The Block 2022: Wet weather and supply shortages cause major delays

The teams are preparing to take on “the biggest room The Block has ever tackled”.

And while that title has been thrown around before, the living and dining spaces on this year’s Block really are colossal.

These rooms range from 67 to 107 square metres, and the ceiling heights range from six to seven metres high.

“In fact if you were to add the teams’ living and dining spaces together, it would be bigger than the entire building from the very first season of The Block,” Scott Cam explains.

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The host crunches some numbers and reveals the first Block building was just 354 square metres while this year’s living rooms alone are 440 square metres.

“It’s actually the size of some people’s houses,” Sharon tells the cameras.

While Omar and Oz guess it’s about the size of a two-bedroom unit.

Even with such a mammoth task ahead of them, Rachel is ready to take on the week with a new attitude.

After weeks of harsh feedback from the judges, Rachel has been a bit down in the dumps, but she’s decided Living and Dining Week is hers to win.

“I think I realised this week I can just enjoy it and let all the stuff that was weighing me down just roll off me,” she tells cameras.

“This is our week, no one can beat us this week,” Rachel beams.

But after weeks of no money coming in, winning isn’t enough for Rachel.

“We need to win this week, but we also need three tens, we need $25k,” she says.

And while Rachel hopes she can manifest a win with her fighting spirit, Omar and Oz are trying to secure the win with something more tangible.

“Oz and I, we’re really trying hard to get a baby grand piano in this week,” Omar reveals.

“If we can get that I think it will really make this room,” he adds.

They call in piano dealer John Martin to help source the perfect piano for their space.

After a bit of back and forth, Omar and Oz decide on a baby grand piano with self-playing and recording capabilities.

There’s just one small issue – it’s $36,000. That’s well over the room’s budget for just one item.

But Omar and Oz don’t seem too bothered by the hefty price tag. Omar explains John Martin promised he’d “sort something out” for the boys.

“He last told us he’d do around the $8,000 mark,” Omar reveals.

But when producers ask how Omar and Oz managed to whittle John down to a price that low, Omar says he “doesn’t know”.

Omar is very coy and puts the dramatic discount down to “hustle”.

It seems hell would have to freeze over to get that good of a price, and while hell hasn’t frozen over, The Block has.

It’s the coldest and wettest week ever on The Block, with Gisborne experiencing daytime temperatures of just three degrees.

The contestants are pushing to get their walls up to weatherproof their houses, but it looks like they could be left out in the cold after Scotty reveals there’s a material shortage.

To get their seven-star energy rating, the Blockheads need special insulation called PIR board, but they’re proving very hard to come by.

“We knew it was gonna be an issue and it was a huge issue,” Sarah-Jane warns.

And it’s a huge issue across all five houses, so Scotty rounds up everyone for a meeting.

“We’ve struck a major problem with living and dining room week,” Scotty starts.

He gives the contestants an update on the PIR board stock, and it’s not good news.

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“We’ve got some, but we haven’t got enough,” Scott reveals.

The PIR boards are being manufactured in Melbourne as the Blockheads speak but because they are delivering the room in a week they need it now to stay on track.

Tom and Sarah-Jane quickly realise the flow-on effect the shortage will have on their schedule, including their flooring and fireplace installation.

“It ruins everything,” Sarah-Jane says.

But the couple say it’s “a first world problem” as they get back to work on Tim and Tyler’s challenge house.

“If we didn’t do that challenge house, we would’ve been in a worse mindset,” Tom says.

Omar and Oz admit “it’s a massive week to be doing a challenge house” but they are determined to keep their promise to Tim and Tyler.

The teams return to site and Keith has good news for some of them. He has PIR boards for Houses 2, 3 and 5. They’ve been given priority because they’re the first houses ready to install the insulation.

Houses 1 and 4 are still in the dark and will have to wait to see when or if their PIR boards will arrive.

This article was originally published by Nine.com.au. Reproduced with permission.