There's a lot happening now...

There's a lot happening now...

yes, a lot has been happening in the last 2 weeks. and that means more decisions.

Firstly, the windows arrived. So we now have piles of windows and frames all around the house.

this is the frame for the kitchen window.

The fitters arrived and soon got to work on the dormer windows....

and the gable end window in our bedroom.

the end result looks great. 

once the windows were in the cedar cladding went on. This has really created the image i had imaged a long time ago. The smell of the wood is gorgeous too. if only we could bottle it! The colour of the windows has also proved perfect. We choose this some time back - it's RAL7016!

The other work this week has been inside - the frames for all the internal walls have now been constructed in wood. This is the end of the games room.

and this is the new study - it looks like it is in the kitchen!

This is the completed games room wall. Emma and Lucy think it is a prison...

There have also been many decisions to make...

We had to quickly decide on the position of any future balcony. We know we want to add one on but haven't fully agreed who will build it and what it will look like. I thought this was OK until Jason told me they were adding the cladding to the rear of the house. SO i spent a couple of hours one working morning designing it and speaking with the potential manufacturers. Hopefully the builders have now added a couple of holes and markings so we know where the supporting beams will be added into the loft space. We can run then through the walls, box them in and then support them onto the floor joists. We haven't had this structurally planned but it feels right!

the other decisions we had to make revolved around the bathrooms. Luckily Claire has made massive efforts to get this done so we are almost there. However we simply thought the plumber needed a rough idea of where things went (yes, I know it's a bit daft!). What he actually needed was a full design. After a week or so of frantic planning I think, I hope, we are there. We just now need to confirm with bathroom company tomorrow!

Despite all the frantic, full on energy, we know that the end result will be brilliant... watch this space for more.

The Garage Roof

Roof Build

Now that the walls are complete the roof is underway.

The builders brought some well needed common sense to the build again with the garage. The surveyor had specified a door width and height that wasn't standard. Now this is OK if you have an unlimited budget... but we haven't! So first of all they built the door width up. Then they read up on the standard widths. Realising it was too big by 80mm for a standard door they made a decision... the following morning they took down that wall and rebuilt it 80 mm wider. Overall this will help us manage the costs though so it was worth it (I hope!)

I think the builders think the roof structure has been 'over specd' (again). They even said that the joist sizes would support a complete second storey floor.

The floor to ceiling height in the garage is just over 3 metres without the final floor screed - which feels very high.

This is a view looking from one corner of the roof towards the centre.

And this shows the height of the end wall - it makes it look very big.

Andy and Sam the roofers were quick to get the slates on one side of the roof - again they've done a great job.

The roofers have gone away for a few days now as they have come to a point where we need to get the porch built before they can carry on with the front roof.

Garage Build

Garage Build

While the internal work carries on apace the builders have now also started on the external garage as mentioned previously. They have moved on really quickly this last week.. The block and beam floor went in last week on top of the new walls and deep foundations.

Jason spread a thin layer of cement mix to bind the blocks and beams into place...

and then they set to work building up the external walls. We want to make sure this fits with the rendered image the final building will have so the brick work has been stepped down towards the back of the garage.

The block work has gone up very quickly.

At the front we are installing a new, secure garage door. I don't really think we will ever put a car in - so it's really just for storage.

the walls appear very high - especially from the outside with the slope of the land.

the doorway was cut through from the old spare room and the window filled in...

And a new window formed on the outside wall.

Next the roof goes on...

The new kitchen floor

The new floor

We made a decision to install a new floor in the main area of the house. We knew we might have problems with the underfloor heating... but hadn't envisaged the problem we have encountered. 

The screed around the pipes has turned to a powder in some parts of the floor. This means that the builders cannot accurately level it to install the finishing. 

So we have decided to dig up all the screed and the UFH pipes and start again! It's an expensive job but we think it will give us a better overall area in the future.

So into the skip goes all the old UFH pipe - it's actually in a pretty good state.

The trouble is... once you start ripping up one part of the floor it then has a knock on effect on other parts. So, we are now taking up all the kitchen floor, the utility and boot room and part of the hall way by the front door. It's definitely a bigger job than we had planned - but, on reflection we have decided it to be worthwhile in the long run.

we will have new screed, new underfloor heating pipes, and new under screed insulation. It will also mean we will have better control of the zones in the areas for the UFH.

The old toilet now stands 6 inches taller than previously due to the floor being removed around it - not a problem if you are tall!

The old UFH was insulated with polystyrene trays - not bad considering it's been down since the 1980's.

We made a decision to also dig up part of the hall way - partly because we wanted to ensure there was consistent heat underneath he floor and partly so we had a perfectly level screed for the stone tiles that will go on top.

Outside groundwork

Outside groundwork

The outside groundwork has started in areas this week at the back and the front...

the sewer pipe for the new upstairs bathrooms has been laid across the patio at the back. We were amazed at how much hardcore was under the patio.

The pipe runs across the patio and connects in with the old main drain on the far side of the house. We will be digging this patio up again in the future when we re-do it - but for now it has been put back in place as best it can be.

At the front of the house the foundations have been dug for the garage extension. you can see the little digger in the picture. Jason dug down 1.5m and still found roots. The building inspector came to check things out and said he wanted the foundation deeper - apparently it has to be 700mm below the last root in clay... so we now have a foundation 2.5 metre deep for our tiny little extension - this is probably 3 times the depth of the foundation on the main house...

To dig down that far they needed a bigger digger! Luckily, as with everything so far, Justin knows someone with a big machine and a bigger dumper truck!

So now we need yet more concrete to fill the hole... and that came on saturday while we were out!