recoveringbuilder

Getting there! They worked overtime yesterday until 7pm and plasterer is coming on Saturday apparently so they must be expecting to be ready for him. Stove man will be here today so at least things will look like they’re moving on!

God how I wish my dogs could do it I’m sure they would have the same sense of urgency as we do! Yes you’re right it can be a lonely place a building site, we get very few visitors even the family don’t visit because I suspect they can’t comprehend how we can live in a caravan, my son in particular thinks we should just buy a house and settle ourselves down but for the money we had we were only going to get a small house and we’ve tried that already and it didn’t work.We too went and looked at an ex council house just after the foundation was poured and it didn’t go as planned, but we decided to continue and I’m sure in the end it will be fine but you do get these moments when it all gets too much, for me writing it down did help and all your words of encouragement are much appreciated

Thanks for your kind words! The main builder was back last week and my hubby made it clear to him that we weren’t happy but he’s a dour fellow and tried to make excuses for his useless team when my hubby told him he was needing to kick arse, we are waiting to see what transpires tomorrow but quite honestly if it continues this way we’d be as well doing it ourselves. I think the dogs miss being in our company more than anything, don’t get me wrong they’ve finished all the block work and roof and the render is now getting done as and when it’s dry enough to do so but most of the work that’s finished has been done by people they’ve brought in, they keep talking about ‘yes we’ll get the gutters on etc etc but it doesn’t happen, my hubby said to them they’d be better getting the gutters on the dormers before the roof tiles were all on, easier to access, but no, now they’ll need to stand on the tiles to do it! Exasperated!

I’m having a wobble today, maybe more like an earthquake! I just looked my last blog post on 11th August where I said I believed the upstairs to be almost finished, well guess what , it’s 15 days later and still not finished! The boss of the company we’re using has been on holiday and the 3 boys left to do the job have done as little as possible either through ignorance or laziness, which I don’t know! The weather has turned colder and wet and miserable, hubby is back to work meaning 4.45 am rises , my dogs aren’t happy getting wet and mucky, the ground is like a quagmire, every time you go outside the caravan you get dirty, the date I was looking at moving in is 6 weeks away and when I go into the house and look at what has still to be done it depresses me.We decided to get a builder this time to speed things up and save us from having to work out who needed to come in when, well realistically we would have been as well doing it ourselves. Although they have admitted to being behind schedule they still refuse to work weekends finishing at 3 on a Friday and returning at 8am Monday morning, it’s crap sitting here all weekend with nothing happening. I have booked in a tiler for a fortnights time in an effort to speed up the plasterboarding and plastering, the pellet boiler will be installed this coming week but quite honestly I’ve had enough, the point of no return has long past there’s nothing to do but continue but quite honestly I wish we hadn’t started.

In a new build you’ll get vat back on goods and any work done will be zero rated, ie.builders,roofers etc any supply and fit such as kitchen etc will also be zero rated.you won’t get it back on hire equipment,architects fees etc Its a tough call, personally I’d rather new build as I have a better vision of the end result but if it’s a decent house it would be a shame to flatten it and the cost of that and removing the rubble would be expensive

No ours from howdens was definitely in one piece

We had a large island in our last house probably 1800x 1100 if my memory serves me correctly and the laminate worktop (classed as breakfast bar) came from howdens

No definitely 750 for water just checked our paperwork

If you don’t mind me asking how long did it take for all your insulating and plasterboarding upstairs?

Yes it seems to be 450mm and water is 750mm

I’m afraid I wouldn’t be trusting enough to let anyone else , architect or contractor to manage my build, we did price this time for a main contractor to do it all, but the prices he was quoting for goods were as much as 3 times what we knew we could get them for and although it would have been nice to put it all into someone else’s hands,it would have ended up costing us more than the house would have been worth, our main contractor is sorting out all the trades but we are supplying everything and the architect is overseeing, anything we’re not sure about he will advise, sorry but third time around all my trust has gone!

@newhomethey have a decent sized shed which I put some of the left over foam backed board in at the weekend there and they have about a half acre paddock to run about in but I think they’re just missing their home comforts and our company, keep lying to them every day saying it won’t be long now but I think they have me sussed!

Yes it’s getting close! I’m actually getting a bit peed off altogether, it looks to me like it’s running behind schedule and I need to be out this caravan by October, I ain’t wanting to be here when the cold weather comes and my dogs are not at all happy in their shed!

Yes they are 600 centres and the hatches will fit, I can’t see why they’re saying they won’t fit in dressing rooms because all the joists are the same so if they don’t fit d/r they won’t fit anywhere, I haven’t been up there as don’t like ladders but I do know they won’t be in the bedroom!

Oh they’ve already boarded it!

Yes they certainly will! Who the hell wants a big loft hatch in the middle of a bedroom ceiling, think he’s just being awkward but it won’t happen believe me, hubby will fit it himself if it comes to it, I think they’re forgetting we’ve done all this before and on our own without a lot of tradesmen!

That’s a lucky find!

All our internal walls have Osb to one side ,140mm insulation in other side but our outside walls have 140mm rigid insulation topped off with 37.5mm foam backed plasterboard, just saying tonight we’re spending all this money on a pellet stove which may not need to be on very much!

We’ve just been out and measured, looks like the joiners are just being awkward, they will not be in the bedrooms take it from me?

Just wondering if anyone can help me here. Kit firm has supplied two loft hatches, one for each side of house as the middle section has no loft space anyway, my problem is I don’t want them in the bedroom ceilings and thought they could be in the dressing room or ensuite however builders have said today that there is no room for them there, do I have to have them?

We used quick slide in our last build 10 years ago and they were very good, they’r still in the house yet although we aren’t

Well good luck! Gird your loins and hang on in there, 3 months in and our third house, wondering what ever possessed us to do it again, just said to hubby tonight, we were younger than our two kids are now when we did the first one, don’t know how we ever thought as total novices we’d do it but we did, then another and we’ve learned a lot but not everything, it’s a long learning curve, worth it in the long run but right at this moment tonight I could see it far enough!

Were you providing the steels yourself? Ours came as part of the kit and were erected while the joiners were on site, our builders had prepared the pads for the steels being bolted to and given the heights to claymore who worked it out with the fabricators from there, it did take a day and a half on site for them being put up while the joiners were here but at least everyone concerned could see what was happening, our architect really had no input at this stage other than checking correct materials had been used.

Another thing to try and get rid of, rigid insulation offcuts, we have a room full of them, put them on market place today, first person filled his jeep up twice, very grateful for them, several other enquiries from people who want photos and measurements- they’re getting the damn things for nothing , they’ll be wanting them delivered next!

I’ve been looking at lots of tiles but retail outlets seem to be so much more expensive than online, I’ve had lots of samples from Tilesporcelain and have picked out the ones I like for kitchen, utility and downstairs bathroom, my problem is by the time I get all the flexible adhesive and sealer I’m on 3 pallets costing £150 carriage and my £2k worth of tiles are going to cost nearly £4K with all the add ons is there anywhere I can buy the adhesive under £15 a bag?