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Blogs

Da Bungalow

A pause for breath… (& to take stock of cost of foundations…)

Well, sort of.  Working physically hard is sooo emotionally easy compared to the frenetic whirlwind of strip foundation digging and filling.   If that means that to you, I sound an emotional fruitbat then I commend your perceptivenes.  I find it impossible to predict in advance the bits that will be most stressful.   In the last two weeks I’ve had all but two days on my own on site, as Steve has been on his hols.  So it’s background organisation tasks and planning for the most part.  T
Contemporary build in north Dorset

Week 2 - Foundations

The excellent SE we contacted on Thursday to design the depth of our foundations came back on Friday with the answer - deeper than we wanted at 1.95m in the corner closest to the neighbouring oak (15m away) but his quick response has saved the schedule.  We need to add clayboards in the corner nearest the tree but overall it could have been a lot worse.   His rapid turnaround was brilliant and it meant we were able to crack on this week.  The groundworkers had already discounted Monday
Contemporary build in north Dorset

Week 1 - Breaking ground

Our groundworkers arrived on site as promised on the Tuesday after Spring Bank Holiday.   Raining all day of course!  Though tbf it’s fairly light rain.  They made a good start removing a concrete slab left over from a long-demolished, clearing the oversight and creating a temporary spoil dump site on the paddock.   Three issues this week:   An unexpected armoured cable is discovered on day two - our groundworker Marcus is unsurprisingly cautious.  Quick call to our electrici
Contemporary build in north Dorset

Let the fun begin!

We’re starting our build so I thought I’d attempt a blog.  I can’t promise to keep it up throughout the build but I start with good intentions.  Apologies for the inevitable typos along the way.     A bit of background:   We have previously done a lot of alteration and refurb projects for our various homes over the years, the most recent a major eco- refurb and extension of a 1960s bungalow.      Last year we decided to bite the bullet, sell the house, buy a plot an
Da Bungalow

Choose your panics with care…

We start the week with the latest quandary: how to show the warranty surveyor enough trenches so he can confirm he’s seen 50% of them.  He saw some last week and if we dug the rest of them then that would add up to enough.   However, if we did that we’d have a massive issue with spoil and we would not get the concrete lorry on to pour, so it would be barrows.   Apparently pumping is an option, but we’d need to close the road which is a lot of cost and a great deal of time wasted.   So,
The Old Cow Shed

Solar PV, more cladding and my first plasterboard jointing.

Weeks 35 to 39   The build is close to our existing working barn and home, close enough that as a Cow Shed power and water was fed from the working barn.  We have renewed the power cable and water connection so that the new build with its 7.5 kwp of solar can power the working barn.  With the solar on the roof the plant room became my priority to get the CU and wiring ready for the solar installation to continue.  This meant us plaster boarding in the plant room, a new plaster board li
Da Bungalow

Scraping and digging and filling.

Clearing the site…   (Last weekend I didn’t think there was enough for a blog entry.  But this weekend, after a week and a half at groundworks it turns out I had more in my head to clear out than I realise, so it’s a bit longer than expected…)   After the grunt and sweat and fatigue of manual demolition it felt like one big ‘Hurry Up -Wait!’, the wait partly imposed by Steve (semi retired builder) being on holiday.    The plan was to start groundworks at the beginni
Deep refurb and extension

Tiling En-suite

This blog post is out of order, I’ve lots of other content yet to post, but thought it important to capture in the moment.   I’ve spent the last few days preparing my en-suite floor for tiling.    cut out the 22mm p5 chipboard ready for the shower former. plumb the 40mm shower waste to a 50mm solvent weld pipe, which was a smaller size than the 40mm solvent weld adapter I had. Turns out compression fittings are able to go from 40mm solvent weld (42mm OD) to 40mm
The Fun Irish (House)

Two Weeks Holidays and I only got to see 1 movie.....

I took two weeks holidays to catch up on some house building work and get some material onsite. Sometimes that worked, sometimes not!!  The Plumber has already been and performed most 1st fix items and I'm centralizing everything back to central manifolds: Should make replacing taps etc a lot easier in the future I hope!!    I was outside during the recent sunny spell and noticed my Brise Soleil doing their thing - the shadow modelling looks spot on for this time of yea
South East Cornwall Low Energy build

We moved in, we lived there, we left

The end of our last blog entry ended thus: Dare I add a what's next list 🙂 ?   Well, here goes .... Plastering finished in the open plan area this coming week (by others) Remainder of stone cladding arrives and work begins to get the most inaccessible (high) parts put up before the scaffold gets taken away - this means cladding two 7m x 2m wide walls Plumbing pipework ready for ASHP installation Gabion basket and pad for ASHP to be installed on
The Old Cow Shed

Cladding

Weeks 27 to 34   Cladding   After securing our planning permission I arranged for a few samples of wood cladding from various trees and from a few different suppliers.  I propped them up in the sun and watched for months as they changed colour and silvered off.  We made a short list of which we liked, something with a definite grain pattern so not Poplar, not too knotty so not pine, thermally modified wood as it is less prone to shrink and swell and as it’s no longer sappy le
Da Bungalow

Demolition summary and costings…

The trouble with allowing contingency is that when you don’t need it then it feels like time wasted.   I guess it’s a bit of a drawing of breath really, much needed, but one’s natural bent (in my case anyway) is to automatically reach for my spade and start work - thinking not required.     Oddly, we aren’t in a rush, in fact, the faster we go the quicker we run out of money unless our house sells, which in this market is looking unlikely.   So taking time out is a good thing, it’s jus
Da Bungalow

Bungalow down! Bungalow down!

(There’s way too much verbage here - sorry - but it reflects the deep spring clean my head needed.  Will try to make time for a demolition summary in another post which would be far more useful for others).   Each Monday morning, since we started demolition on the 17th of March, at stupid o’clock, I shuffle round the kitchen getting breakfast ready trying to assess how my body is doing, physically.   Well, sort of.  What actually happens is I slowly get my knees and my back working whi
Da Bungalow

Last Dunny standing…

The week starts with the removal of the external walls on the rear half of da bungalow.  That’s the fun bit.  I’m armed with two chainsaws and a reciprocating saw (aka sabre saw, for some reason).  I bought the sabre saw as Steve the builder recommended one for demolition.   When I bought it I knew it would be useful, but I knew my trusty chainsaws would get more done quicker and easier.  It’s not easy working with someone who’s right every damn time.  Sigh.   So the chainsaws re
Da Bungalow

Bungalow recycling…

Week 13.   Or at least, my body thinks it’s week 13, whereas the calendar says it’s week 3.  It’s really odd looking back on the demolition.  Starting to strip tiles off seems so much longer ago than 20 days.  Most odd.   The week started with a tidy up day, as Steve wasn’t there.  Almost all of the wiring for da bungalow ran through the loft, and was set to be in the way so out came my new and wonderfully sharp side cutters.  About 5 minutes in they went back in my pocket and were rep
Da Bungalow

It’s so warm we’ve gone topless!

Da bungalow that is, not us mortals.  We carry on sweating in our hi vis.     We were pleased with how the timing worked out - planning to demolish during cooler months so all the neighbours will be wrapped up warm indoors away from the dust, plus it’s hard work so cooler temperatures help comfort.  So much for that plan with our mini heat wave!   Steve took pity on me by leaving me recovery time on Monday and Tuesday.  Good news from a site clearing and tidying point of view
Little Stud Barn

How long since the last entry !!!!!

I hadn't realised that my last entry was in Nov last year.  Where has the time gone.   As with many self builds, particularly those on a DIY basis we have been very subject to weather slowing things down, not that it could be much slower.   But, in fact compared with last year we have done loads.   The NOT wall (the side of the barn that was open) is now a wall.   This wall is 16m long, with 4 lots of French door gaps. double skin block with 150
Da Bungalow

The (not so) secret diary of two self builders, one aged 62 and a half…

After what feels like forever we finally started real works.  We’ve done lots to the plot, tree clearance, root removal, digging out beds, planting, etc. but little to da bungalow itself.   We held off stripping out ‘til we were sure the project was viable, which was über cautious but that’s us.  Selection of timber frame supplier wasn’t straightforward.  It came down to a local-ish company (ETE) who supply a panelised frame for manual erection on site or stick built on site under the
Another Threshing Barn

In the beginning…

Blog   So, where to start? I’d been talking to my wife about building our own house being a dream for the last 10 years or so. One day late last year, she woke up and said, “Why don’t we do it?”    So we spent a few weeks looking at plots, barns, and the like with planning but really struggled to find something in budget in the areas we wanted. At the same time, my parents had secured planning on the very barn we had our wedding reception in, and it had been on the market for
The Old Cow Shed

Window Installation

Weeks 24 to 27   Windows Installation   Choosing window style and supplier has been one of the hardest decisions.  We finally decided on Aluclad wooden windows from Norrsken.  It’s been a long journey and Norrsken have been with me on that journey since December 2022 to installation end of February 2025.  A big thank you to Nick at the window company for sticking with me on my numerous window quotes, that took over 2 years to finalise.   Due to my architect not thin
The Fun Irish (House)

Half Way to 1st Fix

Well, it's been a busy month. I'm taking weekly Pilates to keep my back in check and so far so good. This is the first week I've taken off without any incidents to progress the house. This is the list of what I'm managing currently just to tickle my brain in a years time! Plumbers due to start any day - prep bathroom fixtures - a lot of boxes onsite!  Met Electrician to get quote Electrician recommended kitchen design be finalized - booked appointment in showroom Wen
The Old Cow Shed

Roof slated and in roof solar installed

Weeks 18 to 23   So it’s been a while since the last update, but a couple of weeks ago the scaffolding came down and we can finally see our lovey slated roof and the solar.  I am very happy with the roofers who worked so hard in the cold and the wind, as we are quite exposed.  Anybody in the South West looking for a roofer I would be happy to recommend them.   On the inside I have started with the insulation between the rafters.  I am using Rockwool flexi slabs 140mm thick wi
The Fun Irish (House)

Condensation Alert!

I've two last major areas to details for air tightness and insulation - this post relates to one of these - a single rear Oriel Window, an architectural feature that juts out from the rear of the building and is finished externally with a metal standing seam. The plan agreed was to create a 20mm lip of metal for the window to sit against. I was right about to commence work when I noticed dampness and beads of moisture and sure enough despite the window being surrounded by a later of insulation,

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