Hi - yes things are getting messy but in a positive manner! I have been very busy these last few weeks, working a full 8 hours or so and a full weekend. The house has now been plastered except for the sitting room. The reason being the chimney still hasn't been completed. Should be done this week I am told! Once it has been done, the plaster boards can be finished off and the room plastered.
Allowing for the rooms which have been plastered to dry thoroughly, I have followed on with
In my last post we were waiting on two items arriving from our suppliers: Velux flashing kits and a metal roof to be fitted at the back.
The velux flashings arrived first and we were able to make good progress and finish this side.
Our joiner then came back on site to fit the metal roof. Unfortunately as mentioned in my Terrible Thursday post the flashing arrived at the incorrect angle, the plan was then to use the lead, but thankfully we d
As the title says we’re getting into the nitty gritty now with so many things to make final decisions on.
Kitchen is all finalised, David l Douglas have been fantastic so far, we’ve had four visits to them and two visits from their project manager to the site, we’ve got samples of sink, door handles, worktop and paint colour and their service so far cannot be faulted. We decided to source our own range and fridge freezer and had to send them a link to the exact model so everything is
Firstly, for all you lot waiting with baited breath for my next blog update, my apologies! Since the house was opened up for guests I've needed a bit of time to switch off from what was a very full time project for the last few years.
When we first opened to guests the house was missing its decking. I had gone through various ideas for the design of this, and in the end decided that less was more, and made it a fairly minimal affair, just somewhere to allow access to the big sliding door an
....is how my brother in law accurately described the state of the build now when I Whatsapped him the picture below, taken yesterday afternoon.
As you can see, MBC have been at their blitzkrieg style building speed again and this morning I arrived to find my roof all covered in membrane and battens, too, and MBC noticeable by their absence. Actually, it's the silence that you notice as much as anything. There were about 7 in the team over the weekend and when all the nailgun
Another thinking ahead type post, this time on lighting.
As I previously mentioned, I've been trying to firm up on the switches, sockets and all of that kind of thing that I will need to put in but wasn't making much progress. Thinking on it further, though, I believe that my slowness was coming from the fact that I haven't decided on my lighting scheme and other electrickery, so I wouldn't be able to define exactly what I want to switch on and off. As a result, I'm now putting som
Bit of inspiration from Pinterest, at a price...https://www.pinterest.co.uk/topics/black-kitchens/?utm_campaign=interestrecommendations&e_t=966619f5e94f4898bd6d0198cd900cbf&utm_content=909714351701&utm_source=31&utm_term=5&utm_medium=2024
The timber frame will be substantially built by the middle of next week and I'm thinking through and organising the next stages, so this post is to help crystallise my thoughts and offer them out for anything I have missed that is time-critical.
MBC will be working over the weekend and the build will be substantially finished around Tuesday or Wednesday. They are going to leave out a few of the stud walls, the ones that form the walls of the landing, until they return to do the air
The last two weeks have been very productive! The rendering is done and the scaffold gone.The pellet stove and thermal store have been installed as far as they can be for now and the plasterboard work is coming to an end. We had to pay a visit to David L Douglas last week to finalise the kitchen- colour, door styles, worktop, handles, sink etc they are very thorough in getting it just right. The plasterer will be in tomorrow and my kitchen and utility floor tiles arrived yesterday. After my prev
So not much happened on site today.
Hahahahhahaha!
Just kidding - the 'whoosh' of the entry title refers to the speed of the upper floor going up. Just amazing. Equally, though, it could refer to the rotor blades of a Royal Navy lynx helicopter. Huh? Let me explain. For some time now, ever since the slab started going down, in fact, there have been a couple of navy lynx helicopters that seem to have a regular route (I assume from RNAS Yeovilton as it's not that far aw
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
