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Blogs

Building in a woodland on the Isle of Wight

Swimming in treacle, flying drones and generating electricity

As usual it feels like progress has been glacial. It probably hasn't but most of the jobs this month aren't exactly visible.   The first job was to construct a cabinet for the switch fuses and electric meter since the old back-to-back meter boxes had degraded to the point of uselessness. This of course displaced the drainage installation activity for a while. I did make some progress here too but we are nothing like finished yet as another tonne of gravel disappears into the ground...
  • dnb
Back on the self-build waggon...

Living Room DONE...

Wow that took me a long time, what a difference a year makes!   I did always know that it was going to be a difficult room to do, and also the largest in the bungalow, but I have reached completion, apart from the carpet which is on order.   So firstly there was the repair to the area under the window, which needed the brickwork rebuilding and then replastering...     Next I started work on the acoustic wall, comprising of a metal framing system fil
South East Cornwall Low Energy build

This is the BBC - Bars, Bolts and Concrete

... and so, in mid July, we had just a few things to do before we could pour concrete. <CUT, CUT, CUT> That's wrong again, you forgot the three spur walls and you've order some wrong parts. Go again, from the top   ... and so, in mid July, we had an unknown quantity of things to do before we could pour concrete ?    But before all of that happened, as a family we were all brought together for one of the inevitable things about life - every one must some day some to an e
Druim nan Darach

Reflection/Garden

It's been over a year since we finished our home and I thought it would be good time to reflect. We have not had any major snagging issues with the house. The only product which required some additional work was the LVT flooring, we found thermal expansion was causing some warping. This has since been resolved with the addition of two expansion joints.  In my last blog post I discussed how we were heating the house with just a wood stove during colder times of the year. I
West Sussex Forever Home

Out of the ground at last

Since the basement was finished at the end of June things seem to have been dragging on for ages but we are finally out of the ground and ready for the timber frame. It has taken 13 weeks and we had delays with materials that held things up but when I look back at the photos from the basement being finished to where we are now it is amazing how much has been done and we’re very excited about the timber frame going up next week.   When the groundworkers came back post-basement they star
Timber Portal Frame - but stick built

the concrete is (finally) done and it is.......a garage floor

As @Russell griffiths pointed Out numerous times... if you dont go over the poured slab often  and quick,  again and again , you be ending up with a garage floor. So we had the concrete ordered for morning and ready with 4guys to spread and level, tamper and float. Pouring went smooth. Pumping was good. But when we started tampering and levelling the concrete,  Murphys law kicked in: -concrete went off a lot faster than my groundworkers seen in quite a while -one Of the guy
Little Stud Barn

August 21 - clearing the back passage

During August we focussed on clearing the exterior of the site to allow for easier access for future work, such as laying drainage and installing electricity.   This was the back passage when we started, at the end of the winter before all the weeds started growing.     and this is after most of the roof is gone and the bank & retaining wall are cleared.         In the south west yard where the electricity pylon is, this time
  • LSB
Timber Portal Frame - but stick built

Plinths wall , Garden Wall , Bricklaying ... PART2

After the Transport of the Materials was done , It only needed the beams spreading, bit of insulation in between and above , Underfloor heating in and a bit of a plinths wall built around the whole thing... and done. How long can this take - maybe 4-5weeks ?     https://tintabernacle.blogspot.com/2021/09/plinths-wall-garden-wall-bricklaying_3.html  
Back on the self-build waggon...

Another year...another room

Having not had the best of years health wise this year, which has unfortunately made the decision for me that someone else will have to build the side extension, i thought i'd get a bit more work done, but rather than the norm of a room taking me 3 days tops, i've spent weeks on this one, slowly picking it apart and now putting it back together (admittedly it is the biggest area of the bungalow). This is the last room which needed everything out, so I can finally say goodbye to woodwormed timber
Little Stud Barn

Jul 2021: FT work + DIY build = slow slow slow

This blog is for me to look back over time to see how things have changed and to assure myself that we are making some progress, albeit very slow. I appreciate all help and friendly comments, but appreciated that this is not an exciting blog. Looking through my diary for the last month it seems to say, work / work / work and not on the conversion. Moving to a new factory seems to entail lots of extra hours.  Good to add some OT to the budget, but by the time the taxman etc. have t
  • LSB
Albaston self-build

Building the workshop

After three visits to our plot (two ten day trips and one long weekend) we have made quite a lot of progress with building the workshop - in no small part thanks to this site and the generosity of members in sharing wisdom and advice. I've learned a huge amount, and am delighted with what we have achieved so far. Below are some photos of the work in progress which largely speak for themselves.   We had help in the first tranche from my son and his friend who had finished Uni for the su
Canalside Bungalow Renovation

Are we finished yet?

I'm pleased to say finally we are insulated and have render. Credit to our plasterer who has been brilliant and done an amazing job. The colour is Ecorend marble white so is a very clean white looking colour rather than the yellow/grey looking off whites we saw but we like it. The plasterer came in the early hours before the sun as it was blinding trying to apply it in direct sun over the past couple of weeks. Once we have the aggregate round the house and plants etc I don't think it will look t
Building in a woodland on the Isle of Wight

A few steps forwards and a couple back

It's about time I put fingers on keyboard for a purpose other than Matlab or Perl. So here is a brief summary of the lack of progress in the woodland. I couldn't pass up a few weeks of sea pay, so progress in May was nil but it was lucrative, helping to offset some of the cost increases. And it gave the scaffolders a bit of time to strike the remaining scaffolding (rather a long wait for this). We're still waiting for the arch windows (another long wait) but all the other windows are fitted.  Th
  • dnb
South East Cornwall Low Energy build

First it was Scotland, then it was Italy. Let's just build.

As I wrote the last blog entry, Scotland ???????  were beating England ???????  in the Calcutta Cup and we were all wondering when Lockdown 3.0 would end - we're nearly there apparently. We were also sorting out re-mortgaging to a lower fixed interest rate, - DONE, and we are paying about £200 a month less than before!! choosing insulated raft supplier - DONE, we went with Jackodur Atlas system determining steel re-inforcement requirements for the foundations - DONE and for
Little Stud Barn

June 2021 - slow progress

Well despite the light evenings progress has been very limited during June. I've been working 8-6 with an hour travel each end, then with the dog to walk the horses to sort out and dinner there has just been no time. I've also been decorating in our house, which needs to be done because we have visitors in a couple of weeks.   HID has been more productive, but as we have our separate roles he has been held up as well. Just outside the end of the barn when we were trying
  • LSB
West Sussex Forever Home

We have a basement….and some utilities

It’s been a while since my last blog post and over the last 5 weeks the basement contractors have been busy and have finished the basement. Well, the external walls at least as we still need to build the internal walls and put the block and beam on top.   It’s looking really good although it is a bit reminiscent of a prison with all the concrete and 3m high walls (not that I’ve been in many/any prisons that is, it’s just from watching movies).   The groundworkers are back on-
Little Stud Barn

28th May - digging out and repairing

Over the last month we've spent most of our time continuing to take parts of the barn apart whilst repairing some bits that need to stay.   What's brilliant is that all the fibre cement roofing which contains a small amount of asbestos is gone.  The skip company delivered on Friday and collected on Monday and after seeing it all wrapped said it was very good and we didn't need to wrap the skip as well. We've pretty much finished clearing the back sheds, although there is stil
  • LSB
West Sussex Forever Home

We have a slab!

Weeks 4 and 5 of the build saw our basement slab being poured. it was a major milestone for us and we're really happy....well, apart from the section that was too high and they needed to grind it down of course, but apart from that we're really happy. ?   We have 200mm EPS300 specified for under the slab and this was laid by using a long telescopic rule from the profile board strings 4m above at ground level. We are supposed to have a 200mm toe outside the slab and luckily I was outsid
West Sussex Forever Home

Week 3 - a big hole almost finished

so, here we are at the end of the 3rd week of our build with the groundworkers having dug the basement to depth and put the sub-base down ready for levelling and compacting on Monday with the blinding and insulation to also be completed on the same day.   We got a second digger driver on site this week and things have really got going and on Friday we even had a 3rd person to stand around with the laser level to assist. Here's the time-lapse video of the week.    
A woodland house

Beginning of the end!

There's been a considerable hiatus in both blogging and building. Looking back, my last post on November 22 last year was explaining how we were finding it tricky to make progress and that my wife was due to give birth to twins in early Jan this year.   Little did we know that about 24 hours after writing that post, said twins arrived 7 weeks early necessitating a fairly urgent trip to Glasgow, first for my other half and shortly after for me to be present at the birth. For medical rea

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