Putting Your Foot in It!

What happens when you put your foot in it? See below!

I lost my footing when up in the loft installing the downlighters upstairs and this is the result. The only saving grace is that we're also using the plasterers to tile the bathrooms so when they come next they can hopefully put things right.

We have also had the front steps and disabled ramp built outside. Because this is a new build we have to have wheelchair access into the house not to exceed a certain gradient. This has meant that we needed to install a wheelchair ramp as well as steps as the entrance is higher than the pavement. We chose a grey granite slab with a pink fleck that is similar to the stone we have used at the front of the house. The same stone was used to build the steps too. The slabs are a bit damp in the photos so below is the photo from the website showing the colour of the slabs.

Grey / pink granite slab. Actually this photo makes it look more pink than it actually is, so it's somewhere between the 2.

Front Steps

The wheelchair ramp. We are going to put some plants in the space in the middle of the ramp.

Once we get the planting done in the middle of the ramp and round the edges of the paving it will brighten things up a bit. That will probably need to wait until next year now as it can get quite cold up here in winter time and we don't want the plants to die in the frost.

It was also Ari's 14th birthday this week and here is him sitting on the new front steps.

Also on Ari's birthday Dot's litter sister Zap gave birth to her first litter in California. 4 pups, 2 dogs, 2 bitches all black and white.

December 2009 - A Few Photos

Progress

Here are a few photos of some of the work that has been completed over the last few weeks. Everything looks like a bit of a mess at the moment but hopefully these photos will be the benchmark for the work to come where things will start to take shape and get a bit better!

Here are some photos of the outside of the house. The blockwork and stonework is complete, and the rendering is in progress.

Side of the house

Front of the house

Other side of the house showing the quoins at the corner

Front of the house with a better view of the stonework

Close up view of the stonework

Kitchen / Family Room

This is the kitchen / family room that will be our main living area. The first photo is the view towards the kitchen with door to the utility room at the back, and 3 windows to the side (where the sink will go). We plan to have 2 tall units (one containing the oven and microwave) to the right of the utility room door followed by worktop containing the induction hob with wall cupboards above before turning the corner to the long stretch of units under the windows containing the sink and dishwasher.

On the left hand side of the kitchen there is a recess (you can just about see this in the second photo looking the other way towards the family room just past the door to the hallway) where we are going to have 2 fridge freezers and another tall cupboard. We are also going to have an island with a seating area, additional worktop and a 'drawer' fridge.

We already have all of the kitchen appliances bought in a sale earlier in the year.

Looking towards the kitchen and utility room

The family room (both rooms are full of junk at the moment!)

Another shot of the family room showing windows to the front of the house and the door frame for the front door on the left which is still to be fitted.

Lounge

Door to the hall and slight view of the door to the dining room (currently boarded up)

Windows to the front

Dining Room

Windows to the rear (and cistern and frame for the downstairs loo in the corner!)

French doors out to the garden

Doorway to the lounge (currently boarded up as the intention is to get this room draft proof and ready to use in advance of completing the rest of the house)

Hallway

Entrance currently boarded up before the door is fitted. We have 2 cupboards for coats to the right and left of the entrance, and a double door into the hall.

Stairwell - the ladder will eventually be replaced by the proper staircase which will be fitted during the 2nd fix

Upstairs Sitting Area

This is the upstairs sitting area. On the original plans this is a 5th bedroom but as we have no need of 5 bedrooms we have turned it into an upstairs sitting area. The 5th bedroom can be restored quite easily by adding a stud wall at a later date if anyone wants the 5th bedroom.

This photo shows the loft access, the window to the front and where the staircase will be.

Rear of the upstairs sitting area showing the entrance to the main bathroom and the upstairs laundry cupboard where we will have a washing machine and tumble dryer, leaving the downstairs one for washing the dog beds / muddy clothes.

View from the other side of the room with entrances to the master bedroom and bedroom 3.

Master Bedroom

Plastering and coving is complete in the master bedroom. This photo shows the main wall where the bed will go and the windows to the front.

This photo shows the entrance to the room, off the landing / upstairs sitting area. Ladder where staircase will eventually be. Door to the dressing room is also shown here.

Master Bedroom's dressing room. Wardrobes will be fitted to the left and at the rear.

Master Bedroom's Ensuite bathroom.

Bedroom 4

Plastering and coving complete in bedroom 4 plus ensuite.

December 2009 - Progress But It's Been Cold and Wet!

It's been ages since I updated the blog but working on the build 7 days a week and the pretty dire weather we've had has meant that I haven't had too much time (or photos) to put up.

We have made some progress. The blockwork and stone was completed today after a few abandoned attempts at completing where they either had to give up due to being almost blown off the scaffolding, or torrential (and I mean torrential!) rain stopped play. Anyway, today the sun has shone and the stonework at the front of the house is finally completed. The blocks went up really quickly but the stone took far longer. Just as well we are only having a little bit of stone!

The plasterers have started rendering the outside and have the scratch coat on most of the walls now, and the top coat on 1 wall. They hope to complete the outside in the next few days, weather permitting. They have also been busy plastering the inside of the house. The plastering and coving upstairs is complete and most of the downstairs but there are a few bits still to be completed where there is still a bit of plasterboard to put up.

I have painted the soffits and started to fit the guttering and once that's all completed and the plasterers have gone I can paint the outside of the house. Then we can finally get the scaffolding down that has been the bane of this build. I can't go into that at the moment but once everything is sorted I might tell the sorry tale.

So, apart from the outside jobs what's next to do? Inside the first fix electrics are nigh on complete with just one or 2 bits and pieces to sort out and the next job will be to insulate the ground floor and fit the pipework for the underfloor heating and I'm going to do that myself. The underfloor heating kit is all present and correct awaiting fitting. The floor then needs to be screeded (quotes being gathered) before we look at doing all the fitting out such as painting, and fitting the flooring on the ground floor. It's going to be tiles in the 'dog' areas - hall, kitchen, family room, utility room and the downstairs shower room, and engineered wood in the dining room and lounge where the dogs won't be making an appearance. Makes and models still open to debate! Upstairs we intend to have engineered wood in the bedrooms, hall and upstairs sitting area, and tiles in the bathrooms. Looks like we'll be ordering all of the tiles in the January sales. At least with a new build we won't be hit with the vat increase too much as we will be able to claim the vat back.

We have started ordering the sanitary wear for the bathrooms and have all of the WCs, basins, cisterns and frames (we're having wall hung loos) stored in the shed. We also have a bath on order for the main ensuite but still need to sort out a bath for the main bathroom and all of the shower cubicles and showers. We've managed to source some pretty good deals on the net that helps with the budget.

We also have all of the integrated kitchen appliances as there was a sale on that was too good to miss. The 2 fridge freezers are being stored in the shed at the moment, and the rest has been delivered to Karen's rented apartment in Edinburgh and will need to be moved later.

The kitchen still needs to be ordered but we've decided on the make and model (I think!). We won't be ordering the kitchen until we have somewhere to store it as until the floor is screeded we're struggling for storage space.

So there is still quite a lot to do but we're pretty much on budget at the moment (£500 over) which out of a 220k build budget is pretty good going I think.

Just 1 or 2 pictures to post this time, and I'll try to get some more photos when I get 5 minutes!

These photos are from a week ago when the blockwork was complete but the stonework on the front still had to be finished

Here are some photos of the dogs in the field directly opposite our house. Brilliantly convenient for a quick run!

And here is Karen's Edinburgh apartment where she lives during the week while I freeze to death in the caravan!