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 a few templates of different angles and had them ready for when my husband came to help pass them up to me. Once the Rockwool was finished we both took it in turns on the scaffold tower fitting the PIR.  Having a vaulted ceiling in the openplan area and partially vaulted elsewhere will give us plenty of light and nice high ceilings but for now they are awkward to cut around to insulate and ensure the VCL is tight around the junctions.  The time spent doing this will no doubt be forgotten once we move in and it is starting to feel closer.

 

We marked out the kitchen island location and dining room table location to get first fix electic lighting located and measured for the kitchen units.  For my birthday treat our daughter came to stay and dog sit our elderly Greyhound so that we could go shopping looking at kitchens.  We spent almost 4 hours in Wren Exeter with Harvinder but we think we have ordered a lovely kitchen and pantry.  Unfortunately our neighbour needed the scaffold tower back but said we could borrow it again as soon as he had finished with it.  We then decided we should book in the plasterer as things were starting to come together, rather luckily for us our plasterer had just had a job cancel on him and when we spoke to him on a Thursday he said he could start next week either Tuesday or Wednesday.  As we hadn’t finished insulating one side of the vaulted ceiling we said we couldn’t be ready that quick unless he wanted to quote for fitting the PIR and the VCL, which I had already purchased most of.  We then spent the weekend and Monday getting first fix electrics in the kitchen and mocking up where the TV was going to get the electrics and room wall lighting ready.  Things have therefore started to move on quicker than we expected, so we are hopeful of moving in by winter this year with a working kitchen, one bathroom and one bedroom finished at least.

 

Kitchen design render.

 

 

Testing TV and speaker location.

 

Even with the plasterboard lifter its hard with 3 on the scaff and one on the lifter, so glad I'm not doing it.

 

Taking time off the insulation has meant I can tidy the UFH expansion foam up in all the rooms and the trip hazards we kept ignoring at door room openings, whilst being on hand for the plasterers if they need more tape etc or have any questions.  Once they have finished with the VCL membrane I might finish the VCL I started before we borrowed the scaffold tower or I could take a rest from the build and catch up on so many other things, even paint schemes maybe.

 

I have caught up on the build paperwork this weekend.

The total spend to date including the provisional kitchen figure of £15,000 which includes VAT, units, worktop, tiles and some appliances so not  the reclaim amount.

 

Total to date

£238917 over 135m2 is £1770 m2 for a 3 bed, 2 bath, bungalow

 

This is broken down as follows.

General £4200

Carpentry £500

Kitchen £15100

Roof insulation, inc membrane and tapes etc £4500

First Fix Electrical £1230

First fix plumbing and partial bathroom costs (ongoing) £1430

UFH £900

Drainage and gutering £8540

Floor insulation inc tape and membranes £2670

Screed £2740

Cladding (over ordered but ideas are developing) £5690

Render £3090

Solar 7.5 KWp £8570

Roof £23300

Windows £20870 no front door yet.

ICF Construction £119600

Pre build costs and fees etc £15830

 

The back of envelope guesstimate of future spend is £35k to finish apx £2k per m2