28th Oct 2010 - The gas is on
The gas meter arrived today with 00000 miles on the clock. Actually, compared to pretty much everything else, the gas meter was trivial to arrange. Once SGN had provided the connection at the road side(£417), I gave EON a buzz and the meter has been supplied & fitted within 10 days and free of charge to boot:
23rd Oct 2010
Another week of work. Most of the big stuff this week has been in the front driveway - digging soakaways, running gas trenches, water board getting ready to connect up, the front wall progressing, the electrics run for the front gates, making up some hard ground for the porch, shaping what will become the lawn around the extension, etc.
And the extension now has the under-floor insulation, the under-floor heating pipes laid and fully screeded. Bob has run the electrics, and we are ready for tackers and plastering in the extension. That is, the extension is beginning to speed up a bit. It still needs windows.
The fan-fold doors in the kitchen have been swapped out too. The original fanfold doors were fitted back in the mid summer, but they were not flush to the floor - i.e. we want the kitchen to be like an infinity pool in one of those Asian 5* hotels. So, the fanfolds have now been taken out and replaced with a new set which have 7cm more glass and therefore 7cm less frame. The "old" fanfold doors are not going to waste though - they will be fitted into the extension shortly. (The extension is 7cm lower, so will (should) also have the infinity pool look once done.)
Various other bits this week: kitchen now has a working extractor hood, a 5 ring hob, and all 3 ovens fitted in. Decorator has done some minor work on the skirtings & architraves - various little bits of filler needed here and there.
And here's an Air Source Heat Pump (not plumbed in yet):
Tony and I have created the 1st pass on the snagging list - so we have an end in sight.
Completion date: well, Tony put in writing that it's December 17th - this is versus the contract date of November 19th. Adrian reckons it should be much closer to the beginning of December. Let's see. Main issue is that we have to give 1 month notice on our rental house - we can't give notice too soon and end up homeless, and can't give notice too late since it will waste rent money.
16th Oct 2010 - Kitchen with granite
The granite for the kitchen is here! OK you geology dudes, when the kitchen shop calls it "Kashmir white" what rock type is that really? Hint - it's stuffed full with red garnets, mostly as phenocrysts but some as porphyroblasts.
16th Oct 2010 - Extension roofed & scaffolding down
The extension is coming along. The roof is fully tiled now, and the scaffolding came down on Friday. Bob the Sparks has started running the electrics in the extension. We are still waiting for useless Kevin to bring the windows...
8th Oct 2010 - Front wall, boiler & kitchen
Another busy week with loads of people working on site.
The front wall is 50% built - it still needs the metal work including the gates, and the Portland cap stones but is jolly nice already:
The plumber is busy putting in the boiler and the Megaflow system, and the details of the air source heat pump are being worked out too:
The front wall is 50% built - it still needs the metal work including the gates, and the Portland cap stones but is jolly nice already:
The plumber is busy putting in the boiler and the Megaflow system, and the details of the air source heat pump are being worked out too:
And the beautiful kitchen is in - and the granite templating lady came today too:
3rd October 2010 - She is exposed
The front hoarding was taken down last Monday, revealing her front view to the world for the first time. She's a biggun:
Work has started on the front boundary wall which will be built of bricks below with black metal railings above. Piers every 3m will be topped with Portland cap stones from Elegant Stone (Type 2, page 29 http://www.elegantstoneltd.co.uk/ )
Oh, and we've had some SERIOUS rain on Friday & Sunday this week - they lost about 1 day of work on the wall.
2nd October 2010 - Painting
Painting is occurring. We have chosen nice paint colours for all the walls from the Dulux DiamondTough range - colours such as Mellow Mocha, and Natural Hessian. The kids get green and blue in their bedrooms. We did choose a grey (Taupe) colour for the study and downstairs WC, but that's the only one we've now changed our mind on.
Here's a picture of the kitchen, part painted. You can also see miles & miles of skirting & architrave lined up, ready to be fitted.
The coving also went up this week, and Stuart - the chippie who also built the roof - has put the handles on about 1/2 the oak doors now too, and they look great:
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