September 2010 - Going Green

The plumbers finally turned up last week to fit the solar panels that have been sitting in their boxes for exactly a year. Pity that the summer has all but gone so we won't reap the benefit of these until next summer but the good news is that when they're fitted and we've received the certificate from the installer we should be able to claim our grant money from the Scottish Energy Trust. The grant scheme has now stopped so we were lucky to get in before they pulled the funding.

One solar panel has been fitted so far and they are coming back on Wednesday to fit the other one. They've already carried out the internal work to the boiler so hopefully that should be it.

The builders also completed the main patio area last week but it has still to be pointed and we still need to get the path laid from the patio to the driveway. We also need steps to be built up to the back door. This should be done over the next week or so and then we can finally let the dogs onto the patio / dog run outside the back door instead of onto mud in the garden. We still have to get the area fenced however before it's finally complete.

We've just about finalised the layout for the steps and ramp leading from the front entrance and we're just choosing the slabs to use. Favourite so far are granite slabs that should complement the front of the house.

Solar Panels

New Scaffold Tower

1 solar panel fitted to the roof.

This photo shows up the top half of the house that has been painted and the bottom half that hasn't

Patio / Dog Run

Drainage channel at the back of the patio

The garage will eventually lead be built at the back of the patio

January 2010 - Naked!

The scaffolding is down and the house is now naked. It all happened a bit more quickly than planned (let's just say that there is a bit of a dispute with the scaffolding company) so it was a major rush to try to get the jobs finished for which I needed the scaffolding the main one being getting the top of the house painted. The weather put paid to this activity for 2 weeks before so the heat was on (well not literally as it's still freezing outside!) to try to get this task completed in 2 days. The super duper heavy duty paint sprayer that was purchased to speed things up packed up after 4 hours use so I was left with a paint roller and 2 days to finish the job. The paint sprayer is now winging its way back to the retailer for a refund (hopefully). Working from dawn until dusk I managed to get the painting done before the scaffolding came down the following morning.

The paint doesn't show up too well in the photos as the colour is not dissimilar to the colour of the render but you can just about see the line where the top half is painted and the bottom half is not. The house looks quite big now that the scaffolding is down.

Other than the painting I had planned to start the underfloor heating but it took an age to get the right floor insulation as the builders merchant delivered the wrong stuff initially. Now that it's finally come I hope to make a start this week. I hope that I can get the ground floor habitable in the next 8 weeks. Once the underfloor heating is in the finishing off can begin - painting, internal doors, skirting, flooring, fitting of the sanitary wear and kitchen.

August 2009 - Scaffolding

While we were away for a few days the scaffolding was erected. Unfortunately it was erected too close to the foundations and had to be redone when we returned. The only saving grace with this was that Scotframe called while we were away to tell us that our timber frame kit will not be ready as planned on 19th August. Initially a blow (had to cancel the builder and the crane at short notice!) at least this mistake hasn't caused us a problem.