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General

General

Week 40 - We’ve moved in!

Yes, we moved into our new house on Monday last week, pretty much 9 months to the day since we broke ground and 15 months after we purchased the plot.   We know we’ve been very lucky with our build.  The weather has generally been in our favour and we had no supply issues or delays.  Above all, we’ve had some excellent people working for us without whom we could not have achieved the build.  There are too many stars to mention here but if you look through the blog you will see them all
Compare U-Values and ACH

Exploring the ratios and losses between building elements

Been a bit bored as I have not been able to concentrate on anything much recently, but life is getting back to normal.   I read on here a lot about the advantages of insulation, airtightness, MVHR etc, but this misses a few points. Form is one of them, a simple cube is a pretty good shape for thermal efficiency, and the bigger it is, the better it looks. So I thought I would knock up a very basic spreadsheet that can be used to explore the differences between size, form, ther
General

Week 38 - Nearly there!

I’ve got to be honest, there are times when it feels like we are inching towards the finish line ever more slowly, with lots of jobs nearly but not quite done.   Pulling together this regular blog is really helpful in that respect: Every fortnight I start off thinking there is hardly anything to say so it’s probably not worth issuing an update. But once I start to look at what’s happening since the previous blog I realise that we have generally made good progress.   And indee
General

Week 36 - Progress, issues, and a minor disaster

Week 36   When I posted the previous blog two weeks ago we were looking ahead to activity on the bathrooms and electrics, and also to making a start on the landscaping.  Since then it’s been a fortnight of progress and challenges…    Bathrooms My brother Chris made brilliant progress throughout the week he was with us.  A toilet, basin and shower screen were fitted to finish the guest ensuite, a basin and shower screen fitted in the family bathroom to finish that room, a
General

UFH and screed complete and the Plastering starts in the vaulted area.

Weeks 56 to 74   The UFH is laid and the screed is providing a lovely wobble free surface for the ladders and makes brushing up so much nicer.   Our neighbour kindly lent us his scaffold tower so that we could insulate the vaulted ceiling in the open plan area which is approx 5m high. This has enabled me to finish insulating between the rafters with 140mm of Rockwool and I have PIR sheets to put up under the rafters.  For cutting both the Rockwool and the PIR I created
General

Week 34 - Kitchen, doors, and more...

Hi everyone.  It’s been four weeks since the last blog instalment and despite the Christmas and New Year break, quite a lot has happened. Apologies for a somewhat scattergun approach but I wanted to try to cover all the progress.   Kitchen units and appliances Last time, just before Christmas, carpenter Chris was halfway through fitting our kitchen units. That work was completed during the first week of January in readiness for…   Kitchen worktops Martin from L
The house itself.

Post house sale stressy disorder…

Once upon a time a deluded wrinkly, his much less wrinkly wife and their noisy little dog left their almost fairy tale rural retreat to live in a freezing rented bungalow while they buggered about trying to build a new semi-urban retreat nearby.  (How clever am I avoiding the word suburban!).  Everything would have gone swimmingly but for the fact that the head of the wrinkly was just too full.   It sort of still is I think.  In the four months since the last post (stop thinking of a b
General

Week 30 - Cladding, kitchen, electrics

We are now in that phase where we can see the finish line not far away but, bizarrely, the closer we get the more there seems to be to do.    The list the jobs that yet need to be done is a bit depressing; reflecting on all we have achieved so far is much more uplifting.  We are certainly in a significantly better position as we approach the end of the year than we expected to be when we started the project.   Work has continued in the run up to Christmas and several trades
home assistant

Snags and Home Assistant

So living in the house for the past month and a bit has allowed me to ease off the pressure a bit and start snagging / finishing some of the details.    I have underfloor heating under the main bathroom tiles but it wasn't working well. Barely noticeable at 40oC !! Turns out the electrician wired in both temperature sensors and it was adding the values together so after Schluter tech support suggested I check - I removed one pair of wires, lo and behold I have a warm floor. Really nice
Planning

Planning application 1 of 2 approved!

As per my previous post, we submitted a S73 application to vary the planning conditions around occupation timelines. I'm pleased to say this has finally been approved!   Our application was validated 1 August 2025, and wasn't decided until 12 December 2025. Given the simplicity of our application (no design changes), we're shocked it took so long. No one had any objections and consultation comments came in promptly; our case officer just made a complete mess of things. She also only wo
General

Week 28 - Floor tiling, bathrooms, cladding, MVHR, electrics…

Yes, there’s a lot going on right now.  It’s been a mixture of challenges and progress this past fortnight.   Floor tiling The original plan was for the floor tiling to be done during the first two weeks of November but the screed not being quite dry enough delayed that.  Contractor sickness and the need for the tilers to try to juggle their other booked work around ours have led to us being about 3 1/2 weeks behind now and still not quite finished (a few tiles still to lay and ab
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
General

Week 26 - Six months in: decorating, floor tiling.

It’s now six months since we broke ground and it's fair to say we’re very pleased with the progress since we began.  We have of course been very lucky with the contractors we’ve had working on the project, right from the start with the great groundworks team and that’s continued pretty much throughout.  And we’ve largely avoided unexpected surprises and delays.    That was until a couple of weeks ago when we found that our screed was not dry enough to start laying the floor tiles http
Planning

Planning fees -- to refund or not to refund?

First, some context:   Our plot already has planning permission as part of a larger development of 6 properties. However, the decision has a condition that none of the properties can be occupied until the parking and access for all properties has been completed. We've since purchased just one of the plots, and someone else owns the rest of the development.   With that in mind, our first step after our purchase was to submit a S73 application to vary that condition to allow fo
General

Week 24 - Juggling with the plan

The plan for the two weeks just gone was to complete the plastering and start the floor tiling.  No issues with the first part, our team of plasterers have done a great job, see below.   The floor tiles arrived more or less on schedule, and the tilers Steve and Kev turned up as planned.  However, when they checked the floor humidity to confirm it was ready to tile, the meter showed it was slightly over the required level.  I am a little unclear of the actual moisture numbers but their
moved in

Moved in - snag lists

Last night was my first night sleeping in my new house, finally! Got 1 bedroom mostly finished. Ikea wardrobes, painted, blind and floor installed. Just enough to call it a home! Lots more to do but it saves rent and commuting time. I plan to take it easy for the next fortnight as the last two years have been creeping up on me. Small projects for the short term.  Getting internal doors installed (by someone else!) currently. Put some acoustic insulation around the linings and cut it back. 
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
General

Week 22 - The best-laid plans…

A principal role of the project manager is surely to deal with the unexpected - for example, when a key team member is ill and out of action.  But what happens when the project manager is laid-up?   Following an ‘incident’ (all my own fault), I have spent the past week unexpectedly in hospital.  That was definitely not in the plan.  Fortunately I am home again now but largely ‘confined to barracks’ for the next month or so.  At the moment I cannot even visit the plot, although I hope t
The house itself.

Leaving our first build…

We apologise for the interruption in our scheduled programme.    Normal service will be resumed shortly.    Lots has happened on the build which is great and as it should be and all that, but I just can’t write about that right now.    Instead my head is full of leaving Bramble.  34 years ago, over a third of a century, we put flesh on the skeleton of a house and we breathed life into it.     And it’s been a constant ever since.  Now we finally decided to
General

Week 20 - Stress down, progress up.

Two weeks since the last blog and there’s a lot to cover - but lots of pictures too, so persevere!   The main issues and concerns two weeks ago were 1. how well the airtightness test would go, and 2. keeping ahead of the plasterers.     The good news is: both of those concerns can be consigned to the bin.   Airtightness As previously reported, we had engaged Aerobarrier to test, spray their magic mist, then retest the airtightness of our house.  Prior to their
Static caravan site preparation

Tank in and nearly ready for the static

So the drainage field is now in and the tank went in today.  It was a bloody deep hole!  Used nearly 20 tons of 10mm shingle to backfill the tank.   just need to finish back filling and then I’ll need to create a couple of concrete bases for the electricity kiosk and the kiosk that will house the compressor for the Graf tank.  
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
General

Week 18 - Progress on many fronts

Week 18 - Progress on many fronts   It feels like the build has entered a different phase now that the structure is fundamentally in place and watertight so I am going to drop to fortnightly blogging, hopefully with enough progress to ensure there something to cover in each blog:   Since the last blog (week 16) we’ve been busy on a number of fronts, a lot of which is geared to being ready for the plasterers who are due to start on 8th October.   First fix electrics

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