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.

As expected, it all looks a bit too small at this stage.  It always seems to be the case that the foundations make the rooms look small. They’re definitely the right size on paper, so I’m sure it’s an optical illusion at this stage (hopefully!)

The foul and rainwater drains are also now in place.  Our Building Inspector ideally wanted the SVP to come out through the roof above the bathroom but since that roof is covered with Solfit PV panels (https://solfit.co.uk/domestic-solar-panels/) that can’t be penetrated, we eventually agree to put the SVP up the outside of the north facing wall.  This is the wall that isn’t really going to be seen from the entrance, front parking areas or garden and we’d really prefer not to penetrate the roof with a soil vent if possible.  So, everyone’s happy.

The ‘spaghetti’ in the bottom left corner is where all of our external service ducts come into the plant room.  17 ducts in total, including two spare at present, (I may have over-catered):

1. Power to ASHP
2. Power to garden
3. Water pipe to garden
4. Water pipe to workshop
5. Power to workshop
6. Lighting circuit - switched external lights
7. Data to workshop
8. Live power supply in (SSE - single phase)
9. Fibre in (Openreach)
10. Water mains in (Wessex Water)
11. Power to sewage treatment plant
12. PV panel in
13. PV panel in
14. Power to EV charger
15. Data for CCTV
16. Spare 50mm duct (to workshop)
17. Spare 50mm duct (to workshop)