11th November 2010 - Driveway almost finished

Driveway is almost finished:

10th November 2010 - Garage door & front door

The garage door is fitted:

And the massive, oak double front doors have arrived, and should be fitted soon. It partly depends on the window guys who have to fit side light windows to the front door, and the window guy is so cr*p and is not returning phone calls any longer.

Also this week, we now have the security alarm partly commissioned, the smoke detectors fitted, the decorators putting top coat on the internal woodwork, the groundworkers almost finished the drive, the metal-work guy has measured up for the railings and gates, and the TV aerial bloke is fitting the aerial today.

The water board (Sutton & East Surrey Water) connected us on to the water main last week (cost £1580). However it is leaking at the curbside already, and has been making it rather soggy for the groundworkers finishing the drive. So Scott & Bernie have at least managed to divert the water main leak into the road gulley so it's (mostly) not coming onto our site any longer. Strictly speaking not our concern, since it's leaking on the highway side of the boundary, but it's a major pain for Scott & Bernie and not pleasant for the neighbours.

1st Nov 2010 - Purest green

eBay's finest green mosaic tiles are (finally) fitted in the wetroom:

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:

27th Oct 2010 - How illuminating

Illuminations today:

Illuminations in the olden times:

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:

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:

24th Sept 2010 - Floor tiles laid & Internal doors installed

Almost all the fantastic internal doors have been installed this week. We have beautiful FD30 Howden Dordogne doors, which are really nice and chunky. The whole house has a lovely oak woody smell at the moment, what with the staircase & now all the doors. Very happy with it!

Also about 40% of the floor tiles (Saloni Hydra) have been beautifully laid too. They've done a grout sample and the Mrs has approved it. Grouting will occur on Sunday appartently - our first Sunday working of this project.

24th Sept 2010 - Apex steel at last

At last! All 3 steels for the extension are here:
... and they even managed to fit them all today too. Apparently a mini-crane came and lifted everything up into place. Cool!

22nd September 2010 - Extension steels finally arrive

Well, after a lot of faffing with engineers, the 2 main steels for the extension are finally on site. We are still waiting for the apex window steel, and then we can get cracking again with the extension roof.

Also now we have a temporary secure front door, the plumber is beginning to 2nd fix the bathroom bit 'n' bobs:

15th Sept 2010 - Painting the mist coat

I've been away for a few days on the Isle of Eigg, getting away from it all.

Coming back to the house after a few days it was good to see the plastering almost finished, the painters just finishing the mist coat, and Stuart back getting ready to hang the doors early next week.

Also, Tony now has all the steels on order for the extension at last - all sorted with the new engineer on board. Hopefully steels will be deliverd on Monday-ish, so then we can crack on with the extension roof - also with Stuart.