Finally starting to feel like I'm building a house! Steel reinforcing for the retaining wall has been put in, concrete in, first Building Control inspection and first warranty inspection all passed.
Builders lockup is now on site, I'll be taking my caravan down tomorrow so we can have bacon and brew facilities.
Feels nice ice for the property to be moving upwards in direction after so long going down in the ground!
If the concrete is in am I finally out of t
There has been progress on all fronts over the last couple of weeks, inside and out.
Taking advantage of some good weather, the joiners pushed on with the larch cladding.
We still have one wall to finish off and around the entrance door, but due to a shortage of cladding (a slight under ordering) we will not get this finished for another week or so. It looks very crisp at the moment, but we still have various cover pieces at the co
This is the first in a series of postings I will be making whilst on holiday in Sydney and Melbourne, mainly about architectural details which may be of interest to Buildub readers.
My favourite way to meet a new city is to do what I call a random walk, followed by a random journey back to my starting point on public transport.
I will be posting photos and descriptions of anything I find of interest, whether internal or external.
Cycle Locking Point
So, work has finally started! After initially thinking I had purchased a fully excavated site, 2 days and 700 tonnes later, I understand why everybody says ground works are the worst part! That is of course except for the opportunity for me to spend 2 days having a great time driving a 9 tonne dumper. ?
Slightly hairy moment when I bumped a tree, showered myself in apples, lost the use of the brakes... Spotted an apple had wedged itself under the brake pedal as I was rolling downhill
With spectacular timing, our window order went in too late to beat the summer factory close down, resulting in a 4 week delay on top of the normal 6 - 8 week delivery time. Better late than never, our windows arrived a fortnight ago, all the way from Poland.
Having a passionate hatred of UPVC windows, we specified 3G aluminium clad timber windows. I obtained a few quotes from different manufacturers / suppliers, but in the end, after pushing hard on price, we went with Rationel, (
Our Journey North of the Border -
Around August 2015, I started a blog intending to detail our experiences, as we set about securing a plot of land and planning permission ahead of our self build development.
By way of a reminder and introduction, this was the first and only instalment since.
Well this is it, we have finally reached a tipping point. Our retirement plans, which were no more than mere dreams and aspirations some 7 -8 years ago, have now become more focussed followin
Since the roof was finished, things have slowed down on site while we have been waiting on our windows. There has been some activity, with the garage being progressed and some EWI fitted to the external face of the ICF walls. Rather than tinker at the edges, the joiners have now been off site for a couple of weeks pushing on another job in readiness for returning to our site next week. Our windows are as I type this, sitting in the delivery depot in Kirkwall awaiting delivery to site.
It has been a while since I posted and things are progressing, so expect a flurry of posts in the next few months as things are decided before we go to contract, however I have been working on some minor detailing. I have decided that I want to extract toilet smells directly from the pan (see JSHarris blog part 32)
I have 6 toilets in the house, in 3 pairs (see the plans on blog 02-The Planning Saga) so can use 3 extract runs, one to each pair, the simple bit. I then need to work ou
Sometimes I wonder if this building lark is the right thing to do - both myself and the OH had a disturbed sleep last night. He was up around 3-4am, unable to sleep and around 5 it was my turn, worrying about the water in the cellar. And we are just renovating; what will it be like if we get to do our self build - one night without sleep and I'm a very grumpy bear, how will I cope with a couple of years! Maybe I should ask how will the OH cope with a grumpy grizzly bear....
Anyway,
We had our visit from our 'expert'; the ex - brother-in-law, who is an experienced renovator of old buildings as well as a building engineer to help guide us in the work that needs doing. It was quite interesting and unexpected at times. where to start? Maybe the gable end.
We knew that the gable end wall needed to have the render removed and replaced as it was quite badly cracked. we also had been told by the Surveyor that the top of the wall was bowing out slightly and needed
Visited a site being built by Sips of Clays today, who are our choice of supplier. Had called Clays to ask a question about lead times (it's around 12 weeks) following a query from one of the builders I've asked to quote for the outer walls, roof etc. and discovered by chance that they are erecting a SIPs build about 15 miles from me -now that's not something that happens often in Northumberland so it was great to have the opportunity to go and see the work in action, and their client kindly agr
So here we are, owning a bit of field in a National Park. The plan is to build a house for less than it would cost to buy one and of course to a much higher standard, particularly where insulation is concerned. We can build in the national park because I grew up in the village (local occupancy clause on all new builds) Now in this rural area, that is do-able as market forces mean retirees and people on city wages have driven the prices up well beyond what anyone on a rural wage can afford, in fa
After a few weeks away from the build, I've been back at work and in the last few days everything is seeming much closer to completion. All three windows and the back door are all in place now (not yet foamed up etc)- just the big beast patio door still to go, which weighs about a quarter of a tonne, so that one will need a bit of a squad.
Fitting the back door has made a huge difference to how the house feels- I can keep the sheep out now
The other jobs I've been doing are layi
Here it is: as accurate as I can get it. No pretense of getting it done cheaper than anyone else. Just the raw numbers and a few words to explain context if necessary (why did I buy a chain-hoist for example). Yes, you'll probably get it cheaper. That's excellent. The point is openness and telling it like it is.
March 2014
Home Building and Renovation Show NEC: £100, including fuel and tickets
Phone calls about £15:00 extra, and about £70:00 fuel.
July 2014
Land: already owned
Having fitted sarking boards and roofing membrane, the next task for the joiners was to batten out the roof ready for tiling, and forming timber 'skews'.
'Skews' are a verge treatment seen widely throughout Orkney, be they lead covered, stone or formed from concrete.
Nothing especially complicated in their construction, as can be seen in the 'technical diagram' used by the joiners:
With no external block leaf, our options were a bit
Well, a month into our renovation project, I thought I'd post an update on the progress made so far. Bearing in mind that we didnt plan to do much till OH retires in november, we have not been able to stop ourselves and have been there quite a lot, naturally.
Starting in the lounge, this was made instantly better by the removal of the old carpet - less doggy smell now. As the OH plans to redo all the electrics, he has been stripping most of the cabling out, leaving just a couple of working
phone died but got an old one from a kitchen drawer so don't expect David Bailey standards.
Any how here are some pics of how it looks at the moment.
I've inserted another dozen or so in entry number one!
I thought it was about time I added the tour of the second floor - it will not take long as its fairly small. I hope you all like the landing colour scheme. +We think we will keep it, as well as the mock black beams which unfortunatly fall off when pulled.
We dont think these banisters are legal - but its probably all going anyway. those are the doors to the front two bedrooms. Both are quite small and have lovely sliding doors. Also painted interesting colours. My thought is to
Ah, heart-in-mouth stuff this. The phone goes - new number - no half second when you can adjust to the person you know is on the other end because the name flashes up on the screen.
Starting a phone conversation with a technical expert, but hoping for an emotionally literate, customer-focused, technically easy to understand response is not a pleasant feeling. Add to that a mobile phone with a hiccup and a slightly distracting tomcat (Sid) who fastens himself to my leg in mid-sentence, a re
