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About this blog

After many decades of dreaming about building a contemporary house, we finally found a small plot in a no-through road in the middle of Hampshire.  This blog hopes to capture our self build journey.

Entries in this blog

Shell

Finally. Some positive progress

So after 6 months of delay due to one shoddy bricklayer and another one who was shoddy with a massive 'I'm the best' ego, it is finally third time lucky and the two guys we waited 6 weeks to start, take pride in their work and are really approachable when you want to ask a question or raise an issue.  Just how it should be. Being behind is a pain though, as it will mean I will be cutting the roof and installing the standing seam roofing most likely in November.  But so long as it doesn't ge
flanagaj

flanagaj in Shell

6
Ground bearing slabs

Heidelberg Easyflow 😂

So after Cemex failed to add micro fibres to our last batch of self compacting concrete and their subsequent lack of interest in sending out a tech chap to look at the plastic shrinkage or help remediate their error, i decided to take my custom elsewhere.  Heidelberg and their ‘Easyflow SCC’ to be precise.     I stood momentarily in shock, ignorantly thinking.  “Maybe it’s magic stuff and it will suddenly turn into the porridge consistency it should be”.  Hence to say.  Said magic never h
Slab

Ground Bearing Slab (Day ? too many to count)

I love the sunny weather, but sometimes it really is hard work being out there from 8am to 6pm.  Today’s task was supposed to have been finishing the Radon membrane on the garage, laying the XPS 300 insulation and then finishing the remaining slab prep in the house.  As always, I over estimate one’s ability.  Thankfully, I have a good boss who is ok with me taking days off at very short notice.  So I have to get this finished tomorrow.  Install vcl on top of insulation, lay mesh and then finish
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flanagaj in Slab

1
Slab preparation

Hard graft, but can see the finish

Block and beam?  No!  Ground bearing slabs.  A decision that has given me sleepless nights and resulted in some serious hard graft.  We had 60 ton (that’s what we were told 🤔) of Type 1 MOT delivered and had to then proceed to get into the bays and levelled up, before compacting it.  The brickie was an arse as he should have stopped building and said “get your hardcore in and laid”.  His work was rather shit, so I knocked some of it down to enable me to get a dumper in distribute the piles to ma
Self build

Onwards and upwards

After the debacle of the last builder, who just couldn’t admit his work was rough, I decided to get https://www.tmcoatesjcbplanthire.co.uk/ back in to dig down the oversite ready for the next brickie that we have managed to get on board.  Tim is an absolute legend and goes above and beyond when it comes to excavation tasks!   here is a picture of our site (I’ve demolished the abomination left by the last incumbent)    
Static caravan

Finally in

After a full on week of getting the following jobs done.  We’ve finally moved in.  Given we have to hand the keys back to the rental on Monday, it’s been cutting it fine.   1) caravan foul drainage connected to the sewage treatment plant   2) water supply to shed for washing machine   3) installing Starlink.  This was very easy   4). Fitting a skirt to the static from salvaged 18mm shuttering ply   5). Making some steps.  So glad I never burnt th
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flanagaj in Static caravan

11
Static caravan arrival

Static caravan on site!

This day has been on my mind for months.  We really struggled to find a company that would visit the site and confirm whether we could get a static down the lane.  In the end we took an educated guess and purchased a 2023 37x13 unit from a private seller.   So at 1100hrs today, the wife of the driver (Greg Caravan Haulage) appeared in the driveway telling me I needed to go and cut some low hanging branches.   We got the static on site relatively easy, but then it got bogged d
Static caravan site preparation

And so it begins

I have taken two weeks off work to prepare our site for our static caravan / shipping containers and also installation of the drainage field and Graf treatment plant.   The digger and dumper arrived on Monday and the Kubota was brand spanking new with < 1hr on the clock.   I wanted to tackle this all by myself, but I cannot grade to save my life, so I have enlisted the help of a local ground worker on an hourly rate.  He’s been a god send and made easy work of the required
Demolition

More site clearance

So I spent 3 days with a 1.5 tonne excavator and a pecker breaking up the huge amount of concrete slab.  Thankfully, it wasn't reinforced and all I can say is that I didn't envy the neighbours.   I am just finishing off pulling up the broken slab with a 3 tonne machine and getting the concrete collected with a grab lorry.   There is about 5-6 loads to collect and that is going to cost me about £700.  I could have hired a concrete crusher, but I calculated that to hire a crusher, 5 tonne excavato
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flanagaj in Demolition

8
Demolition

Clearing the cattery buildings

There were 28 cattery pens and an office building to get rid of.   We really didn't want to have to pay to have this removed, so we put an advert on Facebook, and were inundated with calls.  We sold the lot for 2.5k and after 3 days of removing the roof structure (didn't want to risk people falling through it), the buyers came and removed it.  They left a complete mess, but I spent a further three days putting the remnants in one 4 yard plasterboard skip and 2 * 10 yard skips.  This meant we wer
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flanagaj in Demolition

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