1950s LCC cottage estate, ex-council terrace and ex-council semi. Rear access through a garden or a shared path means long pieces can usually come in whole from the back. The plaster is bonded straight onto the concrete, so the bottom course of tiles tends to bring plaster with it when the old top comes off, leaving a rough band behind the upstand. What is under the old top is the real question.

Genuinely good access by London standards — verges, open frontages, plenty of hardstanding and unrestricted parking on most of the estate roads, plus rear access paths between blocks. A side gate and a back door mean the stone never goes through the house at all, which keeps the dust and most of the risk outside. Worth remembering that the old tops have to come out the way the new ones come in, and a laminate run is easier to remove in one length than to carry in one. That is agreed before a plumber is booked.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop templating, in that order. Landlord work is scheduled around void periods, so the whole thing is a fixed window and the template date matters as much as the fitting date. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. Sealed before we leave. Estate houses often have out-of-plumb walls and old plaster on the original scullery side, so we template rather than measure and expect to trim the scribe on site.

The free end is what needs deciding early: square edge, mitred apron down the end, or a full waterfall to the floor, and a waterfall is cut in sequence off the same part of the slab. The existing layout is being kept, so the question is whether the old carcasses will take stone in that shape without more support. Carcasses have to be sound first. A run can measure dead right at both ends and still belly out in the middle, which only appears once the laser plots the intermediate points. The back edge is eased in progressively rather than offered up once and forced. It is the slow part of the day and it should be. Material runs from £110 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines rather than rolled into one figure.

Managed stock usually comes with its own rules about working hours, waste, and who is allowed on site. Floors and units are protected before anything comes through the door, communal or otherwise. One visit, our own installers. Tell us the building when you book and the lift, the stair turn and any freeholder notice get built into the day rather than found on it.