Behind the scenes... Boarded exciting times..

I haven't written a blog for over a month now, and this is a direct result of how busy we've been on the build. Without doubt the last month has been the toughest and most intense we've had during the build process and just to make it that little bit harder to identify with - most of the hard work has now been hidden behind the plasterboard!!!

Still on view however are window sills, door linings, cupboard door linings, bathroom shelves and that's about it - behind the scenes have been noggins, lots of noggins (to attach the plasterboard to)! Insulation finally finished, more stud walls/frames, sound deadening insulation between walls and floors. I dread to think how many hours we've put into the house over the last month. It's been really tough because this has been combined with our normal working lives.It's amazing how much work has to happen that is invisible after the plasterboard is up.

Stud wall built to hide bathroom soil pipe

Under Eves Cupboards upstairs frames out for plasterboard

Stud wall to create service gap between internal brick wall and hallway

Oak window boards, cut and fixed - and covered to protect them!

Knauf Earthwool Acoustic sound deadening insulation in stud walls between rooms

Knauf Acoustic sound deadening between ground and first floor

Vapour barrier between Kingspan K18 37.5mm insulated platerboard and frame

Upstairs Bedrooms enveloped in Kingspan 37.5 Thermal Plasterboard

The May day bank holiday, we set ourselves a target of what we needed to do by the end of the Monday (make the Eclisse pocket door frame and install it complete with plasterboard, make the cupboard door lining downstairs by the back door, cover the window sills to protect them, tape all the oak that beams and linings that have edges against the plasterboard, remove the kitchen temporarily from the house and have a really good clean up) - for the first time in ages we managed to complete everything we wanted to do and before 6 pm!

Moisture resistant plaster board in bathroom

Eclisse pocket door frame made & fitted

Pocket door boarded ready for drylining

 

Hallway looking into bathroom / Knauf Aqua Panels for tiled areas in shower room (and shower)

Under eves cupboards boarded out - the frame I made obviously did the job!

Throughout the house we've used as much sound deadening as possible to try to reduce the noise transfer. This has included using Gyproc 12.5mm sound deadening plasterboard on all stud walls between rooms and 15mm on the ground floor ceiling. On external walls and upstairs ceilings, we've used Kingspan K18 insulated plasterboard (25mm insulation mechanically fixed to 12.5mm plasterboard), in the upstairs bathroom we've used moisture resistant boards and in the downstairs shower room we've used moisture boards and in the shower/tiled areas we've used Knauf aqua panels. Herefordshire Drylining have done our boarding and are also doing the drylining. 

Drylining - taping & jointing 1st coat underway

Liv's bedroom (still don't understand why we haven't got the biggest bedroom!!!)

So there we are for now. This weekend will be really exciting because Saturday I am helping to fit the stairs (guess what the next blog will be about)!! Next week the tape and jointing will be finished and sanded ready for painting, the window opening/catching issue will be resolved and subject to that being OK, they will be re-decorated. 

It really feels like we are on the home straight now, still plenty to do but we have a house taking shape!

Ahh, but this tape measure is different... and rain could have caused a disaster.

Slightly behind schedule on the blog, but fortunately the same doesn't apply for the build! 

I'll start off with one of the issues we had! So far throughout the build we've moved a lot of soil, neatly tumped down the bottom of the garden... or so I thought. We've put Gabions filled with stone to retain the soil, which isn't a problem however a prolonged day of rain; and more rain on Thursday caused the soil banked near the hedge to shift and the consequence was the hedge collapsing... into the road! This could have been a big problem, but after a bit of good patch up work from Mum and my brother (who were the first responders in this case) to tie the hedge back, we trimmed it back temporarily and MGL managed to get Pete back on site (Pete helped with the digger work on the foundations) and he moved the soil away from the road edge of the plot. Disaster averted, thankfully. 

Now to look at some more positive activity! Last week saw the completion of the block and brick work to damp proof course level. This means we are officially out of the ground in just under two weeks! 

Base with damp proof membrane ready for the concrete slab

We've got the concrete slab being poured on Wednesday this week, which means we are ahead of schedule and managed to do so even with a few days of poor weather (sorry about that Mark)! Pretty much all of our base works products have been ordered through Travis Perkins, Leominster. I don't know if all depots are the same but they have been knowledgeable, very helpful throughout and everything has been delivered on time, when they said, with little fuss. I can't stress enough the importance of this in assisting with getting the base done quickly. 

Once the concrete is poured we'll be ready for Border Oak with the frame! We've ordered the roof windows from Travis Perkins and they will store them for us until we need them. We are a bit ahead of where we thought we'd be at this stage, because the frame isn't due to go through the Border Oak workshops for another couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted on this. 

After the rain, I've bitten the bullet and purchased myself some rigger boots - I've always fancied a pair and now I have a legitimate reason for them and at least I look the part!

They're dirty now, honest

This weekend saw Fliss and I visit Grand Designs Live at the NEC. with the aim of finding inspiration for some of the finishes and also potential suppliers. In a word PACKED. Lots of shuffling to move through the crowds, but was great to find some inspiration, some affordable some well out of our budget. 

A couple of neat products we found were, pocket doors for the upstairs bathroom (I'll re-visit this at a later date), some interesting stone finishing products and there was flooring options galore. We're also seriously considering a Heat Recovery Ventilation System. It isn't something we have budgeted for, but if was can make the numbers work it might not be as expensive as we first thought. For those that don't know what this is, basically it is a way of keeping fresh air in the building. It does this by extracting air and moisture from the inside of the house, and replacing it fresh air, that is not cold because of the way the extraction system works (using an energy cell). There are lots of variations of the system (this is a very simple description). You'd need to ask experts in these systems for more detailed information. We have a few things to work through before deciding whether it will work for us (like where to put the main unit) and how to go about it, but it is something we are seriously thinking about. 

We also took the opportunity to chat with one of the #AskAnExpert team and we're mulling over what to do with the information provided.

Now did I mention a tape measure? We'll if you've read other blog entries, you may think I have an obsession for tape measures...  I would argue that it is simply an essential building tool. Yes I did buy another tape, but this one was different... it is a double sided 2 in 1 gap tape! What more could you want when measuring a gap!

Thanks for reading, Tim

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