And the groundworkers have almost finished their contribution to the extension, have built some of the steps in the garden and are preparing to lay the patio slabs (Bradstone Autumn Green).
18th August 2010 - Plastering!
The plastering has begun. This is a huge milestone - suddenly all the rooms are really becoming visible for the shapes and sizes that they really are. Plasterer seems to be doing a good job - nice and flat, so far, so good - although he is a Brummie...
12th August 2010 - The extension has started
Did I mention the extension? Well, it may seem curious to add an extension before the house is even finished, but that's what we are doing! The wife really, really, really wanted to add a large lounge to the south side of the house.
The remit was:
We applied for planning permission on 2nd June, got it granted on 26th July and Scott started digging foundations on 2nd August. The plan is to get it completed in the same timeframe as the main house - i.e. not to add any extra time onto the overall schedule.
This photo shows the foundation trenches, just after the concrete pour.
The remit was:
- make the room as large as possible (it's 8m x 5m)
- give it a wow factor - so it's going to have a vaulted ceiling and a large apex picture window at the rear
- make it look not-too-much like an extension
so that is what we are doing! Theoretically, this is still within the budget (we just spent the continguency)...
We applied for planning permission on 2nd June, got it granted on 26th July and Scott started digging foundations on 2nd August. The plan is to get it completed in the same timeframe as the main house - i.e. not to add any extra time onto the overall schedule. This photo shows the foundation trenches, just after the concrete pour.
12th August 2010 - Plaster board tackers
The tackers have started putting up the plasterboards for the ceilings. This is another big leap forward in seeing what the final rooms will look like. Up until now we've been looking at joists, noggins, pipes & wires - now we see a nice flat ceiling. This photo is of the hall.
11th August 2010 - Fan-fold doors & back door
The funky, modern 5-way fan-fold door has now been fitted - it leads from the kitchen onto the patio. It's the in thing these days.
Also the back door has been fitted - the wife wanted a green one, and I agree (better than boring old white) - although it's not quite as dark green as this photo indicates! We don't think the back door will be used much anyway, what with the door in from the garage, and the fan-fold doors already mentioned!
5th August 2010 - Insulation & getting ready to close up
We've had a few days hiatus with practically no-one working on site for 3 days, which was curiously dull and disappointing.
Now it's all back at full speed again. A huge mound of Celotex insulation has been delivered and is now being fitted into the roof spaces.
The ultra-expensive fire-proof cabling has also been run for the fire alarm system (to BS5839, L2 in the unlikely case that you're interested...)
Now it's all back at full speed again. A huge mound of Celotex insulation has been delivered and is now being fitted into the roof spaces.
The ultra-expensive fire-proof cabling has also been run for the fire alarm system (to BS5839, L2 in the unlikely case that you're interested...)
26th July 2010 - More windows being installed
We have about 50% of the windows installed now. And they look very nice with the powder coated aluminium frames and the leadwork on the top parts. However, they have managed to install a clear glass window in one of the bathrooms and an opaque glass window in the study - but that is easy for them to sort out later!
As soon as the windows are all in, and the balcony floor is sealed, then we are more or less watertight (well no front door obviously) - and then we can think about plastering soon.
16th July 2010 - Scaffolding down and the first two windows are in
And voila - the house is revealed now that the scaffolding has come down:
... and from the rear she looks like this now: 
... and from the rear she looks like this now: 
This is the side wall of the garage:
9th July 2010 - Internal beginnings....
When viewed from the roadside, things now appear to have slowed up. However this is a false impression! All the work for the time being is occurring inside. The chippies are doing an awesome job - they have installed all 3 staircases, almost finished all the stud walls, almost finished putting all the floor boarding down and are sorting out the final roof timbers in the playroom. They have even fitted in most of the oak for the balustrades on the galleried landing - this looks fantastic - although will now need to be boxed in with ply for a few months to protect it.
Meanwhile, the plummer finished a few days ago - having installed all the pipework for the rads, the H&C water, most of the wastes, the guttering and created the terminations in the garage for the Air Source Heat Pump. The plummer pressured up the system to beyond the max, and it didn't burst (i.e. his joints all seem good). It's almost all in copper pipe, which is great, since everything is soldered, rather than these days it's more common to use plastic pipe and then the connections are just chemically bonded which can break after a year or so. Apparently. The plummer has now left the system charged up at low pressure, so if anyone bangs a nail through a pipe we'll know right away.
Bob, the sparks, has been hard at work too. All the ground floor rooms are wired up for electricity & lighting, and he is now starting on the 1st & 2nd floor wiring. We are a day or 2 behind on that because the wife & I have been moving all the TV sockets around and have finally settled on the final positions of all the sockets, etc. We couldn't really do this until the 1st floor was boarded out to allow us to walk the rooms and see what should go where. A drawing is great, but there is nothing quite like walking in the rooms to allow you to cogitate as to where the bed & wardrobe should actually go!
The fork-lift has also gone off-site now - which will save Tony paying for it any longer, since all the roof tiles have been lifted up onto the top of the scaffolding now. The roof tiles are just waiting for the club tiles (that's the curly shaped ones that make a nice diamond feature). I think they forgot to order those, and then they can finish the roof tiling. We are also waiting for the window man to fit the first 2 windows into the dormers, and then the scaffolding can come down!
So, all in all, a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks... Last night, I even did some work there myself! I cleared a massive patch of stinging nettles - about 5m x 5m - it took and hour or 2, and I got stung to bu**ery. I rather fear those stingers will be a perennial feature of the right hand side of the back garden.
28th June 2010 - Staircase arrives!
It's all coming thick and fast at the moment. The 3 staircases arrived on Monday morning. The oak bits (balustrades, spindles, etc.) are locked away for now, but the treads will be fitted ASAP to make access to the first floor much easier during the 1st & 2nd fix.
Meanwhile, electrics & plumbing is being installed, guttering runs are being worked out, fasciae/soffits/bargeboards are being fitted - basically, there are no parking spaces left in the road because of all our vans - and the vans from Suzanna's building site just along the road....
27th June 2010 - Roof tiling has started
The tiles are now being afixed to the roof - that's the Sandtoft Goxhill, Dark Chestnut, hand-cut clay roof tiles. The gables end & dormers will use the same tile, but Autumn Brown colour.
Naturally, The Mrs decided to spend hours debating with me whether we (she) likes the colour or not - and that's after 20,000 of them are on site (& paid for!) and 4000 of them are fitted. How about "it's too late to change them now, love, and anyway, they are a jolly nice colour, and even if they're not, you don't really notice roofs, do you?"
Naturally, The Mrs decided to spend hours debating with me whether we (she) likes the colour or not - and that's after 20,000 of them are on site (& paid for!) and 4000 of them are fitted. How about "it's too late to change them now, love, and anyway, they are a jolly nice colour, and even if they're not, you don't really notice roofs, do you?"
25th June 2010 - Roof, roof
The playroom roof is built, and is a work of art, just like the main roof:
And the roof tilers turned up yesterday and have set out all the tiles ready for fixing - fingers crossed that the tiles are an agreeable colour - we can't really tell the colour/appearance until they're fitted!
And the roof tilers turned up yesterday and have set out all the tiles ready for fixing - fingers crossed that the tiles are an agreeable colour - we can't really tell the colour/appearance until they're fitted!
14th June 2010 - The roof room: it's a whopper!
Well, they've done a great job on the roof timbers - the chippies are extraordinarily proud of what they've built, and it shows. Everything seems very straight, neatly cut and very tidily finished - and bear in mind that all of the roof timbers will be essentially invisible once it's tiled in, so it's "hat's off" to the guys for building it so well.
The roof room also turns out to be whopping huge - at last a room that's truely awesome! And today they cut the spaces for the 2 Velux windows which look out over the valley. I got them to set them low enough so even the midget wife can see the farm.
The roof room also turns out to be whopping huge - at last a room that's truely awesome! And today they cut the spaces for the 2 Velux windows which look out over the valley. I got them to set them low enough so even the midget wife can see the farm.
6th June 2010 - D-Day
The ridge, the gables, the loft room - all is taking shape and 20,000 Sandtoft roof tiles are being delivered this week.
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