Oak

26/11/13 will forever be know to us as Oak Day. On Tuesday the Oak trusses were delivered and with it came crowds of people watching from the front of the house and at the back.

The trusses ordered after we were dramatically let down by a previous supplier. This put our programme behind by 6 weeks and caused an awful lot of distress and delay to our project. Somehow as a team we all worked around the problems but at a cost!

OakMasters of Hayward's Heath in Sussex were able to come to the rescue but we still had to wait 6 weeks for the trusses to arrive. On Tuesday they most certainly did.

A crane was hired and in they went. It took nearly all day as the hips by the bay had to be cut in site.

We added a special touch for austerity for our boys, their initials to the centre trusses.

Time flies

Since last post so much has happened which is why I've not had time to write about it!

We have an almost functioning bathroom, Oak in situ, a window in place, a front door, screed in the front bedroom, a working garage door, a new hallway and a very bright sun pipe....more details to follow!

Heating on!

On the 5th of August 2013 our gas supply was moved to a new location due to the demolition works required for the build. As such we have been without heating since that time, and for a week after the 5th we were without hot water but that is a distant memory....

On the 4th of November our heating was switched on again! Just in time for fireworks night! 

It's amazing how quickly the house warmed up again and soon those biting cold nights of October and November will be a distant memory....

A final job which will hopefully be this weekend will be the cylinder move ! Pic to follow!

Redland 49's

For the past couple of weeks I have been like an internet stalker seeking out 'pre-worn' roof tiles to match our existing roof. Not quite as easy as I thought it would be! We so far have acquired 850 with about 350 to collect at the weekend. The whole family including 2 boys  and the dog have piled into the eBay purchased truck in order to secure enough for our roof. So far we've been on road trips to Brighton, deepest Guildford, Worcester park and this weekend Mitcham! 

The poor truck has just about coped but at 8lbs in weight per tile... Has been quite a weight for it to carry!

Stormy times

Still we have no heating which so far is managable ..... However that can change at any time. I fact this weekend we are being told that a nasty storm is possibly heading our way. Now I normally like a bit of tubulant weather, however this could be catastrophic for us in out current state.

The builders today have Been working hard to protect us as best as they can given the circumstances. 

Roof works 2

It's been a couple of weeks since last posting, and lots has happened!

Our roof has really taken shape, the builder has built an amazingly beautiful (if that is even possible) ceiling in the garage. We were initially going to pluboard the ceiling but after seeing the splayed timber pattern I think it will look better left open. 

The flat roof works with bitumen and felt has started with the 1st layer now in place (yesterday) and now we are water tight in all of the flat roof areas! Great news. 

Next week the pitched roof areas will be play's and felted and then the very exciting job of putting the tiles on. See the next post for the tile saga!

Progress

It isn't until you look back that you see how much progress has actually been made.

So in spite of the cold weather and disappointments of this week, we will remain positive and carry on building!

Roof Works!

As we storm into October the roof works have started! Just in time for the change in weather !

We still have no heating and time is critical now to get water tight so that we can get heating ASAP.

We've had some dreadful delays this week which will affect our program and our home comfort, but steps are being taken to mitigate this with utmost urgency !

7 weeks on

7 weeks on in the build and the effects of the work have started to make their way inside.

Work has been disrupted today as we have had to wait for the 2nd lift of scaffolding. This next lift will allow for the Kitchen roof to be installed which should be 2-3 weeks from arriving. The 1st lift of scaffold to the front of the property will allow for the roof to that part of the house.

Today, whilst waiting to progress other areas, the builders have removed the window to the bathroom (natural light to be provided by a sun pipe later) bricked up the opening and have removed the hall way window and redundant radiator to allow for the new doorway to our new master bedroom.

Quite a lot of disruption today and the first time really that we have had dust sheets in the house.

The Sunshine Yellow bathroom

Room with a view?

Feature wall

Hallway - window gone!

So the front of the house now looks like this.

                                          

Lessons Learnt

One of the biggest lessons of this project is in how much 'rubbish' has been removed. We have so far had 2 skips and 9 Grab lorries with 2 more booked for Monday. We have recycled as much soil and hardcore as possible , but in digging footings etc we have had to remove mountains.

 Before we even had laid a brick on the extension we have had to pay for rubbish to be cleared, for concrete footings to be poured at a quoted cost of £95m3, Skips at £300 per time and for Grab lorries at £300 per load (depending on material). It really does all add up, and I think many people overlook this as an incidental cost. When you are building an extension of this size it's a massive cost.

Another point to mention , which designers often place on drawings as a caveat. Is, Footings to be tested on site or such like. We have found in our little house that our foundations have been far in excess of what would have been required for this little house. As such we have had to dig for longer in order to remove. Resulting in the plant being on hire for a longer period of time which could not possibly have been foreseen at the start of the project.

Also that Bl**dy Eucalyptus tree meant we had to dig footings at 2.2m as opposed to 1m!!!

2.2m Footings due to Eucalyptus Tree

Badmington Court v Patio

In our very naive plan to remove the badmington court, we set one of the guys the challenge of removing the Badmington court and using the hardcore removed for the new patio.....

The Badmington court 'was' constructed using reinforced concrete. Green reinforced concrete.

He started Monday, and is still trying to get it all up!

How it used to look.

How it looks now.
   

and the patio looks like this....

5 Weeks on

It's been a tough couple of weeks. Builder illness and Rain have affected progress and we've had some information delays all of which have resulted in a very nervous and overwhelmed PM.

Still, progress has been made and this week saw the arrival of our 1st lift of scaffolding, actual walls in the new kitchen and an order for windows!

Patio

After knocking down the wall which surrounds the patio and the house, we realised that the whole thing would need to come down. We are going to use the bricks from this wall as hardcore for the new patio.

The aim today is to excavate the soil etc from this little flower (Weed!) bed and use on the soon to be removed Badminton court, and backfill with hardcore from the old wall.

Up Up and Away....

Concrete blocks have started to be laid on top on the concrete footings. this level will continue all the way around the building with the  DPC (Damp Proof Course) laid on the top. This has just been laid this morning with concrete Lintels bridging the drainage which runs beneath the new Family room.

MOT

Type 1 MOT is a limestone granular sub-base which is sometime used as  base layer for tarmac roads, in our case it will be used as the base layer for the build.


Today we had 20 tonnes delivered! That will cover just the base of the kitchen and foundations before we start building up on Monday. 





The plan is to level the 'oversight'  which is the earth currently surrounding the cement pour, and then layer the Type 1 over the top. Then the Damp Proof Course will be layered between the concrete and blockwork.

Good News

Inspector has just approved our use of the existing garage wall.

Why is this good news? It means that we will not have to demolish the wall (which my neighbour will be thrilled about considering she has a Glass Greenhouse adjacent to it!) , we will not have to build the wall  up again, we will not have to excavate the footings and thereby remove the dirt which is over £200 per truck for removal,  and we will not have to pour the most ludicrously expensive concrete (currently negotiated down to £80m3) into !

Good news!

Delivery Day

Today we had the 1st of the materials delivered read to start building up on Monday.

Rest of Footings

Today 'we' moved away from the kitchen footings to the footings for the rest of the extension. Drain that needs to be moved has been exposed and ready to be moved back 1m to its new position in the new alley way.

The rest of the footings at a shallower 1m have been dug with 8m3 of concrete ordered for the afternoon. Then the rest of the footings at the front of the house will be dug out Friday.

Whilst the Gas main (pip at top) is not now live we will concrete around it, and the water main will also be moved so these will be redundant pipes, but at least we know where they are now!

Tommorrow is a big day, as the 1st major material delivery will be due.! Pics to follow.

National Shortage of Thermal Blocks

Not a sentence I thought I'd ever write or spend hours on the phone this morning trying to resolve! It seems the UK has a strange shortage of Thermal blocks and many companies are sourcing from each other to maintain a stock flow.

I however have managed to source a large quantity and the 1st major material order for these and other items has just been placed and we await delivery!

This week the rest of the footings will be excavated, more concrete will be poured, more muck and debris will be removed from site(most expensive thing so far), and more excitement will surely be had!

1st Cement Pour!

Quite a momentous occasion when the 1st pour of cement goes into the footings! Today that happened. Next pour on Friday.

Before

After!