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

May 2010 - More Kitchen

More progress has been made on the kitchen and here are some new photos. The floor has been cleared ready to prime in preparation for the floor being tiled (tiling starts this week). The island has also been removed in preparation for tiling. We have chosen a supplier for the worktop (black starlight quartz) and the template is being taken next Friday. Fitting will take place about 2 weeks after that so we're about 3 weeks away from having a properly usable kitchen. They are also supplying the sink so that removes the need to source a sink, but we still need to find a tap that we like that is low enough to still open the window inwards (we have tilt and turn windows).

April 2010 - Kitchen

The kitchen is starting to take shape now. Most of the units are in, and the fridge freezers, oven and microwave are now working. The dishwasher still has to be plumbed in (waiting on the plumber as usual!) and the drawer fridge that goes in the island will need to wait until the island is in place once the tiling is complete. We're currently getting quotes for the granite worktop and it seems that we will keep in budget so that's a good thing. We hope to get this sorted in the next couple of weeks. We still have to buy an undermounted sink and we have to choose a tap carefully as we have tilt and turn windows that open inwards for cleaning so we can't have anything too tall. Of course, all of the stylish ones we like are too tall! The hob will be fitted once the worktop goes in and then we have the plinth, handles and pelmets to fit and we should more or less be there with the kitchen.

2 integrated fridge freezers and a tall cupboard fit exactly into the alcove. I changed the original plans for the staircase to create this alcove with just this configuration in mind and I'm happy with how it has turned out.

Side of the kitchen. The sink drawer doesn't sit back properly yet as the plumbing for the sink is preventing it. This will be sorted out when the plumber (eventually) turns up.

Oven and microwave

Wider view of the back of the kitchen. The white microwave is the one from the old house and we shouldn't need it here. There is one more fan cupboard to fit on top of the hood.

So what's next?

Finish painting the other end of the kitchen family room, complete the electric in the kitchen and utility, fit the downlighters, fit the internal doors downstairs, fit the island once the tiling is complete (tiler starts a week on Monday) and complete the downstairs shower room (once the plumber finally turns up - sigh). So much to do, so little time ......

April 2010 - Staircase fitted

Today the joiners arrived to fit the staircase. We've got a whole stack of things stored downstairs that are too big / heavy to go up the ladder so it will free up quite a lot of space once we can move this up the stairs.

I had spent quite a lot of time staining the staircase in the few weeks before fitting, and the last thing to do was to stain the spindles that I did earlier in the week. Here is a photo of them looking like windchimes drying in the sun!

The staircase, although custom made, still required a bit of alteration on site as it didn't quite fit as planned. There are still a few things to do, like fitting the bottom bullnose step (waiting for the tiling to complete), and fitting the spindles upstairs, but the main parts are now complete. At the moment we've covered the stairs with cardboard to protect them whilst there is building work going on. We have a straight run to start with and then a platform and then a 90 degree turn to 2 further stairs to take you to the top.

March 2010 - We have a front door!

Since the final delivery from Scotframe arrived I've been busy getting the staircase and entrance door and frame ready to install. All of these have needed to have several coats of varnish. On starting to varnish the staircase I noticed that it wasn't in the best of condition having been stored at Scotframe's Inverurie factory. There are a couple of nicks out of one of the treads in the small part of the staircase and the whole staircase has obviously been stored without being covered so there are a few stains here and there. As we paid quite a lot extra for an oak staircase so that we can use this without carpet we're a bit disappointed and have asked Scotframe to sort things out. The design also isn't quite right and some of the banister rails are the wrong height so that needs to be sorted out too. I've got someone lined up to install the staircase after Easter so hopefully it will all be sorted out by then.

The kitchen was delivered last Tuesday so the focus was on getting the painting done in the utility room and kitchen ready for installation. To save some money (and because we don't have to pay for my own labour) we went for a flat pack kitchen so there will be many hours spent putting the carcases together in the near future. We have ordered a standard worktop for the utility room but we would like to have something nicer in the main kitchen, probably granite, so we will order this once the units have been installed. We also need a sink for the main kitchen and as this will probably be undermounted we'll wait until we finally decide on the worktop to order this. To begin with we can make do with the sink and units in the utility room and so that is what I have focussed on and here is the fitting of the utility room in progress. Because we still have quite a lot for work going on inside the house the kitchen units and worktops are being covered up for the time being to save any bumps. The doors and wood end panels will be put on last once we've finished most of the other work to save anything getting damaged.

Units along the back of the utility room are now installed. Mostly covered up but we have a white ceramic sink and mixer tap with pull out spray that should be useful for all sorts of things. The window just opens inwards with this tap (we have tilt and turn windows) so we need to ensure that we measure the tap for the main kitchen very carefully as anything too high will not allow the window to open inwards. The 2 gaps are for the washing machine and the tumble dryer when they arrive from storage.

The painting has been done in the boiler room and the utility room, and the ceiling of the kitchen / family room. Everything is going to be magnolia/white to start off with for speed and simplicity and we can decide later if we want to change colours.

Most of the remaining bathroom fittings were ordered last week so on Friday we had a flurry of activity as things arrived - 2 baths, 4 stone resin shower trays, 2 showers, a basin, a cistern and frame and a myriad of taps and wastes to go with the other things we already have stored in the shed.

As the main items are now all in the house (apart from our possessions in storage) and the entrance door and frame were ready to install I decided to have a go at installing this myself as it didn't look overcomplicated, with a view to installing the internal doors myself too if it worked out ok. They are all pre-hung in their frames so it should (in theory!) be quite straightforward.

Here is the door and frame being installed.

And here is the finished article complete with letterbox. OK, so it's not quite finished as we still have some stonework to attend to and we need to order the glass that goes in the side and top panels, and put in the proper steps / ramp to the house but you get the general idea! The postman should be pleased that he finally has a letterbox to deliver to, and the good news is that is all worked out ok so we didn't have to pay someone to install it.

The plumber also finally turned up this week so the boiler and thermal store are being plumbed in. Unfortunately the company that specified and sold us the thermal store missed off a component costing £399. All credit to them however as they have sent it to us free of charge. We have also bought a scale reduction system that should reduce the amount of scale and sediment and provide clearer water. These have been installed in the boiler room too.

Boiler

Scale reduction system.

Hopefully things are starting to come on now. As Karen keeps reminding me she has until 2nd May in her rental flat so things had better be ready by then!

March 2010 - Ground Floor Screeding

On Monday the ground floor screeding was finally done. Luckily it was a nice day (as there was an outside bit to do) and the last few days have also been sunny and dry which has helped to dry the screed out. Unfortunately it's still not going to be ready to start tiling on Monday so we have put the tilers back 3 - 4 weeks but there are still other jobs to be getting on with. The screed was delivered in 2 loads and unfortunately there was a long wait between loads. The first load had already started to dry out so there is a noticeable join in the middle of the kitchen and the screeding company are going to have to come up again to smooth this out.

Here are some photos of the screeding being done and the dried out floor a couple of days later.

Screed being laid in the kitchen

Wet screed in the family room

Dry Screed in the kitchen (see the join where the second batch started that will have to be smoothed out)

Dry Screed in the dining room

Downstairs wet room showing where the wet room tray will go and the floor drain

February 2010 - Underfloor Heating, oh and a year since we bought the plot ......

The weather has been pretty grim these last few days. It starting raining last Thursday pm and didn't stop raining until Saturday pm so the ground is like a swamp. Living in a caravan in this weather and having 7 soggy dogs to deal with is pretty grim I can tell you!

Work started a couple of weeks ago on the underfloor heating and below are some photos of the work completed. Firstly the entire ground floor had to be cleared and hoovered, and then Celotex insulation boards have been laid throughout the ground floor. Then a damp proof membrane was laid on top, and the underfloor heating pipes laid as per the heating company's detailed drawings. Doesn't sound a lot but it was quite time consuming work with just me doing it.

I finally finished the inside last Friday and today, after the rain finally stopped I completed the heating for the eventual breakfast room that is outside currently. It wasn't worth trying to lay the heating for this room later on when we do the breakfast room so this has been done now.

I've just started checking that there are no leaks in the system! In theory there should not be as none of the pipework has been damaged to my knowledge but sod's law there will be something wrong if it's left to chance.

Below are some photos of the different stages.

Kitchen / Family Room

Celotex Insulation

Damp Proof Membrane and Underfloor Heating Pipes laid

Manifolds in what will be the cupboard under the stairs

Tomorrow the ground floor screeding will be done, and then hopefully we can start fitting out the downstairs. The final delivery (stairs, internal doors, skirting etc.) from Scotframe is due on Friday and the tilers are due to start the follow Monday so hopefully things will start to pick up now. I'm hoping the get the ground floor in a habitable state in the next 4 weeks. Maybe we'll be in for Easter! :-)

I will try to get the downstairs painted before the tilers arrive but this can be done afterwards if necessary. In view of the need to get this house finished we have decided just to paint everything magnolia for the time being and colours can then be changed later if we feel like it.

The kitchen is on order and we expect that around 18th March. As soon as the tiling is complete that will be good to start. We haven't ordered the main kitchen worktops yet as we want granite and so have decided to wait until the units have been fitted so they can be made to measure.

We already have most of the sanitary wear for the bathrooms but we need to order the shower doors and trays for upstairs, a bath for the main bathroom, 4 of the showers, and all of the taps.

January 2010 - Tiles

We have ordered the tiles for the downstairs of the house. Everywhere will be tiled except for the lounge and the dining room, and we have ordered enough to also do the breakfast room when we get round to adding that room. The breakfast room is the bit at the back that steps in and initially we asked the planning office if we could just add it to the plans but they said that it would require a whole new planning application, not just an amendment. As we didn't want to wait another age to get new plans passed we decided to just build the original house and add the room on later. We have the same issue with the garage as it was not on the original planning application (we bought the plot with full planning permission). Ironically as soon as the house is signed off by the council we can just add these things without permission as they are under the size for which planning permission is required. We've had the foundations laid anyway and they are doubling up as a patio and a dog run for the time being!

Back to the tiles. Our requirements were for a neutral tile that wasn't too dark, wasn't too slippery (because of the dogs), and wouldn't show the dirt horrendously. Oh, and was in budget as there were lots that our budget wouldn't stretch to for such a big area. We liked the look of natural Travertine tiles but were put off by the sealing that was required and we weren't too sure about how these would cope with the inevitable constant washing down that is the norm when you have lots of dogs. So we have gone for a Travertine lookalike from Topps Tiles. When we put one of these tiles next to the display of Travertine it was difficult to tell them apart actually. So we now have 2 pallet loads of tiles on site ready to lay and another 2 pallets in their warehouse awaiting collection. As well as the downstairs floors these tiles will also be used for the walls in the downstairs wet room but we may add a border or some mosaic tiles to the walls too to break it up a bit. Haven't decided on that bit just yet.

Here are some photos from the website:

We're not having the tiles with the silver inlay as we were warned that the tiles with the inlay cut into it could be substantially different in shade to the plain ones on order and we didn't want to take the risk of such a large shade variation. I dare say we'll easily find a border tile or mosaics that blend in with the plain ones quite well.

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.

January 2010 - Snow, Snow, Snow

The weekend before Christmas the snow started in earnest and only really stopped a couple of days ago.

I had intended to get quite a lot done over the Christmas and New Year period but moving out of our Kent house unexpectedly the week before Christmas, and going to a wedding during Christmas week put us about 7 days behind and then because the builders merchants all close down for 2 weeks over Christmas I couldn't get hold of the materials I needed until the New Year.

The 2 most urgent jobs are painting the outside of the house so that the scaffolding can come down, and getting the floor insulation and underfloor heating put down so that the ground floor can be screeded and the finishing off can begin and then there might be some danger of actually predicting a moving in date!

The week the builders merchants reopened after New Year the snow was quite heavy and prevented the lorries from delivering materials so I only really got going again during the second week in January. As the temperatures are below freezing currently and I need to get the house painted as a matter of urgency so that we can get rid of the scaffolding we have had to order oil based masonery paint (piolite) as water based paint cannot be used in these freezing conditions. The paint turned up during lthis week but the weather was pretty dire so not much progress has been made. Putting the paint on with the spray gun I already wasn't successful as the paint gun wasn't up to the job so I have just purchased a heavy duty paint sprayer and I hope it will speed everything up and also be used to paint the inside of the house. If it does the job promised it will be £300 well spent. Just waiting for a dry day now so that I can get going!

The floor insulation was also delivered this week in driving rain and after lugging it all into the house it appears that they have delivered the wrong one so it might all need to be carried back out again!

Other jobs to do currently include fitting the thermal store for our heating system and getting the shower tray / drain sorted out for the downstairs wet room. I'm doing most of these jobs myself so it's going to take a while. So much to do, so little time!

Now that the snow has melted the site is like a swamp and the dogs get plastered in mud. That's pretty much the worse thing about this build at this time of year.

Some snowy photos from last week:

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.