The end of our last blog entry ended thus:

Dare I add a what's next list 🙂 ?

 

Well, here goes ....

• Plastering finished in the open plan area this coming week (by others)
• Remainder of stone cladding arrives and work begins to get the most inaccessible (high) parts put up before the scaffold gets taken away - this means cladding two 7m x 2m wide walls
• Plumbing pipework ready for ASHP installation
• Gabion basket and pad for ASHP to be installed on
• Mist coat and first coat on plaster (SWMBO is at the ready)
• Begin fitting upstairs UFH
• Front door being fitted (January) by others
• Take 3-4 days off for Xmas
• ASHP installation (January) by others, that will allow for hot water and the downstairs UFH to be available ...
• Fit a temporary bathroom ...
• Fit out utility room as temp kitchen ...
• ... and this is why - Move out of static van for the month of February (rules is rules!) and decamp to the house

 

The title of the blog may be a little misleading - let me assure you that living in the house for a short while was great. We liked it so much we stayed for 5 weeks instead of the 4 that we had to, as it was warmer than the static van we would be going back to. If you recall the beginning of March was a little frigid, even down here in the South West (the van sits in a valley that collects the cool air very well and so is often 3 to 4 degrees (K and C) cooler than the surrounding area.

 

We can recommend such a short stay in the house before getting stuck into the final push on the interior. It has definitely helped in providing an order of works for us in the coming months before we finally move in properly by highlighting things that may have been overlooked or forgotten in the general melee of all the other things that have been taking place over the previous 6 months.

 

So, back to that list:

I've commented on this in a post somewhere else, but in coloured text this is what happened

• Plastering finished in the open plan area this coming week (by others) This did happen in October
• Remainder of stone cladding arrives and work begins to get the most inaccessible (high) parts put up before the scaffold gets taken away - this means cladding two 7m x 2m wide walls      This also got done before the scaffold was removed in early January - thankfully the temperatures and the rain played ball
• Plumbing pipework ready for ASHP installation    Sorted
• Gabion basket and pad for ASHP to be installed on    Filled and Pad poured
• Mist coat and first coat on plaster (SWMBO is at the ready)    What a job - so much brighter
• Begin fitting upstairs UFH    No, no, no, what were you thinking (but more to come on this below)
• Front door being fitted (January) by others      All done and glad I did not have to lift it up the stairs
• Take 3-4 days off for Xmas    OH, YES and very much enjoyed
• ASHP installation (January) by others, that will allow for hot water and the downstairs UFH to be available ...  All done and worked very well, hence the extra weeks stay
• Fit a temporary bathroom ...  The temporary shower was so good we were going to keep it but then changed design of the bathroom - one of the things from living in the house
• Fit out utility room as temp kitchen ...  This is still in place and being used as part of our welfare unit on site

 

Here are some pictures of the above work

 

 

And so, we moved in just at the end of January and lived in the house for 5 weeks. During this time we experienced what the house was going to offer us, and, apart from the dust, we were only too happy to be able to stay an extra week when the cold snap came along at the beginning of March and we could delay our return to the static van (AKA tin box). This in spite of a temporary bathroom, kitchen and bedroom facilities. The cat, however, thought differently about the dust, but seemed generally happy with the quality of work

 

 

While we were in the house during March work carried on with fitting the remaining plasterboard ready for the plasterers to come along in March. This was pretty much all we did - and we're very glad to only have a few more sheets plus some waterproof backerboard to fit. No pictures of this as it is really not that inspiring 🙂 

 

Going into March we created YAL (Yet Another List) 🙂 We've all been there - the ever changing & expanding, rarely static or reducing list. Anyone got onto the LOL yet (the List Of Lists)?

 

This included, in no particular order (that came later),

• Hassle the SH1T out of the window installation company to investigate and fix the leaks (three fixed windows and a sliding door) that came to light after we did the first lot of plastering
• the rest of the plastering,
• the rest of the mist coating and painting,
• more stone work,
• moving as much stuff into what we now call the attic (a very large room downstairs as we don't have a real attic) in order to clear all the other rooms,
• Install the UFH upstairs with plywood cover
• fit the bathroom,
• fit the kitchen,
• fit the utility and cloakroom,
• electric 2nd fix
• rainwater soakaways
• rainwater collection system
• backfilling
• concrete lego brick retaining wall
• Flooring
• Wood cladding
• Air tightness test (as I write this, I think "oh, sh1t, I must get that booked in")
• Fit internal doors
• Fit en suite
• Build MY garage
• A green roof system, because its on the planning application, and may be required for certificate of completion (unless someone can enlighten me as to how to avoid this, and be able to delay the installation)

 

We are focusing on the internal works in order that we can move in, although not necessarily completed on the outside, sometime in the summer months.

 

The first 3 or 4 items have progressed well:

    <----- This is the "attic" with a garage floor paint that remains a little tacky even 3 weeks later, but it'll eventually get covered with a "proper" floor at some point in the future

 

Despite the window leaks not being fixed yet, we have ploughed on and had all the other plastering done. The window installation company knows the situation and is fully aware that we expect them to repair any further damage caused by the water ingress. (I'll not respond to any comments on this point for my own sanity 🙂 )

 

Flooring has been ordered, and 2nd fix electrics loosely scheduled in, as well as some of the backfilling, and prepping for the garage foundation.

 

The UFH has started where the floor is available, and in order to be able to install the kitchen (the picture below is not where the kitchen will be - I don't appear to have photoed that - strange.

 

Those who have been reading my blogs will recall from an earlier entry the terrible story of SWMBO's foot. Well today (Apr29) as I write this on a hotel terrace in Oxford she is recovering from her sixth operation, this time a toe fusion, that will take her out of the game for at least 6 weeks, 2 of which she has to spend with the offending appendage raised above her heart for 23 out of 24 hours every day. She won't even be able to climb the walls with frustration. So yours truly will likely be happy to be dispatched to the house each day to GO AND DO SOME WORK!! 🤣

 

Until next time, which I hope will be the "We've moved in" entry.