Hello again - work has finally started

[AliG]

For me this has been the hardest few weeks as we get closer to finishing there seem to be more decisions for me to make. Also finishes and how things look become more important.

 

With the build dragging from an initial July finish, to end September and then end November, I decided that I had to make sure it was not going to slip anymore.

 

I think we are now good for mid November. My wife has a party organised for December 2nd which allowed lots of time from completion when it was arranged.

 

I managed to source paint for steel painting which was quoted at a ridiculous £150 a square metre when they knew it desperately needed done, I expect the final cost to be around a quarter of that.

 

I have just got an estimate for the internal doors. Lucky I did as the specials are 8-10 week lead times.

 

They have pretty much finished the electrical first fix and started on the plumbing.

 

They have been framing out and plaster boarding upstairs. The plaster skimmed walls have lovely finish.

 

The windows are still not in due to the steel lintels not being painted and the roof in only around 25% tiled. The windows should be done in two to three weeks and the roof maybe a week later. Then the rendering can start outside and we can work on finishes inside.

 

I have just told my wife that she can finally choose paint colours.

 

 

 

Framing for master en suite

 

 

 

More roof tiles

 

 

 

MVHR and other pipework

 

 

 

Hot and cold water loops going in. These will be fixed to the slab. 

 

 

Sprinkler system in, can finish plaster boarding the ceiling now.

 

 

Plaster skimmed walls

 

 

More plaster

 

 

Cabling in AV cupboard

 

 

Plant room

 

Edited August 25, 2017 by AliG

[Tennentslager]

I'm hoping you have the December party in the house but seeing as it's in the dead zone for bistro/restaurant business, why not put some feelers out for an alternative venue?

Good luck, the house looks fantastic, especially that roof

[jamiehamy]

Getting there! Thanks for sharing the pics, it's a great reference for others in future. Know what you mean about decisions - they come thick and fast (not as fast for us thankfully as we get plenty time to mull). Biggest problem is that you think you've decided something and if you don't order ASAP,  see something else too which looks good. We've just tonight ordered the remaining tiles for bathrooms - no going back. We're getting the big rooms skimmed next week. Is the cost of nice lighting perturbing you yet? I don't think I'll ever understand how lighting can be so expensive. Huge gap in the market there I think! 

[Oz07]

Were you forced to have sprinkler system?

 

looking good. Love a screeded first floor feels so solid. 

 

Did you get on ok screeding ground floor with the water ?

[AliG]

@Oz07 by the time the screeners came back there had been a dry couple of weeks so it was fine in the end. We were forced to have the sprinklers. As soon as you go over two floors the fire regulations are a pain in the neck. The first floor study is open to a games room on the second floor in the roof. Because of that one room almost all the room doors are fire doors, all the steel has to be painted to fire proof it, we had to install sprinklers in that area, we have to have a higher end smoke alarm, etc. We also had to have a fire report written as the house is over 200sq metres per floor and the domestic regulations only officially cover up to that size. Basically all in all the extra cost has been almost £10,000. Also it will be £250 a year to service the sprinklers for the rest of the life of the house. Now with Grenfeel you can see how you want to be careful regarding fires, but as you can see from the picture there is virtually no wood or other flammable materials used in the construction of the house. Chances of a serious fire would be very low. But everyone wants to over themselves.

 

@jamiehamy our tiles were ordered in December for April delivery. Due to delays they had to going storage. As to lights, we have been ordering the nice ones from Aliexpress, direct from China. The first batch came in a week ago and seem to be exactly what we wanted (won't know for sure until they are installed). They were designer lights where the genuine article would have cost 10x as much. In a lot of cases though it looks as if they are pretty much the same lights for 1/2 to 1/3 of the retail price. It shows how much stuff is marked up between the manufacturer and the end customer.

 

@Tennentslager I am indeed pleased about the roof, I think looks fantastic. Party will be in current house if we are not done, but it looks like we are good for mid November now barring disaster. The tilers are tentatively booked to start in the middle of next month and the kitchen installation for October.

Edited August 26, 2017 by AliG

[Onoff]

Loving that sprinkler system. Talk about sleep easy at night!

 

How's it fed? Surely not off mains pressure alone? Do you have a sprinkler tank and pump that kicks in in the event of a pressure drop i.e if the sprinklers go off?

[AliG]

1000 litre tank in the plant room! I'm hoping it they never get set off by accident as it will be pretty messy.

Edited August 26, 2017 by AliG

[Triassic]

12 hours ago, AliG said:

I think we are now good for mid November. My wife has a party organised for December 2nd which allowed lots of time from completion when it was arranged.

Can't wait! I'll be nice to meet the rest of the Buildhub crew!

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, AliG said:

1000 litre tank in the plant room! I'm hoping it they never get set off by accident as it will be pretty messy.

Your having exactly the same system as we've just installed for a customer. Installer says they'll only go off with a fire or malicious damage. He hasn't heard of one falsely activating yet and he's banging these in every week. . Also, BCO hasn't either, ( but they know terrifyingly little about sprinklers  )

 

[Jeremy Harris]

I think sprinklers are a very good idea, but prefer the very low water volume atomiser/mist ones, as the volume of water needed is far less, they do less damage to the house, and they are more effective at suppressing smoke, apparently.  The big downside is the cost, not just the installation cost, but the ongoing servicing cost.  If it wasn't for the high cost, I'd have fitted them, for sure.  The installation looked to be pretty easy, but cannot be done as a DIY job, apparently, because it has to be certified.  If the cost came down, together with a relaxation in the annual inspection requirements, then I think more people might be inclined to fit them.

 

For those that are interested, when I was looking around I found a few retrofit atomiser/mist fire suppression systems that looked promising.  They were aimed to protect high risk areas, like kitchens, where a water supply was already accessible (by a sink, for example) and the performance looked pretty good.  The cost was still a problem though - you can buy a lot of house insurance for the cost of fitting and maintaining a sprinkler system.

[AliG]

The architect talked to BC re using a mist system but they were insistent on a water system. I think they are probably wrong and ill informed but that was their requirement. If I had been involved I might have tried to get it changed as it is cheaper and requires less maintenance.

 

There isn't really anything likely to set it off up there so I should be fine, it is just a bit of a worry.

[Jeremy Harris]

14 minutes ago, AliG said:

The architect talked to BC re using a mist system but they were insistent on a water system. I think they are probably wrong and ill informed but that was their requirement. If I had been involved I might have tried to get it changed as it is cheaper and requires less maintenance.

 

There isn't really anything likely to set it off up there so I should be fine, it is just a bit of a worry.

 

I suspect it's just a case of the natural conservatism within the construction industry, the thing we see time and time again, often holding back progress. 

 

The evidence supporting the effectiveness of mist systems seems to be both solid and very impressive.  The ability of a mist system to partially wash fine smoke particles out of the air is the thing that seems most important, given that smoke inhalation, or the blockage of escape routes by smoke, seems to be a common cause of death in fires.

[AliG]

Lots of progress, we are aiming to be in on December the 8th.

 

The people who are buying our house have asked to be in sooner, I just don't see that being possible unless we move into a hotel or rent a place for a couple of weeks.

 

I think almost all the decisions on the house are made so my stress levels are falling.

 

Main stress now is getting completion certificates for an extension on our current house in time for the sale. The builder never got final completion and a couple of things need to be done.

 

The lounge is almost done, just the fire to go in.

 

 

 

Stonework has to go in around the widows, must make sure the builders put the insulation in first.

 

 

Some of the upstairs bedrooms are basically done and plastered.

 

 

Loving the upstairs hall, it almost feels like you are standing outside.

 

 

 

First couple of bathrooms being fitted out.

 

 

Hall from the other side.

 

 

My daughter's bedroom has been plastered now.

 

 

Shower frame.

 

 

Rest of bathroom framing.

 

 

Zinc roof going on above the hall.

 

Edited September 30, 2017 by AliG

[jamiehamy]

Agree - upstairs hall is going to be fantastic! Fingers crossed to hit the target dare - we're hoping to have a Temporary Habitation cert by then - with garage and drive the main items to finish. 

 

[AliG]

Yes, I asked the builder about being in early as we don't mind living in a couple of rooms whilst they finish off. He said that the problem was the paths needed to be finished to get a temporary habitation certificate.

[Barney12]

Two words; 1) Lovely 2) Huge!  

[AliG]

Just a couple of pics for an update, I forgot to take more.

 

The builders were working on Saturday so I was able to go see them without taking a day off work.

 

Things are really coming along, we complete on our current house on December 8th, assuming that BC gives me the completion certificates I mentioned in another post.

 

Finally getting some render on. With that and all the windows it will soon look like a finished house.

 

Of course now that all the windows are in and with Celotex insulation in the walls the phone signal has all but disappeared inside the house.

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

Ask your mobile providers about a booster box to plug into your wifi router, like we got from EE after telling them we couldn't stay with them any more due to the signal being utter crap in our stone built cave. Now 5 bars of 3G throughout the house.

Good to see the progress, that's a whopper of a house . 

[ultramods]

@AliGAre the plans for your house on this site somewhere, would be interesting to see them?

[AliG]

I think I put them up at sone point, but they might be better here.

 

There has been one change not shown which is the moving of the master en suite and dressing room.

 

 

 

Ground Floor.pdf

First Floor.pdf

Second Floor.pdf

[AliG]

11 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Ask your mobile providers about a booster box to plug into your wifi router, like we got from EE after telling them we couldn't stay with them any more due to the signal being utter crap in our stone built cave. Now 5 bars of 3G throughout the house.

Good to see the progress, that's a whopper of a house . 

 

Thanks @Nickfromwales I am looking into this. It seems like these only repeat the network that you are on. I am trying to figure out if there is a way to repeat all networks so that guests phones still work.

 

It may be that the signal is strong enough for phone calls but not internet. If that is the case it is less of a problem as there will be wifi repeaters around the house.

 

The render is going onto wire mesh which will probably make it even worse, plus not all the insulated plasterboard is on the external walls yet. I will see how it is once all that is done, probably not good.

[AliG]

Ok, now that I have the completion certificates needed to sell my own house, we can get back to finishing the new one.

 

We are due to move in on the 8th, clearly we won't be 100% finished then, but it should be fine.

 

We will have a temporary stair and the decorators will still be working, but water electricity and gas will be connected up.

 

 

We have gone niche crazy in the master ensuite, bathroom TV is going in the end there.

 

 

Scaffolding is finally down letting you see the full height of the hall.

 

 

Gamesroom and study all ready for painting. Second floor staircase should go in next week or the week after.

 

 

Hall from upstairs.

 

 

First finished window frame, I love the real stone, it just needs to be cleaned off. The renderers were applying the base coat today and the top coat will go on next week.

 

 

More niches, I was surprised that the builder didn't mind putting them all in.

 

 

Solar panels on, this is the final area waiting to be tiled.

 

 

Detail around Rationel windows.

 

Edited November 17, 2017 by AliG

[Russell griffiths]

Love the house. 

 

What is it with bloody tradesmen. Why are those windows not fully masked up. 

I wouldnot consider working near them without full masking or an indemnity from any damage caused. 

Sorry rant over. 

[AliG]

Round the other side where they are working at the moment they have blue plastic stuck over the windows (you can see it in the hall picture) and they even had the handles covered on the balcony, I don't know why they didn't do this one.

 

The windows were sitting around on site for ages before being put in and need a good scrub anyway.

Edited November 17, 2017 by AliG

[AliG]

We were hoping to move in on the 8th of December, but this is just proving too tight. Luckily we can use Airbnb to tide us over for a week or 2. However we have 5 people coming to stay for Christmas and New Year on 23 December so have to be done by then.

 

The shell is complete and we are working on decorating, tiling flooring etc.

 

However what has caused a lot of issues is temperatures and heating.

 

Anything wood needs the house to be warm and acclimatise before it is installed. This includes doors, floors, kitchen and staircases.

 

On the other hand, tiles need the floors to be cold to be installed.

 

This would not have been an issue in September as the ambient temperature was close to the normal temperature but it is an issue now. The kitchen people refused to install the kitchen this week incase it warped as the heating came on.

 

The gas and electricity are connected up next week but we then need the meters connected up to get full control of the heating. For the moment we have just got LPG connected up and working as of today thanks to @Nickfromwales

 

Perhaps this is useful information for other people, it seems that the timing of final finishes is quite awkward due to temperature issues, especially in winter.

Edited December 1, 2017 by AliG