Stu’s Blog

Kitchen fitters arrived and within minutes the kitchen units were in. We decided after recommendation from our builder to have the wall brought forward to bring it in line with the new extension. This is purely cosmetic but worth the extra cost in our opinion.

Security camera fitted at front of property. Even more cabling done and some conduit fitted to hide the wires. If you look carefully at one of these pictures there is a jelly dummy hiding in the saw dust.

Outside render completed. Internal damp proof screed applied to kitchen wall. sockets moved to cater for TV lift mechanism. Pipe work buried in boiler room. Other kitchen wall patched and skimmed. Security camera fitted at rear. Lots more network cable fitted.

A bit more plastering was done and rendering to the outside.  The tiles were laid and grouted  as far as possible due to the fact that the whole in the boiler cupboard still needs filling in in order to complete the tiling.  the boiler and pipes are now done and the under floor heating was tested.

French doors are installed and more of the soffits replaced.

The landing window is boarded up and the window taken away to be resized.

The kitchen is almost totally re plastered and the new boiler connected.  However, there is still more work to be done with regards to the new pipe work.

Kitchen door is taken away to be altered so it hangs the other way

The rest of the doorway opening was built ready for the French doors. Further work was carried out  on the soffits etc.

The new boiler and pipe work were installed and a large hole dug to give access for the new pipes to go from the kitchen to the Dining room.

Also most of the kitchen walls and ceiling were plaster boarded.

Floor screed is laid. Work commenced approx 8.15 and was finished before lunch.  Should be totally firm by Monday am.  The rest of the day more work was done outside on the soffits etc.

The floor insulation is put down and then the red plastic is then placed on top.  The pipe is then laid out as per the map provided by Polypipe which is calculated to give the correct BTU rating.  Also today the soffits etc where removed from the exterior of the whole house.

Second coat of smooth render is applied.

The plaster board makes such a difference to the overall look of the room.  It is starting to take shape.

Kitchen floor goes down and further electrics are installed both for hardwired network and kitchen lights and sockets.

A start to the network cables being installed.

Sand laid down and preparations for the concrete base to be poured in the kitchen with some more electrics done.

First coat of render to extension.

The rotten floor turned out not to be as rotten as expected – huge relief.  However, it was responsible for work being halted all weekend and also putting the completion date even further behind. the other delay being the skip people turning up and then driving away again despite knowing we were up and about.

The render people were rained off and also the electrician had to postpone.  Instead the rubble was removed and the beams put in place for the false ceiling.

Part of the render on original part of the house is removed ready for new leadwork

The earth moved, well some of it , i.e. the kitchen floor.  A few cracks have appeared in the shower room and back room due to the hammering and removing of the kitchen wall, hopefully these are superficial. Decorator called round and we discussed what was required for the kitchen in terms of wallpapering and paint.

Velux goes in, should give plenty of light.

More of the kitchen floor is dug up and finally the wall comes tumbling down, well perhaps is knocked down brick by brick.  It is now easier to visualise just how the new kitchen will look and gives a better idea of the size. The steel is now in place.

A bit more of the garage completed with a ceiling going in. The kitchen floor is broken up and the steel beam is put in.

By the end of today we looked as if we were ready to demolish the house, given the scaffolding surrounding the whole building.  I was surprised at the amount of work involved in erecting the scaffolding and how heavy it was.  The kitchen window was now in.

Internally a new wall had been built and Acro props were holding up the ceiling, it all looked rather precarious.  Some electrics had also been done in the new extension.

The garage had also new electrics installed as well as a floor.

Again 4 vans and about 8 men at maximum capacity today.

Busy day again.  The opening was created for the French doors for the garage conversion.  This created a lot of red brick dust and over powering petrol fumes, but looking good.

The kitchen extension didn’t quite go according to plan as part of the kitchen wall was built using Thermalite blocks and thus as it will be taking a great deal of weight needs to be rebuilt using concrete breeze blocks. This held us back a little bit but it needs doing properly.  The floor level in the garage conversion needed to be determined therefore a hole was drilled to establish the height required.

There were several deliveries today including the insulated plasterboard and scaffolding.

Roof tiles finished off by roofers on Saturday morning after Friday’s rain.

The great British weather effected play today and the tiling didn’t get finished. The back door got relocated, the old kitchen window got removed and the opening on the extension for the new window got boarded up. Some of the brickwork inside the old kitchen was exposed, presumably to investigate the structure ready for the new steel beam. No work was done on the garage conversion.

Garage door has now gone and they have made some wooden beams for kitchen ceiling

Roof is now felted and battened. In the kitchen the floor tiles have been removed as has the coving.

Lots of men on site today doing the roof, progress made today in terms of fascia boards etc and velux’s and patio being reinstated.

Progress also made in the garage in terms of stud wall going up, it measures approx 10ft square

Had tea in our new dining room aka the living room, cooking tea was far from fun, cooking pasta , then mince in microwave and adding sauce. Trying to empty and fill up with water from the bath. All 3 girls are currently doing the washing up in the bath, quite a novelty, one washing, one rinsing, one drying.

Kitchen has also been ripped out today and tiles removed from the walls, all appliances disconnected.

Really surprised today at the amount of work that has been done today in so many areas.

More of the roof completed ready for felting and tiling, should be completed Friday.  Discussions re under floor heating, electric velux’s patio, fascias, tiling etc, all more expensive than we anticipated, Decided after much umming and ahhing to go with black plastic soffits as cost to do whole house in white too costly. Still awaiting final figure for under floor heating. Started emptying kitchen ready for moving the boiler and tiling the floor.

Cleared out all kitchen cupboards and moved contents into the dining room, total disaster area now. The kitchen however, is now looking very bare indeed.

It was about 1pm before any work started this afternoon. By the end of the day the outline roof structure had been completed, ready for the roof trusses to go on. In the morning time was spent discussing progress to date, the garage conversion and requirements along with timings for the kitchen.  I expressed my reservations as to finishing the work in time for the kitchen being fitted on the 30th, as there is all the decorating to do, moving of pipes and false ceilings as well as tiling the floor.  Thus Paul said he would get the blue cupboard pulled out so work could commence.

Thus contents of blue cupboard and garage are now in the dining room, which looks like a bomb site.

Whereas the garage now looks beautifully tidy and organised.  This is down to half filling a skip and spending 14 man hours clearing it out on Saturday.

Today 8.15 builders were on site.  The guys who were knocking out the landing window also arrived putting down lots of polythene to protect everything. Unfortunately after removing the glass it was evident that the window could not simply be moved up several courses of brickwork, keeping it intact.  What happens next is still to be decided.  Tom arrived to discuss various aspects and talk to Les from Kam design. We discussed the size of the patio, quoting for soffits and barge boards for the rest of the rear of the house.  Paid the 2 invoices and gave Tom a large list of things to find out about.  By 2pm ish  all the building work was completed and work stopped for the day.  The plan is to discuss window options on Monday when Paul returns to work.  We gave go ahead for Garage conversion to start next week so will be busy clearing out garage this weekend.

Finished off tying block work into existing wall. Put in RSJ and completed doorway opening, moved soil pipe. Wood arrived ready for wall plates.

Today we have some of the white stuff – snow, almost unheard of. Thought work would be snowed off but all gone by 9.15am.  On return from work was pleasantly surprised as we now had walls- what a difference a day makes.  Looking good, apparently waiting for plumber to move soil pipe so doorway can be completed.  By Friday all the block work should be finished.

The slab was prepared and checked by Planning Officer. The slab has made a great base for the outdoor swimming pool- lol.  It has rained for most of the day and has started to fill up with rainwater.

Paul called at approx. 10am to say men would be at the house at 1pm to prepare slab. Building inspector due tomorrow afternoon to check work before slab goes down. Delivery arrived approx. 2pm and ground works prepared.

By 10 am still no sign of the builders. Rang Tom who said would get Paul to ring me. Received a call saying one of the workforce hadn’t arrived today  but they were hoping to do the slab once they had heard from the Building Inspector. At 3.30 received another call to say that the Building Inspector hadn’t been in touch and therefore work couldn’t continue until Monday. Thus little progress had been made apart from a few stones being emptied into the hole.  Hopefully will catch up on Monday!

Arrived 8.20am. Today they have cemented round all the drains and started building some of the walls of the new extension. Tomorrow is the slab going down.

No Kevin today, Yarik arrived 9.00. On my return lots of pipework had been resited for the drains and concrete poured into the foundations.

Building inspector called and approved foundations although suggested we underpinned part of the corner of existing building - we agreed at extra cost. Large delivery arrived of blocks, sand , cement etc.  Most of the day was spent moving all the building materials from the front of the house to the rear.

Plumber called round at the weekend, filling us with confidence that the build was going ahead as plannned.  Monday morning about 8.30 Kevin and Yarik turned up and started digging up the stone.  The stone is to be kept for resiting the patio.  They then dug the footings. A good start to the build. Plumber called round and then asked for Paul’s advice as to moving pipework. Checked on velux’s, window 4 windows, 2 openers and also discussed underfloor heating. Phil from K2 visited to discuss air conditioning.  Collected book to view wallpaper and looked at Mr Impossible chairs. Busy day!