Entry posted by Benpointer in General
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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, and the bath, hand shower and basin were fitted in the master ensuite.
It was all going really well. Too well. And sure enough disaster struck while fitting the wall-hung shower toilet in the master en-suite.
We* were gently tightening the bolts that hold the toilet to the frame when there was a ‘ping’, then a crack appeared around one bolt boss, before replicating itself on the other boss, and then the whole pan came away from the frame in a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly.
Which was a bit disappointing, to say the least.
(*Yes, I was 'helping' - that could be the true root-cause of the problem to be fair.)
That white rectangle on the wall is a foam pad which is meant to cushion the pan against the wall to be trimmed away after fitting. We obviously never got that far.
The actual cause proved to be a mismatch between the TECE wall frame instructions and those supplied with the GSI Ceramica WClean toilet. We followed both sets of instructions as closely as you ever can follow these modern 'pictogram', wordless instructions.
Sadly, this led to the pan being inadequately supported directly behind the bolt bosses and the pan shattered as the bolts were tightened and the stresses rose in the ceramic.
Here's the template the TECE frame instructions encourage you to cut out around.
Which leaves you with an unfortunate void around the bolt holes.
Of course, as soon as it happened we both kicked ourselves for not spotting the problem beforehand. At that point, I wished I had bought a Geberit frame and toilet as I originally intended rather than being persuaded by the bathroom showroom that these were better products.
In fairness to the showroom (Island Bathrooms in Salisbury) they immediately agreed to supply a replacement pan, which arrived this week and we will have another attempt to fit it when my brother is back with us next week - first making sure that those bolt bosses are fully supported!
Fingers-crossed!
Notwithstanding that disappointment, as well as all the great bathroom progress Chris found time get the kitchen sink and Quooker tap, and the utility sink all plumbed in too!
Landscaping
Ashley Ralph, our landscaper, made a start on our external landscaping during the wettest January for years! (We had 259mm - over 10” - of rain in the month in our corner of Dorset.)
Having temporarily turned our relatively tidy site into a recreation of the Battle of the Somme, he has quickly got a good covering of type 1 packed down and the site looks relatively tidy again. In fact tidier than it did before. To be fair, Ashley does keep things very tidy.
Concrete pad for a future potential car port.
The plan is to tarmac most of the front to make vehicle and wheelchair access nice and easy. We did consider a layer of hot-rolled grit over the top, which we did in our previous house and which looks attractive but when it’s not being walked into the house the grit collects dirt over time and becomes impossible to keep clean. So tarmac it is.
Behind the house is more complicated with a fall of 1.6m over 17m of garden. To make that as wheelchair accessible as possible we have an intricate plan of terraces, ramps, dwarf retaining walls and planting beds which we’re hoping Ashley can install in our relatively compact garden. This mini-project could be running for some time!
Cladding
Alan, chippie No. 1, came in for a week and all the timber wall cladding is now done! All that remains now on the cladding front is for some of the soffits including those under the front and rear roof canopies, to be clad. The chippies may need to perfect the art of hovering above in-progress landscape works while they do that (!)
Electrics
Electricians seem to have become a bit scarce, which is a worry. To be fair we had two in the week before last, and a lot of lights were connected up but no significant milestones seem to have been reached. We still have a lot to get through to have a fully wired house before we move in on the 23rd February. And no electricians are planned on site until 9th Feb, so this is becoming a concern.
Tiling
We’ve also struggled to get our tiler in to finish off the porcelain skirtings - a couple of planned visits cancelled due to illness. Whilst we could move in with the skirtings as they are now it is obviously preferable not to be trying to finish them off with our furniture in the room. A ‘plan B’ is emerging to allow us to get this one over the line without relying on our principal tiler, who although good does not appear to be in great health right now.
Internal joinery
We have some further oak sections on order to give us enough material to finish the pocket door frames in oak rather than the primed MDF Eclisse supplied. Also since we have decided to opt for full width door stops to give a rebated door frame look, we are waiting for those to arrive so that they can be fitted.
The oak door frames and architraves really do set the doors off well - we’re very pleased with them.
Focus for the next three weeks:
- Electrics, still lots to do.
- Plumbing - that wall hung toilet!
- Landscaping - onwards and downwards.
- Packing - it has to be done , because…
- … we’re going to be moving in in three week’s time!
Dashboard:
Contractor days on site this past two weeks: 32
Contractor days on site since build start: 527
Budget: No change - over budget but within contingency.
Plan: Moving in booked for 23rd February.
Issues and worries closed this fortnight:
N/A
Current top issues and worries:
- Whether the electrics will be done in tome for our move.
- Hanging that toilet.
-
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