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General

The End of Week 1

The first week of the build is over and I've collated our time-lapse footage for the week and made a 2 minute video, hosted on Vimeo     we're a little disappointed at the speed of the dig but the boss has only given us one driver to do the digging/dumping/lorry loading so a lot of his time is spent moving the spoil around. but I've been told that more hands might be on-site next week and a bigger excavator so fingers crossed that happens and we see more progress next we

Hurry up and wait! (And do some gardening)

There has been much discussion on the short supply of materials etc on the forum, so I'm not repeating it here. Suffice to say, the progress on the house itself is best described as "hurry up and wait". The upstairs windows are all installed, the downstairs are due to go in when the scaffolding finally goes away (any day now?), and the cladding is completed as far as is possible while waiting for the MVHR and air conditioning equipment. The sewage treatment plant arrives very shortly (thankfully
  • dnb

Getting ready for the big start!

it's been a bit quiet on our blog so I thought I should update it. While we've been waiting for the groundworks to start we've been busy getting the site ready. This has included getting the new entrance to the plot created, getting the sub-base for the driveway in place and then topping it off with a layer of 6F5 as a hardstanding for the construction vehicles (after the build I can then remove the top layer to reveal the, hopefully, still in good condition sub-base to put the final layer on to

Mar 25th - Lots of Expense, a little progress

Whether you are converting a barn, like us, or building from scratch I just don't know where the time goes.  Agreed hubby works full time and although I'm only supposed to work 3 days per week I've been doing a lot more lately as we are so busy with the work new build.  It's also been dark and cold which doesn't inspire enthusiasm to get outside to do things.  I'm also very limited in what I can do, I'm not very strong and don't always know how to do things. I've also found that keeping the
  • LSB

Part 4 - Foundations Stage 2 - Stones/Sand/Insulation

Quickish update only because I seem to have run out of hours as now we are building, balancing family life and a full time demanding job.    So after the last update, where the stone wasn't really getting solid. I ended up getting it dug out, it was bothering me too much and I was completely worried about it. It was no major issue the boys dug it out in an afternoon, then put dry type 1 back in there and compacted down and built the levels up no hassles. We had a full dry week so it ma

In at last!

In at last! Building controls came out and checked the site and have issued a “temporary habitation certificate”. Big sigh of relief especially for a self build where you’ve been the main contractor.   Lots of bits and pieces jobs, as you would expect at this stage of the project. Adding stairs to second floor, making lights work, finishing off bathrooms, the last bits of flooring etc… it’s a long list but getting shorter by the day helped by being on site.   The stairs are a

Pooring concrete . Above Ground Ringbeam . Shuttering Burst . Concrete Explodes .

Been a while. Had no time. Contrary to the rest of the world, i did not have a minute of rest in 2020 and even 2021 looks similar so far. Finally managed to update the blog... https://tintabernacle.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-ringbeam-is-in-or-above.html   Clickbaity headline , but i promise... Shuttering DID burst (even though nothing fatal) and Concrete DID explode (again , nothing fatal)   More in the blog . Cheers ?   P.S.: @Jeremy Harris , i am sti

Baby steps

We have been increasingly anxious about the approaching deadline for the existing planning consent to expire - mid March 2021 - but today, at last, Dan our builder has made a start on the foundations for our workshop/garage/temporary site office and storage space. A large amount of hardcore arrived, the fencing around the protected oak trees was erected, and a digger and dumper arrived.  Dan suggested making a start by scraping the mud off the driveway which was turning into a quagmire - an

1 floor done

It's been a wile since the last blog entry and I didn't expect to have gone through yet another contractor by this stage but that's the way life goes!   We had some good progress with the basement floor walls going up and getting poured without a hitch. We moved on to the basement roof which is a terrace for the lower ground floor so was propped with acros (decided to buy 50 as can re-sell later). That also went well - aside from some issues identified by the structural engineer. Due t
  • Adam2

Foundations - Stage 1 - Nothing but Snow and ICE

Well, a few weeks have passed since my last past.   We finished up the road and last post we had scrapped back the house footprint. I feel like we haven't come that far since then, but in reality we probably have actually now that I look at the pictures.    Once we had scrapped back the top and subsoil we got the levels down to where I thought we should be. The house was meant to have FFL of 138.5m (referenced to sea level of course!) but I increased the height by 0.75m. It w

It's always the windows...

My boss says "It's always the windows that go wrong in Grand Designs". I think he might have a point. Not that I'm building anything particularly grand, but certainly about the windows.   This is the outside prior to fitting the large window. The cladding job is going well, so we are hopeful of a good day.   Having spent a few evenings fitting frames in the recent cold snap I think I ought to spend some time with SWMBO on valentines weekend
  • dnb

Feb 13th Insurance, Warranties and Building Regs

We now have all our conditions discharged and agreed and can start to plan the real deal this year. Our build is a Class Q barn conversion, which like lots of people on this forum is going to be an almost total DIY job, partly out of satisfaction and wanting to know everything is done right, but in all honesty also due to a rather restricted budget.   We had an architect draw a set of original plans (no measurements) and submit for planning, refused, we paid another few thousand t
  • LSB

Heating the house

I have found during our self build that we have gone against the norm for what you would expect a new self build to contain.    One area was how we would heat the house.   The main concern I had as we entered the winter was whether we did the right thing in disregarding the need for underfloor heating and radiators.    I have found that during the day we do not need to heat the house as having sufficient true south facing glazing provides the solar gains to heat the

A tale of 3 Lockdowns

I left the site in November 2019 with the two trees felled, and we had decided that the design and approved planning application were not quote to our liking, so we took the decision to put in a variation of condition which went in for consideration in December 2019?.  Little did we know what this would mean to progress; as we are building very much at the DIY end of the self build spectrum, and not living close to site, by the time we had the go-ahead we were in Lockdown 1.0 and unable to

The End of the Beginning

I have finished crawling round on the roof so my attention turns to finishing off a few bits of fascia, then battening, fire breaks and cladding. I left most of the battening to Jeff while I put in the first few bits of wiring for the (almost Blackpool level of ?) outside lights and made the last cuts in the fascia ends so they meet the soffits nicely. This ended up as several hours of work, making what felt like tiny progress while the battening seemed to fly along.   This is the fire
  • dnb

Removing trees and digging the hole - summer 2020

Being within a conservation area I needed to give notice to the planning department that I intended to remove the 2 trees that would allow me to make full use of the space at the bottom of the garden for my building. One of the trees was a lovely Ash tree but unfortunatley (for the tree and the enviroment) it was signicantly diseased with an almost hollow trunk at ground level, extending down to the routes that would at some time fall down (see picture of tree surgeon hiding inside the tree, onc

The end is nigh

We’re getting there! flooring, kitchen and stairs, just bathrooms to go. It’s great to see it all taking shape as the finishing jobs get done. Not that it’s all gone to plan.   The first job we tackled was to get the floor down. We wanted to get it done before installing the kitchen rather than having to work around the units. As the kitchen is part of the open plan living area on the first floor it meant doing the whole area some 70m2. It’s a lot of flooring and we needed something th

Improving Construction Law for 2021

I have been trying to think up how I would like to see law around construction improved for, or after, 2021, whilst wondering what I would put in a start-of-year letter I might write to my MP.    This is my little list. For the sake of keeping it focused, and making the points high-quality, I have limited myself to 5 ideas plus a bolt from the blue, and also to English Planning / Building Law - which is the one I know best. The Law has diverged is some measure since devolution, althoug

The initial idea!

In the summer of 2020,  having no building or home improvement experience to my name I decided to do some home improvements. With a friends son I put in some new garden fencing, repointed the stone driveway and refurbished the woodwork of the garden bench and table. Emboldend by these accomplishments I felt ready for a much bigger challenge; the construction of a building at the bottom of the garden to provide me with a workshop, gymnasium and bike storage facility. This to be done with my own h

Part 1 - A tale of stone and mud

Well we are on the way now and no going back.    The groundworks guy started last week, he is putting in the road and hardstanding and will do the insulated foundation under my guidance and I will assist. It's a good relationship and he comes when its not raining and is well experienced in groundworks. He is actually building his own home just now too (we are similar ages).  The night before he came on site...I was hurriedly arranging site insurance (horrific cost of over £2k - but it

New Year's Resolution?

I give my New Year resolution of updating this blog a bit more frequently until the first really cold snap in February. Simply because I need content, and I can only get this by being on site in the cold when I could of course be sat in a comfortable warm office writing Matlab simulations, sorting through endless sets of test data (I enjoy it. Each to their own...) and drinking coffee.   So the big progress for this entry is actually the paperwork. The structural warranty people have s
  • dnb

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