Monday, 22 August 2011
week 2 - right hand column
Sent from my iPadThere are 4 bricks in this column, but only 3.5 in the other one.
Week 2 - Columns on lounge
Sent from my iPadColumns are getting built now, for the new brick wall on the gable end of the lounge. This one is 3.5 bricks wide at the moment, but the other is 4 bricks. Wonder if that will change as they build more, otherwise it might look slightly asymmetrical.
Week 2 - brickwork
Sent from my iPadCome back from work and the brickwork has begun. Starting to get a feel for the space in this new area of the kitchen. Long way to go yet, but it's taking shape.
Front bedroom
Sent from my iPadSpent Sunday afternoon with Anne, Becky and Jenny, stripping the walls of the front bedroom. The evening was a lonesome task, stripping the ceiling. Blister on my thumb now! Bed at 11, after managing to catch some of the footie on MOTD2.
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Utility drainage
Sent from my iPadThis is the new drainage run which will sit under the new utility room. It's serving the down stairs loo, only one of them, at the moment. The other isn't connected because it will come out when the kitchen gets done. The upstairs loo is also out of action, but this does need to be connected somehow. Alex will figure it out tomorrow.
Now tidied up
Sent from my iPadAnother busy day. All tidied up now. Skirting off and everything's ready for the end wall to be taken out by Alex and Simon.
Thankfully Anne took Ben out for most of the day, bought him some new shoes and went to the supermarket and library. They left at about 10am and got home about 4pm, which allowed me to really crack on.
The major excitement on their return home was the neighbours' rabbits, which had dug out of their pen and were roaming free in the garden. I managed to chase one of them back to the pen, then trapped it under a recycling box before it found it's own way back into the pen, via the hole it had come out of in the first place. The other to another hour to round up and was flitting between our garden and David and Anne's. The little bugger took ages to catch. Rabbits eh - what's the point?
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Decking view update
Sent from my iPadWe lost the large rose today, which is a real shame as it was flowering again. Anne planted it in the veggie patch, so hopefully it will survive and we can re- plan it. The post it was climbing was in the way of the new footings and drainage, so it was all removed.
Utility footings
Sent from my iPadA different view of the footings where the new utility room is going to be.
Side passage utility footings
Sent from my iPadThese are the footings for the utility as they currently exist. Alex plans to extend the footings for the new utility into these.
Chiselling off plaster - in action
Sent from my iPadThis is what it looks like mid-job. I've done 2 walls today; the one where the piano was and the one on the window side. Tomorrow I'll get the long wall done, which is going to be a beast of a job. Anyway, at least I've done the cornicing around the whole room and done a bit of a clear up tonight.
Wallpaper stripping
Sent from my iPadOoops, I think I've overdone the wallpaper stripping today. Same again tomorrow - anyone? Anyone? Hello...
Monday, 15 August 2011
Junior D in action
Sent from my iPadHere's the boy in action, taking off the dado rail in the lounge.
Day 1 notes
Just wanted to make a note of some conversations with Alex today. He and Simon have just disappeared to get some materials for tomorrow and won't be back until early in the morning, about 8ish he said. It surprises me that they've left already, but they do have an extra man called Dan tomorrow, who will be on digging duty. I'm waiting in for the skip to be delivered, which should be at 4pm. Alex has given me £120 cash to pay them.
Footings
Earlier on today, Alex talked to me about leaving the footings of he existing utility room wall in place which he said he would dig under and underpin, then build around the existing wall, before knocking it down for the new door to go in. He would then dig the new footings up to the existing ones for the utility wall. He said he would speak to the building control officer about it on Wed.
We took a look at the existing footings under the lounge extension. Alex wondered whether the structural engineer and architect had seen the proper footings, which they had when we excavated a pilot hole. He said he thought the existing footings were plenty strong enough, in fact enough to build a 2 storey house on, he reckoned. In any case, he is sticking to what is on the plans and has dug the holes for the new footings, which he'll link with a trench to bring the window more level with the new masonry.
Drainage and decking.
He's thinking that the joists for the decking will need to come up in order for him to get his drains in. He's conscious that we might use the decking afterwards temporarily, so is going to try and be as considerate as possible with them. We might have to re-attach the joists later, if we want to put the decking back.
As far as drainage is concerned, rather than linking the new drainage runs together with the old, he wants to route new drainage runs straight into the main pipe, leaving the existing RWP's to be served by the existing drainage runs. Otherwise, this would involve taking up all the decking. Again, he will speak to the building control officer about what needs to be done regarding this, on Wed.
Sent from my iPad
Footings
Earlier on today, Alex talked to me about leaving the footings of he existing utility room wall in place which he said he would dig under and underpin, then build around the existing wall, before knocking it down for the new door to go in. He would then dig the new footings up to the existing ones for the utility wall. He said he would speak to the building control officer about it on Wed.
We took a look at the existing footings under the lounge extension. Alex wondered whether the structural engineer and architect had seen the proper footings, which they had when we excavated a pilot hole. He said he thought the existing footings were plenty strong enough, in fact enough to build a 2 storey house on, he reckoned. In any case, he is sticking to what is on the plans and has dug the holes for the new footings, which he'll link with a trench to bring the window more level with the new masonry.
Drainage and decking.
He's thinking that the joists for the decking will need to come up in order for him to get his drains in. He's conscious that we might use the decking afterwards temporarily, so is going to try and be as considerate as possible with them. We might have to re-attach the joists later, if we want to put the decking back.
As far as drainage is concerned, rather than linking the new drainage runs together with the old, he wants to route new drainage runs straight into the main pipe, leaving the existing RWP's to be served by the existing drainage runs. Otherwise, this would involve taking up all the decking. Again, he will speak to the building control officer about what needs to be done regarding this, on Wed.
Sent from my iPad
Some people
Sent from my iPadIt's too much like tiring work for some people. Might join her in a bit actually.
Lounge empty - stage 2
Sent from my iPadCarpet is measured and rolled up, along with underlay and gripper rods. You can just see by the window where we've had a practice with chipping the plaster back to breeze block level. It's going to be a monster job all the way around. That's Simon through the window, digging the footings for the new pitched roof. Alex advised to start from the top down, with the chipping off of the plaster, so on we get with that.
lounge empty - stage 1
Sent from my iPadWe spent most of the weekend emptying the lounge and moving stuff to either the garage, or into the family room. Sofas have gone to the family room along with the TV and PVR. Bob from next door helped me move the piano to the front bedroom. We did try to sell the fire surround on eBay, but it wouldn't sell. It's a good job as it turns out, because it was made of MDF and wouldn't disassemble in one piece. I've used a hammer and chisel to tear it out now.
Next thing to do is get the carpet up - (that's going on eBay too), then we can start with the heinous task of chipping off the plaster work to get to breeze block level.
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Decking up
Sent from my iPadWell, half the decking is up, but that's all Alex needs in order to get the scaffolding down and to then be able to start the footings and brickwork. He came round tonight to drop off some scaffolding and to see which bricks we want. We should sleep well tonight!
Pergola and decking
Sent from my iPadOK, this morning's job has been to dismantle the pergola. This afternoon's is to take up half of the decking. What fun! Starting to look a bit bare - no turning back now!
Monday, 8 August 2011
Roof stage 2 - job done
Sent from my iPadIt's been a hard days labour today, but between us we managed to pull it off. I was shovelling the stones into buckets and lowering them by rope to Anne, who barrowed them off to the bottom of the garden, ready for re-use when we do some work in the garden next summer. Poor Benny Bobs, who also got heavily involved with the shovelling on the roof, was stung by a wasp.
Things kick off a week today. Just asked Anne how she was feeling, her response was 'resigned'. I on the other hand, am quite excited about the whole thing, and looking forward to the end goal. I haveChristmas in mind for full completion, including decorating.
Pergola cleared
Sent from my iPadShowing the pergola cleared of the wysteria and other climbers. Pebbles on the roof next!
Friday, 5 August 2011
Work starts in just over a week!
Met Alex, the builder yesterday. Sounds like work will start in just over a week on Monday 15th August with an estimated end date of mid-October. The schedule is for 12 weeks, with 2 spare weeks thrown in there. I can’t remember the breakdown at the moment, but the first job is drainage, then footings and external walls. I’ll post the written schedule later on.
Gang looks to be:
Alex, (builder and PM) & Simon will be full time on the job too. Other trades will be involved as and when.
Alex or Chris (electrician). We’re probably swaying towards Alex at the moment, but that depends on the quote.
Andy (plumber, and Man Utd fan!)
Potential savings
We agreed with Alex last night that we would do the following, saving us £500:
Chip off plaster back to brick in the lounge
Cut kingspan insulation for the pitched roof off the kitchen
Additionally, Alex said that his quote includes supply and installation of 6x internal doors. If we supply these ourselves, we will save £80 per door (£480).
The gas supply and electricity meter might not have to be moved after all. We thing we can place them outside, just beyond where the new utility room will come. Anne is phoning to clarify what’s what I think.
Underfloor heating
The heating engineer came round the other night, with Andy the plumber. We decided that a liquid screed would be fine for the heating in the lounge, kitchen and snug/conservatory area. There was some misunderstanding between what Andy thought was required in terms of the screed depth. He thought that the measurement required for the fill was from the top of the eggshells, but the engineer assured us it was from the base of the eggshell.
Anyway, this means we don’t need to dig out the lounge area and Alex had included that work in his initial quote. He’d also quoted for the concrete screen, whereas this self-levelling liquid screed is going to be dealt with through Andy, the plumber and his contacts. Alex said he would speak to Andy about this and get us a finalised new quote.
Other jobs we’re doing this weekend and coming week.
Taking up half of the decking outside the lounge area.
Starting to strip the lounge wallpaper and dado rails, take carpet up and move everything out.
Anne’s been busy packing things into boxes and storing them in the garage over the last few days, with Ben’s help, of course.
So, it’s all about to kick off and we’ll be in the thick of it for the next couple of months.
Deep breath, we’re going in.
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