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General

August 2018

Well it has been some time since I did an update. Really busy at work and of course with the house.  Things have slowed now as money reaches an end, and as time goes on the finishing will be on a "when can afford" basis, but we always knew this, and one of the points of this whole exercise was to end up with a house we could never have afforded to buy of course.   So the stonework is all done and looking great, and I have built the stairs and gave them a temporary coat of paint (they w

Another week comes to an end

Been a busy week, roofer, brickies and joiners going hard at it , I believe upstairs is almost finished as far as insulation and plaster board goes, I say I believe because I haven’t been up there having a phobia about ladders! Got hubby to go up and video it for me, problem is since it’s an oak staircase it will be one of the last things to be fitted so it could be sometime before I see up there by which time it’ll be too late! Tonight we’ve gone through the ever increasing pile of ‘rubbish ‘ t

After the rain

I wasn't going to visit the site today, but we've had heavy rain showers today in Dorset and I thought that would be an ideal opportunity to see how level the slab looks after its late night power floating.  My reasoning was that whilst I can't identify any high spots by eye, it would be easy to look for the low ones by where the puddles were lying.   Here's a photo taken from a slightly elevated viewpoint (the top of a pile of wood chippings!), looking from the south east corner where

Self build book

My book 'self-build Home...the last thing you need is an architect' is now available in kindle form Amazon as an option...you'll get a few pages as an introductory sample. Any questions email lofthousestudioAThotmail.com Thanks, Jim

A difficult day...

...for the MBC team, and not their fault, but I have a slab. This is only down to the tenacity and incredible hard work from the MBC team who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat today following horrible equipment failure on the part of the concrete company.   So, let's start at the beginning.  The slab team worked like frenzy yesterday morning to get all of the EPS down, followed by the mesh which then got tied into the ring beams.  After that, they put all the underfloor heating

The Build - plaster boarding and insulation

Yes, now that the first fix has been completed, the plaster boarding has started with the upstairs being done first. The builders will move downstairs an a weeks time or so. Whilst they have been boarding out, I have been installing the insulation for the partition walls, loft space and ceilings downstairs. The insulation being used in the loft space is 140mm - two layers laid at right angles to each other if that makes sense. The insulation used for the partitions is 100mm and the plasterboard

Wayleaves and electricity lines

Not surprisingly, I've been pondering the dilemma of the overhead electricity lines near/over my proposed garage.  I'm still waiting to hear back from MBC and I suspect my request for a call has got lost in the works somewhere, so I will chase it up.    In the meantime, I've decided to take another course of action in parallel as, given the choice, I would very much prefer the overhead lines not to be there, or at least not so close.  The immediate thought that comes to mind is £££££. 

Steel, beams and a problem

Let's start with the problem.  I can't solve it today as today is a public holiday in RoI and the MBC guy I need to speak to isn't available, so there's nothing doing until tomorrow.   I need to get the scaffolding sorted for when the timber frame team arrive on 27th August and thought I had this well in hand.  I sort of still do, but there's a H&S problem with the scaffold erection and I've spent a little time this morning tracing back to the source of the error.  I need a single

Larch cladding

Cladding now installed on the utility and porch.       Unfortunately, the rest of the cladding will need to wait until the start of the block work starts in a month or so.   I have also been busy nailing away and fixing what felt like a million truss clips.          

Update on slab pour

I briefly popped out to the site this afternoon, dragging hubby with me so that I could show him that I really am spending all that money getting a house built and not squirreling it away into a running away fund.   The MBC team were busy constructing the ring beams that then get tied into the piles.  Lots and lots of work in this and so they reckon that THE SLAB POUR WILL BE EITHER WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY now.    No photos today, but I'll take plenty tomorrow for another blow

Busy day

It's been a busy old day on site today, and the main MBC associated action was deliveries of EPS and steel and sand, and the team getting on with putting the blinding sand down onto the hardcore, that they finished yesterday evening.   The EPS supplier is based in Essex - the driver left at about 4.30 this morning to make an early delivery but even at that time of day, he didn't make it to the site until just after 8.30 as the roads were so busy.  The amount of polystyrene sitting on t

Supermen!

So , Monday night saw us spending 2 hours with our electrician going over everything that we wanted, sockets, switches fans etc  saturday and Sunday the plumbers had been in doing first fix which they finished off today, Sunday was an 11hour shift for them, Tuesday two electricians started their first fix and they arrived on site this morning at 5 am! They worked 13 hours today and were off to look at another job when they left here! Oh for the stamina of youth! roofer did his batons o

Foundation course

The slab team from MBC arrived on site this morning.  It's like having the building version of whirling dervishes who've just dropped a few speedballs.  My word, they make progress!   The team is headed up by Harry and he has 3 others in his team, but this will fluctuate a little over the course of the job with Harry needing to have a look at another job for most of tomorrow then the younger lad taking some leave to go to a music festival.  Tsk, the youth of today!  He worked like a ma

The Build - First Fix

Since the last update, things have pressed on but unlike other activities, the visual impact isn’t as obvious. I have uploaded some photos but sadly they are not very exciting as you have to look hard to see the electrics - Anyway, it's a record. The upstairs has had the same treatment as the ground floor; in as much as the walls have had additional insulation fitted, wrapped in vapour barrier and had service battens fixed.  The last two weeks of July has seen the plumber and electrici

Part 25 - Heating and DHW system performance

In Part 22, I detailed my decision making process in relation to my choice of a pre-plumb Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5kW ASHP based DHW and heating system.     I now have a full set of data covering 12 months so can provide figures in respect of how the system, and our house has performed.   My baseline requirement was to maintain 21.5C in the house 24/7 throughout the heating season (October to April), and a supply of DHW water that would allow multiple showers to be drawn of

We have a house!

After 11 days on the job we are now wind and water tight. Plumbers will be in tomorrow, roofer, brickie and electrician beginning of week, definitely moving along at a pace I’m happy with, lots of ordering went on this week to make sure we are ready for the onslaught next week and I may have news about the electricity soon but can’t say much just now, onwards and upwards ?quite an interesting roof in the middle only wish the budget would have run to oak here as it seems a shame to gyproc it all

MVHR, OSB, windows and roofing starts.

6 month update. Started fitting ducting for the MVHR, my wall build is 3 layers, 140mm, 70mm and 50mm so the ducting fitted well (luck) within the walls. Just need to uncoil the 50m lengths and start dragging it through the build.     Then I added the final 50mm timber and insulation before I started the OSB. It took about 2 months to fit about 150 boards, the vapour barrier, double sided tape, airtight tape, it was quite a challenge especially the vaulted ceiling

Windows

The windows were delivered last Friday.   They arrived in three pallets, two of them were lifted off by the lorry's tail lift and a pallet truck. The larger pallet had to have the windows taken off manually.   Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the offloading as it was all hands on deck.   I was however involved in the lifting of the windows, on average the windows were about 75kgs each, but the french doors were double at 150kgs.     Here are som

Hold onto your hats!

After such a very long time of planning, waiting, more planning, plotting and scheming, the real and tangible world is now hurtling towards me at a pace.  MBC got in touch this morning to advise that the slab insulation and the MBC team will be on site on 31st July.  That's next week.  Eek!   Now, I don't know exactly what else is going to happen and whether that's the start proper of the slab going down, but I'd say it's a pretty positive sign of it.  Once I have more detail on the sc

A little less conversation...

...a little more action.   The piles started going in today and it was a glorious sight to behold after so much waiting and anticipation.  It was, in fact, very understated for piles; these are, after all, mini piles, but there was so little fuss and hassle that it was almost underwhelming.  Not quite, though.   I may just happened to have mentioned before that I'm on clay.  Well, I'm on even more clay than I thought.  In fact, you would be hard pressed to find anything other

The Build - Stone work commences

A few photos of the stone work that has now started on site, whilst others continue to prepare the upstairs for the first fix. I have also included an image of the "biscuit screed" laid upstairs over the UFH pipes. Close observers and those who have read previous entries, will notice that the windows have been corrected with fire battens fixed. Anyway, the stone is called a local blend and is made up of Perthshire stone, Cumbria stone and Borders Buff. The Quoins have a hint of lilac t

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