Utility room toilet partition wall

New door frame marked out

This will knock through into the dining room, then we really will be in trouble!

Partition wall in kitchen

This is what the kitchen units will sit up against and then worktop will run along, with cupboards and dishwasher under and sink on top. On the other side we'll have a family dining table and the settle up against the wall.

Week 16 - start of the week post

Here we are, week 16 of the project. Anne and I spent the weekend painting the downstairs bedroom and hallway. They've had 3 coats of white on the walls and ceilings. The colour coat will go on when al the tradesmen have left, but we did manage to put some colour around the radiator brackets, behind where the rads will sit. That took us pretty much all Sat and last night until about 9pm to finish. I was on roller coverage and Anne was on edging and paintwork.

This week we should get the radiators fixed in place downstairs and the under floor heating activated. Soffits and fascias should be done this week as well, with a bit of luck. We've also got some more plaster boarding to get done in the lounge and utility, then get that skimmed over.

Alex started building a timber partition wall in the kitchen last week, which is where the sink, dishwasher etc will fit. So I expect he'll be finishing that off too.

This is my last week in work before I take annual leave until after Christmas, so I can concentrate on getting work done in the house. Feeling optimistic at the moment about being warm and comfortable for Christmas, but there's still a lot to do!

Video update

Both pitched roofs from the garden

Lounge view from outside

here you can see it bricked up from the outside.

Lounge, screed and bricked up

Well, here it is. This is the view of the lounge from the doorway. The screed is down and you can now see the bricked up apex. The view down the garden is still great and there's plenty of light in the room from the other windows. On balance, I think it's been the right decision.

Screed in sun room

Sun room under floor heating

Lounge under floor heating

Kitchen under floor heating

Lounge drying out

this is a picture from the window in the lounge, looking back towards the main house. The plaster is drying nicely. Should be able to get cracking with the paint in a couple of weeks when I finish work.

Kingspan under the floor in the lounge

Sun room floor

Kitchen and sun room

Cement has been put down to level things off and cover channels.

Cement down for the floor in the utility

Utility room

Drainage has now been connected for the utility room toilet.

Our bedroom downstairs

Totally re-skimmed, skirting and door frames sanded down. It's nearly dry and will be ready for painting this weekend.

Hallway

Delph racks have been removed. The whole thing has been skimmed over. Door frames have been sanded down. We'll be painting it this weekend coming.

Week 15 - update

Fifteen weeks, to actually write it down really brings it home; that's nearly 4 months!

When I came home on Fri night, Ben and Anne were in the bedroom sponging the wood floor. Apparently Ben had been at it for an hour. When I went to lock the hens up I was having a look round what had been done and through the chipboard which is blocking entry to the main house, I heard him say, "That was a big job Mummy, I'm tired now." What a grafter. Anne and I are determined to do nice things with him during weekends, after all this is over.

Anyway, this weekend Anne and I (& Ben) got the hallway and our downstairs bedroom prepared by sanding all the skirting and architrives. We killed the sander in the process, but it had had a good life. The plaster should have dried by the end of the week, so we can get on with painting and undercoating the wood. The final layer of colour on the walls and gloss on the wood, will go on when everyone has buggered off.

On Saturday morning, Alex, Lee and Simon came and barrowed through some concrete to the sun room and utility. Kingspan was also laid throughout the lounge. Andy the plumber came later and put the 'tails' in place for the underfloor heating and connected up the manifold.

Today, the underfloor heating pipes should get laid and hopefully Alex will brick up the end apex in the lounge (might take him Mon-Wed to do this).

Tomorrow, the screed is going down over the underfloor heating.

There are lots of little finishing off jobs to be done, like soffits and fascias, utility boarding and skimming other areas which have been left etc. Then of course, we have second fix plumbing and electrics to get done.

I got some updated pictures yesterday and will post them this week.

View from the outside

Things are moving much more quickly and taking shape now. Still 5 weeks left until Christmas, so we're hoping that things will stay on track.

The screed will now be going in next Tuesday, rather than Fri this week. That means that Ben and I will be on gardening duty all weekend, clearing leaves and maybe chopping wood.

Our new bedroom and the hallway should be plastered by the end of the week, so might be ready for painting early next week.

Lounge window frame

Alex has put the window frame in place, so we can see what it would look like. however, as discussed in a previous post, we will still be blocking up to the apex, despite how nice it looks.

View of lounge and sun room windows

Sun room window frames in place

Side passage utility room door

Utility room window in place

Week 14 - Monday update

Good start to the day, there were 5 lads on site before 8am! Mike the plasterer, Stan and Robbie the roofers, Keith and Johnny, 2 more plasterers. Simon and Alex will also be around today.

It should be a pretty busy week this week with all that's going on:

Mon/Tues the windows should arrive and get put in. (Simon & Alex)

Plastering front bedroom and hallway (Keith & Johnny)

Ridge tiles and pointing on the roof finished off (Stan and Robbie)

Mon - finishing off skimming in the kitchen and maybe boarding out some of the other areas (utility and sun room - Mike).

Next Wed, we have the kitchen fitter (Trevor Kettlewell) coming to get his measurements so he can go off and build the kitchen. We hope to have that fitted the week before Xmas.

Thurs, screed goes down to level the whole area (kitchen, utility, sun room, lounge)

Updates to follow during the week...

kingspan in the utility room

Spent a lot of the day yesterday and all day last Friday getting the insulation in place in the sun room and the utility room. It's pretty much all done now.

Kitchen skimmed walls

Insulation in kitchen/ sun room cavity

Kitchen skimmed

Work to be finished this week around the sun room velux

Roofs from our balcony bedroom

lounge and sun room roofs from family room

Roof from the family room

The hallway, small arch bricked in

Anne and I spent last night until 10pm taking off the plate racks, stripping the wallpaper and ceiling paper. Plasterers have arrived this morning to do our downstairs bedroom and the hallway.

Week 13 update

No piccies this week as I've been getting home when it's dark. Progress is being made though. The roof should finally be finished by tomorrow. The plaster arrived this morning to board out the kitchen, sun room and utility. He should be finished by Mon next week and will have to return to do the lounge. Alex has been doing the joinery to allow the plasterers to board the steel transition from the kitchen to the sun room and lounge, he's also been bricking up any areas which need to be done. The sparkies have done their 1st fix and got everything in place. Tomorrow, the scaffolding comes down too, so Alex can get the windows in next week.

Next week
Mon/Tues the windowns should arrive and get put in.

Next Wed, we have the kitchen fitter coming to get his measurements so he can go off and build the kitchen. We hope to have that fitted the week before Xmas.

Thurs, screed goes down to level the whole area (kitchen, utility, sun room, lounge)

Rain stops play - only on the roof

It's hammering it down today. The roofers turned up at 8am, but by 9am it was still coming down and even now at 11.40, it's not stopped. Disappointing, because there is still some work to finish, but that's just the way it goes. The remaining work on the roof shouldn't delay anything else though. the sparkies were also here early (7.50am). They should be able to crack on today so we can insulate this weekend. Not sure what Alex and Simon are going to be on with today. Will wait and see when I get home.

A dilemma of mediocre proportions - pt 2

OK, so the image above represents the proposed solution to the potential issues. The idea is that we will use the abundance of bricks we have remaining, to block up the apex. This still leaves a pretty large window with views down the garden, the window will be much easier to dress, there will be no problems with heat loss (heat gain in summer) or noise pollution and it will be easier to fit. My major worries about this are-

Will it look as good as the original proposal?
We've already paid for the windows to be made and work has started on making them, so this will be a loss to the project.

A dilemma of mediocre proportions - pt1

Here's the dilemma: the gable end in the lounge is massive and the architect's plans were to have it fully glazed. This was primarily for the following reasons -

To increase light
To have an impressive 'reveal' of the garden view. In other words, a bit of wow factor.

You can kind of see what the outcome might look like on my annotated image above.

The problems with this are -

Dressing the window at the apex. For example, getting curtains or blinds to fit.
The builder is unsure as to how the window will fit and has proposed packing some spaces with
Too much heat loss
Potential noise pollution

Follow my next post for the proposed solution.

Tiles on roof, remaining work

A lot of the tiling on the roof is complete now. There is about a day's worth of work left I think, then it should all be water tight. I suppose guttering, drainpipes, soffits and fascia boards go on next. WIndows will be in soon as well - they started making them on Tues this week.

After that, hopefully we can turn our attention to progress internally - starting with the kitchen!

Tiles on roof, Thursday morning

Sent from my iPad

tiles on roof, Wed morning

Week 12 roof work

Sent from my iPadI took the day off work yesterday to try and get things back on track a little. There were loads of tiles to move from the front of the house so the skip could get removed and a new one put in its place. Then Simon and I cleared out a load of rubble from the kitchen and new utility room, so the sparkies can crack on today. Progress on the roof was good yesterday; the skylights have gone in and the woodwork is almost in place for the tiles. Hopefully, we're on track for having the roof done by the end of the week. might be taking Thursday off as well, to insulate the kitchen and utility.