As promised, I spared you a Week 14 blog due to our visit to Yorkshire for a wedding and catch-up with old friends. It was lovely to do something unrelated to the house and it made us realise how all-consuming our build has become. We will definitely try to have some more non-house time through the rest of the build.
That said, it’s back to the matter in hand:
UFH
Two weeks ago the guys were battling through laying the floor insulation in preparation for laying the
Floor
The main focus this week has been laying the DPM + 220mm PIR floor insulation + 50mm upstand insulation round all the walls, then the UFH perimeter expansion strips and the vapour separation layer ready for the UFH pipes.
It’s proved intricate work. Ken our first fix plumber assisted by local builders Barry and Jordan together have been working hard to complete the task by the end of August so that the liquid screed can go down during the first week in September.
Very busy again this week - we were probably running at the maximum people we can have on site without contractors getting in each other’s way. On Thursday we had the carpenters, the insulation team, a roofer and the window installation team on site, and it’s not a very big site.
Windows and doors
The main highlight of the week was the arrival of the windows and external doors on Thursday together with a team of four (from Ukraine, though the windows were made in Estonia). T
A quieter week this week but good progress nonetheless.
The main build focus this week has been on the south-facing single pitch roof which is to be covered using in-roof solar panels with slates around the boundary, then zinc facias to match the rest of the roof.
It seems the zinc roof guys don’t do slate roofs and the slate roofers don’t do zinc, so two roofing teams required. Fortunately, both teams have been excellent: professional, tidy, friendly and turning up when
A longer than usual blog - we’ve had a lot going on this week.
We definitely reached site capacity with five vans and seven contractors on-site on Thursday and Friday. Seven pallets of cellulose bales arriving mid-week didn’t help space management either.
The whole week got fairly stressful but somehow we seem to have got through it. Phew!
Membranes
The plan was for the team from SW Insulation to fit the VCL membrane to the vaulted ceilin
As mentioned last week, the zinc roofers asked if they could start a week early(!) and so, on Monday morning along they came - Brian and Tom from Wessex Metal Roofing in Salisbury. The first couple of days were mainly rolling out long zinc profile sections from the back of their van, then these proceeded to be fixed on to the 18mm ply sheeting that Alan the Chippie had laid the previous week.
Three triple-glazed electric Veluxes arrived from the builders’ merchants (I f
Last week our timber frame structure shot up. This week was supposed to be the second week of a two-week frame installation but the team finished on Tuesday, having worked through the weekend. And off they went, but not before I persuaded them to stand still for 30 seconds for a snap for posterity. So here they are: Brandon, Jake and Callum - Great work guys!
Their early finish allowed our chippie Alan to press on with the 18mm ply required over the roof for the zinc
…well, the shell of a house at least.
What a crazy week. We chose the factory-built timber frame route because we like the idea that the shell goes up within a few weeks. But the pace of progress this week has been startling.
The frame erection team of 3 arrived at 7:30am on Monday. A big yellow crane arrived at 8:00, with the frame arriving on an artic by 9:15. First off: a careful check shows that the frame fits the footings. Hurray! In fact the footings were withi
A relatively quiet week this week - the lull before the storm (hopefully not literally!)
The scaffolders arrived to put up a single-lift all around the exterior on Thursday and Friday (and Saturday morning as it turned out). I say single-lift but there were due to be a couple of hop-ups for the gables on the south-facing roof. However, at one end the gable is over a canopy roof which means the first lift is 2m away from where the gable will be. We've left that one off for now -
We’ve had another very good week of progress by the groundworks team and they are pretty much done now bar some further levelling of the paddock area and one or two other minor details. We are really pleased with their work and the Building Inspector is pleased too, thankfully, so our foundations are all signed-off 👍.
Bizarrely, it’s only now that we can submit the “Commencement Statement” for our construction to Building Control, which I duly did this week. Also bizarrely, we are
Great progress by the groundworks team in sweltering conditions this week - laying concrete blocks in the sun when it’s 30deg C and 80% humidity can’t be any fun at all.
Despite the heat, by the end of the week our foundation walls are in and ready for the block and beam floor this coming week. We can really see the house take shape now, although quite a few of the foundation walls are just there to support floor beams and won’t appear as internal walls above the floor.
The groundworks team have been putting in the Sewage Treatment Plant and drains this week. We’ve chosen the Klargester Biotec+ 2 STP and that arrived on schedule from Tanks Direct on Tuesday.
Also this week the concrete pads were dug and poured for five oak posts that will support overhanging roof canopies - the Building Inspector asked us to put in 1m x 1m x 1m pads which seems excessive for 150mm x 150mm oak posts taking point loads of 5-10kN but it was that or pay the SE for (p
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
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
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
