My upper floor, that is.
Due to the vast number of MBC guys on site early last week, my upstairs was ready for the underfloor heating pipes and spreader plates to go in much earlier than my plumber had anticipated so the plates were duly put in. MBC were due back on site this morning to get the egger boards down on the first floor, so it was a case of then or never.
The downstairs UFH pipes are embedded into the concrete slab and so a different method is needed for the u
In 2009 my wife and I moved into a 3 year old developer built house in Kingseat, Newmachar which is 6 miles north of Aberdeen.
Kingseat was originally a farming estate, in 1859 Aberdeen District Lunacy Board required a new mental health facility for paupers and acquired the site. The hospital was constructed between 1901 - 1904, the various buildings were laid out in a villa format, with lots of green space including trees, a football pitch and tennis courts.
Moving on to day 2 of the timber frame erection, I make no apologies for this photo-heavy post as the pictures speak far more eloquently than I can on the subject matter. Especially as I don't know the right words for much of it.
It rained overnight here in Dorset, but nothing disastrous and it was all gone by a couple of hours into the morning. Here's how I left the team yesterday evening:
This morning, another day, another crane. This one, I think, was e
You had better be, because once MBC turn up on site, it's fast and furious and everything has to fit around them. Things happen at an incredible pace and no matter how much you read about it, how many videos you look at, it doesn't quite prepare you for the reality of that speed, or not in my case. Some surprises are good, and this was one of them.
I'll get to the photos shortly, but first a few comments on what else has been happening since the slab was finished on the 9th August,
We started the roofing last week.
We decide to go for CUPA 3 heavy slates, these are a thick spanish slate and designed for the weather we get in the Hebrides.
Let's hope they do what they say on the crate.
The first job was setting out the the various lines using a line and some red brick dye. Our roofer than graded some of slate pallets into different levels of thickness and any rejections.
Now my job was to carry the slates
Hi all - a few photos showing the house 95% plaster boarded and some plastering started. Just the cloakroom and plant room off the utility room to complete. Somewhat frustratingly, we will have to wait a full week before the plasterer returns, which holds up the decorating and second fix joinery. The ceilings for the first floor have had two layers of plaster boards fitted, which helps with sound proofing.
Whilst this has been going on, the stone ,an and his labourer have really crac
Like the best magazines, this article consists mainly of pictures - as it is nearly Bank Holiday weeking and I am heading off to a Camping Barn near @recoveringacademic's place with friends.
The problem is straightforward.
About 5 years ago on moving to the current house I had a 8' by 8' shed constructed in a corner of the garden which consisted of (perceived) well-packed rubble from many years ago. We used a base of concrete fence-posts laid flat to allow some minimal gi
As part of the agreement for buying the plot the previous owner agreed to clear the plot of the 2 mounds of earth.
In April 2018 The site was cleared by the previous owner.
We had to arrange a tree surgeon to fell the 3 trees.
Before
The tree surgeon cut the trees into manageable logs, these were easy to get rid of, to various friends.
I thought the best way to get rid of the remaining bra
After yesterdays site scrape the ground workers started again at 07:00 this morning (22nd August 2018) to dig the trenches for the foundations.
The idea was to dig the trenches today and then pour the concrete tomorrow. However whilst I was at work around 16:00 the local friendly drone guy sent me a couple of photos which looked like there was concrete in the trenches - this was a nice surprise.
Yesterday (August 21st 2018) the ground workers arrived at 07:00 to scrape the site, erect some Heras fencing and mark the house out.
The engineer did the setting out first of house boundary.
Next the digger driver and one ground worker scraped the site.
Next the engineer marked out where the foundations should go, ready to be dug tomorrow.
Well it has been some time since I did an update. Really busy at work and of course with the house. Things have slowed now as money reaches an end, and as time goes on the finishing will be on a "when can afford" basis, but we always knew this, and one of the points of this whole exercise was to end up with a house we could never have afforded to buy of course.
So the stonework is all done and looking great, and I have built the stairs and gave them a temporary coat of paint (they w
Been a busy week, roofer, brickies and joiners going hard at it , I believe upstairs is almost finished as far as insulation and plaster board goes, I say I believe because I haven’t been up there having a phobia about ladders! Got hubby to go up and video it for me, problem is since it’s an oak staircase it will be one of the last things to be fitted so it could be sometime before I see up there by which time it’ll be too late! Tonight we’ve gone through the ever increasing pile of ‘rubbish ‘ t
I wasn't going to visit the site today, but we've had heavy rain showers today in Dorset and I thought that would be an ideal opportunity to see how level the slab looks after its late night power floating. My reasoning was that whilst I can't identify any high spots by eye, it would be easy to look for the low ones by where the puddles were lying.
Here's a photo taken from a slightly elevated viewpoint (the top of a pile of wood chippings!), looking from the south east corner where
My book 'self-build Home...the last thing you need is an architect' is now available in kindle form Amazon as an option...you'll get a few pages as an introductory sample. Any questions email lofthousestudioAThotmail.com Thanks, Jim
...for the MBC team, and not their fault, but I have a slab. This is only down to the tenacity and incredible hard work from the MBC team who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat today following horrible equipment failure on the part of the concrete company.
So, let's start at the beginning. The slab team worked like frenzy yesterday morning to get all of the EPS down, followed by the mesh which then got tied into the ring beams. After that, they put all the underfloor heating
Yes, now that the first fix has been completed, the plaster boarding has started with the upstairs being done first. The builders will move downstairs an a weeks time or so. Whilst they have been boarding out, I have been installing the insulation for the partition walls, loft space and ceilings downstairs. The insulation being used in the loft space is 140mm - two layers laid at right angles to each other if that makes sense. The insulation used for the partitions is 100mm and the plasterboard
Not surprisingly, I've been pondering the dilemma of the overhead electricity lines near/over my proposed garage. I'm still waiting to hear back from MBC and I suspect my request for a call has got lost in the works somewhere, so I will chase it up.
In the meantime, I've decided to take another course of action in parallel as, given the choice, I would very much prefer the overhead lines not to be there, or at least not so close. The immediate thought that comes to mind is £££££.
Let's start with the problem. I can't solve it today as today is a public holiday in RoI and the MBC guy I need to speak to isn't available, so there's nothing doing until tomorrow.
I need to get the scaffolding sorted for when the timber frame team arrive on 27th August and thought I had this well in hand. I sort of still do, but there's a H&S problem with the scaffold erection and I've spent a little time this morning tracing back to the source of the error. I need a single
Cladding now installed on the utility and porch.
Unfortunately, the rest of the cladding will need to wait until the start of the block work starts in a month or so.
I have also been busy nailing away and fixing what felt like a million truss clips.
I briefly popped out to the site this afternoon, dragging hubby with me so that I could show him that I really am spending all that money getting a house built and not squirreling it away into a running away fund.
The MBC team were busy constructing the ring beams that then get tied into the piles. Lots and lots of work in this and so they reckon that THE SLAB POUR WILL BE EITHER WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY now.
No photos today, but I'll take plenty tomorrow for another blow
It's been a busy old day on site today, and the main MBC associated action was deliveries of EPS and steel and sand, and the team getting on with putting the blinding sand down onto the hardcore, that they finished yesterday evening.
The EPS supplier is based in Essex - the driver left at about 4.30 this morning to make an early delivery but even at that time of day, he didn't make it to the site until just after 8.30 as the roads were so busy. The amount of polystyrene sitting on t
