Well, what has happened since december 6th.... A lot and not a lot.
The sparky installed the majority of the cables in the lounge, including runs to the rear hall and bedrooms for new sockets etc. He reckons he's installed about 1km of cable - a typical houses worth in one room. We have 7 lighting circuits in there, 3 TV points and 10 sockets, plus controls for some of the outside lights and the thermostat for the UFH.
The ceiling has been insulated and most of the room is plasterboarded, as is most of the kids play room and some of the front hall.
The oil ran out in the middle of december leaving us with no heating again.... bloody cold. So we arranged for a delivery but since it was only a day before we were going away we asked the guys to switch the heating on a few days before the new year to give it all time to warm up......
When we got back on new years day, we had no heating and no power. We fiddled with the fuses and got the lights on but no cooker. It turns out that the boiler had sprung a leak all over the electronics box that controls it... Geoff tried to get it going with no luck. The following day he tried to bypass the controls since we just want the boiler on all day, but it gave up completely so we have no heating at all now - just 3 fan heaters, and with no internal doors, they have no chance.
Yesterday we moved into a Travellodge.... and today Geoff found someone to get the new boiler going on weds so we'll stay in the hotel until then - fingers crossed all will come good.
The rear porch is now down ready for measuring by the window firm to put the door, windows and roof line together. Hopefully that won't take for ever as it's a gap in the outside of the building and in this weather it makes the heating seem to struggle. Oh, and the new drain for the cloakroom is coming so the back of the house can be tackled soon. Now the boiler is dead, we may as well get that and the little wooden stove behind it taken out so the utility is a bit clearer. Would be good to get a washing machine again...... and there are connection points already under the sink in there.
We have ordered the bath and taps (Thanks Dean!!!) Thats coming later in january, as is the new bed. Sarah has been painting the skirting boards in the bedroom and dressing room and the ensuite walls. Apart from the towel radiator, the ensuite is ready for the new boiler (the old tank had too little hot water pressure for the mixer taps). We have a loo in the bathroom (waiting a cold feed, but plumbed to the soil pipe).
Apart from the heating, we are over the worst of it, but the heating really put a dampner on things and I lost my rag with Geoff a bit....... Once the new heating and electrics are in place, things should start to improve rapidly. The landing has been trimmed to give us the clearance up the stairs for building regs and the door casings are going in downstairs.
The plasterboard makes a big difference - when it's not freezing it is actually starting to feel like a house..
I would strongly recommend getting a caravan if you are doing anything this big. Although Geoff has tried to keep the place habitable, keeping the services up has been a struggle, and unless you like roughing it (and have no kids) it's not worth the hassle - plus it slows the building down. Had I really known what was coming, I would have bought a cheap caravan, stuck it in the back garden and skipped it at the end of the job, but there we go - hindsight is great.
Photos when I can get new batteries in the camera and a computer to load them onto!
Friday, 4 January 2008
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Wow a video!
A short video montage of some photos from today - the ensuite, the false ceiling and a panorama of the big room:
That panorama photo in full:
That panorama photo in full:
More Photos
The UFH - not much to show for over 3 grand! A bit of swirly red piping and the manifold from the previous post. This was the 23rd November.
The screed company let us down on the saturday. The driver didn't turn in so no delivery but no-one told our guys so everyone was hanging around waiting. Eventually we found out and after some argy bargy, Martin's screed guy got onto Tarmac for a delivery monday afternoon... and here it is. Monday 26th.
Luverly and smooth - trouble is a dog got in chasing our cat overnight and got footprints right across here!! Geoff got rid fo the worst of them near the front door but we'll have some sanding and filling to do when it's done. This stuff is Tarmac Truflo.
Now the floor cost another £2K. We were going to use normal sand and cement screed but a few things swayed us. Firstly, we can turn the heating on after 3 days with this stuff - it's 3 WEEKS with the sand and cement - and we have no other heating downstairs. Secondly, we want Karndean flooring on top and that needs a smooth surface - so hopefully we'll save a few quid not needing the floor levelling (well - apart from the dog prints that is!). Lastly, this is the recommended screed for UFH as being liquid it runs round the pipes and you're not supposed to get cold spots. Unfortunately, what is not supposed to happen is the floor to get very wet.... then we had 80mph winds and torrential rain all weekend, the temporary roofing got blown off and we had 1/2inch of standing water. Geoff made temporary repairs on sunday and on monday finished most of the roof so Sarah and Stephen mopped up and it's been virtually dry since - we still have a bit of a leak around the Velux so a bit more work to do but it's coming.
By the friday Geoff had got us some stairs and on the saturday we moved back in.... hmm..
Here is a slightly dark picture of the main room. The shuttering is where the new doorway will be, but until the uPVC company and Geoff agree which order the rear porch roof is getting done in, we have no doorway as such....
The screed company let us down on the saturday. The driver didn't turn in so no delivery but no-one told our guys so everyone was hanging around waiting. Eventually we found out and after some argy bargy, Martin's screed guy got onto Tarmac for a delivery monday afternoon... and here it is. Monday 26th.
Luverly and smooth - trouble is a dog got in chasing our cat overnight and got footprints right across here!! Geoff got rid fo the worst of them near the front door but we'll have some sanding and filling to do when it's done. This stuff is Tarmac Truflo.
Now the floor cost another £2K. We were going to use normal sand and cement screed but a few things swayed us. Firstly, we can turn the heating on after 3 days with this stuff - it's 3 WEEKS with the sand and cement - and we have no other heating downstairs. Secondly, we want Karndean flooring on top and that needs a smooth surface - so hopefully we'll save a few quid not needing the floor levelling (well - apart from the dog prints that is!). Lastly, this is the recommended screed for UFH as being liquid it runs round the pipes and you're not supposed to get cold spots. Unfortunately, what is not supposed to happen is the floor to get very wet.... then we had 80mph winds and torrential rain all weekend, the temporary roofing got blown off and we had 1/2inch of standing water. Geoff made temporary repairs on sunday and on monday finished most of the roof so Sarah and Stephen mopped up and it's been virtually dry since - we still have a bit of a leak around the Velux so a bit more work to do but it's coming.By the friday Geoff had got us some stairs and on the saturday we moved back in.... hmm..
Here is a slightly dark picture of the main room. The shuttering is where the new doorway will be, but until the uPVC company and Geoff agree which order the rear porch roof is getting done in, we have no doorway as such....
Piccies
Well, finally managed to hook up the big PC and transfer the photos from the camera. We don't have a wide angle lens so it's hard to photograph the big room, but when I get a chance in daylight I'll try and do a panorama shot again.
18th november 9am
18th November 4pm
20th November (yes the fridge has been moved!):
All the insulation ready to go in on top of the new slab - 150mm of the stuff!!! (20th November)
Concrete! 20th November
A hole for the pipes into the island.
Tanking on top of the insulation ready for the UFH pipework (23rd November)
The UFH manifold. Water comes in top left (the valves are the wrong colour on this picture!) and goes back to the boiler bottom left and is distributed to the heating zones from all the verticals.
18th november 9am
18th November 4pm
20th November (yes the fridge has been moved!):
All the insulation ready to go in on top of the new slab - 150mm of the stuff!!! (20th November)
Concrete! 20th November
A hole for the pipes into the island.
Tanking on top of the insulation ready for the UFH pipework (23rd November)
The UFH manifold. Water comes in top left (the valves are the wrong colour on this picture!) and goes back to the boiler bottom left and is distributed to the heating zones from all the verticals.
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Catch up....
Blimey, no posts for 3 weeks.....
The last time I posted, the floor had been ripped up in the old lounge and the stairs had gone. Well it took the best part of that week to clear and level the soil ready for the new slab. The following week, the kitchen came out and the floor came up. Few words but a massive upheaval. The rest of that week was getting ready and laying the concrete slab - which went in tuesday afternoon - very late, and a big concern to Martin in case it wasn't set in time to lay the UFH.
Anyway, come wednesday PM and although the concrete wasn't the flattest ever, Martin declares it OK. They measure up and find the floor is 50mm too low. My fault for 20mm as I changed to Anhydrite Screed which is thinner (but mainly, because we can turn the heating on after 3 days instead of 21 for sand and cement and because it leaves a level surface for the Karndean....) not sure where the other 20mm came from, but there we go... So Martin rushes off to the local builder's merchants and orders a load of 50mm thick polystyrene sheets, so we'll have 150mm of insulation under the UFH! Very eco.
So thursday and the insulation goes down, but.... Martin is again concerned that the floor is not stable enough for the screed, which can crack, so friday morning he arranges for the screed expert to come and check - if it's no good either the insulation will have to come up and the floor raised and levelled, or we go to sand and cement...
Friday morning and the screed expert tells Martin to stop being a pansy! The floor is fine - all go for the screed saturday morning.
Saturday morning - no screed. Later saturday morning - no screed. the driver hasn't turned up to collect it from the depot. Cue many phone calls to Lafarge (the supplier) with the end result being that Martin arranges for Tarmac to deliver on monday afternoon.
Now bear in mind we've been away for two weeks, I am due back with the kids monday pm and we'll have a liquid floor and no stairs, so we agree with Martin to go into a hotel at Lafarge's expense until at least weds when the stairs can be installed.
Monday pm and the screed is laid and everyone goes home (apart from Sarah who goes to the hotel to meet us) and we're all fairly happy.
Tuesday morning, Sarah goes to the house to find the floor is still completely liquid and a dog has got in, chasing a cat. We trace the cat prints to Holly, our moggy, and we suspect next door's dog is the culprit - so our expensive, very smooth floor, has a load of footprints across it - FANTASTIC.
Anyway, Geoff manages to float some of the worst out as the floor is still very wet. We wait until Wednesday.
Come Wednesday (28th), the floor is now drying out so Geoff starts to install the stairs. We now have
no bathroom
no kitchen
1 electrical socket
no indoor access to the toilet (we have to go outside to get to it)
So we stay in the hotel and book through to friday night!
Thursday - and we turn the heating on after a few conversations between Geoff and Martin finally sorts out how to connect them initially (despite the complicated manifold, for now it's just a flow and return!)
By friday, we have most of the stairs in (although we still have the sub-landing as there was not enough head room under the landing, it will still need raising but not much now - the stairs look great, Geoff is doing a good job putting them together).
Saturday afternoon and we return to the house..... and the lounge is 1/2 inch deep in water. It has rained all day and the temporary cover on the rear roof has been blown off and water has peed into the lounge - all over the expensive new floor....... So we mop as much of it as we can, hide in the snug - which is dry and closed off (the guys built most of the dividing wall during the week and blocked the gaps with insulation and polystyrene)
Saturday night and the one electrical socket cries enough at being expected to power everything and we lose power - and the boiler! So I clamber downstairs in the dark (the torch has got lost), disconnect everything, turn the power back on to get lights, and plug things back in one at a time until we discover the dodgy extension - another cold night for the fish in the bedroom!
We pester Geoff to come out on Sunday and make good the temporary roof - which he does. So we mop a bit more and turn the fan heater in the snug up to full. We have some of the polystyrene down on the floor, and the UFH is starting to work, so the snug is almost... well, snug! Sunday evening - and we run out of heating oil! I think someone dislikes me......
Monday morning and full tilt. Geoff gets the guttering up on the main roof so the rear roof only has it's own rain to deal with and not the run off, Pip has grouted some of the en-suite and got the cabinet for the sink in - wow, it's starting to look the biz now. We got some more oil and the UFH is starting to do it's thing now - the floor is warming up and drying out nicely now.
Came downstairs this morning and it wasn't ice cold - the UFH is starting to have an effect - pretty good at 35-40 degrees instead of the 55 it will run at eventually. Still having to put shoes on to go to the loo or clean my teeth - oh, and take a torch! The lead flashing on the rear roof should go in today so we'll be just about watertight there. the front bay window is ready to go in, as is the front door glass, so we may be almost watertight by the end of the week! And by friday we should have full temperature to the UFH. Still on the old boiler which is disappointing but pip is concentrating on getting us a loo and sink in the en-suite.
Photos to come but no way to get them from the camera to the laptop which is the only way I have net access at the moment....
Over the worst of it now so things 'can only get better' to borrow a phrase - bout bloody time too!
The last time I posted, the floor had been ripped up in the old lounge and the stairs had gone. Well it took the best part of that week to clear and level the soil ready for the new slab. The following week, the kitchen came out and the floor came up. Few words but a massive upheaval. The rest of that week was getting ready and laying the concrete slab - which went in tuesday afternoon - very late, and a big concern to Martin in case it wasn't set in time to lay the UFH.
Anyway, come wednesday PM and although the concrete wasn't the flattest ever, Martin declares it OK. They measure up and find the floor is 50mm too low. My fault for 20mm as I changed to Anhydrite Screed which is thinner (but mainly, because we can turn the heating on after 3 days instead of 21 for sand and cement and because it leaves a level surface for the Karndean....) not sure where the other 20mm came from, but there we go... So Martin rushes off to the local builder's merchants and orders a load of 50mm thick polystyrene sheets, so we'll have 150mm of insulation under the UFH! Very eco.
So thursday and the insulation goes down, but.... Martin is again concerned that the floor is not stable enough for the screed, which can crack, so friday morning he arranges for the screed expert to come and check - if it's no good either the insulation will have to come up and the floor raised and levelled, or we go to sand and cement...
Friday morning and the screed expert tells Martin to stop being a pansy! The floor is fine - all go for the screed saturday morning.
Saturday morning - no screed. Later saturday morning - no screed. the driver hasn't turned up to collect it from the depot. Cue many phone calls to Lafarge (the supplier) with the end result being that Martin arranges for Tarmac to deliver on monday afternoon.
Now bear in mind we've been away for two weeks, I am due back with the kids monday pm and we'll have a liquid floor and no stairs, so we agree with Martin to go into a hotel at Lafarge's expense until at least weds when the stairs can be installed.
Monday pm and the screed is laid and everyone goes home (apart from Sarah who goes to the hotel to meet us) and we're all fairly happy.
Tuesday morning, Sarah goes to the house to find the floor is still completely liquid and a dog has got in, chasing a cat. We trace the cat prints to Holly, our moggy, and we suspect next door's dog is the culprit - so our expensive, very smooth floor, has a load of footprints across it - FANTASTIC.
Anyway, Geoff manages to float some of the worst out as the floor is still very wet. We wait until Wednesday.
Come Wednesday (28th), the floor is now drying out so Geoff starts to install the stairs. We now have
no bathroom
no kitchen
1 electrical socket
no indoor access to the toilet (we have to go outside to get to it)
So we stay in the hotel and book through to friday night!
Thursday - and we turn the heating on after a few conversations between Geoff and Martin finally sorts out how to connect them initially (despite the complicated manifold, for now it's just a flow and return!)
By friday, we have most of the stairs in (although we still have the sub-landing as there was not enough head room under the landing, it will still need raising but not much now - the stairs look great, Geoff is doing a good job putting them together).
Saturday afternoon and we return to the house..... and the lounge is 1/2 inch deep in water. It has rained all day and the temporary cover on the rear roof has been blown off and water has peed into the lounge - all over the expensive new floor....... So we mop as much of it as we can, hide in the snug - which is dry and closed off (the guys built most of the dividing wall during the week and blocked the gaps with insulation and polystyrene)
Saturday night and the one electrical socket cries enough at being expected to power everything and we lose power - and the boiler! So I clamber downstairs in the dark (the torch has got lost), disconnect everything, turn the power back on to get lights, and plug things back in one at a time until we discover the dodgy extension - another cold night for the fish in the bedroom!
We pester Geoff to come out on Sunday and make good the temporary roof - which he does. So we mop a bit more and turn the fan heater in the snug up to full. We have some of the polystyrene down on the floor, and the UFH is starting to work, so the snug is almost... well, snug! Sunday evening - and we run out of heating oil! I think someone dislikes me......
Monday morning and full tilt. Geoff gets the guttering up on the main roof so the rear roof only has it's own rain to deal with and not the run off, Pip has grouted some of the en-suite and got the cabinet for the sink in - wow, it's starting to look the biz now. We got some more oil and the UFH is starting to do it's thing now - the floor is warming up and drying out nicely now.
Came downstairs this morning and it wasn't ice cold - the UFH is starting to have an effect - pretty good at 35-40 degrees instead of the 55 it will run at eventually. Still having to put shoes on to go to the loo or clean my teeth - oh, and take a torch! The lead flashing on the rear roof should go in today so we'll be just about watertight there. the front bay window is ready to go in, as is the front door glass, so we may be almost watertight by the end of the week! And by friday we should have full temperature to the UFH. Still on the old boiler which is disappointing but pip is concentrating on getting us a loo and sink in the en-suite.
Photos to come but no way to get them from the camera to the laptop which is the only way I have net access at the moment....
Over the worst of it now so things 'can only get better' to borrow a phrase - bout bloody time too!
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